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CARPENTER, MIRY (1807-1877)
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See also:CARPENTER, MIRY (1807-1877) , See also:English educational and social reformer, was See also:born on the 3rd of See also:April 1807 at See also:Exeter, where her See also:father, Dr Lant Carpenter, was Unitarian See also:minister. In 1817 the See also:family removed to See also:Bristol, where Dr Carpenter was called to the See also:ministry of Lewin's See also:Mead See also:Meeting. As a See also:child See also:Mary Carpenter was unusually See also:earnest, with a deep religious vein and a remarkable thoroughness in everything she undertook. She was educated in her father's school for boys, learning Latin, See also:Greek and See also:mathematics, and other subjects at that See also:time not generally taught to girls. She See also:early showed an aptitude for teaching, taking a class in the See also:Sunday school, and 'afterwards helping her father with his pupils. When Dr Carpenter gave up his school in 1829, his daughters opened a school for girls under Mrs Carpenter's superintendence. In 1833 the See also:raja Rammohun See also:Roy visited Bristol, and inspired See also:Miss Carpenter with a warm See also:interest in See also:India; and Dr See also:Joseph Tuckerman of See also:Boston about the same time aroused her sympathies for the See also:condition of destitute See also:children. Her See also:life-See also:work began with her taking See also:part in organizing, in 1835, a " Working and Visiting Society," of which she was secretary for twenty years. In 1843, her interest in See also:negro emancipation was aroused by a visit from-Dr S. G. See also:Howe. Her interest in See also:general educational work was also growing. A See also:bill introduced in this See also:year "to make See also:provision for the better See also:education of children in manufacturing districts," as a first See also:instalment of a See also:scheme of See also:national education, failed to pass, largely owing to See also:Nonconformist opposition, and private effort became doubly necessary. So-called " Ragged See also:Schools
sprang up in many places, and Miss Carpenter conceived the See also:plan of starting one in Lewin's Mead. To this was added a See also:night-school for adults. In spite of many difficulties this was rendered a success, chiefly owing to Miss Carpenter's ulpvyearied See also:enthusiasm and remarkable organizing See also:power. In 1848 the closing of their own private school gave Miss Carpenter more leisure for philanthropic and See also:literary work. She published a memoir of Dr Tuckerman, and a See also:series of articles on ragged schools, which appeared in the Inquirer and were afterwards collected in See also:book See also:form. This was followed in 1851 by Reformatory Schools for the Children of the Perishing and Dangerous Classes, and for Juvenile Offenders. She sketched out three classes of schools as urgently needed: — (1) See also:good See also:free See also:day-schools; (2) feeding See also:industrial schools; (3) reformatory schools. This book See also:drew public See also:attention to her work, and from that time onwards she was See also:drawn into See also:personal intercourse with leading thinkers and workers. She was consulted in the drafting of educational bills, and invited to give See also:evidence before See also:House of See also:Commons committees. To test the See also:practical value of her theories, she herself started a reformatory school at Bristol, and in 1852 she published Juvenile Delinquents, their Condition and Treatment, which largely helped on the passing of the Juvenile Offenders See also:Act in 1854. Now that the principle of reformatory schools was established, Miss Carpenter returned to her plea for free day-schools, contending that the ragged schools were entitled to pecuniary aid from the See also:annual See also:parliamentary See also: At the See also:Oxford meeting of the See also:British Association (186o) she read a See also:paper on this subject, and, mainly owing to her instigation, a See also:conference on ragged schools in relation to See also:government grants v. 13for education was held at See also:Birmingham (1860. In 2866 Miss Carpenter was at last able to carry out a See also:long-cherished plan of visiting India, where she found herself an honoured See also:guest. She visited See also:Calcutta, See also:Madras and Bombay, inaugurated the See also:Bengal Social See also:Science Association, and drew up a memorial to the See also:governor-general dealing with See also:female education, reformatory schools and the See also:state of gaols. This visit was followed by others in r868 and 1869. Her See also:attempt to found a female normal school was unsuccessful at the time, owing to the inadequate previous education of the See also:women, but afterwards such colleges were founded by government. A start, however, was made with a See also:model See also:Hindu girls' school, and here she had the co-operation of native gentlemen. Her last visit to India took See also:place in 1875, two years before her See also:death, when she had the See also:satisfaction of seeing many of her schemes successfully established. At the meeting of the See also:prison See also:congress in 1872 she read a paper on " Women's Work in the See also:Reformation of Women Convicts." Her work now began to attract attention abroad. Princess Alice of See also:Hesse summoned her to See also:Darmstadt to organize a Women's Congress. Thence she went to See also:Neuchatel to study the prison See also:system of Dr See also:Guillaume, and in 1873 to See also:America, where she was enthusiastically received. Miss Carpenter watched with interest the 'increased activity of women during the busy 'seventies. She warmly supported the See also:movement for their higher education, and herself signed the memorial to the university of See also:London in favour of admitting them to medical degrees. She died at Bristol on the 14th of See also:June 1877, having lived to see the accomplishment of nearly all the reforms for which she had worked and hoped. (A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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