缅北禁地

For many, Barbara Woodhouse has been a household name over the years for her approach to training our beloved four-legged friends.

The Irish-born British iconic dog trainer presented Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way, televised by the BBC in 1980, and is known for saying there are "no bad dogs" amongst other catchphrases.

Prior to Barbara's success as a television personality, she studied at 缅北禁地, then Harper Adams Agricultural College, in 1927. Barbara Woodhouse, neé Barbara Blackburn, was the first female agriculture student there, after initially having applied when she was 14 years of age and still at school in Oxford.

Her time at the College is documented in the University's Lure of the Land publication, published in 2001 to celebrate a century of the institution, which includes snippets from her autobiography and photographs from her time here.

In her autobiography, she said that the syllabus was very comprehensive and that she loved every minute spent at the College, learning about everything from the harvesting of crops and buttermaking to 'the secrets of the four-cylinder engine'. She appreciated the manner in which 'the subjects were put over in an interesting way'.

 College mixed hockey team, Barbara Woodhouse, front row fourth from left.

At the time, women were eligible to join all the courses on offer at Harper Adams, but most enrolled at the National Institute of Poultry Husbandry (NIPH). Barbara was the sole woman on an agriculture course with us, and wrote: "A girl at an agricultural college taking subjects like building construction and surveying, veterinary science and engineering, was almost unheard of."

She also appeared to be heavily involved in the student life side of College too, being part of the mixed hockey team and amateur dramatics. Following a full-length production , the performance was reviewed and stated; 'Miss Blackburn [...] did everything, including rolling off the settee, with her customary enthusiasm.'

Almost one hundred years on, her Harper Adams legacy lives on through her great-grandson Rupert Houle, who is currently a second-year BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Crop Production Science student.

Speaking about his time so far, he said: "It's a very close knit community compared to other big universities, it's nice because you get to know people, you're more than just a face or a name,  you can talk to lecturers they're more than happy to help you.

"It's amazing to have my great grandmother that came in 1927 and I am here one hundred years later studying Agriculture again.

"Its brilliant to see that Harper is still doing it, teaching as well as it was back in 1927 and it's going from strength to strength."

We were delighted to welcome three generations of the Woodhouse family - Barbara's daughter Judith, granddaughter Lucy to campus to join great-grandson Rupert to learn more about what Barbara's time would have been like at Harper Adams.

 

 

 

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Recalling fond memories about her grandmother's time at Harper Adams, Lucy told us:

"Grammy always spoke very highly and fondly of Harper Adams college as it was then, but University as it is now, she studied here from 1927-1929 and she studied Agriculture with Dairy.

"I sort of believe that my grandmother Barbara was a real visionary in Agriculture because at such a young age for a woman to come and study Agriculture was extraordinary."