Wise, witty and learned, Elizabeth Wordsworth was a notable personality among women pioneers.
As the first Principal of Lady Margaret Hall and founder of St Hugh's College, hers was the most important single influence in the development of women's education at Oxford. Yet, paradoxically, she disliked emancipated women and took no part in the struggle for women's rights. Great-niece of the poet William Wordsworth and an author in her own right, she was a famous and much-admired Oxford character, counting among her friends such men as Benjamin Jowett, C.L. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) and John Ruskin. As Vera Brittain was to write, her pupils regarded her not primarily as a don but rather as"a unique original and most respected mother who knew everybody worth knowing." They enjoyed her surprising and sometimes caustic humour, and they throve in the warmth of her overflowing affection.
At Lady Margaret Hall she created an atmosphere similar to that of the happy home in which she herself had been brought up, friendly, informal (though of course never unconventional), intellectual but given to simple jokes and gaiety, above all, deeply religious.
Elizabeth Wordsworth deserves to be held in remembrance not only for her great achievements in the cause of women's education but also as a gifted, original, and supremely entertaining personality.
The 1978, Constable and Company Ltd printed, hardback edition of Reluctant Pioneer, complete with original dust jacket. Overall it is in good condition with minimal marks to the jacket and the only major signs of use being price clipping of the inside jacket and an inscription to the front page. The text is in great condition and doesn’t show any other owners marks that I could find.
