13 May Miss Lilian M Faithfull

None of what we do would be possible if it wasn’t for Miss Lilian M Faithfull.

Lilian Faithfull, born on 12 March 1865, was an English teacher, headmistress, women’s rights advocate, magistrate, social worker, and humanitarian. She was one of the “Steamboat ladies” who were part of the struggle for women to gain university education.

Lilian Faithfull entered Somerville College of Oxford University in 1883, just four years after it was established.

Photo 1 – Age 30, Captain and President of the England Women’s Hockey Team.

Miss Lilian Faithfull became Principal of Cheltenham Ladies College in 1906 until 1922.

Photo 2 – Age 50, here she is photographed in her car surrounded by nurses outside St Martin’s in 1916. The first women in Cheltenham to own a car. During WWI she converted one of the College boarding houses into a Red Cross hospital staffed by herself and former pupils.

In 1920, she became Justice of the Peace for Cheltenham, becoming one of the first women magistrates in England.

Photo 3 – Age 81, Started the Charity in 1946, lived at Faithfull House until she passed away in 1952.