Penrose takes her place among Principals
As part of the 175th anniversary celebrations of Bedford College, the Art Collections team have selected a portrait of a former Bedford Principal to be installed in the Executive Corridor of the Founder’s Building. Dame Emily Penrose (1858-1942) served as Principal of Bedford College from 1893 to 1898. She was the first to be appointed to the role of Principal, which combined two previous posts at Bedford: Lady President and Lady Superintendent. Her responsibilities included acting as educational head, manager of the residence, head of the library, and college professor of Ancient History. When she first took the position, student numbers at the college were in decline, but Penrose helped to turn fortunes around; according to a Treasury Committee report on universities, “some of the increased prosperity of Bedford College was due to the energy and efficiency of Miss Penrose.”
Penrose was a trailblazer in the history of women’s education. She was the first woman to be awarded first class honours at Oxford in 1892 for her studies in Classics, and became one of the first “steamboat” women, so called for having to make the sea crossing to Ireland to receive their degrees at Trinity College Dublin. This was because British universities, while admitting women to courses of study, did not award full degrees to female students at that time. After her time at Bedford, she went on to become Principal at Royal Holloway, and then her alma mater, Somerville College, Oxford. Her strong advocacy for women’s colleges played an influential part in bringing both Bedford and Royal Holloway into the University of London federation.
Philip de László, Dame Emily Penrose, 1907, Oil on canvas [P1605]
In 1907, her final year at Royal Holloway, she sat for a portrait painted by Philip de László. She cuts a striking figure wearing the blue academic dress of the “steamboat” women. De László encouraged his scholarly sitters to wear their hoods draped across their bodies in a neoclassical style. He was also known for engaging his sitters in conversation in order to bring their natural expressions to life.
As Bedford – one of the first women’s colleges in Britain – celebrates an important milestone and its pioneering legacy, it is fitting that Penrose, a leader in the campaign for women’s higher education, takes up a prominent place in our university.
Written by Gareth Hughes, Curatorial Assistant (Doctoral Placement) and PhD Student in Comparative Literature
