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Caroline Herford

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Caroline Herford
by Francis Dodd
Born1860
Died1945
NationalityBritish
Occupationeducationist
SpouseRobert Blake

Caroline Herford MBE, later Caroline Herford Blake (1860–1945) was an English educationist.[1]

Life

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Herford was born in Lancaster on 1 November 1860, the daughter of Unitarian minister William Henry Herford and Elizabeth Anne Davis (died 1880). She was at Newnham College in 1885 and a year later she had a Mabchester University masters degree. From 1886 to 1907 she was headmistress of the Froebelian Lady Barn House School,[2] which her father had founded in 1873.[3] She was said to be one of the founders of Withington Girls' School in Manchester where she taught biology.[4]

She also lectured at the Manchester Kindergarten Training College.[5] Caring for her father until his death in 1908, Herford then lectured for a short time at University College, Reading. From 1910 to 1918 she was Lecturer in Education at Manchester University. She was a founding member of the Manchester University branch of the British Federation of University Women, and a member of Manchester City Council until defeated by a Conservative candidate in 1923.[1]

In World War I she was a Red Cross Commandant, organizing university students to meet ambulance trains. For this work she was awarded an MBE in 1919.[6]

In 1924 Herford married Robert Blake (died 1931), and left Manchester to live with him in Somerset. She served on Somerset education committee. After his death she lived with a Manchester friend, Julia Sharpe, in Great Missenden. She died there on 16 March 1945.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b M. E. Sadler, revised by M. C. Curthoys, 'Herford, William Henry', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004.
  2. ^ a b Sadler, M. E. (23 September 2004). Curthoys, M. C. (ed.). Herford, William Henry (1820–1908), educationist. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33835.
  3. ^ School History, Lady Barn House School. Accessed 5 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Caroline Herford MBE (1860-1945): a Landmark Appointment and the Origin of this Blog – Tales from the Archives". blogs.reading.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  5. ^ Evelyn Lawrence (2012). Friedrich Froebel and English Education. Routledge. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-136-49215-0.
  6. ^ Commandant Miss Caroline Herford, Imperial War Museum. Accessed 5 January 2020.