22 / 60
20
ST EDWARD’S
r
h
u
b
a
r
b
The Female Influence at St Edward’s
prior to Co-Education
By Archivist
Chris Nathan
(G, 1954-1957)
Few of the early teachers, and
particularly Set Tutors and later House
Masters, were married men and those
who were usually lived off site and their
wives did not take part in School life on a
regular basis.
Wardens Simeon and Hudson were
exceptions to the rule, with their spouses
not only being visible and approachable
but also held in high esteem by the boys.
Female secretarial and clerical staff were in a
minority over many years, often considered
rather fiercely protective of their employers
and as a result tended to be held at arm’s
length and to be avoided if possible. A
very early stalwart was Mrs Bursey, the
wife of Warden Simeon’s Coachman, first
appointed as the School Nurse, she also
supervised young female servants whilst
managing the Lodge. She was later the
Warden Simeon’s Housekeeper, giving
invaluable service to the School for 29
years until 1903.
Through the School’s early history there
were several married couples working at
the same time, the Mutters, the Cherrys,
the Bowermans, the Neales and the Barnes
all provided long and invaluable service. A
later teaching couple were Chris and Mo
Ruscombe-King, both pottery teachers
during the1960s and 1970s. Mo left
memories of the difficulties facing female
staff members who had no access to either
toilet or refreshment facilities; she was,
however, eventually offered the chance to
take tea in the Common Room by Stanley
Tackley, the President at that time! Despite
these privations Mo ‘was very much part of
the fabric of the School in those years taking
part in plays and musicals in the early days
of girls on stage’ (Malcolm Oxley).
To a few pupils at the time of the Great
War the name of Mrs Dore was never to be
forgotten. The mother of an OSE, William
Dore (E, 1907-1914), killed on the Somme
in September 1916, she not only helped
nurse the School victims of the widespread
Spanish Influenza in 1918 but also offered,
In the Michaelmas Term of 1982, the
School’s first female pupil, Penelope Brown
(née Burke) (E, 1982-1984) joined her
brother Richard Burke-Ward (G, 1977-
1982). Today, girls account for 40% of pupils.
Right from the School’s earliest days there
were a few, but significant, women whose
impact on the life of St Edward’s was not
only highly influential, but who also probably
have never received the credit they deserved.
The early pupils at the School seldom saw a
woman of any kind in term time except for
the nursing staff and the ‘Annies’ who served
in the Dining Hall (the male servants were
called ‘Johns’) and provided domestic service
to the dormitories. These women were so
well protected they were not allowed to
cross the Quad, and though there might
have been the odd furtive glance in their
direction, did not provide any female
distraction of any kind.
A group of House Nurses
in the 1950s. Left to right:
Mrs Nankinvel (Segar’s
and Cowell’s 1940-1949),
Sister McIntyre (Apsley
and Sing’s 1950-1954),
K. George (Macnamara’s
and Tilly’s 1950-1960),
and Kay Puxley (Segar’s
and Cowell’s 1949-1970).
A R C H I V E S