Matilda Ellen Bishop

Matilda Ellen Bishop (12 April 1842, Tichborne, Hampshire – Camberwell, London, 1 July 1913) was the first Principal of Royal Holloway College, University of London. Her father was a scholarly Church of England clergyman.^[1]

Early life

She was educated at a seminary for young ladies in Brighton, where she had to learn passages of the Bible by heart. She taught at Sunday School from the age of eleven. At sixteen she was sent to Queen's College, Harley Street, and was deeply influenced by Revd F D Maurice.

Career

She then followed a teaching career becoming headmistress of Oxford High School from 1879 to 1887. She was appointed as the first Principal of the new Royal Holloway College in 1887.

She initially encouraged the students to take Oxford though Oxford did not admit women to its degrees until 1920. However, students were also entered for London University degrees where successful candidates had been awarded degrees since 1878. She later expressed the opinion that the college should become a constituent school of London University. This was established by her successor, Dame Emily Penrose.

In 1897 she resigned when the governors wanted to introduce nonconformist services in the college chapel on alternate Sundays. The college founder, Thomas Holloway had stipulated that the college should be non-denominational.

In 1899 she became Principal of the newly founded St Gabriel's Church of England Training College for Women Teachers in Camberwell, and died in office. She never married.

References

1. ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, accessed 21 June 2011