Frances Mary Buss and her work for educationRidley, Annie E.
History
Frances Mary Buss and her work for education
Ridley, Annie E.
Buss, Frances Mary, 1827-1894
“The numbers increased so rapidly, now being 390, that a third
house, No. 18, Camden Street, was taken and adapted, and no
other change was made until May, 1878, when the school moved to
the new buildings in the Prince of Wales Road, Kentish Town, of
which the foundation-stone was laid by Miss Buss. The numbers
had reached 420, with generally 90 or 100 waiting admission.”
The present head-mistress of the Camden School, Miss Lawford, is also
good enough to give some details of more recent date—
“My recollections of Miss Buss begin with my school-days, and
with the very earliest of them. It was to the North London
Collegiate School for ‘Ladies,’ as it was then called, that I
was sent, after a very short experience of school-life
elsewhere.
“But when the time came to take up work as head of the Camden
School, how greatly was my responsibility lightened by the sound
advice and help which she gave me. I remember one case of more
than usual difficulty which caused me considerable anxiety, and
in which a false step might have given me and the school an
unpleasant notoriety. I took the matter to her, she seized the
point at once, was quite clear as to the action to be taken, and
the whole affair ended happily. The clearness of her intellect
and the facility with which she grasped a situation were salient
traits in her character.
“The tie which connects her with the Camden School as its
founder is one which we are proud to remember. She took the
keenest interest in all its work, and in all her visits (she)
always had a word for any girls who had distinguished
themselves, or who were connected in any way with old friends
and pupils of her own. We always looked for her on red-letter
days such as Prize Day and Founder’s Day. On one of these latter
she gave us a lecture on Lady Jane Grey which we specially
valued. On these occasions so many friends wanted her at the
North London Collegiate School that it was not often she could
spare more time than to go round the gymnasium and the
schoolrooms, and to speak a few gratifying words to the girls.
She often invited the upper part of the school to lectures at
the North London Collegiate School; one much enjoyed by them, ‘A
Trip to Sunshine in December,’ gave an account of a Christmas
holiday spent in the Riviera. She remembered us in other
substantial ways. The splendid photograph of the Colosseum which
decorates one of our rooms was brought by her from Italy. The
lending library was partly started by a sum given by her for the
purpose. The building of the gymnasium and the introduction of
trained teachers for physical exercise was her initiative.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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