Agnes Irwin (educator)

Agnes Irwin (December 30, 1841 – December 5, 1914) was an American educator, best known as the first dean of Radcliffe College (1894-1909). Prior to that, she served as the principal of the West Penn Square Seminary for Young Ladies in Philadelphia (later renamed as the Agnes Irwin School).[1]

Agnes Irwin
Born(1841-12-30)December 30, 1841
Washington, D.C.
DiedDecember 5, 1914(1914-12-05) (aged 72)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
OccupationAmerican educator
Known forFirst dean of Radcliffe College (1894-1909)

Formative years

Born in Washington, D.C. on December 30, 1841, Agnes Irwin was a daughter of United States Congressman William Wallace Irwin (1803-1856) and Sophia Arabella (Bache) Irwin (1815-1904), a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who was a daughter of Richard Bache, Jr. of the Republic of Texas Navy and Second Texas Legislature (1847), and Sophia Burrell Dallas, daughter of Arabella Maria Smith and Alexander J. Dallas, an American statesman who served as the U.S. Treasury Secretary under President James Madison.

Agnes Irwin was also a great-granddaughter of Sarah Franklin Bache and Richard Bache, and the great-great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin, as well as a grandniece of George Mifflin Dallas, the 11th Vice President of the United States, serving under James K. Polk.

Academic career

Irwin was employed as the principal of Philadelphia's West Penn Square Seminary for Young Ladies (1869-1894), which was later renamed in her honor. During this time (in 1877), she also served as the editor, with Sarah Butler (Mrs. Owen J.) Wister, of Worthy Women of Our First Century. In 1894, she became the first dean of Radcliffe College, and served in that capacity until 1909.[2]

Illness, death and interment

Irwin fell ill with pneumonia in Philadelphia in 1914, and died there on December 5, 1914. She was interred at Philadelphia's Saint James the Less Episcopal Churchyard.

Legacy

Today, The Agnes Irwin School continues to be a leader in girls' education with 700 girls enrolled in pre-kindergarten to 12th grades. The school is currently located in suburban Rosemont, Pennsylvania, 10 miles west of Philadelphia. Irwin died of pneumonia in Philadelphia in 1914.

Irwin was the subject of a 1934 biography by Agnes Repplier.

References
  1. The Agnes Irwin School - http://www.agnesirwin.org Archived 2006-12-25 at the Wayback Machine
  2. The Agnes Irwin School - http://www.agnesirwin.org Archived 2006-12-25 at the Wayback Machine
  • Works by or about Agnes Irwin at Internet Archive
  • "Agnes Irwin". Find a Grave. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
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