In her memorial notice,[[14]] Miss Toplis tells us that the name of this new association was due to Miss Buss, as she says—
[14]. Educational Review, January, 1895.
“How many of those who now hold the honourable position and title of head-mistress know that they owe this title to her? She had succeeded in convincing the authorities that in the new schools which were to come into existence a woman could be the actual head, and that there was no need to put her and her school under a man as director (which was the only idea that occurred to them); and then arose this question, what should the lady be called?—superintendent, lady-principal, director? ‘A thought flashed into my mind,’ she used to say, ‘if head-master, why not head-mistress, as the exact equivalent?’ And, much to my surprise, the suggestion was immediately accepted.”
Miss Buss became president of the association, retaining the office till the end, when her place was taken by Miss Beale; the duties during the long illness being undertaken by Miss H. M. Jones, as deputy-president.
Miss H. M. Jones, in a letter on Christmas Day, 1894, speaks for the whole body in her expression of sorrow—
“How many will feel to-day that they have lost a friend on whose judgment and advice they could always rely! Few women have exercised so great an influence on the educational movements of the present day, and still fewer have worked so hard as she has done to secure the greatest possible advantages to the girls of this and future generations. She will be greatly missed and greatly mourned.
“It is just twenty-one years ago that a few of us head-mistresses met during the Christmas holidays to establish the Association, of which she has since then been the honoured president, and in which she always took so great an interest. In fact, as you know, Miss Buss has been foremost as a leader in all our deliberations and in all our efforts.”
Miss Elsie Day, of the Grey Coat Hospital, Westminster, adds a very interesting fact in the history of the Association; as, after the expression of personal grief, she says—
“She was emphatically the mother of the head-mistresses. We looked to no one, as we did to her, for wise and loving help. For myself, I can only say I have loved her for twenty years.
“What I am anxious for is, that in any notice of her, when it would be suitable, it should be mentioned that it was at her request that, when the Head-mistresses’ Association met here, in 1885, there was a special celebration for the Association. She wrote in the sweetest and most modest way, asking me if I saw my way to it, and Canon Furse celebrated at my request. Such an early celebration has been held and much appreciated almost every year since.