Winifred Mercier

Winifred Mercier
commissioned in 1938 from Oswald Birley
Born	20 May 1878 Ilford, England
Died	2 September 1934(1934-09-02) (aged 56) Surrey, England
Education	Somerville College
Employer	Whitelands College

Winifred Mercier OBE (20 May 1878 – 2 September 1934) was the principal of Whitelands College. She believed in education irrespective of class and gender and it has been argued that her approach is still relevant.

Life

Mercier was born in

In 1913 she became the vice-principal of the Leeds Training College which had nearly 500 students and more than 60% of them were women. It was this fact that made the college's board to require that the principal should have a woman as vice-principal. However, it did not mean that the principal had to work closely with her. Mercier had clear ideas and she was inspired by the 1902 Education Act which she hoped would lead to the removal of distinctions in education due to class. She also highlighted that people who aspired to teach must themselves continue to learn. She believed that women and men students should be taught together. This was contentious.^[2]

She and the Leeds Training College principal had several disagreements and after three years she resigned. Some of the staff were not happy and as a result James Graham of the Leeds education board came to the college to address the staff. Her resignation and his instructive talk led to half of the women teachers also resigning from their positions.^[2]

Mercier continued to teach in Leeds and Manchester for two years before she became the Principal of

She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1933 New Year Honours.^[3]

Death and legacy

Mercier died in 1934 in Surrey. Her ideas continued, in 2017 they were being discussed as relevant to contemporary British education.^[2]

In 1938, the artist, Oswald Birley created a portrait painting of her which (in 2023) is at Whitelands College.^[4]

References