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Personal Papers of Barbara Stephen
| Title |
Personal Papers of Barbara Stephen |
| Reference |
GBR/0271/GCPP Stephen |
| Creator |
Stephen, Lady Margaret Thyra Barbara, 1872-1945, née Shoresmith, later Shore Nightingale, wife of Sir Harry Stephen, educationist |
| Covering Dates |
1925–1945 |
| Extent and Medium |
4 files; paper |
| Repository |
Girton College Archive, Cambridge |
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| Content and context |
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Barbara, Lady Stephen 1872-1945, née Margaret Thyra Barbara Shoresmith (later Shore Nightingale) was born in London and attended Roedean in its early years. She read history at Girton 1891-1894 achieving Class II degree.
Her father was first cousin of Florence Nightingale (for whom BS kept house after going down from Girton) and Barbara Bodichon, after who she was named. Whilst living in London she was appointed Secretary of Girton (non-resident) 1897-1903.
She moved to India on her marriage in 1904 to Harry Lushington Stephen (1866-1945) (later Sir Harry Stephen), Judge of the High Court in Calcutta, where she lived for eight years, learning Hindustani and Persian, met Lords Curzon and Kitchener and involved herself in ex-patriot social life. She founded the Women Graduates Union of Calcutta, for the benefit of women coming to India, and became committee member and later Secretary of both the National India Association and the European Orphan Asylum. She was involved in the affairs of three hospitals in Calcutta.
She maintained a strong connection with Girton throughout her life, returning to live in Cambridge in 1913. She was a governor of the college from 1913 to1938. She became Garden Steward in 1917-19, founded and sat on the Curator's Committee 1927-40, as well as being an active member of the Building Committee in 1929, where she set in motion the building scheme for the Library, New Wing and Fellows Dining and Drawing Rooms. She is credited as 'the generous benefactor of Girton library' in the College Register. She also initiated the commissioning of the coat-of-arms.
She is acknowledged as an historian of the early years of Girton, publishing two books:
Stephen, B., 'Emily Davies and Girton College', (Constable, London, 1927)
Stephen, B., 'Girton College 1869 - 1932', (CUP 1933)
In 1932, Stephen left Cambridge to live in Hampshire, where she and her husband lived for the remainder of their life.
Sources:
'Girton College Register' 1869 - 1946, (CUP 1948) p. 639
Obituary by Rosalind Nash, 'Girton Review', Easter 1945, p.20
Obituary by Kathleen Butler, 'Girton Review', Easter 1945, p.20.
Member of Girton College Council 1913-1932
Governor 1913-1938
These are a small quantity of papers gathered whilst she was working on 'Emily Davies and Girton College', (London, Constable, 1927), and consist of notes sent to Lady Stephen as material for 'Emily Davies and Girton' from the following old students:
Miss A. Lloyd, Miss J. F. Dove, Miss C. L. Maynard and from an early friend of Davies' - Miss S A Richardson'.
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Access and Use
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Please cite as Girton College Archive, Cambridge, Personal Papers of Barbara Stephen, GCPP Stephen |
| Index Terms |
| Stephen, Lady Margaret Thyra Barbara (1872-1945) née Shoresmith, later Shore Nightingale, wife of Sir Harry Stephen, educationist |
| Girton/GCPP Stephen contains: |
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1
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Notes from Anna Lloyd. Letter from Barbara Stephen to Miss McMorran (30 January 1945) explaining the content of two parcels of letters which she is donating to the college library, along with a copy of her book with corrections. . Letter from Miss Anna Lloyd (no date, but assumed c.1925) in which she refers to a book on the life of Anna Deborah Richardson, which she has mislaid. She recounts two tales of local reactions to the female students at Hitchin College one of which describes them as 'stuffed up with much learning'. One envelope from Lady Stephen, received 4 February 1945.
Creator: Lloyd, Anna.
1 file; Paper. |
circa 1925–1945 |
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2
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Notes from Jane Frances Dove. Covering letter (dated 2 March 1925) and 10 page memoir by Dove in which she describes her 'great adventure of going to college' in 1871 firstly at Hitchin, followed by the move to Girton in October 1873. She relates how students from Hitchin travelled to Cambridge to take their exams, staying at the University Arms Hotel. Fellow students include Miss Cook and Miss Lumsden, and the new students 'Miss Muller, Miss Borchardt and the rest'. Also mentions Miss Manning, Mr Tomkinson, Miss Townsend, Miss Gibson, Miss Welsh, Miss Aitkin and Miss Lumsden.
Creator: Dove, J F.
1 file; Paper. |
1925 |
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3
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Notes from Constance Louisa Maynard. Covering letter (dated 3 March 1925) and 21 page memoir in which she mentions seeing Hilaire Belloc and his sister Marie as 6/7 year old children at Mme Bodichon's house in Sussex, and describes them as 'clever and amusing beyond words to tell'. Her time at Hitchin coincided with the rise of Darwinism, and lectures on the new science of evolution by Professor Huxley. Having being brought up as a strict evangelist, she found the 'condition of religious thought' and the discussions this gave rise to amongst her fellow students very difficult to digest. She describes in detail the personal difficulties she faced reconciling intellectual enquiry with her own religious belief and experience.
Creator: Maynard, C L.
1 file; Paper. |
1925 |
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4
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Notes by Sarah Ann Richardson entitled 'Recollections of Emily Davies'. 5 page memoir. Richardson refers the Memoir of Anna Deborah Richardson. A D R had became a friend of Davies whilst living with her father in Gateshead, and recounts how she and Davies were 'fully alive to the need for Higher Education for women' and social reform. They organised classes for women, with Dr Embleton, a physician in Gateshead, who taught the students in his own house. According to S A Richardson the class (1859 or 60) comprised Emily Davies, Elisabeth Richardson, Priscilla Mennel, Augusta Richardson, Anna Atkins, Ann Dinah Holmes, Jane Richardson and herself. She goes on to recount further meetings with E D in London, where she moved to after the death of her father, and then again in the early days at Girton. She notes that in her later years, E D talked at length about women's suffrage, and 'laboured most strenuously for the cause'.
Creator: Richardson, S A.
1 file; Paper. |
circa 1925 |
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