Theodora Bonwick

Theodora Ellen Bonwick (27 December 1876 – 10 November 1928) was a British headteacher, trade unionist, educationist and suffragette. As a member of the Association for Moral and Social Hygiene, she became a strong advocate of sex education in schools, gaining the support of parents to establish sex education classes at Enfield Road School in Hackney while she was headmistress there.

Life Bonwick was born in Shepherd's Bush in London in 1876. Her family had returned from Australia, where Bonwick's three elder siblings were born. Her parents were Sarah (née Beddow) and William Priessnitz Bonwick. Her father was a teacher, and her mother was a suffragist who had been active in the Women's Liberal Federation. and then trained as a teacher at Stockwell College of Education, where she obtained a BA degree. Reports recorded her ability for teaching and she received a teacher's certificate. In 1905 she joined the militant Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and became a suffragette. Bonwick was one of the speakers. Sylvia was ejected from the WSPU for her socialist and democratic views and Bonwick became the president of the Women Teachers' Franchise Union (WTFU) in 1914.

She worked at Enfield Road School for Girls in Hackney and before 1914 she was the headteacher there. When a 1914 enquiry considered this, however, it was rejected – because the teachers would find it difficult.