Heritage@Herschel Girls School

Headmistresses 1930-1939



Miss Morley A.Ralph

Miss Morley A. Ralph was the first headmistress of Herschel, until she was sadly asked to retire in 1933, after 11 years. By then the Great Depression was upon South Africa, causing Herschel to struggle to continue. The number of students were rapidly diminishing; from 88 girls in 1930 to 65 in 1935 and continued to decrease. Miss Ralph had a passion for fresh air, which was very popular in that time. This passion gave rise to the famous sleeping-balconies for the boarders, as well as many excursions to St. James beach and hikes up the mountain. Many years of Herschelians suffered through the blustering South Easters and Cape Winters. Miss Ralph’s retirement was a result of the newly set retirement age, of 50. Miss Ralph was over 50. This was a blow to her as well as the school, but never did she allow the girls to notice. The girls were terribly sad to see her leave.

Excursion to St. James Beach

Miss Harriet Robinson was appointed at the end of 1932 but could only join Herschel in 1933. So Miss Ralph graciously stayed on until the end of the first term. This was the first time in history Herschel had a change of headmistress. Miss Robinson accepted the position, on the condition that the council was prepared to spend on building and equipment improvements. The council accepted despite the troubled financial times. Miss Robinson wore an academic gown, which was very uncommon for the time, this shows her dedication to academic aspects and improvements to Herschel. Soon after her arrival, the student numbers began to increase; at the beginning of 1934 there were 52 girls, by the end of the year there were 62 and by 1937 there were 131 girls pulling the school out of danger.

Miss Harriet Robinson

Miss Robinson brought considerable change to the school in the years she was Head. In 1933 the idea of a new swimming bath was brought about and many events were created to raise funds. In the Lent term, Miss Robinson broke away from tradition; at the Lady Buxton Home Fete where instead of the usual handicraft stall she initiated a sweet stall. They were the first stall to sellout and raised over 23 pounds, to go towards the swimming bath. In 1934 the first Inter-House plays were performed where the proceeds went towards the swimming bath fund. To everybody’s delight, especially Miss Robinson’s, the long awaited swimming bath was completed in December 1938.

Swimming Bath in 1938

In 1934 the school year was divided into four quarters instead of what was previously three terms, divided by the Anglican calendar; Lent term, Trinity term and the Christmas term. In 1935 Miss Robinson also opened the domestic science classroom that we have today. As building improvements were important to her, a new tennis court was constructed on top of the old netball court in 1938 and down the road they started the process of building a new netball court, which was first used in a match against the Old Herschelians Society. Herschel also welcomed a new dog called Hamlet the Great Dane.

“This new and great Great Dane is ever present with us – at our meals, occasionally at our lessons and too frequently at our games.” – Miss Robinson

The first Founders Day of the school was held at St. Saviour’s Church in 1938, where Arch Bishop Phelps conducted the service. He then gave a short

speech at the prize giving back at the school. This was extensively reviewed in the Cape Times the next day.  

The Herschel Badge was gifted to the school by Sir John Herschel’s grandson who gave permission to use parts of the Herschel family crest in the school emblem. “I am much interested in your idea of associating your school more closely with the memory of my grandfather, and I gladly consent to your incorporating in your school badge some feature which will create and keep up that association as a tradition in the minds of the scholars.” John W. Herschel (grandson) said this in a letter on the subject. The design for the badge consist of an H, which the family refers to as ‘The Herschel H’, and combines the family initial and the symbol for Uranus, which is on the family coat-of-arms.

Herschel Badge As Designed By Mr. Groves

References:

Books

1.       Margaret Saffery. ‘The Stars Looked Down On Herschel’ – Pageant Program published in 1972

2. Various Authors. Annual Herschelians Nos. 8-14 published 1933-1939.