{{Short description|English teacher trainer (1867–1946)}}
{{Infobox officeholder | office = Principal of Hughes Hall, Cambridge | image = Margaret Punnett.jpg | caption = Margaret Punnett in about 1905 | predecessor = Elizabeth Hughes | successor = Helena Powell | term_start = 1900 | term_end = 1902 | birth_date = 1867 | birth_place = Skirbeck | death_date = 1946 | death_place = St Briavels | alma_mater = Hughes Hall, Cambridge | occupation = Vice-principal of Institute of Education, 1905-1933 }}'''Margaret Punnett''' (1867–1946) was an English teacher and teacher trainer. After briefly serving as the second Principal of Hughes Hall, Cambridge, she spent twenty-eight years as vice-principal of the Institute of Education and was responsible for much of the teaching and administration there.
== Early life and education == She was born in Skirbeck, Lincolnshire in 1867 to former teacher and produce broker John Trefusis Punnett and his wife Louisa, ''née'' Bulpett.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Brewis |first=Georgina |title=Punnett, Margaret (1867–1946), educationalist |date=2020-04-09 |work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.112220 |access-date=2026-03-31 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8}}</ref>
Educated at South Hampstead High School, she received a B.A.in German and Mathematics from the University of London in 1889.<ref name=":0" />
In 1892, she received a Gilchrist scholarship to study at the Cambridge Training College for Women (later Hughes Hall). She also received certification from the Cambridge Teachers’ Training Syndicate and the London Teachers’ Diploma in 1893.<ref name=":0" />
== Teaching career == In 1893 she was appointed as a teacher at the Saffron Walden Training College and School.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Society |first=British and Foreign School |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Report_of_the_British_and_Foreign_School/L8Lb5aic4PYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=margaret+punnett+teacher&pg=RA3-PA173&printsec=frontcover |title=Report of the British and Foreign School Society |date=1892 |pages=170 |language=en}}</ref>
In 1900, she was appointed as the second Principal of Hughes Hall.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Journal_of_Education/jZFIAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=margaret+punnett+hughes+hall&pg=PA254&printsec=frontcover |title=The Journal of Education |date=1899 |publisher=W. Stewart & Company |pages=254 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bottrall |first=Margaret |url=http://archive.org/details/hugheshall1885190000bott |title=Hughes Hall, 1885-1985 |date=1985 |publisher=Rutherford |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-906496-32-9 |pages=37-9}}</ref> She left the post in 1902.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Educational_Times/A5FAAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=margaret+punnett+teacher&pg=PA326&printsec=frontcover |title=Educational Times: A Review of Ideas and Methods |date=1902 |publisher=S. Birch |pages=360 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
In 1902, she was appointed Normal Mistress at the newly established London Day Training College, which later became the Institute of Education.<ref name=":1" /> She was appointed vice-principal there in 1905. Her role included lecturing in teaching methods, arithmetic, psychology, and scripture; and administrative duties, including responsibility for the women students.<ref name=":0" /> During World War I, she worked alongside Percy Nunn to select Practice Schools for teacher training.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blades |first=Barry |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Teachers_at_the_Front_1914_1919/kqsSEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=margaret+punnett+teacher&pg=PT29&printsec=frontcover |title=Teachers at the Front, 1914–1919 |date=2021-04-21 |publisher=Pen and Sword History |isbn=978-1-4738-4886-3 |language=en}}</ref> Her industriousness resulted in a student song: ‘If owt’s been dunn ‘ere, Miss Punnett’s dunnit’. She retired in 1933, and two people were appointed to replace her.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nolan |first=Kailey |date=2026-03-23 |title=Getting it done: Margaret Punnett, supporting generations of teachers {{!}} About UCL |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/about/search-faces-ucl/getting-it-done-margaret-punnett-supporting-generations-teachers |access-date=2026-03-31 |website=www.ucl.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=UCL |title=If owt’s been dunn ‘ere, Miss Punnett’s dunnit: The Punnett Hall {{!}} UCL Institute of Education Blog |url=https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/2024/10/22/if-owts-been-dunn-ere-miss-punnetts-dunnit-the-punnett-hall/ |access-date=2026-03-31 |website=blogs.ucl.ac.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref>
In 1913, she published ''The Groundwork of Arithmetic—A Handbook for Teachers''.<ref name=":0" />
== Death and legacy == After retiring, she lived with her sister in St Briavels in the Forest of Dean. She died in 1946.<ref name=":0" />
In 2024, the Institute of Education renamed its drama studio Punnett Hall in recognition of Margaret Punnett’s work training teachers at UCL. This was the first instance of the IOE naming a room after a woman.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Punnett Hall: IOE finally names a room after a woman |url=https://cheesegratermagazine.org/article/2024-10-27-punnett-hall-ioe-finally-names-a-room-after-a-woman/ |access-date=2026-03-31 |website=cheesegratermagazine.org |language=en-GB}}</ref>
== References == <!-- Inline citations added to your article will automatically display here. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:REFB for instructions on how to add citations. --> {{reflist}} Category:1867 births Category:1946 deaths Category:Alumni of Hughes Hall, Cambridge Category:20th-century women educators Category:Presidents of Hughes Hall, Cambridge {{DEFAULTSORT:Punnett, Margaret}}