# Ethel Strudwick

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{{Short description|British headmistress (1880–1954)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Ethel Strudwick''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE}} (3 April 1880 – 15 August 1954) was a British headteacher and [Liberal Party](/source/Liberal_Party_(UK)) activist.

Strudwick was born in [Fulham](/source/Fulham), the daughter of [John](/source/John_Melhuish_Strudwick) and Harriet Strudwick, her father being a prominent [Pre-Raphaelite](/source/Pre-Raphaelite) artist.  She was educated at Queen Elizabeth's School in [West Kensington](/source/West_Kensington), then won a scholarship to [Bedford College, London](/source/Bedford_College%2C_London) (now [Royal Holloway, University of London](/source/Royal_Holloway%2C_University_of_London)), where she completed an honours degree in classics.  She became a schoolteacher, teaching classics at the Laurels School in [Rugby](/source/Rugby%2C_Warwickshire), but soon returned to Bedford College.  There, she completed an MA, and taught classics, before becoming head of its Latin department.<ref name="odnb">{{Cite ODNB|id=62339|title=Strudwick, Ethel}}</ref>

Strudwick left the college in 1913, when she was appointed as headteacher of the [City of London School for Girls](/source/City_of_London_School_for_Girls).  She ran the school through [World War I](/source/World_War_I), and after the war expanded the school's curriculum by building a physics laboratory, and encouraging pupils to undertake social work in south London.  In 1921, she was also appointed to the Senate of the [University of London](/source/University_of_London).<ref name="odnb" />

In 1927, Strudwick beat 45 other candidates to be appointed as headteacher of [St Paul's Girls' School](/source/St_Paul's_Girls'_School).  At the school, she again ordered more teaching space to be built for science, and she also taught some classes herself.  During [World War II](/source/World_War_II), she arranged for the evacuation of many pupils to [Wycombe Abbey School](/source/Wycombe_Abbey_School), but in May 1940, parents voted for the school to return to London.  Despite the war, pupil numbers increased.<ref name="odnb" />  During this period, [Angela Brazil](/source/Angela_Brazil) wrote a children's story set at the school; Strudwick strongly disapproved, denouncing the book in morning prayers, then collecting copies of the book from pupils to be burned.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tamagne|first1=Florence|title=A History of Homosexuality in Europe, Vol. I: Berlin, London, Paris, 1919-1939|date=2003|publisher=Algora Publishing|isbn=978-0875862521}}</ref>

Strudwick became increasingly involved with national bodies, serving as president of the Association of Headmistresses from 1931 to 1933, founding president of the British Federation of Business and Professional Women in 1937, and joined the council of the [Girls' Public Day School Trust](/source/Girls'_Public_Day_School_Trust) in 1948.<ref name="odnb" />  In 1945, she sat on a government committee of inquiry into the future role of women in the foreign service, chosen because she was known not to hold strongly [feminist](/source/feminist) views.<ref>{{cite book|last1=McCarthy|first1=Helen|title=Women of the World: The Rise of the Female Diplomat|date=2004|publisher=Bloomsbury|location=London|isbn=9781408840054|page=232}}</ref>  In 1943, she was elected to the national council of the Liberal Party, and she was president of the [Women's Liberal Federation](/source/Women's_Liberal_Federation) for a year from 1949.<ref name="odnb" />

Strudwick was appointed an [Officer of the Order of the British Empire](/source/Officer_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) in 1936, and a [Commander](/source/Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) in 1948.  She retired that year.<ref name="odnb" />

==References==
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{{succession box|title=President of the [Women's Liberal Federation](/source/Women's_Liberal_Federation)|years=1949&ndash;1950|before=Eleanor Layton|after=[Doreen Gorsky](/source/Doreen_Gorsky)}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Strudwick, Ethel}}
Category:1880 births
Category:1954 deaths
Category:Academics of Bedford College, London
Category:Alumni of Bedford College, London
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Heads of schools in London
Category:Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates
Category:People from Fulham

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ethel Strudwick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Strudwick) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Strudwick?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.