MARLEY, MARIE HILDA, SISTER

Scottish teacher, educator, and leader in child guidance; b. Durham, England, Oct. 13, 1876; d. Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 19, 1951. After attending school in Sheffield, Hilda Gertrude Marley studied at Our Lady's Training College for Teachers in Liverpool and at London University; she then entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur. As Sister Marie Hilda, she was assigned to Notre Dame Convent of Teignmouth, South Devon, and later to Notre Dame Training College in Glasgow. While teaching she continued her studies and graduated in honors history from London University. She emphasized psychology in the training college curriculum, and prepared a textbook and established a laboratory for her psychology classes. In 1931 Sister Marie Hilda founded the Notre Dame Child Guidance Clinic in Glasgow and quickly became the chief pioneer of child guidance in Scotland. Upon retirement from teaching (1941), she lectured extensively throughout Europe. In 1947 she was awarded the cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice by Pope Pius XII. Her writings were few. She served as vice president of the Scottish Branch of the British Psychological Society, and was a fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland and of the British Psychological Society. In 1951 Sister Marie Hilda was elected vice president of the International Congress of Catholic Psychotherapists.

Bibliography: h. misiak and v. m. staudt, Catholics in Psychology (New York 1954).

[v. s. sexton]