The Alice Ottley School

The Alice Ottley School was an independent all-girls' school in Worcester that existed under this name – referencing its first headmistress – between 1883 and 2007 before it merged with the Worcester Royal Grammar School. History The Alice Ottley School was founded by Canon William Butler of Wantage and Alice Ottley in 1883. Canon Butler had arrived in Worcester in 1881 and he noted that whilst the provision of education for boys was good (with the Royal Grammar School and the King's School), there was nothing of the same calibre for girls. The school opened on 21 June 1883, with eleven girls registered, although owing to sickness, only ten girls began on the day. The school operated on a strong Anglican ethos throughout its 124-year history. Alice Ottley remained headmistress until 1912. She had already resigned when she fell ill in June 1912. She died in London on 18 September, by coincidence the first day of the new term under her successor, Miss Margaret Spurling. She was buried at Astwood Cemetery, Worcester with the inscription "In Thy Light we shall see Light". In 1957, the City of Worcester added its own, more lasting, commemoration in the form of a window in the cloisters of the cathedral. It remains to this day. In 2007 the former Alice Ottley School merged with the boys' school and in 2009 it abandoned its name and became part of "RGS Worcester".