Joyce Bishop

Dame Margaret Joyce Bishop (28 July 1896 – 7 June 1993) was an English educator who was head master of Holly Lodge High School for Girls in Smethwick from 1925 to 1935 and then of Godolphin and Latymer School for Girls in Hammersmith, West London between 1935 and 1963. She was associated with the primary school teacher training institute Froebel College, Roehampton and its associated Ibstock Place School of which she chaired the governors from 1964 to 1979. Bishop was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1953 before being upgraded to Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire ten years later.

Early life On 28 July 1896, Bishop was born at The Glen, Oxford Road, Moseley, Kings Norton, Worcestershire, She was the second of three children to the lacquer manufacturer and silver plating business owner Charles Benjamin Bishop and his wife, Amy Stewart, Tindall. Bishop was then taught at Edgbaston High School, In 1915, during the years of the First World War, She frequently contributed to the college's dramatic productions and she gained a third-class degree in 1918 after suffering from illness during her final examinations. succeeding her sister. They persuaded a lecturer Chris Athey to lead the work and the free nursery they had created. The project ran until 1978.

Bishop was an ardent opposer of the college amalgamating and reorganising when teacher training numbers decreased during the 1970s. She left in 1979. Bishop was promoted to Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the 1963 New Year Honours. On 7 June 1993, she died of bronchopneumonia at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton. On the afternoon of 4 October 1993, a memorial service was held for her in St Margaret's, Westminster.

Legacy The Bishop Centre at the Godolphin and Latymer School was named in her memory. A bromide print of Bishop taken by the photographer Walter Bird in February 1963 is held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.