Alice Louisa Zimmern

Educationalist, suffragist, writer.

22 September 1855 – 22 March 1939

Alice Louisa Zimmern: A Trailblazer in Women’s Education, Suffrage, and Scholarship: A tribute by Laura Spence

Alice Louisa Zimmern, a prominent figure in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, left an indelible mark on the fields of education, suffrage, and scholarship. Zimmern was born on September 22 1855 in Nottingham, England. Her parents were Antonia Marie Therese Regina Zimmern (née Leo), and Hermann Theodore Zimmern, a lace merchant, German Jews who had emigrated to England in 1850 following political revolution in Germany from 1848-49. The youngest of three scholarly sisters, Alice Zimmern grew up in a family of intellectuals, counting amongst her cousins political scientist and World War I policy-maker Sir Alfred Eckhard Zimmern (1879-1957). Siblings Helen and Antonia made significant contributions in their respective fields of literature, art history, translation, and Old Testament scholarship: like Alice, they also ventured to write within fields traditionally dominated by men, such as politics and philosophy. As with another daughter of German Jews, Eleanor Marx, the tradition of enlightened family debates prompted the Zimmern siblings to achieve in arenas where women were excluded. 

Alice Zimmern’s educational journey was marked by dedication and academic excellence. After receiving a private education, she attended Bedford College in London. In 1881, she arrived at Girton College as a College Scholar to study classics, a subject that would become her area of expertise. At Girton, Zimmern founded a dramatic society which focused on producing the classics. She also participated in the Debating Society, the Browning Society and the Classical Club. Her intellectual curiosity and engagement would later extend beyond the classroom.

While teaching Classics at English girls’ schools – including Tunbridge Wells High School (1888-1891), Zimmern showcased her talents as a writer. In 1887, she produced a school rendition of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, displaying her deep understanding of classical literature. She also translated Hugo Bluemner’s work, The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks in 1893 and Porphyry: The Philosopher to his Wife Marcella (1896). Zimmern further demonstrated her versatility by writing children’s books, including Greek History for Young Readers (1895), Old Tales from Greece (1897) and Old Tales from Rome (1906), which were widely reprinted.

Zimmern’s passion for women’s and girls’ education took her beyond England’s borders. In 1893, she received the Gilchrist travelling scholarship, which led her to explore the educational system in the United States, focusing particularly on girls’ training. It is worth noting that access to education varied greatly between the sexes and socio-economic classes during the 1800s in England. For the greater part of the 19th century, there was no state-funded education. Although the Education Act of 1880 made elementary education compulsory – marking the British government’s attempt to curb child labour – the law was difficult to enforce amongst working-class families when school fees remained payable at this time. Another decade passed until the Free Education Act of 1891 provided payment of school fees by the state of up to ten shillings per week, for pupils aged 5-10 years old. Yet, children from working-class and farming families were often withdrawn from school before the age of 10 and forced to work. Furthermore, boys’ education was widely perceived as being more important than girls’ education during the Victorian era. It was only from 1848, the founding of the first women’s college – Queen’s College in Harley Street, London, that higher education colleges and universities began accepting female students (Zimmern, 1898). Zimmern’s critical observations and cross-comparisons of both the North American and English educational models highlighted the need to provide equal opportunities for all children, regardless of sex or socio-economic background, advocating for educational access for the less privileged. (Zimmern, 1894). 

As a writer and scholar, Zimmern made significant contributions to the debates surrounding women’s education and suffrage. Her book The Renaissance of Girls’ Education in England: A Record of Fifty Years Progress examined the historical trajectory of girls’ education and emphasised the importance of free and fair access to education for all. In more than one instance, Zimmern leverages her knowledge of Plato in this text to her support her call for the democratisation of education, transcending barriers of class and sex:

“Far behind Germany in its adoption of this principle, England did at last wake up to the necessity of educating all her citizens…As Plato would have counselled, to make the men and women of the State as good as possible…The idea of universal education has at last gained a hold in this country.” (Zimmern, 1898, p. 195). 

