Allenswood House was located on a large tract of land between Albert Drive and Wimbledon Park Road,[1][2] in Southfields in the London Borough of Wandsworth, England.

[4] The house was converted in 1870 by Marie Souvestre and her partner, Paolina Samaïa, into a boarding school for girls.

Often called a finishing school, Allenswood had a curriculum that included serious study at a time when education was denied to women, and stressed feminist ideals of social responsibility and personal independence.

[5] In addition to learning French, which was the official language spoken at the school, students studied the arts, dance, history, language (English, German, and Italian), literature, music, and philosophy and were required to develop their own analytical skills to assess ideals and challenges.

She was succeeded by Florence Boyce and then in 1916, by Helen Gifford, one of Eleanor Roosevelt's classmates and Jeanne Dozat.