The searchable online archive of Prior’s Field School, founded by Julia Huxley, from the famous Arnold and Huxley families, includes digitised magazines, “old girls” publications, anniversary publications, letters from the headmistress, newsletters, photographs and videos.
As well as information about the school’s history there is an informative article by the archivist, Joanne Halford, about Ethel Ann Burton-Brown, who as headteacher played an important role in shaping the school after Julia Huxley’s death in 1908. The article uses information and photographs from Ethel Ann Burton-Brown’s family as well as from the school archive and from Girton college. Ethel Ann’s career is fascinating and includes time in India and Italy which formed the basis of her lectures at the National Gallery and the British Museum. She was an Honorary Fellow of the Cambridge Classical Society and of the Royal Historical Society and her lectures on Italian paintings and Greek sculpture became a weekly event at the school.
Joanne Halford’s article provides fascinating insights into Ethel Ann Burton-Brown’s time both prior to and during her appointment to Prior’s Field and augments Ethel Ann’s entry in the privately printed Girton College Register.
Image: Ethel Ann Burton-Brown and Julia Huxley c1906 (with permission from Prior’s Field School)
