Mary Vivian Hughes (2 October 1866 - May 1956), usually known as Molly Hughes and published under M. V. Hughes, was a British educator and author.
She was born Mary Thomas and pas...ver másMary Vivian Hughes (2 October 1866 - May 1956), usually known as Molly Hughes and published under M. V. Hughes, was a British educator and author.
She was born Mary Thomas and passed most of her childhood in Canonbury, under the watchful eyes of four older brothers. Her father, a modestly successful London stockbroker, was discovered dead on a train line in 1879. His death remains a mystery. She attended the North London Collegiate School and a Cambridge teachers’ training college, and was later awarded her BA in London.
As head of the training department at Bedford College from 1892-1897, she played an important role in expanding and rationalizing the teacher training curriculum. Molly Thomas married barrister-at-law Arthur Hughes (1857-1918) from Garneddwen in 1897, after an engagement of nearly ten years; they had one daughter and three sons. After her husband’s death, she returned to work as an educational inspector. Her first book, About England, was published in 1927.
Hughes became best known for a series of four lively memoirs, A London Child of the 1870s (1934), A London Girl of the 1880s (1936), A London Home in the 1890s (1937), and A London Family Between the Wars (1940). Her books are a valuable source on women’s education and women’s work in the late Victorian period; in particular, A London Girl of the 1880s provides an unparalleled portrait of life in a Victorian women’s college. Many of Hughes’ books were illustrated with her own drawings, as well as her brother Charles’ paintings.
She died in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1956.ver menos