The Mount School, York

Image credit Gordon Hatton, via Geograph

The Mount School, York is a girls' school, founded in 1785 by Esther and William Tuke, to provide an education for the daughters of Quaker families. You can read more about its history here. In June 2023, as part of the York Festival of Ideas, the A Few Forgotten Women team helped volunteers to research a woman or girl who had been associated with the school, as a pupil, teacher, or other staff member. You can access the stories by clicking on the women's names below.

This has now been opened up for continuing research as part of our A Few Forgotten Women Fridays Everyday initiative.

Many records relating to The Mount School can be found at The Borthwick Institute. Some of the admissions' registers have been made available via FindmyPast.

If you have further information about any of the women whose stories are told here, please do get in touch. The information in these stories is accurate to the best of our knowledge, given the sources that were available to us at the time of writing. We cannot be held responsible for any errors of fact that may have inadvertently included. Please inform us if you believe that any errors have been made. Where the women have descendants, we have tried to contact them to get permission to tell their ancestor's stories. This has not always been possible. If we have told a story of your ancestors and you would rather we removed it, please do contact us.

Jane Atkinson Aldridge 1868-1947 from Lancaster, Lancashire – Accident, No Descendants, Women at Work. 6 minute read.

Dorothy Margaret Cash 1885-1964 from Wandsworth, Surrey – No Descendants, Women at Work. 2 minute read.

Florence Mary Pettifor-Catchpole aka Florence Mary Catchpool, later Florence Mary Headley 1882-1939 from Leicester, Leicestershire – Accident. 6 minute read.

Rhoda Constance Clothier, later Rhoda Constance Hinde 1891-1965 from Dalkey, Ireland and Hilda Josephine Clothier, later Hilda Josephine Hutchinson 1897-1976 from Cardiff, Wales -Activism, Women at War, VAD Personnel. 25 minute read.

Florence Dent Priestman 1885-1972 and Margaret Priestman 1885-1930 from Hull, Yorkshire – Activism, No Descendants, Suicide, Women at Work. Please note that this story includes an account of a suicide. 8 minute read.

The Tangye Girls Sarah Tangye, later Sarah Price 1845-1932 from Illogan, Cornwall; Annie Jayne Tangye 1861--1947 from Birmingham, Worcestershire; Barbara Catherine Tangye, later Barbara Catherine Smith 1904-1991 from Kings Norton, Worcestershire – No Descendants, Women at Work, The Mount School. 8 minute read.

Amy Berta Minto Wilson 1883-1978 and Alice Victoria Minto Wilson 1885-1964 from Walthamstow, Essex – No Descendants, Women at Work, VAD Personnel, The Mount School. 3 minute read.