Elizabeth Anne (Eliza) Bostock 1817 – 1898
Educationalist.
19 May 1817 – 13 April 1898
‘I would like women to enjoy their right to work, to labour, to earn independence, and then they would be in a condition to make themselves heard.’ [letter to Elisabeth Jesser Reid 1848]
https://ejrletters.omeka.net/collections/show/1
A Tribute to Eliza Bostock by Sarah Weston
Elizabeth Anne Bostock was born in Liverpool on the 19th May 1817, the only daughter of John and Ann Bostock[1]. Her father,was a renowned medical doctor and a man who was deeply passionate about the arts[2]. The family moved to London when Eliza was only a few months old and at the age of six she was sent to a day school near the family home. She hated the school’s methods of learning and her parents quickly withdrew her[3]. In 1829 the family moved again, spending two years in Paris where 12 year old Eliza she learned French conversation and grammar. Her love of the language and literature stayed with her until the end of her life which was briefly marked with the 1830 July Revolution when a servant had to run six barricades to fetch her from school to safety [4].
On their return to London, Eliza’s father, by now practically retired, devoted nearly all of his time to his daughter. Together they read Italian and English literature. They attended concerts, and played duets on the piano and attended Faraday’s lectures at the Royal Institution[5]. A trip to Rome in 1844, with her brother and other extended family, allowed her to spend time with artists like Gibson and she began to develop further her artistic skills[6]. A friend recalled how fine a watercolourist she was and mentioned a small painting of a squirrel that Eliza had painted for her, which she treasured [7].
In 1847 Eliza’s world was shattered by the death of her beloved father [8]. Eliza was consoled by her growing and warm friendship with Elisabeth Jesser Reid, who knew the family as her husband had been a student of Eliza’s father. The older woman had always taken a keen interest in Eliza and, as Eliza’s mother was in poor health and her father dead, their relationship was like that of mother and daughter [9]. Eliza was a willing listener to Jesser Reid’s ideas on the education of women and quickly changed her interests from hats, balls, and curates to a serious and abiding interest in women’s education [10]. This began her long association with Bedford College, one which she would retain for the rest of her life.
Eliza began her career at Bedford College in 1849. She excelled particularly in art and drawing [11]. Her passion for art occupied most of her summers. It was on her journeys to the Lake District and Wales, which she later made her home, where she developed her talent for drawing and painting [12].
During the time she was at Bedford College, Eliza’s mother was still poorly which meant that Eliza had to juggle her daughterly responsibilities with her work at the College. Eliza’s care for others is repeatedly shown through her personal correspondence. Her writings reveal a woman who felt a duty to care for sick friends and relations. She was also concerned with the health and well-being of her extended circle. In this way we can see the expectations of society on an unmarried middle-class woman and how they conspired to keep her from her pioneering activities in furthering women’s higher education.
Eliza kept rooms in the College and sat on many of the committees and boards. Her duties included being a house manager and supervising the girls and their education on a daily basis and she was instrumental in arranging the classes offered. She was responsible for the addition of natural philosophy to the curriculum and she the first lecturer in that subject, W J Russel recalled her help as being invaluable[13].
When Elisabeth Jesser Reid died in 1866, she named Eliza as one of the trustees of Bedford College, along with Jane Martineau and Eleanor Smith. Jesser Reid’s will was pledged to keep Bedford College afloat and to provide scholarships for women. Eliza embraced this responsibility and she continued her work for the college and women’s education in general. It was Eliza who pushed in 1879 for the Bedford College students to be prepared to take the examinations for the University of London [14]. She was a generous benefactor of the college, making many bequests, including to the rapidly growing library [15]. When Bedford College moved from Bedford Place in 1874, she was also instrumental in securing new accommodations for institution. [16].
As a house manager she was regarded with awe by the students. Her deafness, which increased with age, was a barrier to group conversations, and often led to her being seen as taciturn and austere [17]. Those who knew her well spoke of her personality as shifting between a quaint humour and a grave melancholy [18]. She was able to hold a conversation on any topic and she had a wonderful ability to persuade others, through her capacity to speak with quiet conviction [19]. She was known as serious. When a send-up of the college magazine was published, she was so offended by the light-hearted tone, which she felt made mocked the gravitas of education, that she wrote to the editor to express her feelings. When the editor replied and explained that it was more of a spoof and that she did indeed take education seriously, Eliza responded to her warmly and sent her £5 for books [20]. Many of the students received individual kindnesses from her, whether in the form of advice or encouragement and she kept in touch with several for years after they left the college [21]. A lecturer who recalled her dismay at the low marks achieved by the students on one particularly difficult mid-term paper said that he felt her distress so keenly that ensured an easier one was set for the next round to improve the marks attained [22].
