Flora Stevenson
Encyclopedia
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
social reformer with a special interest in education for poor or neglected children, and in education for girls. She was one of the first women in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to be elected to a school board.
The first 30 years
Stevenson was born in GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, the youngest daughter of James Stevenson (1786–1866), a merchant, and his wife Jane Stewart Shannan, daughter of Alexander Shannan, merchant of Greenock. Flora was one of a large family including her fellow-campaigner and sister Louisa
Louisa Stevenson
Louisa Stevenson was a Scottish campaigner for women's university education, women's suffrage and effective, well-organised nursing.-Family:...
, the architect John James Stevenson, and MP James Cochran Stevenson
James Cochran Stevenson
James Cochran Stevenson was an English industrialist at Tyneside and a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1895....
. The family moved to Jarrow
Jarrow
Jarrow is a town in Tyne and Wear, England, located on the River Tyne, with a population of 27,526. From the middle of the 19th century until 1935, Jarrow was a centre for shipbuilding, and was the starting point of the Jarrow March against unemployment in 1936.-Foundation:The Angles re-occupied...
in 1844 when James Stevenson became partner in a chemical works. After he retired in 1854 the family moved to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
shortly before Mrs Stevenson died, and in 1859 they settled in a house in Randolph Crescent where Louisa, Flora, Elisa Stevenson (1829–1904), an early suffragist, and Jane Stevenson (1828–1904) spent the rest of their lives.
Her first educational project was an evening literacy class for "messenger girls" in her own home. She was an active member of the Edinburgh Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, and a committee member of the United Industrial Schools of Edinburgh, organising education in ragged school
Ragged school
Ragged Schools were charitable schools dedicated to the free education of destitute children in 19th century England. The schools were developed in working class districts of the rapidly expanding industrial towns...
s for some of the most neglected children of the city.
She and her sister Louisa
Louisa Stevenson
Louisa Stevenson was a Scottish campaigner for women's university education, women's suffrage and effective, well-organised nursing.-Family:...
were involved in the movement to open university education to women, and as members of the Edinburgh Ladies' Educational Association, they were at the first course of lectures for women given by Professor David Masson
David Masson
David Masson , was a Scottish writer.He was born in Aberdeen, and educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and at Marischal College, University of Aberdeen. Intending to enter the Church, he proceeded to Edinburgh University, where he studied theology under Dr Thomas Chalmers, with whom he remained...
in 1868.
School Board work and other causes
The 1872 Education (Scotland) Act made it possible for women to serve on School Boards. Flora Stevenson's friend Henry KingsleyHenry Kingsley
Henry Kingsley was an English novelist, brother of the better-known Charles Kingsley.Kingsley was born at Barnack rectory, Northamptonshire, son of the Rev. Charles Kingsley the elder, Mary, née Lucas. Charles Kingsley came of a long line of clergymen and soldiers, and in addition to the two...
had told her that she "was exactly the kind of person" who should have this opportunity. She was one of the first two women to be elected, and continued in this role for her whole life, eventually becoming Chairman of the Board. Her experience in working with the poorest children meant that as soon as she was elected she started work on a scheme offering food and clothing in exchange for a commitment to attend school. She was convenor of the attendance committee for many years and gave evidence on this subject to a select committee on education in Scotland in 1887.
She believed strongly in the value of industrial school
Industrial school
In Ireland the Industrial Schools Act of 1868 established industrial schools to care for "neglected, orphaned and abandoned children". By 1884 there were 5,049 children in such institutions....
s for "delinquent" children and her efforts led to the innovative day (non-residential) industrial school at St. John's Hill on the fringes of Edinburgh's Old Town. In the 1890s she was involved in plans for the Day Industrial Schools Act (1893), the Scottish Office
Scottish Office
The Scottish Office was a department of the United Kingdom Government from 1885 until 1999, exercising a wide range of government functions in relation to Scotland under the control of the Secretary of State for Scotland...
departmental committee on juvenile delinquents, and a committee advising the Scottish Office on reformatories for inebriates.
Stevenson was a strong supporter of good quality education for girls. She disapproved of girls in Edinburgh schools spending five hours on needlework each week while the boys were having lessons, though she promoted the Edinburgh School of Cookery and Domestic Economy. She told a newspaper, "By all means let the girls of this generation be trained to be good "housemothers" but let it not be forgotten that the well-being of the family depends equally on the "housefather"."
As well as support for women's suffrage
Suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...
, Flora Stevenson's political views included a belief in strongly enforced school attendance, which she felt was the key to improving the lives of deprived children, and opposition to free school meals, which she thought should be the responsibility of parents, supported by charities when necessary. These themes were sometimes addressed in her lectures on educational subjects, which were usually "cordially received". She was a vice-president of the Women's Free Trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
Union while tariff reform
Tariff Reform League
The Tariff Reform League was a pressure group formed in 1903 to protest against 'unfair' foreign imports and to advocate Imperial Preference to protect British industry from foreign competition. It was well funded and included politicians, intellectuals and businessmen, and was popular with the...
was a contentious issue, and also of the Women's Liberal Unionist Association
Liberal Unionist Party
The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington and Joseph Chamberlain, the party formed a political alliance with the Conservative Party in opposition to Irish Home Rule...
.
She was involved with many other social projects and charities.
Honours and her last years
In 1899 a new school at Comely Bank, Edinburgh was named for her, and it continues as the Flora Stevenson Primary School. The last few years of her life brought further honours: an honorary LLD from Edinburgh University in 1903, a portrait commissioned by public subscription and painted by Alexander Roche in 1904, the freedom of the City of Edinburgh in 1905.She was ill and an operation in St. Andrews failed to help. She died there in her hotel and was brought back to Edinburgh for a funeral service and burial in the Dean Cemetery
Dean Cemetery
The Dean Cemetery is a prominent cemetery in the Dean Village, in Edinburgh, Scotland.-Dean House:It stands on the site of Dean House , part of Dean Estate which had been purchased in 1609 by Sir William Nisbet, who became in 1616 Lord Provost of Edinburgh. The Nisbets of Dean held the office of...
on 30 September 1905, two days after her death. The streets on the way to the cemetery were filled with many mourners, including two or three thousand schoolchildren.
See also
- Education (Scotland) Act 1872
- London School BoardLondon School BoardThe School Board for London was an institution of local government and the first directly elected body covering the whole of London....
- J. J. Stevenson and James Cochran StevensonJames Cochran StevensonJames Cochran Stevenson was an English industrialist at Tyneside and a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1895....
, two of her brothers