{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Short description|British social reformer and writer}} {{Infobox person/Wikidata|fetchwikidata=ALL}}
'''Mary Ann Higgs''' OBE, born '''Mary Ann Kingsland''' (1854–1937) was a British writer and social reformer who was associated with the town of Oldham and housing for women. Her works include Oldham's Garden Suburb and the Twentieth Century New Testament.
==Life== Higgs was born in Devizes, Wiltshire. She was the first child born to Caroline (''née'' Paddon) and William Kingsland. Her father was a Congregational minister and in 1862, his work took the family north to Bradford. Higgs had two younger siblings.<ref name=horb>{{Cite ODNB |title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2004-09-23 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/38523 |editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=H. C. G. |access-date=2023-08-06 |place=Oxford |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/38523 |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=B.}}</ref> thumb|Mary Kingsland, left of middle row, with fellow Girton College students Higgs was chosen to be one of the pupils at the College for Women in Hitchin in 1871. Two years later, the college moved to Cambridge to become Girton College. Higgs was a founding student of Girton and the first woman to sit the university's natural science tripos. She was not awarded a Cambridge degree due to her gender, but was employed as an assistant lecturer at Girton.<ref name=histe>{{Cite web |title=Higgs, Mary {{!}} Historic England |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/womens-history/visible-in-stone/biographies/a-k/higgs-mary/ |access-date=2023-08-06 |website=historicengland.org.uk |language=en}}</ref>
Higgs was the founder of the Beautiful Oldham Society, and she is credited with inspiring the creation of Oldham's Garden Suburb, intended to high quality but affordable housing.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=100 years of life in the Suburb |url=https://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/26046/100-years-of-life-in-the-suburb |access-date=2023-08-06 |website=www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk |language=en-gb}}</ref>
She initiated the project of translating the New Testament into contemporary language that resulted in the Twentieth Century New Testament.<ref name="jisc" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Michael Joseph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TrHxi7XDEeQC&dq=%22Twentieth+Century+New+Testament%22+%22mary+higgs%22&pg=PA54 |title=Genesis for Everyone |date=2001-01-01 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=978-0-664-22941-2 |page=54 |language=en}}</ref>
Higgs's campaigning gained attention when she disguised herself as a homeless woman to investigate the options available to them. The resulting book "Where Shall She Live?", co-written with Edward Heyward, was published in 1910. She also co-founded the National Association of Women's Lodging Houses and produced pamphlets to highlight the limited housing options open to women. <ref name=histe/>
==Personal life== Higgs married Congregational minister Reverend Thomas Kilpin Higgs in 1879. They shared four children. Higgs joined Thomas when he moved to Staffordshire, Manchester, then Oldham for his work – in Oldham, Thomas led the Greenacres Congregational Church from 1891 to his death in 1907.<ref name=jisc>{{Cite web |title=Papers relating to The Twentieth Century New Testament – Archives Hub |url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb133-engms750 |access-date=2023-08-06 |website=archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk}}</ref>
==Death and legacy== Higgs died in 1937, the same year that she was given an OBE.<ref name=jisc/> In 2009, the Oldham community celebrated the centenary of the Garden Suburb.<ref name=":0" /> In 2011, Oldham’s Pupil Support and Specialist Learning Centre was renamed Kingsland School to honour her contribution to the town.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mary's legacy will go down in history books |url=https://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/52637/mary’s-legacy-will-go-down-in-history-books |access-date=2023-08-06 |website=www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk |language=en-gb}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgs, Mary Ann}} Category:1854 births Category:1937 deaths Category:People from Oldham Category:Bible translators Category:British homelessness activists Category:British housing rights activists Category:Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge