A NEW portrait of a pioneering Suffragist at an Oxford college follows the appointment of a female principal.

Earlier this year Harris Manchester College in Mansfield Road, dedicated to mature students, elected Rev Jane Shaw, Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University, to be its new Principal from October 1.

The distinguished historian of Christianity will replace Rev Dr Ralph Waller and she will be delighted to see the newly-installed portrait of Gertrude von Petzold (1876-1952), the first woman to train for the ministry in England.

It was unveiled last week by Rt Rev Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, Bishop of Ripon, the first Church of England woman to become a Bishop.

Prof Lesley Smith, Professor of Medieval Intellectual History, said: “Gertrude received her training at Manchester College in Oxford in the early 20th century, so it is particularly fitting that one pioneering woman has been honoured by another.

“This photograph of Gertrude was taken in 1904, at the start of her ministry in Leicester and copies were sold to admirers.

“We are proud to display it as a reminder of the college’s place in the history of female empowerment.

“I have no doubt Jane Shaw will be fascinated to see the new portrait when she starts as principal.”

Following the unveiling, the Bishop of Ripon said it was important to show the long history of women at Oxford colleges, even though they were not all-women colleges.

Once she was a minister, Gertrude von Petzold attracted large congregations and was much in demand as a speaker.

Prof Smith added: “Equally eloquent in the pulpit or in the cause of women’s suffrage, Gertrude became a celebrity.

“At first people came out of curiosity but it was her earnest spirituality that made them stay.

“She had a beautiful personality and seemed to attract people of all conditions.”

The pioneering minister, who was born in East Prussia, was not allowed to remain in England during the First World War and was deported to Germany.

She became pastor of the Free Evangelical congregations in Konigsberg, before taking a PhD and becoming a lecturer in English at Frankfurt University, promoting Anglo-German relations wherever possible.

Between the wars she made several trips to England, motivated by the desire for reconciliation.

During the Second World War her internationalist sympathies led to her being investigated by the Nazis and she died in Frankfurt in 1952.

Hers is one of a number of portraits of distinguished women at Harris Manchester alongside a 19th century painting of writer Frances Power Cobbe.