Julia Huxley

Julia Huxley (née Arnold; 1862–1908) was a British scholar. She founded Prior's Field School for girls, in Godalming, Surrey in 1902.

Early life Born Julia Arnold in 1862 to Julia Arnold (née Sorell), the granddaughter of William Sorell, and Thomas Arnold, a literary scholar,

She went to Somerville College, Oxford where she was awarded a First in English Literature in 1882. Julia married Leonard Huxley in 1885. The school was established on a five-acre (2 ha) plot with a moderately sized house designed by C.F.A. Voysey. Early student Enid Bagnold found the education she received from Huxley's school 'stimulating'.

Death and legacy She died, at the age of 46, of cancer in 1908. At that time she had been headmistress for six years. In June 1908 her school had 85 pupils and 86 "Old Girls".

In March 2017, Prior's Field School opened a new Science, Technology and Music Centre, named the Arnold Building, in memory of her.

Private life Julia and Leonard Huxley married in 1885 and had four children together: Julian Sorell Huxley (1887–1975), Noel Trevenen (or Trevelyan) Huxley (1889–1914), the novelist Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894–1963) and Margaret Arnold Huxley (1899–1981).

Julia wrote a letter to Aldous as she was dying and he carried this with him for the rest of his life. It included the thought "Judge not too much and love more". Scholars of Aldous's works can see his mother's death in his cynical attitude and his books including Eyeless in Gaza, Brave New World and the Utopian Island.