Maria Beata Catharina Henschen, also von Bergen (26 March 1840 – 30 May 1927) was a Swedish school director. She founded Uppsala högre elementarläroverk för flickor ('Uppsala Higher Elementary College for Girls') in 1865.
Overview
Maria Beata Catharina Henschen, also von Bergen (26 March 1840 – 30 May 1927) was a Swedish school director. She founded Uppsala högre elementarläroverk för flickor ('Uppsala Higher Elementary College for Girls') in 1865.
Biography
Maria Henschen was born in Uppsala in 1840 and was the daughter of jurist Lars Vilhelm Henschen and Augusta . Henschen had five siblings, Johan Henschen (1837), publicist (1842–1925), Josef Henschen (1843), Esaias Henschen (1845), and doctor Salomon Eberhard Henschen (1847–1930).
She was educated at Cecilia Fryxell's school at Rostad, and then also taught there between 1861 and 1865, also taking several study trips abroad. She studied French, German and English, and for a time also worked as a governess.
In 1865 she founded a girls' school in Uppsala, called ('the Henschen Girls' School') after her. The school became a pioneering institution in Sweden. Her brother Salomon taught natural sciences early on and established a small museum. In 1870, the school was taken over by an association, relocated and renamed or Uppsala högre elementarläroverk för flickor. However, Henschen continued to finance the school and remained as its director until her marriage in 1878, when she was succeeded by Maria Alexandersson.
