Edith Agnes Cook

Edith Agnes Cook was born in 1859 near Campbelltown, South Australia, daughter of William Cook and Janet Whitehead Cook (nee MacNee).

By 1875 she was a pupil teacher at the Grote Street Model School. In 1877 she was the school's second assistant; and promoted to first assistant the following year.

In 1876 Edith was the first female student at the University of Adelaide and studied Latin, Botany and Physiology. She was also the first woman to matriculate at the University of Adelaide; she received her diploma (necessary for degree level studies) in 1877 despite the fact women were not admitted to the university for another four years.  She studied part-time at the University between 1877 and 1886, but never took her degree (various references to Edith Agnes Cook as a student are made in the University of Adelaide Calendars). 

In 1879 she was seconded to the about-to-be-opened Advanced School for Girls in Franklin Street as deputy to Jane Stanes. Stanes retired at the end of 1880, and Edith was appointed her successor, though a Government regulation, stipulating that a head of a school must be aged 25, had to be waived by the Minister of Education.

She married Samuel "Sam" Grau Hübbe in January 1885 and late that year she resigned from Advanced School for Girls.

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.

Edith's sister Harriet had in 1885 founded Knightsbridge School, a co-educational school in a house owned by Euphemia Clark on The Parkway, Leabrook, and in 1886 moved the school to Edith's home in Statenborough Street, Leabrook, which the two conducted jointly, and shortly purchased a nearby house which served the school until 1921, when they retired.

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 Agnes Cook passed away 2 April 1942.

In 1947, the past pupils of Knightsbridge School paid the sum of 500 pounds to the University for the purpose of founding the Edith Hubbe and Harriet Cook Prize in memory of the late Mrs Edith Hubbe (nee Cook) and the late Miss Harriet Cook.  While the Council was able to vary the rules of the prize its title was unable to be changed (refer to various University of Adelaide Calendars, 1946 - 1997).