Mary Creighton Bailey

Mary Creighton Bailey (19 September 1913 – 16 August 2008) was an English classics scholar and teacher, and headmistress of Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School, Canterbury, for fourteen years.

After the Second World War, and interrupting her teaching career, Bailey was flown into Berlin as adviser to the British high commissioner there, with a remit to improve education services. As religious affairs officer in Berlin, she worked with the Evangelical Church of Westphalia. For her work in Germany she was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse, or Order of Merit First Class of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Background

Lady Margaret Hall matriculation photo, 1931. Bailey is no.16 Bailey was a member of a family of Oxford academics. Her paternal grandfather was barrister Alfred Bailey, a Stowell civil law fellow of University College, Oxford. Her maternal grandmother was Louise Creighton, who was an alumnus of the University of London and a governor of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, serving on its council between 1906 and 1936. who was a daughter of Bishop of London Mandell Creighton, and an alumnus and historian of Lady Margaret Hall.

Bailey was born on 19 September 1913, in Headington, Oxford. She was the eldest of four siblings, who included Balliol student John Mandell Bailey, author Rachel Margaret Moss née Bailey, wife of Reverend Basil Moss, The siblings were "brought up in an intellectually rigorous atmosphere".

Character Bailey's niece recalled that Bailey's "quiet and steady determination held throughout her professional life". The actor Michael Denison said that:

British High Commission, Germany

In September 1945 Bailey, a fluent speaker of German, moved to Berlin, having joined the Education Division of the Control Commission for Germany. According to her niece Gemma Moss, the brief was to "de-nazify the school curriculum". She would fraternise with her German colleagues at a time when that was not common practice at the Commission. In 1952 she received the award Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse, or Order of Merit First Class of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Bristol After Bailey's return from Germany, she taught classics at Kingsfield School, Bristol, which was at that time a co-educational grammar school, from 1953 to 1960. hired a full-time music teacher. She began plans for a new music block at the school, which was completed in 1980 and opened by her after her retirement. She expanded the scope of physical education with the opening of a swimming pool in 1964, and foreign school trips became frequent, with groups travelling in Europe and as far as Russia. When she retired, and in accordance with a trend of the era, she insisted that the job would be offered to both men and women, and indeed a headmaster was chosen. "Individuals mattered to her – saint or sinner – and individuality was respected. Her breadth of vision, humanity and integrity sprang from her deeply held beliefs".

Death Bailey retired to Aldbourne, Wiltshire, where she lived with her sister Susan, who cared for her in her last illness. She bequeathed to Lady Margaret Hall the above watercolour painting by Bertha Johnson of her maternal grandmother Louise Creighton.