Remembering the Educational Lives and Networks of Three Midlands Women (DOMUS Seminar)

DOMUS Seminar Series 2023 - 2024

Professor Jane Martin, Professor of Social History of Education and Isobel Simmons, Classics Teacher/PGR research student in School of Education in conversation with Dr Sian Roberts, Lecturer in Education and Social Justice

This talk explores the educational lives and networks of three trailblazing Midlands women. Hilda Walmsley led elementary schools in Birmingham and London and became President of the National Union of Women Teachers. The University of Birmingham recognised her services to education with an honorary degree in 1933. University friends Christine Tucker and Zelie Bull opened a school for girls in Solihull in 1942. At Saint Martin’s School they enacted their educational and leadership vision as joint Headmistresses and secured its success. 

Biography

Jane Martin teaches and researches gender and history at the University of Birmingham. Her most recent book Gender and Education in England since 1770: a social and cultural history won the Society for Educational Studies book award for 2023.

Isobel Simmons has taught secondary Classics and English, mostly in girls’ schools in the Midlands, since 2010. Having taught at Saint Martin’s School until it closed in 2020, her interest in its founders formed the basis of her MA Education (Leadership) thesis at the University of Birmingham and she has just begun to continue to research them for her PhD.

This event is free, registration is essential to receive the link to ZOOM. All are welcome.