Katharine Stephen (26 February 1856 – 16 June 1924) was a librarian and later principal of

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millice ...

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Early life and family

Katharine Stephen was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 26 February 1856, the daughter of Mary Richenda Cunningham (1829–1912) and

James Fitzjames Stephen Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, 1st Baronet, KCSI (3 March 1829 – 11 March 1894) was an English lawyer, judge, writer, and philosopher. One of the most famous critics of John Stuart Mill, Stephen achieved prominence as a philosopher, law ...

(1829–1894), a judge. She was the niece of

Caroline Stephen Caroline Emelia Stephen (8 December 1834 – 7 April 1909), also known as Milly Stephen, was a British philanthropist and a writer on Quakerism. Her niece was Virginia Woolf. Life Stephen was born on 8 December 1834 at Kensington Gore on Hyde P ...

and of

Leslie Stephen Sir Leslie Stephen (28 November 1832 – 22 February 1904) was an English author, critic, historian, biographer, and mountaineer, and the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell. Life Sir Leslie Stephen came from a distinguished intellect ...

and the cousin of

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born ...

and

Vanessa Bell Vanessa Bell (née Stephen; 30 May 1879 – 7 April 1961) was an English painter and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury Group and the sister of Virginia Woolf (née Stephen). Early life and education Vanessa Stephen was the eld ...

Work

Katharine Stephen worked at

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millic ...

. She first joined the college as

Helen Gladstone Helen Gladstone (28 August 1849 – 19 August 1925) was a British educationist, vice-principal at Newnham College in Cambridge, and co-founder of the Women's University Settlement. Life Gladstone was born in London. Helen came to notice when her ...

's secretary, and worked with

Anne Jemima Clough Anne Jemima Clough (20 January 182027 February 1892) was an early English suffragist and a promoter of higher education for women. She was the first principal of Newnham College. Life Clough was born at Liverpool, Lancashire, the daughter of c ...

to teach working men on Sunday mornings in St Matthew's Schoolroom, Barnwell. She was appointed Librarian of Newnham's 'first purpose-built library' in 1888. She went on to become Vice-Principal and, in 1911, Principal of the college during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

years, and kept her seat on the Council after her retirement in 1920. Stephen sat for a portrait by her cousin

but that painting is lost. The painting at Newnham College is by

Glyn Philpot Glyn Warren Philpot (5 October 188416 December 1937) was a British painter and sculptor, best known for his portraits of contemporary figures such as Siegfried Sassoon and Vladimir Rosing. Early life Philpot was born in Clapham, London, but ...

. Stephen died of cancer on 16 June 1924 at her home in

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

. Stephen was loyal to her family. Every day she would either see her mother or write her a letter. Her aunt,

, was another relative; she was a friend too. Caroline came to live in Cambridge in 1895 where she evangelised her Quaker beliefs to Newnham students.Margaret M. Jensen, "Stephen, Caroline Emelia (1834–1909)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 201
accessed 10 Dec 2015
/ref> Caroline's final book contained a biography written by Katherine.

Legacy

The Katharine Stephen Rare Books Library at Newnham was built in 1981-82. It was designed by Joanna van Heyningen and was listed Grade II in 2018 with other

post-modern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

buildings.

Publications

''French History for English Children''
(1881), under the pseudonym Sarah Brook. * ''Three Sixteenth Century Sketches'' (1884), under the pseudonym Sarah Brook.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephen, Katharine 1856 births 1924 deaths British women academics Daughters of baronets Deaths from cancer in England English librarians Principals of Newnham College, Cambridge British women librarians