Pioneering women: The Cruse sisters and the Women’s College
Before Ripon College, St John’s College had another sister institution. Based a short walk away from their Lord Mayor’s Walk location, the Teacher Training School for Schoolmistresses was its academic, if not financial, equal.
The inadequate 33 Monkgate
In 1841 St John’s College was established to address the shortage of teachers in England. Founded by the York Diocesan Society (YDS), St John’s College trained men as teachers to better educate the next generation. The school was initially based at 33 Monkgate, but after an outbreak of scarlet fever, and the death of a student, the premises were deemed inadequate. The men’s teaching college then moved to the much newer campus on Lord Mayor’s Walk.
However, the YDS soon overlooked this inadequacy, and in 1846 established the women’s training college at 33 Monkgate. Winifred Cruse was appointed its superintendent, Catherine its assistant mistress, and their youngest sister Mary was appointed to help run the household. There are no known pictures of the sisters or their students. Winifred would continue in her position until the college moved to Ripon in 1863 before retiring due to ill health. Throughout that time, little was done to remedy the inadequacy of the building.
Jane Eyre similarities
Published in 1847, Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre has striking similarities to the conditions faced by the Cruse Sisters and their students. In the novel, Jane is sent to a religious boarding school to become a teacher or governess. Like the real life college in York, conditions were poor with strict budgeting used to keep costs low. Clothing was to be plain, with high necks, neat collars and no ornamentation or fancy accessories. The real life college had similar rules, including prohibiting students from going into York without prior permission. It’s well known that Bronte’s description of the school came from her own experiences, suggesting that the inadequacy of 33 Monkgate and the experiences of its staff were far from unique.
However, unlike in Jane Eyre, the women’s training college strove for academic excellence and a good quality of life. Winifred oversaw a curriculum near identical to the men’s, including lessons on pedagogy, the study of teaching and learning. However, students also attended domestic lessons which their counterparts didn’t have due to societal expectations about a woman’s abilities. In 1850, the YDS complained to the Privy Council that the women’s college was teaching their students too much, but their complaint was dismissed. The privy council instead emphasised the importance of a common standard.
Teaching: A day in the life
Winifred’s syllabus was noted for being as strenuous and rigorous as the men’s. Many of the students came from working-class families including daughters of farmers, butchers and stonemasons. In an 1848 survey of the 41 students, only 3 came from professional backgrounds, highlighting the college’s purpose to recruit teachers from the working class. Students had lessons in history, geography, arithmetic, English, morals, theology and music; lessons which were primarily taught by the Cruse sisters as there wasn’t the budget to hire more teachers.
The student day started at 6am and ended at 9:45pm when the gas was turned off. Students were woken up by a bell, and stripped and made their beds before a 6:45am roll call. At 7am students attended a morning service. Afterwards, 2 students prepared breakfast whilst everyone else tidied their rooms and polished their shoes. At 8am they had a breakfast of tea and bread and butter.
Classes ran between 9am and noon followed by singing practise until they had lunch at 1pm. Lunch was their only hot meal of the day. It usually consisted of beef or mutton with potatoes, followed by suet or rice pudding. Lessons continued after lunch until 5pm when tea and bread was served. Students continued with their studies or more feminine employments, such as sewing or housework taught by Mary, until 7pm.
At 8pm, students had a supper of more tea and bread before prayers at 8:30pm and bedtime at 9:15pm.
Gender Inequality
Despite the Cruse sisters’ best efforts, the women’s college was not ideal. Budget constraints meant there weren’t enough teachers. The building itself was also in a poor condition, with a limited budget for making improvements. 33 Monkgate was damp and droughty, and deemed inadequate for the men’s college. When it was agreed the student’s bedrooms were in dire need of re-decorating, they were granted just £5 for all the work.
The Cruse sisters were also paid far less than their male equivalents. When the college opened, Mary (the youngest sister) went unpaid for several years. Whilst Catherine was paid £35 a year and Winifred £80, this was still far less than their counterparts. In 1859, Winifred’s salary increased to £100 a year, a fifth of the pay received by her counterpart at Lord Mayor’s Walk. To put that into context, Winifred’s £100 in 1859 would be the equivalent of £12 647 in 2020 in terms of purchasing power. Her equivalent at Lord Mayor’s Walk was paid £500 a year, worth £63 235 in 2020.
This salary difference highlights that despite the Cruse sisters completing the majority of teaching themselves, alongside their domestic responsibilities, their work was not seen as equal. It’s highly unlikely that the Cruse sisters’ counterparts taught their students and completed the necessary domestic work. The Cruse sisters were also morally responsible for their students and their reputations. After all, the infamous Archie’s Day, which from the onset included an emphasis on drinking, would never have been socially acceptable for the staff or students of the women’s college, but was fine for the male students to enjoy.
An unknown ending and hopeful legacy
Catherine left her role in 1858 due to poor health. Just four years later, Winifred retired due to her own deteriorating health. Winifred later died near Bristol in 1868. Unsurprisingly, after watching the decline of her older sisters’ health, Mary Cruse chose not to join the new college at Ripon.
It wasn’t until 2018 that the work of the Cruse sisters was brought back into the spotlight. York Civic Trust unveiled a blue plaque to honour their contribution to local education and highlight their place in the history of York St John university.
But their lives and achievements are still not equal. Despite the way they advanced the local area through educating women, there are few records about the women themselves. This blog post has two images of Victorian era women, but none include a Cruse sister or their students. There are few records as to what the Cruse sisters did before coming to York, or what they did afterwards. As we celebrate and remember their teaching achievements and their positive impact on women’s education, we must also remember the injustices they faced, and the educational equality that York St John now provides thanks to their early efforts.
Find out more:
- You can read about the plaque and the Cruse Sisters on the York Civic Trust website, which informed this post.
- For more information on YSJ, see our website.
- The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell is an interesting biography of Bronte. Chapter IV details her time at boarding school and how it inspired aspects of Jane Eyre.
Thank you for putting this interesting feature on the Alumni site.
It is good for us to be reminded of the early days and struggles of the college………and of the equalities. I am steeped in the history of St.John’s but it is important that younger students learn where we come from.
All good wishes to York folk.
Lee Johnson
(York 1969-72)