Dame Elizabeth Wordsworth (1840–1932) was the great-niece of the poet William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....

. She was the daughter of Christopher Wordsworth

Christopher Wordsworth

Christopher Wordsworth was an English bishop and man of letters.-Life:Wordsworth was born in London, the youngest son of the Rev. Dr. Christopher Wordsworth, Master of Trinity and a nephew of the poet William Wordsworth...

, Bishop of Lincoln

Bishop of Lincoln

The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...

, and the sister of John Wordsworth

John Wordsworth

The Right Reverend John Wordsworth was an English prelate. He was born at Harrow on the Hill, to the Reverend Christopher Wordsworth, nephew of the poet William Wordsworth...

, Bishop of Salisbury

Bishop of Salisbury

The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset...

 and Christopher Wordsworth, a liturgical scholar.

Educated at home, she learned several modern languages as well as Latin and Greek though her knowledge of science and mathematics was meagre.

She was the founding Principal (1879–1909) of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford

Lady Margaret Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located at the end of Norham Gardens in north Oxford. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £34m....

 as a college for female undergraduates, on Norham Gardens

Norham Gardens

Norham Gardens is a residential road in central north Oxford, England. It adjoins the north end of Parks Road near the junction with Banbury Road. From here it skirts the north side of the Oxford University Parks, ending up at Lady Margaret Hall, a college of Oxford University that was formerly for...

 in North Oxford

North Oxford

North Oxford is a suburban part of the city of Oxford in England. It was owned for many centuries largely by St John's College, Oxford and many of the area's Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the College....

. In 1886 she inherited some money from her father and founded St Hugh's College

St Hugh's College, Oxford

St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a fourteen and a half acre site on St Margaret's Road, to the North of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 as a women's college, and accepted its first male students in its centenary year in 1986...

 also in north Oxford as a college for poorer female undergraduates. Today this is one of the largest colleges in Oxford University. She received an honorary M.A. from Oxford in 1921 and an honorary D.C.L. in 1928.

She was a prolific author, writing poetry, plays, biographies and religious articles, as well as writing and lecturing on women's education. She published the novels Thornwell Abbas, (two volumes, 1876) and Ebb and Flow, (two volumes, 1883) under the pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

of Grant Lloyd.

External links

• http://www.bachlund.org/Good_and_Clever.htm
• http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/w/ewordsworth/