Boundary crosser: Anne Whitelaw and her leadership role in girls’ secondary schooling in England, New Zealand and East Africa

Abstract

This paper highlights the intersections of history, gender and educational administration through a case study of an influential woman educator, Anne Whitelaw. It draws upon manuscripts, school archives, school histories, official files and periodicals from ‘both sides’ of the world. Although known in New Zealand as the first Headmistress of Auckland Girls’ Grammar School (1907–1910) little attention has been given to Anne Whitelaw more generally. This may have been because her university education was gained offshore, significantly as the first New Zealand woman to graduate from Girton College, Cambridge, and that most of her professional life was based in England. Anne Whitelaw went on to become the first New Zealand woman to head an English secondary school (Wycombe Abbey, 1910–1925), to head two women’s religious orders (1925–1934) and to be Advisor on Girls’ Education for the Colonial Office Advisory Committee on Education in the New Colonies (1926–1932). She retired to New Zealand and lived the rest of her life there. This case study argues for the application of a number of theoretical lenses in order to construct ‘both sides’ of Anne Whitelaw’s educational career at home and abroad. Its purpose is two‐fold: it provides an opportunity for presenting for the first time, a fuller biographical and career profile of Anne Whitelaw and in so doing, highlights the breadth and depth of the research undertaken on both sides of the world to be able to reach this point.