Marion Kennedy

Marion Kennedy
Born 23 November 1836
Shrewsbury
Died 11 January 1914
Torquay
Nationality UK
Subject Classics

Marion Kennedy or Marion Grace Kennedy (23 November 1836 – 11 January 1914) was a British classical scholar. She was a supporter of women's suffrage and higher education for women. She was born too early to take advantage of women's higher education and her father took the credit for some of her work. She helped to found and then worked for Newnham College where her ideas shaped its constitution.

Life

Kennedy was the second child and the first born of her family in Shrewsbury where her father was headmaster of Shrewsbury School. Her parents were Janet and Benjamin Hall Kennedy. Her father was inspiring, but her mother was the organised one who managed the family's money.[1]

She and her younger sister stayed in the family home and moved with their parents when her father became a Cambridge Professor in 1867. They were active in Cambridge from the family home in Bateman Street advancing reforming liberal views. The first Cambridge college for women, Girton College opened in 1869[1] and Newnham College followed two years later. The improvement in women's rights was supported by the Sidgewick, Fawcett and Kennedy families. Early students at Newnham's took their exams at the Kennedy house.[2]

Marion generously financed and was the executive secretary of the Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women in Cambridge which became part of Newnham in 1880.[1] Marion looked after the students at the college holding the position of honorary secretary until 1904.[3] In 1888 Philippa Fawcett was the first recipient of a postgraduate studentship established in Marion's honour.[2] In 1892 James Jebusa Shannon painted a portrait of her which was funded by college members and is still owned by Newnham College.[3]

Kennedy argued for a change in the colleges constitution in 1892/3. She wanted to ensure that the alumnae of the college should have real power over the future direction of the college. The college agreed to appoint "Associates". These people were initially found by asking former students to suggest the 20 people who could support the objectives of "Education, learning and research".[4] The 20 most popular names were appointed and ten more were added by the college. The Associates were full members of the college and every year three more were added and when 48 was reached then three also had to retire. This group includes eminent alumnae and staff. It meets once a year[4] and the associates have their own agenda. The associates have used their influence to raise funds for a fellowship. They also drafted the 1917 constitution which included the associates in the distributed power base of the college.[5]

In 1913 there was a problem with the copyright on the book "Revised Latin Primer " which had been published by her father in 1888. Marion was to reveal that the book was in fact written by herself, her sister and two of her father's students. Kennedy died in Torquay in 1914.[1]

Legacy

A hall opened at Newnham was named Kennedy Hall in 1905. In 1925 Newnham College was given their own coat of arms and it was based on themes taken from the arms of four families including the Kennedys.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Christopher Stray, ‘Kennedy, Marion Grace (1836–1914)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 22 June 2017
  2. 1 2 3 Marion Kennedy, Newnham College, Retrieved 22 June 2017
  3. 1 2 Marion Kennedy, Honorary Secretary of Newnham College (1880–1904), James Jebusa Shannon, ArtUK, Retrieved 22 June 2017
  4. 1 2 Alice Gardner (27 April 2015). A Short History of Newnham College, Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. pp. 64–. ISBN 978-1-108-08263-1.
  5. ↑ Newnham Colege, British-History.ac.uk, Retrieved 22 June 2017
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