Ethel De la Cour

Ethel De la Cour
De la Cour by Andrew Swan Watson, c. 1929-30
Born	6 December 1869 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	25 April 1957 (1957-04-26) (aged 87) Edinburgh, Scotland
Known for	Leading a college

Ethel De la Cour OBE (6 December 1869 – 25 April 1957) was a British college head and soroptimist. She was a co-founder of Queen Margaret University.

Life

Cour was born in Edinburgh in 1869. Her parents were Alice-Maria and Lauritz Ulrich De la Cour. Her father was a merchant.

In 1896 she joined Christian Guthrie Wright and Louisa Stevenson who had founded a school for cookery in Edinburgh. She was employed as the assistant Secretary to Jessie Melvin who was the college's secretary.

Guthrie Wright died suddenly in 1907, aged 62 years. Cour was promoted to be the professional Principal of the cookery school in 1909.^[1] The school went on to define Domestic Science teaching for Scotland, because the 1908 Education (Scotland) Act made Domestic Science an essential part of compulsory education.^[2]

During the first world war food was in short supply and eventually rationing was introduced. She was involved with groups who were encouraging the use of new recipes so that the maximum nutrition could be obtained from those foods that were available. She was awarded an MBE for this work.^[2]

In recognition of her contribution to domestic science teaching she was awarded an OBE in 1929. She was already a Justice of the Peace and Principal of the "Edinburgh School of Cookery and Domestic Economy".^[3]

In 1927 a branch of the Soroptimist International was started in Edinburgh. She was a founder member and the group's founding President.^[4]

In 1930 she retired and the school became the Edinburgh College of Domestic Science. In 1972 the name changed again, to Queen Margaret College (now Queen Margaret University).^[5] There is a Historic Scotland plaque on the site of the school's Atholl Crescent location, naming Stevenson and Guthrie Wright as the school's co-founders.

Plaque to Louisa Stevenson and Christian Guthrie Wright at 5 Atholl Crescent, Edinburgh

^[6]

Cour died in Edinburgh in 1957.^[2]

References

1. "QMU History". Queen Margaret University. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
2. "Cour, Ethel Maud De la (1869–1957), college head and soroptimist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/52733. Retrieved 2020-10-10. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. "Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood". The Edinburgh Gazette. No. 14553. 4 June 1929. p. 573.
4. "Women's Clubs in Edinburgh in the 1920s and 1930s" (PDF). Soroptimist International Edinburgh- News, Notes, Anecdotes. No. 157. October 2016. p. 2.
5. "History: From Edinburgh School of Cookery to Queen Margaret University" Archived 2 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine Queen Margaret University website.
6. "Founders Commemorated with Historic Scotland Plaque" Archived 15 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Queen Mary University Edinburgh, press release (31 January 2013).