Marie Bethell Beauclerc
Marie Bethell Beauclerc was a pioneer in the teaching of Pitmans shorthand and typing in Birmingham, England. In 1888 she was the first woman to be appointed as a teacher in an English boys public school, at Rugby School. The Phonetic Journal September 1891 and the journal, Birmingham Faces And Places September 1892, both credit her with being the first female reporter in England.
Marie Bethell Beauclerc was born in London in 1845 as Maria Bethell. When she was around four years old, she and her older twin siblings Richard and Elizabeth, were sent from London to a boarding school near Bath. By this time Maria Bethells surname and the surname of her siblings, had been changed to Beauclerc. The childrens father, Richard Bethell, died when Maria was five years old however the reason for the name change of Maria, Richard and Elizabeth from Bethell to Beauclerc is unknown. Maria Beauclerc attended Weston Boarding Schools near Bath until circumstances forced her to leave school at age nine. At age twelve she began teaching herself shorthand from a manual which she found in some waste paper. The manual entitled The Phonographic Teacher, was written by Isaac Pitman . On her thirteenth birthday, Maria Beauclerc and her mother moved to Birmingham where she continued her studies through a member of the Phonetic Society in Bath who corrected her exercises through the post.
Source: Wikipedia