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FANNY CALDER – DOMESTIC SCIENCE PIONEER

June 1, 2017 By Steven Horton

Fanny Calder, one of the most influential women in the education of females lived in Liverpool’s Canning Street for sixty years.

Fanny Louisa Calder was born to American parents on the 26th March 1838 in Rodney Street in Liverpool. She then later resided at 54 Upper Parliament St but was living in 49 Canning Street by 1861 with her mother and three sisters. In her young life she partook in in women’s voluntary work, teaching in Sunday school for Anglicans, and also by running a Bible class for mothers.

She set up the Liverpool School of Cookery in 1875 with classes at St Georges Hall, her aim being to improve the diets and lifestyles of the people of Liverpool by teaching them how to cook and clean and look after themselves. There were 58 members on the committee including the countesses of Sefton and Derby.

Within a couple of years premises had been secured in Colquitt St, where women were taught about cooking and then took their skills into the hearts of communities. Fanny would also go and teach girls in the industrial schools. They were given practical demonstrations and asked to take notes, then the following week they would have to come back with neatly handwritten instructions and bake themselves.

With her progress in Liverpool, Fanny wanted to promote women’s education throughout the UK and so worked with similar institutions in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Yorkshire, resulting in the 1876 formation of the Northern Union of Training Schools of Cookery. The women’s education movement founded its first national organisation in 1897, in which the the Association of Teachers of Domestic Science Fanny played a fundamental role.

Throughout her life Fanny wrote numerous articles and letters about her mission of bringing domestic science into the education system whilst also promoting the distribution of affordable cookery books produced at the school. She also co-authored with the head teacher at the cookery school, E.E. Mann, the first laundry work teaching manual, ‘A Teachers’ Manual of Elementary Laundry Work’ published in 1891. If you have £94 to spare you can get a hardback copy off Amazon. By the 1890s she was rolling out classes in laundry, dressmaking and millinery, all under the banner of ‘housewifery’, and was able to subsidise fees by getting grants from the likes of the Rathbones, Booths and Tates.

In a letter to Fanny in 1892 Florence Nightingale referred to Calder as the “Saint of the Laundry, Cooking and Health” in reference to who outstanding work in promoting the teaching of the domestic sciences throughout the UK.
By 1903 Fanny was such an important figure in women’s education that she was invited to join the Liverpool Education Committee. In 1913 she was given an honorary MA in Education from the Liverpool University for her achievements in creating and improving women’s education throughout her 50 years of teaching.

During World War 1 she ran cookery classes in Colquitt St aimed at making the most of what was available on little income given men were away at the Front or worse, killed in action. Fanny wrote a number of recipes herself, the most well-known being her War Cake recipe. Her original hand written copy of whiFanny Calderch is currently held in the Liverpool John Moores University Archives. On Light Night Liverpool this year, 500 slices were baked and given away by JMU students.

In 1920 Fanny was no longer able to fund the school so handed it over to the Liverpool Education Committee who renamed the school the F.L. Calder College of Domestic Science. This eventually merged with other institutions to form Liverpool Polytechnic, which is now Liverpool John Moores University.

Fanny Calder remained a spinster all her life and passed away on 6th June 1923. She was buried in Smithdown Road Cemetery alongside two of her sisters, who had also never married.

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About Steven Horton

I am a local history author and tour guide based the Liverpool region, specialising in bespoke tours tailor made to suit the individual or group. Whether it be football, Victorian murders or Liverpool sites connected to the US Civil War, I can arrange something that will suit the customers needs, not go where I want to take people.
I have published seventeen books, all of which are available via the shop page. As well as writing for the Liverpool Echo and Times, I have made guest appearances on local radio and TV. Local history is a real passion of mine, if you enjoy my site please feel free to share through facebook, twitter etc and maybe leave a comment.

Comments

  1. BARBARA MOODY says

    June 2, 2017 at 7:29 am

    I can be thankful to Fanny Calder as going to school in the 50s I enjoyed the lessons in Domestic Science and such a shame it was dropped from the teaching in the schools today

  2. Helen lovett says

    June 11, 2017 at 6:34 pm

    I attended F.L. Calder College in 1982, spending my first year in Dowsefield House, Dowsefield Lane, Woolton.

  3. Jackie says

    October 15, 2018 at 11:31 pm

    I did Home Economics teachers training BEd 1974 -1974. Jackie Foster nee Higgins
    Lectured At Mabel Fletcher College Wavertree. Old Swan.Mulberry Street.Bankfield. Clarence Street from 1977 til 2014.

  4. Celia says

    November 9, 2018 at 7:14 pm

    Do you give talks to local societies in Wirral and Liverpool ??

    • Steven Horton says

      March 26, 2019 at 11:47 pm

      Yes Celia I do message me via the contact button

ABOUT

Steven Horton has been a freelance writer for 20+ years. He is the author of 7 books has written for the Times, Liverpool Echo, numerous fanzines and websites, and also appeared on Radio Merseyside/City Talk, ITV News and Sky Sports News. ..read more

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