Headmistresses of the Girls’
Department

F OR the first sixteen years, the head-masters were responsible for the whole school including the boys, girls,
and infants.

MRS. MARGARET DAVIES, 1864—APRIL. 1867

Mr. Dan Isaac Davies placed the girls in the charge of Miss Margaret Edwards, of Blaina, at Ebenezer Chapel, on March 31, 1864. In a few months, she became Mrs. Dan Isaac Davies. Miss Jenkins, who had been in charge of the infants’ department, became the headmistress of the Girls’ department on April 8, 1867. But she remained only a short while, as she left on April 2, 1868, for Abermorlais Girls’ School, Merthyr. She hailed from Dowlais.

MISS MARY EVANS, APRIL, 1868—1902

Group Staff with Miss Mary Evans Front Row:—Edith A. Arthur (Mrs. Price); Emily Morris (Mrs. Jenkins); Sarah Anne Griffiths (Mrs Bugler).
Second Row:—Elizabeth Ann Davies (Mrs. Williams); Madge Williams, (deceased); Mary Evans, Head-mistress (1868-1902); Letitia Phillips (Mrs. Barber, deceased); Alice Griffiths (Mrs. Humphreys).
Back Row:—Elizabeth Davies; Myra Price (Mrs. Reynolds); Elizabeth Evans, deceased; Mary Jane Wigley.

Miss Evans had been trained at Stockwell College. She became head-mistress of the girls’ department in April, 1868, and remained until her death in 1902. She appears to have lived in the school-house, next to the road (shown on the left side of the 1866 picture), where her mother died. Hailing from Haverfordwest, she lived here until the house was taken down for the school extension in 1894. She served for the long period of over 34 years, and as in the case of the head-masters, her pupils and pupil-teachers became head-mistresses of the Rhondda schools, and in many cases, married the head-masters, who had been trained in the boys’ department. She had well-earned the gratitude of the whole neighbourhood when she passed away in harness at her home on Gadlys Road, near Oxford Street, on December 1, 1902.

MISS CHARLOTTE ANN MORRIS, 1903—1932

Charlotte Ann Morris

Miss Evans was succeeded on January 1, 1903, by Miss Morris, who also served for a long period of 30 years, until her well-deserved retirement on December 31, 1932. Many of her former pupils have attained distinction in the academical world, and many others have served, and are still serving, as head-mistresses in Aberdare and elsewhere. She is the daughter of the late former genial superintendent and clerk of the Aberdare School Board.

None of Miss Morris’s successors have served for long periods, as they have previously been headmistress of schools with a lower average attendance than that of the Park Girls’ School. They are: Misses Bessie May Richards, 1933-1939; Maggie Hughes, 1939-1945; and Ethel Violet Williams, 1945-1946. Each of these head-mistresses retired after having served the whole of their educational careers under the local authority. The school, since January 1, 1947, has been under the charge of Miss Annie Amelia Evans, a former pupil, as the acting head-mistress.