Isabella Skea

Isabella Low Skea (16 January 1845 – 7 October 1914) was a Scottish campaigner for women's rights from Aberdeen who became the first female headteacher of a large mixed-sex board school when few female headships were achieved. Her rise to prominence from a humble background has led to her being described as "the lass o' pairts" as a female counterpoint to the notion of "the lad of pairts" prevalent in Scottish educational philosophy of the time.

Early life Isabella Skea was born in the Bridge of Don area of Aberdeen on 16 January 1845. Her parents were tenant farmers; George Chalmers and Isabella Low.

Having received encouragement from her schoolmaster, she trained at the Church of Scotland Normal College in Edinburgh circa 1866. where she became Girls' Head of East Parish Sessional School (this would later be known as St Paul Street Elementary School).

Skea was particularly interested in the development of school libraries and opposed teachers receiving payments related to results, deeming the practice educationally unsound. Skea read the final paper of the congress entitled 'The Status of Women in Teaching'.

She stated there were three things which women teachers needed to agitate for until they got them: Higher training. Freer range. Better emoluments.

Personal life She married William Skea, a printer/journalist, on Christmas Day in 1884 but she firmly believed that marriage should not interfere with a women's career. The couple had no children but provided a home for their three nieces.

Death and legacy Skea died on 7 October 1914 in Aberdeen.

Dr. Alison McCall, convenor of Women's History Scotland, described Skea's legacy thus:We are all familiar with the lad o’pairts, the clever young man who rose from lowly origins thanks to the benefits of a good Scottish education. Isabella Skea rose to prominence by a similar path and demonstrates that lasses as well as lads could make their own way in the nineteenth century.