Edith Hübbe (Cook) and Marjorie Caw (Hübbe)
Papers 1859-1988

MSS 0046

Biographical Note

Edith Agnes Hübbe (nee Cook), was born in 1859 and began teacher training in 1874 after she topped the list in the Board of Education examinations.  She taught at Grote St. and then at the new Advanced School for Girls, becoming Headmistress in 1881.  She resigned from the Education Department in 1885, shortly after her marriage to Samuel Grau Hübbe, a valuer and inspector in the Surveyor-General’s Department, but the following year opened her own Ladies’ School in Knightsbridge with her sister Harriet Cook. Samuel Hübbe was killed in action in 1900 during the South African (Boer) War, and following his death Edith became increasingly involved in education, including in the kindergarten teaching training movement. She died in 1942.

Edith Hübbe was the first woman to pass the matriculation examination at the new University of Adelaide (1877) and studied part-time at the University between 1877-86, but never took her degree.  Her first daughter Edith Ulrica Hübbe (1885-1967, generally known as Rica) undertook a B.A. at the University of Adelaide, completed in 1908, and then taught before returning to University and completing a medical degree in 1922 and practising from the family home.

Edith and Samuel’s oldest son Max Ulrich (b. 1891) took up farming in Western Australia, Hermann Fritz (1895-1916),  was killed in World War I, and Janet Doris (1887-1950) married Allen Simpson in 1910.  The youngest daughter Harriet Marjorie (1893-1988, generally known as Marjorie) trained at the Kindergarten Teachers College and ran her own kindergarten from the family home prior to her marriage in 1922 to Alfred Beech Caw (a friend of her brother Max) and life on a farming property at Kojonup in Western Australia. After her husband’s death in 1966 Mrs Caw returned to Adelaide and took an active interest in compiling the records of her own and inter-related families and in particular of the life of her mother and her contribution to the history of the education of women in South Australia.

This collection comprises correspondence and other papers collected by Mrs H.M. (Marjorie) Caw relating to the life and work of her mother, Edith Hübbe, herself, her sister E.U. (Rica) Hübbe and other members of the Cook, Hübbe, Caw and related families.  The papers include material on the teaching life of Edith Hübbe, her sister Harriet Cook and daughter Marjorie Caw, and on teaching and education of women in South Australia generally, and some papers relating to the medical career of Rica Hübbe.  There is extensive family correspondence, and letters to Marjorie Caw from the writer Mary Grant Bruce and the painter Dorrit Black.  There is also a copy of a diary kept by Samuel Hübbe, father of Marjorie Caw and husband of Edith Hübbe, during service in the South African (Boer) War, and a report on a trip to Papua New Guinea by H.M. Bathurst in 1941.

The papers were deposited with the Barr Smith Library by Mrs Caw’s children, Mrs A.V.(Virginia) Lee and Mr William A. Caw, in December 1992, on the advice of Mrs J. Simpson.

Additional letters from Edith Hübbe mainly to her daughter Doris were donated by Antony Simpson in July 2016 (Series 9/2)

Contents Listing

Letters received by Edith Hübbe (Series 1-7)

Letters sent by Edith Hübbe (series 8-11)

8. Letters from Edith Hübbe to Janet Cook [mother], 1877-80.  2 items.

9. Letters from Edith Hübbe to Doris [daughter], 1900-1901.  4 items  (photocopies, with covering letter of R.A. Simpson, Doris' son).

9/2. 29 letters from Edith Hübbe, mainly to her daughter Doris with a few to her daughters Rica and Marjorie, 1916-1918, 1921-23. These additional letters were donated by Antony A. Simpson in July 2016.

10. Letters from Edith Hübbe to Rica [daughter], 1929.  1 item.

11. Copies of letters sent home from trip to Europe, Feb.-March 1914, and  miscellaneous letters from Edith Hübbe (to Frank, Mrs Bolitho, John  and May, Mim), 1885 (2), 1905, 1907, 1916 and 1934 respectively.  1  v. and 6 loose items.

see also letters from Edith Hübbe to Marjorie Caw in the Marjorie Caw papers (Series 21) and letters to Rica Hübbe and other family members on the death of Edith Hübbe (1942) in the Rica Hübbe papers (Series 51).

