Marian Belcher

Mary Anne "Marian" Belcher (12 March 1849 – 15 December 1898) was an English educator and school administrator, the second headmistress of Bedford High School.

Marian Belcher
A white woman wearing a lace cap atop her hair, and dark dress with a cameo pin at the collar.
Marian Belcher
Born12 March 1849
Great Faringdon, Berkshire
Died15 December 1898
Bedford
NationalityEnglish
OccupationEducator
Known forHeadmistress, Bedford High School (1883-1898)

Early life

Mary Anne Belcher was born in Great Faringdon, Berkshire, the daughter of Thomas Belcher and Mary Anne Saunders Belcher. Her father was a grocer. Her brother Thomas Hayes Belcher was a noted cricketer who became principal of Brighton College. She was educated at Hillersdon House in Barnes, and at Cheltenham Ladies' College.[1]

Career

Belcher passed the General Examination for Women in 1870.[2] She taught at Cheltenham Ladies' College from 1871 to 1883, and was the school's vice-principal from 1877, under the mentorship of headmistress Dorothea Beale.[1][3]

In 1883, Belcher became headmistress of Bedford High School, after the founding headmistress, Ada Benson McDowall, died suddenly in the school's first year. "She it is, therefore, to whom the school chiefly owes its original organization and its present traditions," a 1906 report noted of Belcher.[4] Under her administration, the school enrollment and facilities grew "with such marvelous rapidity", with new buildings to serve over 500 students, ages 7 through 20.[4][5][3] Belcher's approach emphasised high moral purpose and set public service as a priority over private needs;[5] "her rule was one of love, not of fear," recalled one account, "yet her sternness, where sternness was deserved, prevented any abuse of her gentle methods".[4]

Belcher helped establish the high school's alumnae organization, the Old Girls' Guild, which held reunions and made charitable contributions in Bedford.[4] She remained as headmistress at Bedford for fifteen years, until her death in 1898 from illness.[3] She was succeeded by another Cheltenham-trained teacher, Susan Collie.[6][7]

Personal life

Belcher died in 1898, aged 49 years.[1] She is buried at Foster Hill Road Cemetery in Bedford.[8] The school established a Marian Belcher Leaving Scholarship in her memory in 1901, and a window in the school's chapel was dedicated to Belcher in 1902.[5] Her nephew Gordon Belcher was a noted cricketer before he died in World War I.[9]

References
  1. Hunt, Felicity (2004). "Belcher, Mary Anne [Marian] (1849–1898), headmistress". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48640. Retrieved 30 October 2018. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. Carter, Phillip (2018-10-02). "Education, to the power of Nine". Talking Humanities. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  3. "Mirian Belcher". The Guardian. London. December 28, 1898. p. 26.
  4. "Our Schools IX. Bedford High School". School: A Monthly Record of Educational Thought and Progress. 6: 102–104. October 1906.
  5. Ayres, Linda. "Marian Belcher - Second Head Mistress of Bedford High School". Foster Hill Road Cemetery. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  6. Roach, John (2012-10-12). Secondary Education in England 1870-1902: Public Activity and Private Enterprise. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-96008-8.
  7. "Bedford Girls' School". Daily News. 1899-03-18. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-03-01 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Parsons, Sue. "Belcher memorial". Foster Hill Road Cemetery. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  9. Jones, Michael (2014-08-03). "Cricketers who died in World War 1 — Part 1 of 5". Cricket Country. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
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