Many felt that despite having no official role in the College structure itself, her diligence and active involvement in the day-to-day life of the college, and her willingness to advise and counsel the students, that she was, in all but name, the principal [23].
Outside of her work at Bedford College, Eliza, together with Emily Davis, was responsible for persuading Cambridge University, and later Oxford, to allow women to sit their exams which were part of their local examinations scheme [24]. As an incentive to women who sat these exams, Eliza funded two scholarships based on the results of the 1876 and 1877 exams, with the award going to the highest performers [25]. The pair also persuaded the 1864 School Inquiry Commission to include the education of girls in the report and to employ women to carry it out [26]. A member of the New Hospital for Women, Eliza was also a keen supporter of women taking up medical careers [27].
In her later years, her diminishing health caused her to spend extended time away from the College. She went to Wales where locals spoke of her as being kind to the village children, inviting them for tea and taking a keen interest in their goals and dreams, even gifting one small boy a set of tools when he expressed his desire to become a carpenter [28].
Elizabeth Ann Bostock died on the 13th of April 1898 at the age of eighty, after a bronchitis attack.[29] She was fondly remembered by many as being truly good hearted and kind, an inspiration to many, a woman of high standards, and a true pioneer of higher education for women.
Sarah Weston is an archaeologist and historian specialising in the material culture of the Great War, landscape archaeology and social history from the late Victorian period to the outbreak of the Second World War. She is currently undertaking research for an AHRC funded Collaborative Doctoral Partnership with Royal Holloway, University of London and Royal Museums Greenwich on domestic spaces within Royal Navy battleships and their impact on identity. Her other current research interests are tattooing and Trench Art.
[1] Ancestry.co.uk Birth and Baptism record https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/169922912
[2] R Notcutt June 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 2
[3] ibid
[4] ibid
[5] R Notcutt June 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 3
[6] ibid
[7] Emma Lingen 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 5
[8] R Notcutt June 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 3
[9] Henrietta Busk 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 8
[10] M Tuke 1939: A History of Bedford College for Women 1849-1937. Oxford University Press: London: 105
[11] Henrietta Busk 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 8
[12] R Notcutt June 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 4
[13] W J Russell 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 6
[14] Henrietta Busk 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 9
[15] M Tuke 1939: 107
[16] R Notcutt 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 3
[17] Henrietta Busk 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 9
[18] Emma Lingen 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 4
[19] Henrietta Busk 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 9
[20] M Tuke 1939: 107
[21] Elizabeth Sturge 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 11
[22] Percy J Harding 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 7
[23] Henrietta Busk 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 9
[24] Emily Davies 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 5
[25] Emily Davies 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 5
[26] Ibid
[27] R Notcutt 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 4
[28] Eleanor Garbutt 1898: Letter to Bedford College Magazine Issue 38: 12
[29] Bedford College Magazine 1898 Issue 38: 2
MINI BIOGRAPHY
Education
Mostly home schooled.
Attended lectures at Ladies’ College, Bloomsbury.
Some Key Achievements and Interests
Supported Reid in the founding of Ladies’ College, Bloomsbury. (Ladies’ College renamed Bedford College in 1859.)
Supervised students who boarded at 48 Bedford Square while attending the College.
Lectured on natural philosophy which she was responsible for introducing to the curriculum.
Named as one of the trustees of Bedford College when Jesser Reid died in 1866.
Campaigned for women to be allowed to sit examinations.
Issues
The death of her father deeply affected her.
As a single middle-class daughter was expected to take the role of carer for her poorly mother and friends and relatives which made huge demands on her time and energy.
When her name was put forward to be a professor of Moral Philosphy, George McDonald responded that she was: ‘unmethodical and uncertain and too much like a woman to a thoroughly satisfying agent on the minds of girls’ [letter to EJR 1865].
One condition of being named a trustee of Bedford College on Reid’s death was that she remained single.
Her deafness in her later years prevented her from engaging in group discussions.
Connection to Bloomsbury
Ladies’ College/Bedford College.
Lived Upper Bedford Place, Bloomsbury.
Benefactor of Bedford College.
Female Networks
Eleanor Smith, Eliza Bostock, Elizabeth Jesser Reid, Emily Davies, Jane Martineau, and other Bedford College associates.
Further reading: