Frances Mary Buss and her work for education

by Annie E. Ridley

Miss Buss made frequent visits to Girton and to Newnham, having a succession of pupils there. I remember her enjoyment, as well as my own, as she took me to see them for the first time, when we lunched at Girton with Miss Bernard, and afterwards had tea with Miss Clough, at Newnham; in both Colleges being shown about by old pupils, delighted to show their pretty rooms to their dear friend.

The present head of Girton writes, now that these visits are of the past—

“It is not merely the thought of what, with her great abilities and vast stores of experience, she might still have accomplished, if she had been spared in health and strength till old age overtook her, but the feeling that the world and her friends are so much poorer by the loss of one of the best and truest women that ever lived, that fills me with regret. As you know, it has been my privilege to count her among my staunchest friends, and I feel that to me, at least, one unfailing source of sympathy and support is lost now that she is gone. There are others who can tell better than I can what her help meant to the college in early days. I know well how much it has owed to her in later times, and in how many ways we shall miss her now.”

Miss Helen Gladstone gives another side of the work—

“I sincerely wish that I could show my respect and affection for Miss Buss by attending either or both services to-morrow; but I am too far off to make it possible. I most truly lament her death, and I feel most grateful to her for her splendid work for not merely education, but Church education. It was in connection with such work that I knew her best, and gained the privilege of forming a friendship with her.”

I have been favoured by Mr. Menzies with an interesting account of an experiment of great importance in the early days of the University movement, in which Miss Buss took an active part. When Miss Davies first propounded her scheme to the School-Mistresses’ Association, it was regarded by most of the members as a thing impossible. Mrs. Menzies, one of the members, was known to have been educated by her father, Dr. King, on the same lines as his boy-pupils. Her classmates, as men, won University honours, while Mrs. Menzies went on with her studies at home with so much success that in after life she was able to act as a classical “coach” to young men preparing for the University.

Her opinion of the subject of the University career for girls was naturally of weight; and she was asked to answer these two important questions—

“(1) Could girls, beginning their classical studies at fourteen or fifteen years of age, be able to hold their ground when placed in competition with young men who had begun the same studies in their eighth or ninth year? (2) Would it be necessary to alter the entire system of teaching in girls’ schools, so as to make classics the dominant study from the age at which boys usually began?”

As Mrs. Menzies was unacquainted with everything connected with girls’ schools, she was unable to give any definite opinion. She had taught Latin and Greek to a few ladies, but these had always been above the schoolgirl age.

Here Miss Buss’ practical turn of mind came to the rescue. She first proposed that Mrs. Menzies should take a senior class in the North London School, and make the experiment; and when she found that Mrs. Menzies was unable to give the time required for going to Camden Town, she then chartered an omnibus, and sent the pupils to the teacher.