Barbara Gwyer

Barbara Elizabeth Gwyer (1 January 1881 – 16 February 1974) was an English academic administrator. She was principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford, from 1924 to 1946.

Early life and education Gwyer was born on 1 January 1881 in Marylebone, London, England. Her parents were John Edward Gwyer and Edith Gwyer (née Linford), and she had a brother, Sir Maurice Gwyer. She was educated at the Grove School, an all-girls school in Highgate, Middlesex. She achieved a second class in Mods in 1902, and a second class in Literae Humaniores in 1904. During her career as principal she oversaw the incorporation and drawing up of new statutes at St Hugh's, a process undertaken by the Oxford women's colleges in the 1920s in response to the Royal Commission of 1919.

Later life Following her retirement in 1946, Gwyer was made an honorary fellow of St Hugh's College, Oxford. She lived for the rest of her life in Stokenchurch, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, but was a regular visitor to St Hugh's. In old age, she became frail and used a wheelchair: she was described by Barbara Castle, who had studied at St Hugh's, as "a frail, gentle figure in a wheelchair—aeons away from the ogre I had known when she was principal". She died on 16 February 1974, aged 93.