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Marie Bethell Beauclerc

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Marie Bethell Beauclerc (10 October 1845, St. Pancras, Lond. Eng. - 19 September 1897, Birmingham, Eng.) was a pioneer in the teaching of Pitman's shorthand and typing in Birmingham. In 1888 she was the first woman to be appointed as a teacher in an English boys' public school. The school was Rugby. The Phonetic Journal September 1891 and the Birmingham journal, Birmingham Faces and Places September 1892, both credit her with being the first female reporter in England. [1]

Biography

Marie Bethell Beauclerc was born Maria Bethell. When she was aged around five, she moved from London to Bath with her mother and her older twin siblings, Richard and Elizabeth. By this time her given name had been changed to Marie and her surname and the surname of her siblings, had been changed to Beauclerc. The reason for this name change is unknown. She attended Weston Boarding Schools near Bath until circumstances forced her to leave school at age nine. At age twelve she began teaching herself shorthand from a manual which she found in some waste paper. The manual, called The Phonographic Teacher was written by Isaac Pitman. At age thirteen she and her mother moved to Birmingham where she continued her studies through a member of the Phonetic Society in Bath who corrected her exercises through the post. The addition of Bethell to her name Marie Beauclerc appeared for the first time in the title of her biography in The Phonetic Journal Sept. 1891.

Prominent Birmingham lecturer and preacher, George Dawson (1821–1876), appointed Marie Beauclerc as his shorthand amanuensis when he was editor of the Birmingham Morning News. This was an extraordinary appointment because at this time shorthand was a totally male dominated area of expertise. From approximately 1865 until Dawson's sudden death in 1876, Marie Beauclerc recorded most of the content of the nine volumes of Dawson's lectures, prayers and sermons. Four volumes were published after Dawson's death. The prefaces, written by the editor of these volumes, George St. Clair, acknowledge that "The discourses are mostly from the shorthand reports of Miss Marie Beauclerc." (George Dawson, Every-Day Counsels, London, 1888). A similar preface reads, "When a lecture is reported by Miss Beauclerc - as is the case with the one on the Shadow of Death - we have a near approach to fulness and accuracy;" Further on St. Clair adds, "I have had, as before, the invaluable help of Miss Beauclerc in collating and transcribing." (George Dawson, Shakespeare and Other Lectures, London, 1888). Marie Beauclerc is also credited in prefaces of volumes of work by author and preacher, Christopher J. Street (1855–1931). When Unitarian clergyman and lecturer, Robert Collyer (1823–1912), visited Birmingham from the United States, he engaged Marie Beauclerc to report and edit his sermons and prayers which were delivered at Newhall Hill Church Birmingham on Sept. 2nd 1883 and published during the same year.

In 1887, Marie Beauclerc established a Shorthand Writers Association and "officially introduced the art of typewriting to Birmingham." (The Phonetic Journal Sept. 1891) ( Birmingham Faces and Places Sept. 1892). Also in 1887, Marie Beauclerc delivered a paper at the International Shorthand Congress and Phonographic Jubilee in London. Her paper, entitled Phonography in Birmingham, is contained in the printed Transactions of the Congress held by the Pitman Library at the University of Bath.

Marie Beauclerc was engaged to teach phonography when it was introduced at the Birmingham and Midland Institute in 1876. "Thousands of pupils have passed through the hands of Miss Beauclerc, in connection with this institute alone; and many young men owe their start in life to the knowledge they have thus gained." (The Phonetic Journal Sept. 1891). She was appointed teacher of shorthand at Rugby School in 1888. This was the first time shorthand had been taught in an English public school and the first appointment of a female teacher in an English boys' public school. There were one hundred boys in her classes and Dr. Percival, headmaster at this time "expressed his satisfaction at the excellence of the teaching and the progress made by the pupils." (The Phonetic Journal Sept. 1891). Marie Beauclerc taught senior boys at the Birmingham Blue Coat School and was appointed teacher of phonography when the Perry Barr Institute, the first suburban institute in Birmingham was established. She held the position of teacher there for fourteen years. In addition to achieving as a reporter, editor and pioneer in the teaching of shorthand and typing, Marie Beauclerc was a teacher of dancing and callisthenics.

Marie Bethell Beauclerc is buried at Key Hill Cemetery Birmingham, next to George Dawson. A quote from her headstone reads, "This stone was erected by the members of the Church of the Saviour, Birmingham. In grateful recognition of her services, by which many of the prayers, sermons and lectures of the late George Dawson, MA have been preserved". The Friends of Key Hill and Warstone Lane Cemeteries conduct monthly two hourly tours of Key Hill Cemetery and include her grave amongst those of other notable nineteenth century figures such as Joseph Chamberlain, George Dawson and John Henry Chamberlain. On 24 Sept. 2009, Chairman Richard Empson, in personal correspondence, wrote about an aspect of the life of Marie Bethell Beauclerc which is explained during cemetery tours. He said "she was one of several powerful women in the cemetery - Harriet Martineau & Constance Naden for example - who started to throw off the rigid mould imposed on them by Victorian convention and started to make their own way."

Notes

  1. ^ "Reporter" has been used in the context of one who accurately records the lectures, addresses, sermons, speeches and other verbal discourses of others. Marie Bethell Beauclerc was recognised as the first female reporter in England in 1891. Harriet Martineau (1802-1876), sociologist and author of many books, wrote several newspaper and journal articles on her chosen subject and is thus referred to as a journalist.

References

  • Birmingham Faces and Places September 1892, J.G. Hammond, Journal
  • Dawson, George, 1888 : Every-Day Counsels : Kegan Paul, Trench and Co; 1 Paternoster Square, London - Preface
  • Dawson George, 1888 : Shakespeare and Other Lectures : Kegan Paul, Trench and Co. 1 Paternoster Square, London - Preface
  • Key Hill Cemetery - Burial plot: I:961 - Gravestone: In memory of Marie Bethell Beauclerc - erected by Church of the Saviour founded and built 1847-95 Birmingham
  • Maria Bethell - Birth certificate - 10 October 1845, St.Pancras Lond. England
  • Maria Bethell Beauclerc - Death Certificate - 19 September 1897 Birmingham England
  • The Phonetic Journal September 1891 - pp. 596–597 - Our Portrait Gallery- Marie Bethell Beauclerc - Pitman Library, University of Bath
  • UK censuses- 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881,1891
  • Empson, Richard : The Friends of Key Hill and Warstone Lane Cemeteries, Chairman - Correspondence, 24 September 2009

External links

Further reading

  • Blain, Helen, 2009 : Marie Bethell Beauclerc - (1845-1897) Good Scholar - Holistic Teacher - Courageous Woman : The Friends of Key Hill and Warstone Lane Cemeteries Newsletter, no.16 November 2009
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