{"id":565,"date":"2014-08-30T00:13:07","date_gmt":"2014-08-30T00:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/watsonian.co.uk\/symonds\/?p=565"},"modified":"2014-09-30T18:46:37","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T18:46:37","slug":"st-pauls-lecture-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.symondsinbristol.co.uk\/?p=565","title":{"rendered":"St Paul’s Lecture Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Upper Park Street, Clifton (Now Southleigh Road)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recovering from a breakdown in his health in 1868, Symonds wrote to his friend Mrs Arthur Hugh Clough (Blanche Mary Shore Smith):<\/p>\n

“I hear from my sister, and a connection of the Marshalls, a Miss Douglas, that a Ladies’ Education Scheme is going on at Clifton. If I get home to England soon enough I think I shall try to put my finger into that pie.”1<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These plans bore fruit in the form of\u00a0Symonds’ involvement with\u00a0the Clifton Association for the Higher Education of Women. The Association held meetings at Clifton Hill House,2<\/a><\/sup> and in October 1869, Symonds began a series of lectures on Greek literature at St Pauls Chuch Lecture Hall.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\n

HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 A Course of TWELVE LECTURES, introductory to the Study of GREEK LITERATURE, will be given by J.A. SYMONDS, M.A. (late Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, &c), in the ST PAUL’S LECTURE-HALL, UPPER PARK-STREET, CLIFTON. The First Lecture, SATURDAY, October 9th, at 11.30.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 For further particulars and Tickets, apply to Mr. SHEPHERD, Mall-Place, Clifton; or Mr. BINGHAM, the triangle; or by letter to Mrs. PERCIVAL, Clifton College.
\nBristol Mercury, 25th September 1869<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN<\/strong>
\nSESSION OF\u00a01872.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0A course of ten lectures on the RENAISSANCE IN ITALY\u00a0will be given by J. A. SYMONDS, Esq, MA, in theST PAUL’S LECTURE-HALL, UPPER PARK-STREET,\u00a0\u00a0on MONDAYS\u00a0at Three PM, commencing on Monday, October 7. Tickets, price 21s, may be procured from Mr. THOBURN\u00a0or Mr. BAKER, Mall place, Clifton;\u00a0or Mrs, BINGHAM, the Triangle. […]
\nBristol Mercury, 21st September 1872<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Symonds’ lectures at St Pauls Hall were\u00a0distinct from the series already begun at Clifton College, and aimed at an older (though more varied) audience: “I began on Saturday with about 80 ladies. They seem to me pleasant to deal with, more attentive and repaying than boys. Also I had a highly intelligent audience — ladies like the two Miss Winkworths being the high-water mark and a few schoolgirls the low. It is not easy to strike a balance between the two extremes.”4<\/a><\/sup> Symonds’ notes for these lectures still exist at the Getty Research Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n

  1. John Addington Symonds, Robert L. Peters (Editor), Herbert M. Schueller, The Letters of John Addington Symonds, Vol. 1\u00a0: 1844-1868, Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1968, p802 [↩<\/a>]<\/li>
  2. Moira Martin\u00a0“Guardians of the Poor: A Philanthropic Female Elite in Bristol”\u00a0Regional Historian, Issue 9, Summer 2002 [↩<\/a>]<\/li>
  3. Bristol Mercury – Saturday 18 September 1869 [↩<\/a>]<\/li>
  4. Symonds, Letters, Vol 2, p.85 [↩<\/a>]<\/li><\/ol>