Virginie Mauvais

Virginie Mauvais (2 August 1797 – 27 June 1892), French teacher and benefactor, was born and died in Nancy, France. She worked as a teacher and then an inspector of the Nancy municipal schools, and was a generous donor to the local hospital and other charities there.

Biography Her father was a constitutional priest and had married during the French Revolution so the family found itself in difficulty during the First Restoration when the French monarchy was restored to power. Her father was imprisoned and dependent on Virginie to plead his case to the Russian general who commanded Nancy, which, at the time, was occupied by the Russian Empire. She was successful. She never married, saying she found "the mission more beautiful to raise the children of others than those I may have had." The funerary monument, a bronze statue by Ernest Bussière, represents two children reading, the elder guiding the younger.

Select publications 1832: Vocabulaire de lecture, à l'usage des élèves de l'école-modèle de jeunes demoiselles (Reading vocabulary, for the use of the pupils of the model school of young ladies) 1834: Grammaire élémentaire à l'usage des élèves de l'école modèle de jeunes demoiselles (Elementary grammar for the use of the students of the model school for young ladies) 1834: Leçons graduées de lecture sans épellation et d'orthographe usuelle (Graduated lessons in reading without spelling) 1840: Leçons de géographie méthodique, à l'usage des écoles primaires (Lessons in methodical geography, for the use of primary schools) 1842: Leçons de lecture et d'orthographe pratique (Lessons in reading and practical spelling) 1853: Leçons graduées de lecture et d'orthographe, exercices et applications (Graduated lessons in reading and spelling, exercises and applications)