This illuminates a rhetorical device commonly deployed by Zimmern across her texts, whereby she cites historical antecedents to support her arguments for women’s and working-class rights. Moreover, this also reveals a pragmatic application of her classical education towards such causes: an education largely denied to women in Victorian England. 

Zimmern’s dedication to women’s suffrage is evident in her book Women’s Suffrage in Many Lands (1909), written to coincide with the Fourth Congress of the International Women’s Suffrage Alliance. In this seminal work, she documented a chronological trajectory of the international fight for women’s voting rights. From Europe to Australasia and to the U.S.A, Zimmern highlighted a number of historical precedents for women’s entitlement to voting rights and emphasised the intrinsic connection between enfranchisement and the just treatment of women in society. Although her strongly defended arguments in this text are moderate and pragmatic, Zimmern recognised the effectiveness of British suffragettes’ militant tactics to effect change, whilst Zimmern herself marched in the “From Prison to Citizenship” procession with members of the Women’s Writers Suffrage League (18 June 1910). The impact of her contribution to debates on both women’s voting rights and education are marked by Zimmern’s public standing as an educator and intellectual.

Engaging further in social issues affecting women, Zimmern’s article ‘Ladies Dwellings’ (Zimmern, 1900) tackled the topic of women’s lodgings in London, advocating for affordable housing that allowed women to lead independent lives away from societal pressures. Zimmern’s writings contributed to the broader discourse on improving women’s living conditions, and creating public spaces where they could pursue professional endeavours without the constraints of marriage and family.

Throughout her research and writing, Zimmern frequented the British Museum Reading Room during the 1880s and 1890s. Fellow suffragists, intellectuals and Fabian Society members such as Edith Bland, Eleanor Marx, and Beatrice Potter formed a network of politically active women who shared goals and interests in demanding women’s access to the public sphere. 

On 22nd March 1939, Alice Louisa Zimmern died at her home, 45 Clevedon Mansions, Highgate Road, London. In recognition of her contributions to education and scholarship, she bequeathed £150 to Girton College to establish the Alice Zimmern Memorial Prize in Classics. News of Zimmern’s passing, as well as her remarkable legacy, reached across the Atlantic since her cousin Dr Hellmut Lehmann-Haupt, Professor in the School of Library Services at Columbia University, placed her obituary in the New York Times on March 24, 1939. In recounting Alice Zimmern’s exceptional achievements, the author of this tribute hopes that Zimmern’s intellectual prowess, advocacy for women’s education and suffrage, and dedication to social issues, can continue to inspire generations of scholars, activists, and intellectuals who strive for a more equitable world. 

Bibliography

Cambridge University Libraries: Personal Papers of Alice Zimmern, 1850-1950; GBR/0271/GCPP Zimmern. Information available from https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/19/archival_objects/370830 (Accessed: 4 March 2023). 

Living Heritage, UK Parliament (2023) ‘The 1870 Education Act.’ Available at: https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/livinglearning/school/overview/1870educationact/#:~:text=In%201880%20a%20further%20Education,short%20at%2082%20per%20cent. (Accessed: 6 June 2023).

Zimmern, A (1900), ‘Ladies’ dwellings’, The Contemporary Review, 1866-1900; London, vol. 77, pp. 96-104. Available from https://www.proquest.com/docview/6668548/fulltextPDF/4BE650AD9EB438FPQ/1?accountid=11455 (Accessed: 31 May 2023).

Zimmern, A. (1894). Methods of Education in the United States. [Online]. London: Swan Sonnenschein and Co.; New York: Macmillan and Co. Available from https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:2574820$1i (Accessed: 18 May 2023). 

Zimmern, A. (1898) The Renaissance of Girls’ Education in England: A Record of Fifty Years’ Progress. [Online]. London: A.D. Innes and Company Limited . Available from https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t07w69t8j&view=1up&seq=7 (Accessed: 29 May 2023). 

