Victorian school mistress Dorothea Beale was iconic figure in female education [audio 5min]
Queen Victoria famously said that "feminists ought to get a good whipping". But it was during her reign that the first serious academic institutions for the education of girls and young women appeared. A school mistress called Dorothea Beale played a key role in these developments and became the iconic figure in the field of female education. She was the founder of St Hilda's College, Oxford and the Headmistress of Cheltenham Ladies' College. To mark the centenary of her death, presenter Jenni Murray talks to Rachel Roberts, archivist at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, about Miss Beale's unique contribution to the history of women's education.
Read entire article at BBC Radio 4 "Woman's Hour"