Mary Higgs

Mary Ann Higgs OBE born Mary Ann Kingsland (1854–1937) was a British writer and social reformer who was associated with Oldham and homeless women. She is creditted with inspiring Oldham's Garden Suburb and the Twentieth Century New Testament.

Mary Higgs
Born2 February 1854 Edit this on Wikidata
Devizes Edit this on Wikidata
Died19 March 1937 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 83)
Greenwich Edit this on Wikidata
Alma mater
OccupationWriter Edit this on Wikidata
Awards
  • Officer of the Order of the British Empire Edit this on Wikidata

Life

Higgs was born in Wiltshire in the town of Devizes. She was the first child born to Caroline (born Paddon) and William Kingsland. Her father was a minister in the Congregational church and in 1862 his work took the family north to Bradford. Higgs had two younger siblings.[1] Her father was the minister at the College Congregational Chapel and it was soon expanded and refurbished.[2]

Mary Kingsland middle row on left with other Girton College students

Higgs education was completed when she was chosen to be one of the pupila at the College for Women in Hitchin in 1871. In two years the college moved to Cambridge to become Girton College. She was a founding student of Girton and the first woman to sit the university's natural science tripos. She was not awarded her Cambridge degree (because she was a woman) but she was employed as an assistant lecturer at Girton.[3]

Higgs was the founder of the Beautiful Oldham Society and she is creditted as inspiring the creation of Oldham's Garden Suburb which was to be an area not of terraced houses but of homes with affordable rents set in green and winding streets.[4]

She was one of the two people who inspired the work[5] that resulted in the modern translation of the Twentieth Century New Testament.[6]

Higgs campaigning came to notice when she decided to investigate the life of women who were homeless. She dressed herself as a homeless person and went to find out what options were available. The resulting book "Where Shall She Live?" which was co-written with Edward Heyward was published in 1910. She had co-founded the "National Association of Women's Lodging Houses" and her book and pamphlets highlighted the limited housing options open to women.[3]

Private life

She married a Congregation minister, the Reverend Thomas Kilpin Higgs, and his work took them to Staffordshire and then to Manchester. In time they had four children. They moved to Oldham after her husband resigned in Manchester. He died in 1876 after leading Oldham's Greenacres Congregational Church for sixteen years.[6]

Death and legacy

She died in 1937, the same year that she was given an OBE.[6] In 2009 the community celebrated 100 years of the Garden Suburb.[4] In 2011 the pupil support centre in Oldham was renamed Kirksland School to honour her contribution to the town.[7]

References
  1. Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004). "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/38523. Retrieved 6 August 2023. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. GENUKI. "Genuki: BRADFORD: Bradford-College Chapel Congregational Church History up to 1868., Yorkshire (West Riding)". www.genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  3. "Higgs, Mary | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  4. "100 years of life in the Suburb". www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  5. Brown, Michael Joseph (1 January 2001). Genesis for Everyone. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-664-22941-2.
  6. "Papers relating to The Twentieth Century New Testament – Archives Hub". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  7. "Mary's legacy will go down in history books". www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
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