Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Going back to the naming of the houses, rumours abound that the Grecians' houses didn't get named after someone is because the powers that be wanted to name one of both after an Old Girl and it was decreed that there were no 'famous enough' Old Girls...

Tin hats on boys, I think the girls may have something to say about that

In all seriousness, have there been many famous OGs?

Yes...there are some very distinguished people who were at CH Hertford. However, until Ida Busbridge (Hertford 1919-26) died relatively recently, they were all extant - and with that exception still are living (as far as I know). CH wouldn't name a House after someone still alive.
Don't forget that until after WW1 girls - even those at Christ's Hospital - were mainly trained for housewifely and domestic duties and very few went into careers or had the opportunity to make names for themselves.
It's only in the second half of the 20th Century that the balance between successful men and successful women has begun to shift.

What did Ida do?

Great Plum wrote:What did Ida do?

Just googled it myself, Plum. She was a well-known Oxford Maths Prof.

http://www.jstor.org/view/00255572/ap060467/06a00260/0

And blimey she died 19 years ago! So I guess they could have named a House after her, had they thought of it...

Kerren

Great Plum wrote:Going back to the naming of the houses, rumours abound that the Grecians' houses didn't get named after someone is because the powers that be wanted to name one of both after an Old Girl and it was decreed that there were no 'famous enough' Old Girls...

Why a famous Old Girl? Why not an interesting or unusual name? Masses of them.

Ida Busbridge was a lovely lady - I came in for a lot of grief from her as I had not applied to her college, St Hugh's. (Queenie Blench & various others were surprised too) I was the first to go to Oxford for Maths for some time from Hertford, and wanted to be certain I got in on my own merit not because of CH. I sometimes wonder what difference it would have made to my life if I hadn't been so pig headed at 18 to insist on LMH.

Each year Ida held a Founder's Day tea for all old CH Hertford at Oxford, and they were wonderfully convivial teas that extended into early evening. I seem to remember Complex Number Theory was her special subject.

Angela Woodford wrote:

Great Plum wrote:Going back to the naming of the houses, rumours abound that the Grecians' houses didn't get named after someone is because the powers that be wanted to name one of both after an Old Girl and it was decreed that there were no 'famous enough' Old Girls...

Why a famous Old Girl? Why not an interesting or unusual name? Masses of them.

Well, all the other houses have been named after famous people... ( or at least people who would have been well known at the turn of the century!)

But the Embarassing and Slightly Stupid Question is - who are they?

Angela Woodford wrote:But the Embarassing and Slightly Stupid Question is - who are they?

I am, possibly for the first time on line, literally Rolling On The Floor With Laughter. Thank you so very, very much!

Oh no, Philip, your keyboard, how could I have been so thoughtless? Have you splattered semi-masticated crisp+firewater into its crevices? All my fault. I'm entering a state of extreme contrition, aargh!

...Angela...

kerrensimmonds wrote:Yes...there are some very distinguished people who were at CH Hertford. However, until Ida Busbridge (Hertford 1919-26) died relatively recently, they were all extant - and with that exception still are living (as far as I know).

Don't forget about Margaret Gowing (Elliott, 4's 1932-38), historian of the British nuclear industry and first Professor of the History of Science at Oxford:

http://web.archive.org/web/200305030415 ... gowing.stm

More than once I've suggested a boarding house should be named after her.

Ajarn Philip wrote:She was a well-known Oxford Maths Prof.

Just for the record, Ida Busbridge - though a distinguished mathematician and President of the Mathematical Association - wasn't actually a Professor.