Alice Ottley

Alice Ottley
painting
Born 23 March, 1840
Acton
Died 18 September, 1912
London
Nationality UK
Successor Margaret Spurling

Alice Ottley (23 March, 1840 – 18 September, 1912) was the first head of what came to be called The Alice Ottley School in Worcester.

Life

Ottley was born on 23 March 1840 at Acton, Suffolk where her father was the vicar. Her parents were Lawrence and Elizabeth Ottley. When she was about ten when her family moved to Yorkshire as her father became the rector at Richmond. Her father became the canon the following year and he and Elizabeth continued to have children. In 1854 she was amongst three of the daughters who were sent to a small school in London, but Alice was unhappy and she returned to Richmond. She cared for her younger brothers Henry Bickersteth, Edward Bickersteth, Robert Lawrence Ottley and Charles Ottley. In 1861 he was one of twelve children left when his father died. His family moved back south where his mother and his sister Alice took in pupils.[1]

The Alice Ottley School was founded by Canon William Butler of Wantage and Ottley in 1883.[2] Canon Butler had arrived in Worcester in 1881 and he founded a new school for girls. Ottley was recommended to Butler as the ideal candidate. The school opened on the 21 June 1883 with ten pupils. They were soon eleven and these became known as the "first brood".[1]

Ottley remained headmistress until 1912 when having interviewed her successor she retired.. Ottley died in London in 18 September 1912. In 1914 the school's name was changed in her honour. In 1957, the City of Worcester added its own, more lasting commemoration, in the form of a window in the cloisters of the cathedral.[1]

In 2007 the former Alice Ottley School merged with the boys' school and in 2009 it abandoned its name and became part of "RGS Worcester".[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gillian Avery, ‘Ottley, Alice (1840–1912)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 21 January 2017
  2. ↑ Alice Ottley School, RGS, Retrieved 21 January 2017
  3. ↑ "Private school changes its name again". Worcester News. Retrieved 2017-01-22.
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