The final post of our three-part blog series about influential figures from YSJ’s history, written and researched by Deacon, our graduate archive intern.
The Cruse Sisters – Henrietta, Mary and Catherine – were trailblazers in female education and played a vital role in the early days of St John’s College, or, as it is now known, York St John University. They ran the first female teaching facility at the College, the Female Training School. As one would expect, this was an uphill struggle, with sexist attitudes of the time contributing to a variety of trials, several of which are written about here. However, their perseverance and dedication allowed female teaching to survive and flourish until the present day.
The sisters were born in Frome, Somerset. Henrietta was born in 1805, Mary in 1813 and Catherine in 1820 – to Henry Cruse and Elizabeth Cruse (nee Skinner). They were 3 of 12 children, sharing 6 brothers and 3 sisters. Tragically, two of their siblings, Frances and William Henry, died as infants. Before their stint at the Female Training School, Henrietta and Mary had previously worked as teachers in their home town. Little else is known about their early lives – in fact, the lack of information led to Henrietta being mistakenly referred to in history books and plaques as “Winifred”, until recent access to census records from the period clarified her real name. Frustratingly, no photographs of any of them exist.
York Diocesan Training and Middle School, which opened in 1841, was, as one would expect, a male-only college – in fairness, however, its founders were open to the idea of training women too. Just two years later, in 1843, fifteen female students were admitted under the supervision of Mrs Fearnley, mistress of the Model National School for Girls in York. Teaching took place in 14 Monkgate, the same street where male pupils were taught. However, due to the death of a male student in the premises during a scarlet fever outbreak, the premises were no longer considered suitable for learning, and the decision was made to move the male students to a new building. The female students, on the other hand, were left behind in the unsafe premises, as the training of school mistresses was seen as less important than that of masters. The female pupils continued to be trained in 14 Monkgate until July 1846, when the Female Training School was opened at 33 Monkgate, which had previously been a site for male students. Henrietta Cruse was selected to be the Mistress with Catherine as Assistant Mistress, and Mary as an unpaid household assistant. The pupils were certainly in good hands.
During her tenure, Henrietta enacted a firm regime, including a timetable running from 6 in the morning to 9:45 at night, a strict plain dress code, trips into the city requiring permission, and an emphasis on cleanliness. Henrietta saw this strictness as ‘the only means of ensuring comfort and regularity’. Unusually for the time, the curriculum was very similar to that of the male students, with the exception of Latin and the addition of domestic training. This somewhat radical curriculum was harshly criticised by the College Committee in 1850, who declared: ‘It hardly appears necessary to raise to so high a standard the instruction of Females who are intended to educate those who for the most part will be domestic servants, or will occupy some subordinate situation in life’.
The Committee of Council, however, defended the curriculum, arguing that the education would allow the pupils, whom they assumed to be future mothers, to instruct their children at home, alongside their school education. While their reasoning is not particularly progressive in this day and age, the curriculum was ultimately allowed to remain in place.
While the College was burdened by minimal funding, a result of the hostile attitude towards women’s education, and the premises were routinely criticised by HMI as inadequate, the facility was able to survive in part due to the 1846 Pupil Teacher scheme, which nationally formalised the training of pupils, of at least 13 years of age, to learn teaching as a profession, and they would teach at the college they attended. Grants were also offered to teachers, and for the purchasing of books and other supplies. These new policies were an encouraging development – promising stability, improvements and the ascension of teaching’s status as a profession – that helped the newly-established college to survive.
One of Henrietta’s biggest challenges came in 1854, when she was charged with two counts of supporting Tractarian views – in essence, supporting Catholic ideas which went against the college’s Anglican Protestant position. The two claims were that she had supported Reverend Mr. Bennet, a deposed Tractarian living in London; and that she had used a Tractarian book named ‘Steps to the Altar’ and shared it with a pupil. The claims were a major stretch at best, and patently false at worst. She had not directly supported Bennet; rather, she had schooled a girl from his Parish and spoke positively of her character. As for the second claim, she had never even used the book – instead, it was her sister, Catherine, now Mistress of the Middle School, who obtained it for some of her pupils. Despite finding that Henrietta was reckless in her trust of Catherine and should have ‘supervised her more closely’, the Board of Management ultimately exonerated her.
Catherine resigned in 1858 due to health issues. Unfortunately, the Middle School that she managed closed later the same year.
Henrietta served diligently as Head Mistress for 16 years, each year overseeing around 30 pupils. She retired in 1862, facing severely poor health. Ironically, this coincided with the completion of a new Women’s College in Ripon – Mary was offered a role there, but understandably declined, as Henrietta and Catherine had both resigned.
Henrietta died in October 1864, around 2 years after her resignation – she was just 59. Mary and Catherine went on to work at a Boarding School, possibly Trinity National School for Girls, in the 1870s – along with their sister Elizabeth. By 1881, the pair had seemingly moved to Leeds and taken up work as seamstresses. Mary died circa 1891, and Catherine died in 1897 – both at 77 years of age.
Bibliography:
ancestry.co.uk
GB 1865 HA/SJC/DON/34
GB 1865 HA/YDS/TS/3
McGregor, G. (2009) Life More Abundant: York St John University: 1841 – 2008. York: York St John University Press.
