Charlotte Byron Green

Charlotte Green born Charlotte Byron Symonds (August 12, 1842 – September 4, 1929) was a British promoter of women's education. She supported Somerville College from its foundation.

Charlotte Green
Born
Charlotte Byron Symonds

August 12, 1842
Bristol
DiedSeptember 4, 1929
Oxford
NationalityUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Known forpromoting women's education
Spouse(s)T H Green

Life

Green was born at Berkeley Square in Bristol in 1842. Her parents were Harriet (born Sykes) and John Addington Symonds, Sr. who was a physician and the author of Criminal Responsibility (1869), The Principles of Beauty (1857) and Sleep and Dreams. She was the last of their four children and her elder brother was John Addington Symonds.[1]

In 1871 she married a friend of her brothers, Thomas Hill Green. He was a temperance supporter and he wanted to see the lower classes at Oxford University. He was known as appearing dull and Charlotte's father settled £10,000 on the couple as a wedding present.[2]

Green was one of "the don's wives" who organised lectures for women in Oxford[1] which included Lavinia Talbot,[3] Louise Creighton and Mary Augusta Ward. She became secretary of the lectures committee in 1873. Green would go on five years later to join the Association for Promoting the Education of Women in Oxford as a founding member and become the first woman secretary.[1] The same year her husband became the Professor of Moral Philosophy at Balliol College.

She and her husband were active supporters of the creation of Somerville College in 1879. She organised some of the early lectures and she volunteered to knit through many lectures so that the women students could use her as a chaperone when they attended mixed lectures.[1]

Her husband died on 26 March 1882. He was 46 and his death was ascribed to blood poisoning caused by bad milk.[4] Two years later Green was invited to join Somerville College's council and in 1908 she became the council's vice President. She kept this position until 1920[1] and then remained on the council.

Green died in Oxford in 1929[1] leaving her husband's papers to Balliol College.

In 2014 her and her husband's grave was renovated.[4]

References
  1. "Green [née Symonds], Charlotte Byron (1842–1929), promoter of women's education". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/48416. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
  2. "Green, Thomas Hill (1836–1882), philosopher". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11404. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  3. "Talbot [née Lyttelton], Lavinia (1849–1939), promoter of women's education". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/52031. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
  4. "Green: St Sepulchre's Cemetery, Oxford". www.stsepulchres.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
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