Augusta Bjurström

Hammarstedtska skolan (Hammarstedt School), also known as Hammarstedtska flickpensionen (Hammarstedt Girl's Pension) and Hammarstedtska pensionen (Hammarstedt Pension) was a Swedish Girls' school, active for most of the 19th-century in . It was regarded as one of the most exclusive of its kind in 19th-century Stockholm. The school was named after its principals, and therefore changed name several times: from the 1830s until 1881, it was therefore named as Bjurströmska pensionen (Bjurström Pension), Kockska pensionen (Kock Pension), Posseska pensionen (Posse Pension) and, finally, as Hammarstedtska pensionen (Hammarstedt Pension).

The school was founded by mamsell Augusta Bjurström and called Bjurströmska pensionen (Bjurström Pension) after her. It attracted clients from the upper classes and was regarded as the most prominent educational institution for females in Stockholm in the 1830s. As such it was a successor of the Johanna Lohm's school. It was the foremost competitor to Wallinska skolan, which was founded in 1831.

The school was a typical example of the contemporary conventional girl' school and was in actuality a finishing school focused on accomplishments. When Olof Fryxell was engaged as a teacher at the school, he left the school after a conflict with the student's parents, who opposed to him introducing the subject of human anatomy and the art of ice skating.

Among its students were Sophie Adlersparre, who was a pupil there in 1836-38, and Ebba Ramsay.

In the 1840s, the Bjurströmska pensionen was taken over by Sophie Antoinette Kock from Germany, and called Kockska pensionen (Kock Pension) after her.

During the tenure of Kock, the school was renowned for its high quality in language education. At the time, languages was the foremost criteria for an educated woman, and Kock offered education in German, French and English, all offered by teachers from the respective countries in question. Kock employed university educated (male) teachers in most of the subjects.

The school was somewhat progressive for its time. No education was offered in needle work, which was otherwise a compulsory subject in schools for girls, and the education was considered of high quality for a girl school. However, the method was still merely education by listening, and no home work was given.

...
Wikipedia