Queer Places:
University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3PA
Westfield College, 4 and 6 Maresfield Gardens, London NW3 5SU
Wolvercote Cemetery
Oxford, City of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
Eleanor
Constance Lodge, CBE, was born on 18 September 1869 at Hanley,
Staffordshire. She was Vice-Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford from
1906 to 1921 and then Principal of
Westfield College,
Hampstead, in the
University of London from 1921-31.
She was the youngest child, and only daughter, of Oliver Lodge (1826–1884), a china clay merchant, and his wife, Grace (née Heath) (1826–1879). Her siblings included Sir Oliver Lodge (1851–1940), physicist; Sir Richard Lodge (1855–1936), historian; and Alfred Lodge (1854–1937), mathematician.[1]
She studied History at Lady Margaret Hall until 1894. In 1895, Elizabeth Wordsworth asked her to come back to Lady Margaret Hall, where she became a librarian.[1]. She then studied in Paris, at the École des Chartes and the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, 1898-1899.[1] In 1899, she started teaching History at LMH as a tutor, and was appointed as vice-principal in 1906.[1] Although she expected to be appointed as the principal after Henrietta Jex-Blake retired, this didn't happen, and she decided to leave Oxford. She asked for a teaching job in Westfield College, London. She was in fact appointed as principal of this college, in succession to Bertha Phillpotts, in 1921.[1]
She was the first woman recipient of a D.Litt. by the University of Oxford, in 1928, which was awarded for her work in the field of modern history.[1] Eleanor Lodge, who went to Oxford with Eleanor Rathbone, wrote in her autobiography, Terms and Vacations, after visiting the Rathbone family at their Greenbank home, “The effect of a butler opening the door to me was almost paralysing, but Mr. and Mrs. Rathbone were kindness itself, and I came to admire and love their daughter Eleanor…”
Eleanor Lodge was honoured by a CBE in 1932.[1]. She died aged 66 on 19 March 1936 in Windsor, Berkshire and was buried at Wolvercote Cemetery, near Oxford.[1][2]
Support this project
This website is a passion project researched, developed, and funded entirely by me. If you find the content valuable and would like to help support the ongoing research and hosting costs, any contribution is deeply appreciated.
Thank you for keeping this independent resource alive!
My books on Amazon: Elisa Rolle's books