Beatrice Ensor: Difference between revisions

In the early months of [[World War I]] she was appointed by the Board of Education as H. M. Inspector of domestic science in South West England based in [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]]. But she found civil service work uncongenial and, having played a major part in founding the Theosophical Fraternity in Education, she was invited to become Organising Secretary of the Theosophical Education Trust in 1915. In this role one of her main tasks was the consolidation of the Society’sSociety's educational work at [[Letchworth Garden City]] into [[St Christopher School]][http://www.stchris.co.uk/], which was co-educational and boarding, with [[Isabel King]] as its Headmistress. One of the teachers at the school for a while was [[V. K. Krishna Menon]][https://web.archive.org/web/20070929084656/http://www.tkminstitute.org/]. She worked closely for a time with [[George Arundale]] who became the President of the [[Theosophical Society Adyar]].

[[ImageFile:Beatrice Ensor Jung Montreux 1923.jpg|thumb|Beatrice Ensor and Professor [[Carl Jung]] -– [[Montreux]] 1923 -– Second International Conference of the N.E.F.]]In 1921, together with [[Iwan Hawliczek]], she organised a conference in [[Calais]] on the ‘Creative'Creative Self-Expression of the Child’Child', with attendance of over 100. Although this was inspired by theosophists anxious to prevent another world war, what emerged was the New (later World) Education Fellowship [http://www.wef-international.org/], an entirely non-political and non-sectarian forum for new ideas in education. It was not to advocate any particular method but to ‘seek'seek to find the thread of truth in all methods’methods'. It still has active sections in some 20 countries. Beatrice Ensor, together with the editors of the other two journals, formed the initial organising committee of the N.E.F., which held international conferences at two yearly intervals, presided over by distinguished educationists and pedagogues.

The second conference of 1923 was held in [[Montreux]], [[Switzerland]] and there she met Professor [[Carl Jung]] whom she invited to speak at a meeting in London (where she introduced him to [[H. G. Wells]]), [[Emile Jacques-Dalcroze]], Professor [[Franz CizekCižek]] and [[Alfred Adler]].

In 1929 the conference was held in [[Kronborg Castle]], [[Helsingör]], Denmark and amongst the delegates and speakers were [[Maria Montessori]], [[Rabindranath Tagore]], [[Jean Piaget]], [[Kurt Lewin]], [[Adolphe Ferrière]] [[:fr:Adolphe Ferrière]], [[Ovide Decroly]], [[Helen Parkhurst]], [[Pierre Bovet]] [[:fr:Pierre Bovet]], [[A. S. Neill]], [[Elisabeth Rotten]], [[Franz CizekCižek]], Dr [[Harold Rugg]], [[Professor T P Nunn]], and [[Paul Geheeb]] [[:de:Paul Geheeb]].

Just as theosophy had a profound influence on the N.E.F. so the N.E.F. had a profound influence on the creation of [[UNESCO]][https://web.archive.org/web/20070529005144/http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=29008&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201%3D29008%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html]. It was described as "the midwife at the birth of UNESCO" (Kobayashi) and has been an [[NGO]][https://web.archive.org/web/20070624015231/http://erc.unesco.org/ong/en/directory/ONG_Desc_portal.asp?mode=gn&code=635] of UNESCO since 1966 (Hiroshi Iwama). It changed its name to W.E.F. that year.

Meanwhile, problems were building up within the [[Theosophical Education Trust]] leading to tensions in the Letchworth community in which the termination of her husband’shusband's appointment as Secretary of the Trust played a part. In 1925 Isabel King and Beatrice Ensor left to establish [[Frensham Heights]][http://www.frensham-heights.org.uk/], a co-educational school in [[Surrey]], from [[Montessori]] to university entrance level, for which Mrs. Edith Douglas-Hamilton (one of the Wills tobacco heiresses) provided the capital. Some of the St Christopher staff and children moved to Frensham to form its nucleus. However, two years later, Mrs. Douglas-Hamilton died unexpectedly without having established the financial independence of the school that she had intended. The dramatic change produced a situation where Beatrice Ensor and Isabel King did not feel they could work. They both left but the break was without bitterness and they both remained on the board of governors for several years.

== Lecture Tourstours and South Africa ==

Beatrice Ensor then concentrated her work on the New Era and N.E.F. and undertook two lecture trips to [[North America]] in 1926 and 1928, speaking on new movements in education in [[Boston]], [[New York City]], [[Detroit]], and [[Chicago]]. She was also one of an educational group that was invited to tour [[Poland]] and visited [[South Africa]] in 1927 and 1929.

Her husband had moved to [[Louterwater]] in [[South Africa]] where he acquired a large farm in a little developed valley, recently found to be suitable for the growing of deciduous fruit. The orchards he planted were just beginning to bear by 1933 when he died. This meant that Beatrice had to move to South Africa and take over the farm. This greatly restricted her educational work. She was one of a group invited to lecture in [[Australia]] in 1937, where she was awarded an [[honorary doctorate]] by the [[University of Western Australia]], [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]]. She helped the South African section of the N.E.F. and financed and had built on her farm a school for mixed race children, for whom no provision existed in the area.

When it became clear that her son would be pursuing a civil service career, just as her brothers had done, and did not want to take on the farm she sold it and moved to a house on the coast at [[Keurboomstrand, Western Cape|Keurboomstrand]] near [[Plettenberg Bay]]. But when her family were settled in England she moved there to be with her grandchildren, living first at [[Blackheath, London|Blackheath]], then in [[London]], at [[Dolphin Square]], where she died in 1974. [[ImageFile:Beatrice Geheeb.jpg|thumb|Michael Ensor, Beatrice Ensor and [[Paul Geheeb]], date 1927?]]

* ''An Investigation into the Origins of UNESCO (The Genesis of UNESCO, the New Education Fellowship and the Theosophical Fraternity in Education)'' -– by Hiroshi Iwama -– Orion Printing Company, Tokyo 20 December 20, 1998

* ''St Christopher School 1915-19751915–1975'' Letchworth, Aldine Press by Reginald Snell -– first published in 1975

* ''A New Education for a New Era: Creating International Fellowship Through Conferences 1921-19381921–1938. Paedogogica Historica Volume 40'', Numbers 5-6/October 2004, pp. 733–755(23) by Professor Kevin J. Brehony

*d e Normann, B. (1917). The educational aspect of infant welfare work. in Report of the Conference of Education Associations. London: 210-215210–215

* de Normann, B. (1917). "Educational Reconstruction (1) The Present Position of Education in Great Britain --– Beatrice." The Herald of the Star 6(March): 121

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927205632/http://ioewebserver.ioe.ac.uk/ioe/cms/get.asp?cid=9347&9347_0=15400 Institute of Education, University of London (abstract)]

* [http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/index/T98JDRFAHHT8B68K.pdf Professor Kevin J. Brehony]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927152915/http://www.montessori-ami.org/ami/milestones1929.htm Association Montessori Internationale]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070512134123/http://www.wef-international.org/new_era.html The New Era in Education]

* [http://www.neweraineducation.co.uk/PDFs/v82n03%20p71-75%20Margaret.pdf Margaret White] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928215314/http://www.neweraineducation.co.uk/PDFs/v82n03%20p71-75%20Margaret.pdf |date=28 September 2007 }}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070513033826/http://www.frensham-heights.org.uk/ethos/history.html Frensham Heights School]

[[Category:TheosophicalEnglish Societyanti-vivisectionists]]