Mistress of Girton College 1931-42

Helen Marion Wodehouse came to Girton from Notting Hill High School as a
Clothworkers’ Exhibitioner. She read Mathematics 1898-1901 and stayed on
for a fourth year to read Moral Sciences, completing the two-year course
in one. She was a Gilchrist Fellow at Girton 1902-03. After Girton HMW
went to Birmingham to take a Teachers’ Higher Diploma (1903) later
taking a post as Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Birmingham
1903-11. She received an MA from Birmingham in 1904 and a DPhil in 1906.
Before her return to Girton as Mistress, she was the first Principal of
Bingley Training College, Yorkshire 1911-19 and Professor of Education,
University of Bristol 1919-31. During her period as Mistress she is
remembered for her outstanding committee work (she was chair of a number
of outside bodies, including Cambridge Women’s Appointments Board), for
the inauguration of the post of Assistant Tutor (the Mistress herself
was Tutor), and for her patience, fairmindedness and practical outlook.
HMW published extensively on philosophical and religious subjects, after
her retirement CUP published One Kind of Religion, her book describing
the philosophy that informed her life.