Other papers of Edith Hübbe (series 12-19)

12. Personal and financial documents of Edith and Sam Hübbe, including  birth and marriage certificates, will and extensive Hübbe/Cook  genealogies.  1859-1930 and undated.

13. Miscellaneous property and financial records of Edith and Sam Hübbe.   1885-1940.

14. Papers relating to Samuel Hübbe, including diary kept during service in  South Africa, 12-28 August 1900 [photocopy], programme of farewell social to Sam Hübbe, 2 March 1900, extract from newspaper article 21 September 1900 re his death in South Africa and AMP insurance  policy and related correspondence.

15. Papers relating to the early teaching career of Edith Hübbe (Cook),  including Senior Examination results; letter from Annie Montgomery  Martin 29 June 1874 to "My dear girls" with covering letter of John  Hartley (Inspector General of Schools) 19 April 1881; correspondence  and others papers relating to her service in the Education Department  1874 and 1885; and newspaper cutting on the death of Hartley 1896.

16. Papers relating to Knightsbridge School, run by Edith Hübbe and Harriet Cook from 1886-1921, mainly misc. and often fragmentary administrative and financial.  File includes later notes and correspondence on the school and the establishment of the Edith Hübbe and Harriet Cook prize at the University of Adelaide in 1944/45.

17. Biographical articles on Edith Hübbe (typescript and printed), with brief  note by H.M. Caw on her mother and newspaper articles 1940 on the Hübbes at White Hut.

18. Manuscript story book Bertie and the bullfrogs dated 1873, possibly by  Edith Cook (Hübbe).

19. Junior examination results of Hermann Fritz Hübbe, 1910.

Papers of Marjorie Caw (Hübbe)  (Series 20-48)

see also Papers of Edith Hübbe and Dr Ulrica (Rica) Hübbe for letters received by them from Marjorie Caw (Series 2 and Series 50).

20. Letters received from Sam Hübbe [father], 1898.  1 item only

21. Letters received from Edith Hübbe [mother], 1921 [should be 1922?]- 1941 and undated.  30 cm.

22. Letters received from Alf Caw [husband], 1918-57 and undated.  2 cm.

23. Letters received from Billec Caw and Virginia Caw [children], 1955,  1972, 1986 and undated.  4 items.

24. Letters received from Marjorie [grand-daughter] and  Lois [daughter-in- law], 1975.  3 items.

25. Letters of sympathy to Marjorie and Alf Caw on the death of their son,  1931.  2 cm.

26. Letters of sympathy to Marjorie Caw on the death of her husband, Alf  Caw, 1966.  2 cm.

27. Letters received from Doris Simpson [sister], 1907, 1922-56 and  undated.  5 cm.

28. Letters received from Rica Hübbe [sister], 1924-58.  1 cm..

29. Letters received from Harriet Cook [aunt], 1923-43 and undated.  2  cm.

30. Letters received from Katherine Cook [aunt], 1924-56 and undated.   5 cm.

31. Letters received from Jean Bethune Cook, 1966-67 and poem dated  1987.  3 items.

32. Letters received from Mary Bathurst ,1934, 1937 and undated.  3  items.

33. Letters received from Crompton family (various), 1940-58 and undated.   1 cm.

34. Letters received from Dora  1922-70.  2 cm.

35. Letters received from Margery Back, 1906-1907.  2 cm.

36. Letters received from Raymond and Ron (?) and Phil Beazley, 1920-60  and undated.  4 cm.

37. Letters received from Dorritt Black 1928-51 and undated.  3 cm.

38. Letters received from Mary Grant Bruce, 1952-54 and undated. 5 items.

39. Miscellaneous letters and postcards received, 1905-88 and undated. 8 cm.
Includes letters from Olive Kelsey 1948 and 1951 and letters to others by Kelsey re disposition of her effects, apparently unsent;  and correspondence 1978-83 with Elizabeth Warburton and Mary Hutchinson regarding information on the life of Edith Hübbe etc. [for tapes and transcripts of interviews see Series 47/15]

