Jean Floud

Jean Esther Floud (née McDonald; 3 November 1915 – 28 March 2013) was a prominent educational sociologist and later an academic. She was the Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, from 1972 to 1983.

Early life She was born Jean Esther McDonald to working-class parents and went to primary and secondary schools in her home town of Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. In 1927, the family moved to Stoke Newington, north London where she won a free place at North Hackney Central School for Girls, a grammar school.

She studied sociology at the London School of Economics (LSE) under David Glass, TH Marshall, Morris Ginsberg and Karl Mannheim.

Academic work Floud worked as the assistant director of education in Oxford (1940–46), then returned to LSE and taught there and at the Institute of Education (1947‑62).

Floud was a member of the committee that produced the Franks Report (1957) which proposed reforms to ensure a more efficient administration of Oxford University. Her membership in this led, in 1972, to an invitation to become Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge. She was made an Honorary Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge in 1986 and also received honorary degrees from the universities of Leeds (1973), City (1978) and London (2003). Peter died of a brain tumour in 1960; their son Andrew died in a plane crash in 1982.

After Newnham in 1983, Floud retired to Oxford where she died on 28 March 2013. During her retirement, she travelled and continued to serve on university committees. She also spent time with her friends, her books, her music, and with the families of her two surviving children Frances and Esther.