LETTER: Typed letter signed and autograph letter signed, calling to establish schools for girls.
A call to establish schools for girls
By a British educational pioneer
[Education] [Grey, Maria Georgina]. Typed letter, with facsimile signature signed, “Princess Louise/Marchioness of Lorne”; unaddressed; n.d. (ca. 1872); one leaf of National Union for Improving the Education of Women of All Classes letterhead; recto only; creased. Affixed to a longer leaf of paper, at the bottom of which Grey has annotated: “Princess Louise Carolina Alberta, and Marchioness of Lorne, third daughter of Queen Victoria; born 18th March 1848. Her bust of the Queen exhibited and presented to the Royal Academy by her Majesty 1868. Married the Marquis of Lorne. M.G.G.”
In her letter – which was meant to accompany the Prospectus of a school that was to be established by the National Union (not included here) – Princess Louise explains that a report by the Schools Equity Commission determined that schools “for Girls and Young Women” can be established at a moderate cost, and the National Union sought to raise the funds for such a school through a Limited Liability Company. The Union’s first project was to found “a public Day School for Girls in South-West London.” Princess Louise concludes that if the school succeeded, others would be founded.
Together with:
Grey, Maria Georgina. Autograph letter signed, to “Mr. Stebbing”; May 1, 1872; one leaf of National Union letterhead; folded to make four pages.
“Mr. Stebbing” was probably Henry Stebbing, an assistant editor and lead writer at the Times. Grey thanks Stebbing for his note, and sends him a Prospectus of the school mentioned in Princess Louise’s letter (also not included). Grey also mentions that a conference was held at the house of Princess Louise and several prominent people were in attendance, including Lord Lyttleton, Mr. Cowper and the Shuttleworths “& other high educational authorities.”
These documents are evidence of Grey’s life’s work as an educational reformer and supporter of the establishment of schools for girls and young women. When Grey established the National Union in 1871, she appointed Princess Louise as President. Grey’s efforts on behalf of female education were effective and long lasting; in fact, the union still exists today, and is known as the Girls’ Day School Trust.
Grey (1816-1906) was the daughter Admiral William Henry and Elizabeth Anne Sherriff. She had three sisters. All of the Sherriff sisters were educated by a governess, and then at a boarding school in Paris. The girls were withdrawn from the Paris school after only one year, after Grey’s father was stationed in Gibraltor. At this point, the girls’ formal education ended, but Maria, and her youngest sister Emily, were avid readers and became fluent in several languages due to their travels throughout Europe.
When Grey was in her late teens, her family moved back to England. She and Emily began writing books together. They published Letters from Spain and Barbary (1835) and Passion and Principle (1841). In 1841, Grey married her cousin, William. Emily came to live with the Grey’s and the sisters continued to write together. In 1850, they published a treatise on women’s education, Thoughts on Self Culture Address to Women, which called for schooling for girls on par with that of their male counterparts, with classes in math, science and history, and the expectation that their education would continue through high school age.
When Grey’s husband died in 1864, she became more involved in reforming girls education, even running in the election of the London School Board in 1870.Though she was not elected, she was one of the first women to run in a London school board election, and later published a book that printed the speeches she had delivered during her campaign, The School Board of London. Three Addresses by Mrs. William Grey in the Borough of Chelsea with a speech by William Groves (1871).
In 1871, Grey and her sister Emily conceived of an idea that would promote girl’s education on a national scale, aiming to establish day schools throughout the country. The idea was met with positive support, and Grey dubbed it the “National Union of the Improving the Education of Women of All Classes.” The success of this project led to the founding the following year of the Girls’ Public Day School Trust, which established 38 schools for girls. In 1878, Grey also set up a teacher training college, which was renamed in 1885 The Maria Grey Training College for Women (which is now part of Brunel University).
Grey published several other books, including a novel, Love’s Sacrifice (1868); Is the Exercise of the Suffrage Unfeminine? (1870); On the Education of Women (1871);
Grey retired in 1890, due to ill health; and Emily died in 1897. Portentously, Grey’s final book was titled Last Words to Girls on Life in School and after School, and published in 1889. On the Special Requirements for improving the education of Girls (1872) and Old Maids. A Lecture (1875).
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