Lessons for today’s politicians to learn from – and also someone to add to our list of civic town and county heroes
I wrote some observations about the programme of courses at the then Cambridgeshire Technical College and School of Art 1954-55 and how diverse its curriculum was. Furthermore, I noted the links it had to local employers. I didn’t know until today how those links had been built up. After re-browsing through Tony Kirby’s history of Anglia Ruskin University (which is available in public libraries across Cambridgeshire), that I found out about the woman behind all of this.
Above – the library catalogue link for those of you wanting to find out about the history of the links between what is now Anglia Ruskin University, and local employers.
Turns out it was due to the hard work of its Principal Miss Dorothy Enright. (Pictured below)
Above: Dorothy Ensight of the Cambridge School of Arts, Craft, and Technology. Later the Cambridgeshire Technical College and School of Art, then the Cambridge College of Art and Technology, (CCAT), then Anglia Polytechnic University, and today Anglia Ruskin University. (Image via Tony Kirby & Cambridgeshire Collection)
Not everyone agreed with her appointment in 1925. Alderman William Clark Jackson of Cambridgeshire County Council (Fowlmere) wondered why the job of principal had not gone to a splendid chap. Apart from the principle of the principal’s post being appointed on merit, (sorry!) the impact of the First World War broke a number of sexist and restrictive social conventions leading to law changes that removed legal barriers to women working. Women proved to the doubters that they could cope with what were traditionally seen as ‘men’s professions’.
Above – from BNA.
It wasn’t until the Education Act 1944 (S24) that the Marriage Bar was struck out in legislation. It would be almost half a century before the Equal Pay Act 1970 got rid of the gender disparity in pay as far as the law was concerned, but we are still waiting for it to be achieved in practice.
Fast forward to 1931 and we find out what an impact Miss Ensight had on our town’s history
“A long series of circumstances over which there was no control has hitherto prevented the inclusion of Miss Enright, Principal of the School of Arts, Crafts and Technology, in the series of the eminent Cambridge Workers. Therefore, it is with added pleasure that I am at long last able to bring a short account of this lady and the work she has done in connection with the school before my readers.
“Miss Enright comes from Yorkshire, received her training at the Notre Dame Training College and at the age of 24 was appointed head of a girls’ central school. Organisation was always a hobby of hers and the work that she did in connection with this school won for her recognition by the Board of Education. In 1919 she was elected a member of the Departmental Committee on English formed by the Ministry, which held its sessions in London. In the same year the great London business house of Selfridge, started a continuation school for juvenile employees under the terms of the Fisher Act, which provided for 320 hours’ instruction to be given to all young persons between the ages of fourteen to eighteen in each year.
The Cambridge School
“Miss Enright was chosen for the task of organising this school. She was given complete freedom with regard to it, and the school was not only one of the most successful of its type, but also one of the most popular with its students. The Fisher Act [ i.e. the Education Act 1918, named after the President of the Board of Education Herbert Fisher] was, however repealed and the school closed. Miss Enright was then appointed to reorganise a large London County School of 1,500 students; that job completed, she came to Cambridge in 1924 to help in the reorganisation of the School of Arts, Crafts, and Technology. In the following year, she was appointed Principal; she was the first woman to be elevated to the position as head of a technical school in the United Kingdom, and she still retains that unique distinction.
“The school, which was founded in 1858 as the Cambridge School of Art, and originally maintained by fees, Government grants and voluntary subscriptions, had been taken over by the Cambridgeshire County Council in 1903. [Cambridgeshire County Council having been created by the Local Government Act of 1888].
“No records of the school work were kept in the early years, and when Miss Enright came on the scene she found that although the then day school held various odd classes for unemployed boys and girls, there was no tenure of security. It was, therefore, decided in 1925 to organise the Day Trade School on the present lines. There were by then 54 students. This year, the number has grown to 151, whilst the total number of students now in attendance at the school is 1,310.
“Among the developments in the school which have taken place during the last five or six years have been the provision of a new building with modern technical equipment, the appointment of highly qualified teachers and the starting of progressive schemes of instruction. Employers of labour have extended help and encouragement and co-operated with Miss Enright’s efforts for the further instruction of their employees. One feature of special interest is the Booksellers’ Diploma Course, which was started last year.
“In 1926 an Evening School Dramatic Society, which is affiliated to the British Drama League, was started, and this has since performed many plays, most serious and frivolous, including Drinkwater’s “Abraham Lincoln.“
“The part of the school which perhaps interested me the most was that section devoted to the training of women in domestic science, needlework, cookery, and simple home hygiene. [This was a time when efforts by local councils were being made to reduce levels of infant mortality – you can read Cambridge’s public health reports covering over 80 years to get a feel for how big an issue this was 100 years ago]. Miss Enright is particularly insistent on the need for women to learn all branches of work connected with the home, and she is most anxious that this side of the work should be developed to its fullest extent.
“The rooms in which the domestic courses are given are quite the best that I have seen in establishments of this type, and I have seen quite a few! The thing that surprises me is that the women of Cambridge as a whole do not show more interest in this so essential art.
Further Education
“Miss Enright is not only responsible for the organisation and conduct of the School of Arts, Crafts, and Technology; she is also responsible for the further education in the Borough of Cambridge, which includes the organisation of Branch Evening Schools.
“In spite all this responsibility Miss Enright has not allowed the worry and anxiety which it must perforce bring in its train to encroach upon her youth. Not only is she still young as far as years are counted, but she is young in outlook, of high good humour and most pleasant to look upon.
“No one will, I think, contradict me when I say that it is undoubtedly wing to the initiative that Miss Enright has shown and the willing Co-operation that she has received from all those with whom her work brings her into contact that the Cambridge School of Arts, Crafts, and Technology is regarded as being not only one of the most progressive technical institutions under civic control in Great Britain, but also one of the most successful.
M.M. [Author]. Ends/
Tragically, she was dead 14 months later.
Above, from the British Newspaper Archive. it’s incredible to think what a success she would have made of the institution had she lived for a few more decades – in particular had she had the chance to team up with that other Cambridgeshire County Council appointee, Brinley Newton-John. She bequeathed many of her assets to the college – including 1,500 books. I wonder how many are still in the archives/library of Anglia Ruskin University on East Road?
July 1925 will be the centenary of Dorothy Enright’s appointment a Principal – one for Anglia Ruskin University and Cambridgeshire County Council to start making celebration preparations for?
If you enjoyed this article and are interested in the history of Cambridge the town and the people who made our modern city, please support my research in bringing their records of achievement to wider audiences. Click here if you would like to make a donation to support my ongoing work.
Lost Cambridge 
Ald Jackson was my Great Grandad
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