In this blog, Kaitlin Mills explores the higher learning available to women in Britain during the nineteenth century and how these opportunities varied drastically between the classes.

Higher learning, in the context of nineteenth-century Britain’s educational opportunities, was education completed after some form of secondary education, or education taught to a higher level than that of secondary.

For women, this was the education that was available through the universities, colleges or institutions. It included trade subjects – medicine, nursing, teaching, arts – and higher education subjects – classics, languages, science, history, and so on.

In the nineteenth century, women’s access to higher learning was very dependent on the funds they had available to them, the free time they could reasonably spend on education, and the familial attitudes surrounding them. In short, for most women, higher learning opportunities were generally dependent on what social class women belong to – working-class, middle-class or elite.

Working-class women

Higher learning opportunities for working-class women started late, reluctantly and increased only in small fits and bursts. The first opportunity for higher learning was in 1842, with the opening of the People’s College in England, a facility that was shared with working men. This College offered a few higher learning subjects at rates working women could afford and at hours they had free.

It was not until 1848 that other similar facilities really commenced. The Huddersfield Female Educational Institute offered part trade and part university classes in England, and the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution offered classes in classics. Both these facilities offered nothing more than singular classes, offered in a familiar community setting, again set at affordable rates.

The mid-nineteenth century passed with nary a glance towards more higher learning opportunities. It was only in 1864 that the Working Women’s College opened in England as the first systematic college for women of small means, advertised as enabling women to acquire some knowledge of any subject. Working women now had the means to strive for further higher learning.

Opportunities were growing, but only slowly; it wasn’t until 1874 that another college opened specifically for working women. This was the College for Working Women in Fitzroy Street in England, which offering systematic teaching and liberal education through evening classes. Working women were now being considered as a viable market to higher learning.

While up to this point growth was slow, that soon changed, and the 1870s onwards saw distance education, colleges, and universities all open. Working women had moved from barely a consideration in higher learning to having multiple options, though it was still very limited and never to the same scale as middle-class women.

Middle-class women

Higher learning opportunities for middle class women also started slowly. Opportunities were limited to teacher training facilities, the first of which was the Home and Colonial Infant School Society established in England, in 1836. At this time, the higher learning opportunities reflected the view that the role of middle-class women was thought to be in the home.

It remained the same until mid-century, when middle class women got their first systematic college. Opening in 1849, Bedford College in England offered literature, history, languages, science and maths to study. Bedford College was set at rates comfortable for the middle class and suitable for higher learning and should have been a start of a movement, but instead things stagnated.

Then, in 1863, the first of the university exams opened in England and Scotland to middle-class women, allowing women the chance to test their knowledge in a public arena, something previously denied. These exams were not limited to middle class women, but instead only those women had the background knowledge needed to make the exams a viable option for higher learning.

Women were becoming more visible in education and the newly opened colleges were being advertised as open to women right from the start, like with Yorkshire College – established in 1874 – and University College Bristol – established in 1876. Middle class women were increasingly being considered as normal students in university education.

This then snowballed into more women’s colleges, as well as men’s colleges opening to women, and trade colleges all becoming available to middle class women from the late 1880s onwards.

Elite women

Higher learning opportunities were offered to elite women as early as 1825 in England and just a bit later in Edinburgh, Scotland. However, this education was limited to lectures series at the universities, run only under the good humour of sympathetic male professors. Unfortunately, this was only to disappear as quickly as they were offered.

Even as unstable as the opportunities were, this series of firsts continued for elite women, who in 1848 got their first formal higher learning facility with the opening of Queen’s College, in England. The College offered classes in languages, history, geography and teaching and it was generally geared towards education at the same level as offered by the universities. It was leagues above what both working-class and middle-class women had available to them at the time.

Following this was the university exams in 1863 and the University of London opening a special examination for women in 1869. While it was labelled as a special exam, this was set to the same difficulty as men, so it was not a step sideways, though it still didn’t allow women entry into the university. In addition, a number of women’s associations created their own support groups to ensure women were able to access higher learning.

The number of opportunities quickly snowballed. In the 1870s, elite women had a number of women’s colleges and distance education open in both England and Scotland. The University of London also opened in 1878 to women under exactly the same terms as men.

Elite women had finally gained access to an established university and could formally access the degrees. This pattern continued as in the late 1880s even more colleges specifically for women opened in England, Scotland, and Wales.

A Matter of Class?

Women’s higher learning was an everchanging landscape during the nineteenth century. This was generally not due to a lack of facilities: indeed, England, Scotland and Wales all had a broad number of facilities that opened to women throughout the century. For further information see the timelines of the opening of women’s facilities across the nineteenth century in England, Scotland and Wales. Instead, the opportunities were highly dependent on the social class to which women belonged – working-class with least, middle-class with more, and the elite with the most.

By exploring the effects of class, we see how the journey towards higher learning in Britain was not quite the straight march forward into more and more opportunities as previously thought.

Kaitlin Mills is a Master of Research student at the University of Southern Queensland. Kaitlin’s research examines the different educational opportunities available to working-class, middle-class and elite women during nineteenth century Britain. Kaitlin is currently completing an internship with the Australian Women’s History Network, providing editioral assistance on the VIDA blog.

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