Annet Schepel

Annet Hamminick Schepel (26 December 1844–3 March 1931) was a Dutch educator and head teacher of the Pestalozzi-Fröbel House. Schepel emigrated from Berlin to the United Kingdom and established a Froebelian institution in London.

Early life Schepel was born on 26 December 1844 in The Hague, to Johannes Christiaan Pieter Hamminck Schepel (1808–1870), a soldier, and Maria Volck (1815–1863). Schepel had two brothers and four older sisters, the eldest of which was the teacher and translator (1839–1930). She was principal of the institution for over twenty years. She was also a member of the Federation of German Women's Associations.

When the World Columbian Exhibition was held at Chicago, Illinois, United States, in 1893, Schepel attended with a delegation of German women. She presented an exhibit on "German welfare institutions," which had been commissioned by the Reichstag (German parliament). The exhibit inspired a group of Chicago women to establish a student residence on the same principles.

English educator Alice Buckton became interested in the educational ideas of Friedrich Fröbel and travelled to Germany to visit the Pestalozzi-Fröbel House. She met Schepel and persuaded her to come to England in 1896 to set up a similar institution in London. Schepel opened the Sesame Garden and House for Home Life Training in St John's Wood. By 1902, the school at Sesame House had sixty-five students.

England

Buckton and Schepel also became partners who lived together at Byfleet in Surrey.

Schepel died in 1931.