Eleanor Jourdain

Eleanor Frances Jourdain (16 November 1863 – 6 April 1924) was an English academic, Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford, 1915 to 1924.

Jourdain rose to fame for claiming that she and fellow-teacher Charlotte Anne Moberly had slipped back in time to the period of the French Revolution while on a trip to Versailles, known as the Moberly–Jourdain incident.

[2] There were at least two sisters: Charlotte, who had been one of St Hugh's College's first four students,[3] and Margaret, a writer on English furniture and decoration.

In April 1915, she replaced Moberly as principal at St. Hugh's and during World War I accepted a position to work as a translator for the government.

[1] Jourdain was chiefly famous for claiming that she and Moberly had slipped back in time to the period of the French Revolution while on a trip to Versailles, known as the Moberly–Jourdain incident.

Jourdain was an autocratic leader and in November 1923, she persuaded the college council to fire a tutor, Cecilia Mary Ady, who, she thought, was challenging her authority.