Jane Agnes Chessar 1835 – 1880
Educationalist.
21 April 1835 – 3 September 1880
Education
At private school and classes.
Some Key Achievements and Interests
1851 Started at the Home and Colonial College, Gray’s Inn Road, Bloomsbury. The College was founded in 1836 by Elizabeth and Charles Mayo, advocates of the Pestalozzi method of teaching. It offered training for primary school teachers and governesses alongside the education of children.
1852-1866 Employed as an organising governess in the training of teachers for national schools, specialising in human physiology and physical geography, a role which she carried out well helping establish the reputation of the College. After her resignation due to poor health she continued to lecture and teach.
1861 Organised ten student teachers from the school to attend lectures in physiology for women given by John Marshall at UCL.
Attended meetings of the Royal Geographical Society.
Taught geography at North London Collegiate, Camden School for Girls, Gower Street School for Girls.
Member of the Teacher’s Training and Registration Society.
Member of the Council of Cheltenham Ladies’ College.
1871 Elected to represent women teachers on the Council of the College of Preceptors.
1873 Elected to the London School Board.
1874 Successfully campaigned to give girls equal rights to boys to compete for Lawrence scholarships which would allow them to continue their education.
1876 Examined for the Froebel Society, one of the first two examiners.
1877 Joined the Teacher’s Training & Registration Society established by Maria Grey.
Supported women’s suffrage, campaigning for women’s education.
Served on the governing body of the Women’s Education Union.
Established a reputation as a journalist.
Issues
Suffered from poor health through her life.
Connection to Bloomsbury
Lived at 6 Frederick Place, Gray’s Inn Road.
Trained and then worked (teaching human physiology and physical geography) at the Home and Colonial College, Gray’s Inn Road.
1890s Taught geography at the Gower Street School for Girls.
Female networks
Alice Cowell, Emily Davies, Frances Buss, Elizabeth Mayo, the Garrett women (particulary ELizabeth), Langham Place Group members, Lucy Harrison, Mary Richardson, Mary Somerville.
Some Publications
1870 Edited Physical Geography by Mary Somerville.
1880 Edited Manual of Geography by William Hughes.
1879 On Teaching Geography for the London Association of Schoolmistresses.
Further reading
On the London School Board To ‘blaise the trail for women to follow along’: sex, gender and the politics of education on the London School Board, 1870-1904. Martin, Jane; University College Northampton, 1999 Strangers in a Man’s World? The Women Members of the London School Board, 1870-1904 (ucl.ac.uk)
Jane Chessar (1835–80): From ‘Surplus’ Woman to Professional Educator | SpringerLink
Martin, Jane & Goodman, Joyce; Jane Chessar (1835–80): From ‘Surplus’ Woman to Professional Educator
Martin, Jane & Goodman, Joyce; Women and Education 1800-1980
See handout given at talk by Jane Martin and Melissa Benn on Jane Chessar on 21 March 2024