As chair of the Overseas Committee of the Association of Headmistresses from 1908, Miss Mowbray, headmistress of St Swithun’s School Winchester from 1884 to 1916, corresponded on behalf of the Association with headmistresses in schools outside Britain. She encouraged overseas headmistresses to become associate members of the Association of Headmistresses and welcomed visiting headteachers at St Swithun’s. The presentation focuses on Madeleine Rees George, headmistress of the Adelaide Advanced School for Girls, whose first visit to St Swithun’s pre-dated Miss Mowbray’s appointment as chair of the Headmistresses’ committee. Born in England, the Australian press described Miss George as one of South Australia’s foremost educators. In 1900 she was commissioned by the South Australian government to report on girls’ secondary education in Britain, and in 1913 on the curriculum and management of British secondary schools. The presentation also discussses the formal links between St. Swithun’s and the Adelaide school.
Joyce Goodman and Andrea Jacobs, Overseas Headteachers and St Swithun’s School: Women Educators in Winchester and Beyond, presentation delivered at Hampshire Record Office, 18 September 2019
Image: Miss Mowbray, Photo H.W.Salmon, in St Swithun’s School, Winchester 1884-1934 (Winchester, Warren and Son, 1934)