40. Letters from Marjorie Caw to Virginia [daughter], 1946-81 and undated.   4 cm.

41. Letters from Marjorie Caw to Alfred Caw [husband], 1919, 1930,  1945,1950-60 and  undated.  3 cm.

42. Letters from Marjorie Caw to Virginia and Alfred Caw, 1957, 1960 and  undated.  4 cm.

43. Letter from Marjorie Caw (with Virginia) to "Fuv" [Alfred Caw], 1950.   1 item.

44. Letters from Marjorie Caw to Aunt Katherine [K.D. Cook], 1947-59. 4 cm.

45. Copies of letters sent by Marjorie during trip to Europe, Feb.-July 1914,  and miscellaneous letters by Marjorie Caw, 1941-78, 1985-86 and  undated.  1 v. and 9 loose items.
[1985 letter is unfinished, includes reference to statue and portrait of  Catherine Helen Spence and to proposed biography of Spence by Susan Magarey]

46. Sketches, scrapbooks and stories by Marjorie Caw, 1905-1930 and  undated; [notes on readings?] 1970, 1972; notes (for  talks?) on  School libraries and book on Household ecology, undated; and notes on her life in Western Australia 1922-60.  8 v. and loose sheets.

47. Papers of Marjorie Caw relating to her involvement in early childhood  education and the Kindergarten Union of SA (including letters from and  other material relation to Lillian de Lissa and Lucy Morice) and the Country Women’s Association.  1911-86.  10 cm. 

Papers relating to early childhood education and Kindergarden Union of SA
47/1. Letters and postcards from Lillian de Lissa.  1912-17, 1947-57 and  undated.
47/2. Newspaper cuttings re Lillian de Lissa.
47/3. Letters from Lucy Morice (1930-45) and Ella Keeves (1943 and 1949). 1930-49.
47/4. Newspaper cuttings re Lucy Morice.
47/5. Notebook of Lucy Morice, dated 1893, with poems and extracts dating  to 1914.
47/6. Letter to Mrs Morice by [unknown], 1914.
47/7. Address by Mrs Morice to Mothers’ Union, n.d.
47/8. Reports and class work programmes prepared by Marjorie Hübbe as a  trainee? teacher, 1911 and undated, and reports on her, by Lillian de Lissa, undated.  (Housed in MAP CABINET)
47/9. Notes by Marjorie Hübbe on History of Education, from Mrs Morice’s  lectures, 1911 and 1913; for Psychology examination 1913; and on  The Montessori Method 1916.
47/10. Correspondence with Violet Strickland 1945-47 and papers by Strickland and others on education.
47/11. Miscellaneous notes, cuttings, newsletters and publications on early childhood education and teacher training (Montessouri teaching, Free Kindergarten, the Kindergarten Union, The Inn Nursery School) and education of girls and women.  1934-86 and undated.

Papers relating to the Country Women’s Association
47/12. Report and other material on the ACWW conference, Copenhagen  1950.
47/13. Address to the CWA Kojonup Branch on the need for higher education and notes on the history of the Kojonup Branch, undated.

Miscellaneous
47/14. Transcript of tape recording of interview with Marjorie Caw and others,  principally re people in 1870 list of seatholders and subscribers to Unitarian Christian Church.  undated.  4 p. typescript.
47/15. Transcript of interview of Marjorie Caw by Mary Hutchinson May 1981 re "Childhood Memories" and tapes (4) of interviews by Hutchinson  and Barbara Crompton re her schooldays, her mother Edith Hübbe and the Hübbe family, and her trip to Europe in 1914.
 
see also Series 62

48. Alfred Caw ("Fuv", "ABC") to Virginia Caw, 1956-62 and Alex Caw  [brother], Nipper and Henry [nephew] to Alf Caw, 1921, 1941 and 1956  respectively; and Letters without address and unplaced fragments. 2 cm.