Zimmern, A. (1909) Women’s Suffrage in Many Lands. [Online]. London: Francis & Co., The Athenaeum Press. Available from https://archive.org/details/womenssuffrageinalic/page/n5/mode/2up (Accessed: 6 March 2023; public access has since been revoked from this source due to copyright changes). 

Laura Spence is a current PhD student in ethnomusicology at Royal Holloway, University of London, and works as an Archives Assistant at the same institution. Her current research centres around tracing the ‘foodways’ of Chilean wine to examine connections between music, cultural heritage, and politico-economic contexts in corporate branding/image-making practices, as well as social constructions of consumerism. Laura’s Pure Profile details her research and publications: 

https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/en/persons/laura-spence-2

Connection to Bloomsbury:

Networked at the British Museum Reading Room with women such as Beatrice Webb (née Potter), Edith Bland (E Nesbit), Eleanor Marx,

MINI BIOGRAPHY

Education

Private school.

Started at Bedford College, London.

1881-1885 Girton College, Cambridge. Graduated with honours in the Cambridge classical tripos.

Some key Achievements and Interests

While at Girton College, Zimmern organised a society with Janet Case to produce classical drama and put on a production of Elektra in 1883, breaking the notion that only men act in Greek plays. She was also involved in the Debating Society, the Browning Society, and the Classical Club.

1886-1894 Taught classics and English at girls’ schools.

1888-1891 Served as an assistant mistress at Tunbridge Wells high school.

1893 Awarded the Gilchrist travelling scholarship which allowed to study educational methods in the United States. Later, she also studied educational methods in England, France, and Germany.

1894 Transitioned from teaching in a school to teaching classics to private pupils.

Wrote articles for a range of journals in which she analysed different educational systems and discussed the education of women. Became an influential advocate of women’s education and suffrage.

1898 The Renaissance of Girls’ Education in England: A Record of Fifty Years Progress.

1912 Served as Secretary to the Emily Davies Jubilee Fund for Girton College.

Left £150 for the Alice Zimmern Memorial Prize for Classics at Girton College.

Issues

Had limited financial means.

She developed arthritis later in life which limited her travelling.

Connection to Bloomsbury

1880s and 1890s Frequented the British Museum Reading Room researching, writing and networking there. First ticket issued 1876.

Female networks

Helen Zimmern, sister, Janet Case, M C Chapman.

British Museum Reading Room networks including Edith Bland, Eleanor Marx, and Beatrice Potter.

Writing

Included publications for a children’s audience and articles published in journals such as Forum and Leisure Hour.

1887 An edition of Meditation of Marcus Aurelius.

1893 Translation of The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks by Hugo Bluemner.

1894 Methods of Education in America.

1895 Greek History for Young Readers.

1897 Old Tales from Greece, for children.

1906 Old Tales from Rome, for children.

1896 Translation of Porphyry: The Philosopher to his Wife Marcella.

1896 Ladies’ clubs in London, an article published in Forum.

1898 The Renaissance of Girls’ Education in England: A Record of Fifty Years Progress

1900 Ladies’ dwellings, an article published in the Contemporary Review.

1909 Women’s Suffrage in Many Lands.

1912 Demand and Achievement: The International Women’s Suffrage Movement.

1917 Translation of The Origins of the War by Take Ionescu.

Further reading

Girton College Register. Privately printed for Girton College, 1869-1946. https://search.worldcat.org/en/title/1442048

Hoberman, R. Women in the British Museum Reading Room during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries: from quasi-to counterpublic. Feminist Studies, 2002. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A97728348/LitRC?u=mnalmgl&sid=googleScholar&xid=43079f24

Thomas, G. Zimmern, Alice Louisa Theodora (1855-1939), educationist and suffragist. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/38621

Zimmern, A. Personal Papers of Alice Zimmern. Girton College Archive, 1850-1950. https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/19/archival_objects/370830

Zimmern, A. Demand and Achievement: The International Women’s Suffrage Movement (1912), in Tracts on Women’s Suffrage. London: Women’s Freedom League, 1913.