Winifred Moberly
Winifred Moberly | |
|---|---|
 Winifred Moberly in 1909 | |
| Principal of St Hilda's College, Oxford | |
| In office 1919–1928 | |
| Preceded by | Christine Burrows |
| Succeeded by | Julia de Lacy Mann |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Winifred Horsbrugh Moberly 1 April 1875 |
| Died | 6 April 1928 (aged 53) |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford |
Winifred Horsbrugh Moberly (1 April 1875 – 6 April 1928) was a British academic administrator, the principal of St Hilda's College, Oxford, from 1919 to 1928.[1][2]
Early life and education
[edit]She was born in Calcutta, British India on 1 April 1875, the ninth child and fourth daughter of Charles Morris Moberly (1837–1897), an officer in the Madras Staff Corps, and his wife, Eliza Augusta Dorward (1841–1909), the daughter of James Dorward of Trichinopoly. Her elder sister Ethel Charlotte Moberly was married to the Russian-born British novelist Fred Whishaw, and Winifred visited them in St Petersburg in her younger years.[1]
Moberly was educated at Winchester High School and Sydenham High School.[3] She was the first pupil from Sydenham High School to win the Unuversity Scholarship in 1894, which enabled her to attend Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.[4] She achieved Second-class in Classical Moderations at Oxford but left the university in 1897[5] before completing the full course.[6]: 153 [7]
Career
[edit]Early career and World War I
[edit]From 1910 to 1912, Moberly was Bursar of Lady Margaret Hall, her alma mater.[5] From 1914 to 1915, Moberly was honorary secretary of the Home Help Society. This was set up by the Central Committee on Women's Employment to train unskilled, middle-aged, working-class women to carry out domestic duties for poor households where the mother was incapable due to, for example, illness.[3][8] At the end of 1915 she went out to Petrograd, Russia where, in the administrator role, she helped set up a Millicent Fawcett Hospital unit: a maternity unit for the relief of Polish refugees.[3][9] She remained in this role until early 1917.[3][10]
In October 1917 she was appointed area secretary of the Young Women's Christian Association in Calais. There she helped set up recreation huts and canteens for the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. She held this role until July 1918 and was awarded the British War Medal for this work.[1][3][11]
Return to Oxford
[edit]
L.-R.: Winifred Moberly, Emily Penrose, Bertha Johnson, Eleanor Jourdain, and Henrietta Jex-Blake
Moberly was appointed as principal of St Hilda's College, Oxford in 1919.[6]: 142 The following year marked the first time that the university awarded degrees to women and Moberly was, along with other women tutors and principals at Oxford, awarded an honorary MA by Decree of Convocation.[6]: 153
Death and legacy
[edit]
She died of heart failure at Laverstock, Wiltshire on 6 April 1928.[1][3] She had struggled with persistent insomnia before her death.[6]: 178
St Hilda's College named a room in its South Building after Moberly.[12]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 "Moberly, Winifred Horsbrugh (1875–1928)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48456. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
- ↑ "Moberly, Winifred Horsbrugh". Who Was Who. Vol. II, 1916–1928 (4th ed.). London: A & C Black. 1967 [1929]. p. 738.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Miss Winifred Moberly". The Times. No. 44863. 10 April 1928. p. 13. Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
- ↑ Magnus, Laurie (1923). The jubilee book of the Girls' Public Day School Trust, 1873–1923. London: Cambridge University Press. p. 159.
- 1 2 Avent, Catherine; Pipe, Hilda, eds. (1991). Lady Margaret Hall Register 1879-1990. Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. p. 42 – via Internet Archive.
- 1 2 3 4 Brittain, Vera (1960). The Women At Oxford: A Fragment Of History. New York: The Macmillan Company.
- ↑ Howarth, Janet. "Principals and Tutors". www.firstwomenatoxford.ox.ac.uk. University of Oxford. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
- ↑ "Home Helps - Work for the Middle-Aged". The Common Cause. No. 342. 29 October 1915. p. 8. Retrieved 5 April 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive. Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
- ↑ "Maternity Unit for the Relief of Refugees in Poland". The Common Cause. No. 348. 10 December 1915. p. 11. Retrieved 5 April 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive. Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
- ↑ "The Millicent Fawcett Hospital Units". The Common Cause. No. 408. 2 February 1917. p. 13. Retrieved 5 April 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive. Full access available to users of The Wikipedia Library.
- ↑ Moberly, Winifred H (29 September 1919). "UK, WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
- ↑ St Hilda's College: A Concise History (PDF), St Hilda's College, Oxford, p. 4, retrieved 17 June 2026