49. Caw family documents.  1893-1967.

49/1. Birth (1893) and marriage (1922) certificates, passport and identity card  (1942) of H.M. (Marjorie) Caw.
49/2. Junior examination certificate and exam papers of H.M. Caw (1908) and other school certificates (1910).
49/3. Horticultural College certificate (1902) and life membership of St. Peter’s Old Collegians Association (1924).
49/4. Miscellaneous financial papers, including cash book covering 1931-60  (principally entries for farm purchases); letter re arrangements for dissolution of partnership agreement 1960 and correspondence relating to distribution of the estate of E.U. (Rica) Hübbe, 1967.
49/5. Manuscript music book of Alice M. Caw.  1 v. undated.

Papers of Dr. Ulrica Hübbe (Series 50-53)

see also Series 5 and Series 10 and Photographs Series 63

50. Miscellaneous letters and cards received by Rica Hübbe, 1914-58 and  undated.

51. Letters received by Rica Hübbe on the death of Edith Hübbe, 1942. 3 cm.

52. Papers and lectures.  1913-  and undated

53. Memorabilia, including passport, sketch and obituary notices.  6 items.

[54 not used]

Cook family papers (Series 55-57)

55. Letters and cards to Katherine Cook, 1933, 1953-60 and undated.  4  cm.

56. Letters to Harriet Cook, 1925, 1937, 1954 and undated.  1 cm.

see also letters to/from Harriet and Katherine Cook in the Marjorie Caw papers (Series 29-31 and Series 44), and the papers of Edith Hübbe (nee Cook), which include 2 letters to Janet Cook (Series 8) and material on the Edith Hübbe and Harriet Cook endowment prize at the University of Adelaide (Series 16).

57. Cook family memorabilia, including:

see also papers of Edith Hübbe (nee Cook), which include a summary of the inter-related family genealogies and those of the Hübbe family (Series 12)

Bathurst family papers (Series 58-60)

58. Letters of E.W. ('Will') Bathurst to Mary, 1930-37.  1 cm.

59. Hugh Bathurst to Miss B., October 1939.  1 item.

60. Report by H.M. Bathurst on a Trip to Mandated Territory of New  Guinea and Territory of Papua 16 July to 11 August, 1941. 14p. typescript and accompanying photographs.

Papers relating to Catherine Helen Spence (Series 61)

 see also Series 45 and Photographs Series 63

Series 61

0. (Part of) Letter to"Miss Spence" from John Brodie, undated.
0. Commemorative booklet Catherine Helen Spence 1825-1905  published on Spence’s 80th birthday, 1905 (3 copies)
0. Notes on Spence by Marjorie Caw, undated (9 p. ms and 2 p. typescript)
0. Newspaper articles re Spence, 1979, 1983 and undated
0. Correspondence between Marjorie Caw and Susan Eade re Spence, 1969-71
0. Catherine Helen Spence Memorial Appeal brochure, undated
0. Newspaper articles re biography of Spence by Dr Susan  Magarey, 1983 and 1986.
0. Copy of "Sonnet" by Spence, undated
0. Photographs, 1902 and undated and postcard reproduction,  undated (4 items)
0. "In Memoriam" card of Helen Spence {mother of Catherine  Helen Spence} 1887
0. Copy of Aesop’s Fables, with note "originally Miss Catherine  Helen Spence had this copy bound and initialed for Miss Edith Agnes Cook - later Mrs Hübbe"

Miscellaneous (Series 62)

62. Papers, printed material and newspaper cuttings of uncertain  provenance (probably collected by Marjorie Caw), primarily by or  relating to members of the Hübbe/Caw families or on education. Includes prospectus of Mabel Hardy’s Stawell School for Girls at Mount  Lofty.    1929-72 and undated. 2 cm.

Photographs, portraits etc (Series 63) 1859-1987 and undated.  45 cm.

See item listing