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Constance Maynard (1849-1935) was the first head of Westfield College, where she held the unique title of Mistress from its establishment in 1882. She remained Mistress until 1913.

She was born in Middlesex, and grew up in a strict evangelical household in Kent. Her parents were apprehensive about her attending university, however, in 1872, she joined a new college for women at Hitchin, which soon after became Girton College, Cambridge.

In 1875, Maynard sat for the moral sciences tripos and achieved the equivalent of a second class honours degree. During these years, she developed a vision of a college which not only promoted higher education for women, but also acknowledged a commitment to Christianity.

Maynard played an influential part in the establishment of Westfield College, and ensured its subsequent Christian mission. As Mistress, she saw Westfield successfully evolve from a small London college for ladies into a prominent College of the University of London.

She wrote numerous religious periodicals and tracts, as well as papers on the education of women, thereby contributing to the movement to secure intellectual enfranchisement of women.

Publications by Maynard, and a considerable collection of her manuscripts are held by the College Archives, including original memoirs, diaries, letters and poetry.