Alumni History
OUR PROMINENT FPS In the course of our school’s nearly 780-year history, a substantial number of Former Pupils, both present day and historically, have gone on to become successful in their respective fields and truly made their mark on the world. One of our themes for this year’s edition of Schola Clara focuses on The Arts, so we thought it would be particularly poignant to shine a spotlight on some of our historical FPs who made an impact through their creative career fields, with a particular focus on journalism. Here we share a glimpse into the lives of two female and one male journalist, whose experiences and endeavours in the field of journalism differed significantly.
Franziska Maria ‘Marie’ Isabella Imandt (1860-1945) and Elizabeth ‘Bessie’ Maxwell (1871-1946)
Marie Imandt
Bessie Maxwell
Franziska Maria Isabella Imandt, known as Marie, was born in Dundee in 1860 to a family of partial Prussian decent. Marie’s mother, Anne McKenzie, was a local Scottish woman whilst her father, Peter Imandt, was a Prussian. Her father was nicknamed “Red Wolf” as a young man due to his relationship with the Communist League and the fact that he helped found the German Social Democratic Party. He was also close with renowned Communist philosopher, Karl Marx. Marie’s parents married in 1856 and went on to have three children together before Peter died in 1897.
Elizabeth Maxwell, more commonly known as Bessie, was over 10 years Marie’s junior and was born in Dundee in 1871 into a family of journalists. Her great-grandfather was the first Editor of newspaper The Peoples’ Choice, and her father had also worked as an Editor as well. Bessie went to the School during her teenage years, where she showcased her talents in the arts in particular. She then attended the University College in Dundee, which was one of the few institutions that accepted female students at the time.
Peter Imandt taught German at the High School of Dundee, where Marie attended as a pupil. After leaving the School, Marie attended the University of St Andrews where she became the first female to graduate with Honours as a Lady of Literature in Arts (‘LLA’) in German, English and French in 1880. LLA was a distance learning qualification and at the time Marie graduated, men were still graduating and educated in very different ways to women.
At the age of 27, Marie began working for D.C. Thomson’s newspaper The Courier. What was unusual at the time was that Marie fully supported herself from her own earnings. Seven years later, Marie was selected as one of two Female Correspondents to spearhead a new project which involved a 12-month adventure around the world to report on the lives of women across the globe. Bessie, who begun working for the newspaper company at the age of just 23, was chosen to join Marie on the quest. A year prior, The Courier had launched a project which sent male journalists to North America, but the owners of D.C. Thomson
65
