I was interested in reading this book on the subject of Dorothea Beale and her outstanding achievements in providing education to women. I had never heard of her in relation to this subject and was impressed by the scale and depth of her life. Sally Walter has written a well researched book and should be commended for introducing Dorothea to a wider audience. I have no issue reading academic literature and this is a book which leans in that direction. However, I would recommend making the effort. My grateful thanks to Netgalley, Pen &Sword and Sally Walter for this exemplary book.

As an educator myself, I was really interested in this biography because it was about a woman who fought for women’s education. I have to say that because there is very little subject material which made the book to be very drawn out. The biography is also very dry which made it a slog to read. Still, I found the subject to be very interesting and a fascinating tale!

This was really dry. It was written in the most boring, this happened then that happened kind of way. It was unfortunately incredibly boring, and un-exciting, and I am actually really interested in the subject matter. Dissapointing.

Pioneering Women’s Education by Sally Waller has a subtitle: Dorothea Beale, an unlikely reformer. It’s well worth noting that. This is not, as I expected, due to my (very) casual and over-excited reading of the title, a history of women’s education. It is a biography of Miss Beale (1831-1906), the Principal of Cheltenham Ladies’ College for 48 years.

It’s a very interesting and well-written biography, giving a well-rounded rather than hagiographic view of its subject. I’m pleased I made the mistake and was thus able to read the book, but I doubt that many casual browsers would grab it if they knew the subject matter. That’s a shame, because it’s a lovely read. I was surprised how much women’s education in the UK owes to this one woman. The 1864 Schools Enquiry Commission was persuaded to review girls’ education as well as boys and Miss Beale gave evidence. She prepared carefully and presented around a hundred examination papers of lamentable quality, written by “higher middle class” girls upon their arrival at Cheltenham. Miss Beale convinced the commissioners that the problem with girls’ education was not the girls, but the dreadful quality of the teaching. Teachers needed to be trained. The Commission’s findings ran to twenty volumes of Blue Books and Miss Beale, worried that the recommendations for girls’ education would get overlooked, arranged for a separate extract and publication of that material. It had a huge impact, resulting in more girls’ schools being established to match boys’ grammar schools. The curriculum moved away from painting, music and dancing to maths, science and other useful subjects.

When Dorothea Beale took over as Principal, the college had 89 students. By 1898, there were nearly 1,000. The importance of women’s education had become accepted and students could confidently move on to university degree courses, studying the same curriculum as men. Ex-Cheltenham students became heads of many schools around the world. The book shows how Miss Beale never stopped working to promote girls’ education. She found the confidence to take on the shareholders and College Council (yes, both all-male at first) at a time when women were expected to defer to men; and to convince them what was best for girls’ education.

Yep, I’m glad I read this book.

#PioneeringWomensEducation #NetGalley

Pioneering Women’s Education
Dorothea Beale, An Unlikely Reformer
by Sally Waller
Pub Date 30 Aug 2022
Pen & Sword, Pen & Sword History
Biographies & Memoirs | History | Nonfiction (Adult)





I am Reviewing a copy of Pioneering Women’s Education through Pen & Sword and Netgalley:






Despite being less known as other female campaigners in the nineteenth century, such as Florence Nightingale or Emmeline Pankhurst, Dorothea Beale is nonetheless deserving of wide recognition for her pioneering, and at times radical, ideas. Dorothea's work for the education of girls made just as significant an impact on the liberation of women as did that of Florence Nightingale in ennobling the nursing profession or Emmeline Pankhurst in drawing attention to women's political inferiority.





Despite being very much a woman of her times, Dorothy Beale had widespread involvement in societies promoting women's interests, Dorothea helped to show what women were capable of, providing them with greater confidence and self-belief, through her work as Principal of the Cheltenham Ladies' College, her writings, and her speeches.




Pioneering Women’s Education draws from a large range of original sources in order to trace Dorothea’s life and work. It considers the formative influences of her youth, her response to the disappointments of her early career and examines how her own educational ideas evolved, were put into practice and came to influence schools and colleges both at home and abroad. As well as an in-depth analysis of her pioneering work in Cheltenham, her many other interests, connections and involvements, including her contribution to the suffrage campaign are also explored. However this book is not just a story of one woman's achievements, great though they were. This book also helps to paint a picture of who Dorothea was as a person.



I give Pioneering Women’s Education five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!

Pioneering Women’s Education by Sally Waller expertly told the story of how one woman energized women’s education not only in England, but in many other countries. The chapters in this book provide an increased appreciation of the availability of education to women today. I have a feeling, if Dorothea were still alive, she would fight for educational reform for women on a global scale.