Margaret Wileman

Wileman was born on 19 July 1908 to Clement Wileman and Alice Wileman (née Brinson).[1] In 1927, having won a scholarship to study modern languages, she matriculated into Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.[1] In 1930, she graduated from the University of Oxford with a first class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree;[2] as per tradition, her BA was later promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Oxon) degree.[1] She then trained as a teacher at the Department of Education, University of Oxford.[3] In 1931, she was awarded the Zaharoff Travelling Scholarship and studied at the University of Paris.[1]

The Margaret Wileman Building of Hughes Hall, Cambridge

Wileman's early career was spent as a school teacher. From 1931 to 1937, she was an assistant at The Abbey School, Reading, an all-girls private school in Reading.[1] Then, from 1937 to 1940, she was Senior Tutor at Queen's College, London, an all-girls independent school in the City of Westminster.[1]

In 1940, Wileman moved into academia and became a lecturer at St Katherine's College, a university college in Warrington, Cheshire that offered higher education to women.[1][2][3] In 1944, she moved to Bedford College, University of London.[1] There, she was a tutor and resident warden until she moved to Oxford.[1][2]

In 1953, Wileman was appointed Principal of Hughes Hall, Cambridge.[1] At the time, Hughes Hall was all-female and the smallest college of the University of Cambridge with a maximum of 70 students.[2] Under her leadership, the college began accepting students to study for degrees in addition to education, she greatly increased the number of students, and the college became the first all-women college to accept male students in 1973.[2][3] In addition to heading a college, she was a university lecturer in education and Director of Women Students in the Faculty of Education.[1]

Wileman retired in 1973 and was appointed an honorary fellow of Hughes Hall, Cambridge.[1] She died on 12 August 2014, aged 106.[2]

Wileman never married.[2] She was a devout Roman Catholic,[2][3] and in her retirement she administered educational programmes for nuns alongside Sister Gregory Kirkus.[2][4]

In 2000, she was appointed an Officier de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French government "in recognition of her services to French literature".[3][4] The main building of Hughes Hall, Cambridge was renamed in her honour and is now the Margaret Wileman Building.[5]