Elizabeth Wilhelmina Jones

Elizabeth Wilhelmina Jones (27 October 1869 – 10 December 1959), known professionally as Miss M. E. Jones or Mina E. Jones, was an Irish educator who was the headmistress of Harrogate Ladies' College in Harrogate, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, from 1898 to 1935.

Jones was born in Belfast, Ireland. In collaboration with the school's founder and owner, George Mearns Savery, a fellow Wesleyan, she increased the number of pupils, moved the establishment into a new, purpose-built building, and planned for the development of female education there. After Savery's early death she added a separate preparatory school for girls, rebuilt Harrogate's Old St Mary's Church on the school grounds as a chapel for the staff and pupils, and established Maison Blanche, a French-language school in Paris. The Northern Whig described her as "one of the leading educationists in England".

Background Jones was born into a Wesleyan family background. Her maternal grandfather was William Wilson of Crossan, County Tyrone, Ireland, Her mother was Mary Jane Jones (née Wilson) from Irvinestown, County Fermanagh, the sixth of those twelve siblings. He was minister of Sandy Row Methodist Church, Belfast. and was the eldest of eight siblings. She was educated at the Methodist College Belfast. In her youth, she was a hockey player. later became Jones' confidante and private secretary, and was "her devoted friend and admirer throughout her life". She died of cerebral thrombosis and arteriosclerosis on 10 December 1959 in Eastbourne, and was buried with her mother at Harlow Hill Cemetery, Harrogate.

Bradford Girls' Grammar School According to Hewlett, "almost immediately" after receiving her university degree in 1891, Jones left Ireland for England, seeking teaching work. The Methodist Times reported that she left "with the highest testimonials to her capacity and high influence". After a few meetings with Savery she was offered a headship at Harrogate, but she hesitated due to the small size of Harrogate Ladies' College, and therefore the small scope for development. Jones often spoke of the moment when the dilemma was resolved. While walking at Grassington, her lifelong close friend Gertrude Clement challenged her to make her decision when they reached a certain gate. Finding a horseshoe shamrock brooch on the ground by the gate influenced her decision and she wrote her letter of acceptance that evening. In the same year Savery planned a new school building in collaboration with Miss M. E. Jones, in response to the expansion of the school, which was occurring under her leadership. Part of a sports field, which was already owned by Savery's Harrogate College for boys, was made available; it was on Clarence Drive, Harrogate. and the building was opened for the school to move in, on 17 May 1904. After the school opened, it still required the acquisition of nearby houses to accommodate boarding pupils and staff.

As described by the Yorkshire Post, the ideals of Jones and Savery for the school were "advancement in scholastic matters, the promotion of physical well-being, [and] the infusion of a fine moral and spiritual tone". They rejected historical tendencies towards "domination of ideas for the education of boys", the bluestocking, the hausfrau and the finishing school, in favour of potential female careers, "mental and moral training [and] personal responsibility", public duty, and home-making including "pride in the beauty and order of the home". Those ideals of 1901 would, of course, be superseded in certain respects in later years, Although closely supervised by Savery, After Savery's death, according to the Illustrated London News, the school "took its place as one of the leading girls' boarding schools in the North". In 1907 or 1910, in the original library over the entrance hall, the Old Girls installed the 1907 overmantel by Frances Darlington entitled, Sir Percival's Vision of the Holy Grail. She was a graduate of the University of London, and according to Hewlett, "the first woman other than the Queen to achieve [the] distinction of Dame Commander of the Order of Michael and St George".

Salaried headmistress By the end of the First World War, Jones owned only half of the school business and property, so that the school's future was not fully secure. In 1924 Jones came under the influence of Reverend Percy Warrington, Those pews which were surplus to requirement were used as outdoor seating, and seating by the swimming pool. Sir Thomas Gardiner described her as an "almost fabulous Headmistress by whose endeavours the school had in the space of a few years attained a position of eminence ... [When she was 82] the joy of life, which survived a Victorian upbringing in an Ulster home and a working life burdened with heavy responsibility, [was] still with her".

In 1962 a memorial assembly hall and a gymnasium were opened and dedicated to Jones' memory by the Countess of Swinton, Molly Boynton. According to the Eastbourne Herald, after Jones' death "tribute [was] paid to her work and personality in the double dedication [on 5 May 1963] of two memorials in the college chapel". Those memorials consisted of oak screens for the organ, and stained glass in the east window.