Judy Middleton
Published originally in Tales of the Old Hove Schools (1991) revised 2022
This interesting group of postcards date back to Edwardian times.
Note how the original caption defines the locality as ‘Brighton’
when the school was definitely in Hove. A similar thing happened to
postcards of the nearby Convent of the Sacred Heart :-
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| copyright © J.Middleton |
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| copyright © J.Middleton |
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| copyright © J.Middleton |
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Colonel G Davison-Brown, popularly known as the Baron, founded the school in 1896. He purchased a ten-acre site at the junction of Old Shoreham Road and Upper Drive, which in those days was a quiet rural location. The school was designed to accommodate boarders and while the building was being constructed, the nucleus (just four boys) lived with the Baron in a house in Upper Drive. There is a sad and indeed somewhat bizarre reason behind the choice of Cottesmore as the name of his school – his fiancée was killed in a riding accident whilst out with the Cottesmore Hunt whose ancient origins start in the 17th century.
The Baron’s personality was such that Cottesmore was a great success at attracting pupils. Unfortunately, the Baron did not possess business acumen and financial affairs began to veer towards debt. In order to prevent him from spending money he did not have, a group of parents rallied around and turned the school into a limited company.
The year 1929 was a bleak one for Cottesmore. It was a lean time in any case for private schools and Cottesmore’s major asset was lost when the Baron died in the same year. By 1936 the number of pupils had dropped to 40 boys, and this made the running of the establishment uneconomic; the accountants were also becoming restless.
Michael
Rogerson, then a young man of only 26, proved to be the solution and he
purchased a majority shareholding in the company. When his old prep
school, Upland House, Buchan Hill, closed down in 1938, he managed to
persuade 18 of the pupils to come to Cottesmore instead. It cannot have
been pleasant for the headmaster, Mr Forster, to know that this young
man held the purse strings, so to speak, but it was all to the good of
the school.
A
crisis of a different sort occurred in 1940 when the evacuation of
British forces from Dunkirk made people consider the safety or otherwise
of the south coast of England. Cottesmore was evacuated within a short
space of time and Wales was the chosen haven. There were some additional
boys as well because younger brothers joined the Cottesmore boys in
their retreat. Initially they stayed at the Oakeley Arms Hotel,
Tan-y-bwlch, Merioneth. No doubt the bridal suite was never the same
again as no less than ten boys were installed there. By the close of the
year the boys had moved into a former workhouse in Cors-y-Gedol Hall,
near Barmouth. Here the school stayed until the end of the war. The
matron Nurse Oakden provided able supervision. She ended up in charge to
all intents and purposes because Harry Forster died in Wales and
Michael Rogerson was serving in the Army.
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| copyright © J.Middleton Cottesmore |
Cottesmore
returned to Hove for a brief period. The Army had requisitioned the
school building and the authorities paid the appropriate compensation.
By 1946 Michael Rogerson had acquired nearly 100% of the shares in
Cottesmore and he decided to sell the school and grounds to the Convent
of the Sacred Heart, which occupied premises on the opposite side of
Upper Drive. He purchased the freehold of Buchan House, Crawley, and
Cottesmore moved there in 1946; it was the fourth move within six years.
In
1963 Nurse Oakden retired and in 1971 Michael Rogerson’s son Mark took
over the running of the school. Cottesmore, set in 30 acres, continued
to flourish and it is still in business today. It is a prep school for
boys and girls aged between 4 and 13 years.
After this article appeared online, *Rob Walls from Australia got in touch with some fascinating details that were new to me. He attended Cottesmore from 1949 to 1950 but it was not Cottesmore Prep School, which had already moved away, it was another school called Cottesmore House School and was run by the Roman Catholic Church. To reflect this new influence, the school flag flying proudly from a tall flagpole, displayed a papal mitre in gold on a white ground. The school uniform consisted of a grey Viyella wool shirt, red tie, grey shorts, red blazer and red cap sporting a badge of crossed keys. He started off in the old buildings but then moved to the newly built section. A fearsome memory was of a Miss Hanvey who brooked no nonsense and strode around clad in a tweed suit and brogues with a riding crop to hand. Another memory concerned school dinners and especially the chocolate pudding that contained solid, glutinous lumps and made young Walls gag but because he would not finish it, he was made to sit over it until it was time to go home.
* Rob Walls is a Photojournalist who lives in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
The story going around the school was that during the Second World War Canadian troops were in occupation and whatever troops were there they left plenty of evidence in the shape of hundreds of spent 22-calibre brass cartridge cases that littered the ground just north of the buildings. Naturally, the boys were delighted to find such treasure and learnt how to make a piercing whistle with them by blowing across the open end. Even more exciting was a derelict railway carriage that was parked at the north end of the grounds, not far from a derelict swimming pool. One day inside the carriage a loose floorboard was discovered and prised up to reveal a cache of between twenty to thirty assegais. The boys had a wonderful time brandishing them about and pretending to be fierce Zulu warriors until the school authorities found out and quickly confiscated them.
After this article appeared online, *Rob Walls from Australia got in touch with some fascinating details that were new to me. He attended Cottesmore from 1949 to 1950 but it was not Cottesmore Prep School, which had already moved away, it was another school called Cottesmore House School and was run by the Roman Catholic Church. To reflect this new influence, the school flag flying proudly from a tall flagpole, displayed a papal mitre in gold on a white ground. The school uniform consisted of a grey Viyella wool shirt, red tie, grey shorts, red blazer and red cap sporting a badge of crossed keys. He started off in the old buildings but then moved to the newly built section. A fearsome memory was of a Miss Hanvey who brooked no nonsense and strode around clad in a tweed suit and brogues with a riding crop to hand. Another memory concerned school dinners and especially the chocolate pudding that contained solid, glutinous lumps and made young Walls gag but because he would not finish it, he was made to sit over it until it was time to go home.
* Rob Walls is a Photojournalist who lives in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
The story going around the school was that during the Second World War Canadian troops were in occupation and whatever troops were there they left plenty of evidence in the shape of hundreds of spent 22-calibre brass cartridge cases that littered the ground just north of the buildings. Naturally, the boys were delighted to find such treasure and learnt how to make a piercing whistle with them by blowing across the open end. Even more exciting was a derelict railway carriage that was parked at the north end of the grounds, not far from a derelict swimming pool. One day inside the carriage a loose floorboard was discovered and prised up to reveal a cache of between twenty to thirty assegais. The boys had a wonderful time brandishing them about and pretending to be fierce Zulu warriors until the school authorities found out and quickly confiscated them.
Photographic Gallery
The following portfolio of professionally taken
photographs dates from the 1930s. They were probably taken with the intention
of illustrating a new school brochure. But whether or not such a brochure was
ever printed is unclear. The portfolio came for auction in November 2016.
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| Copyright © J.Middleton In this inclusive view of the school buildings from left to right can be seen the Fives Court, Squash Court, Chapel and the main buildings with the Vita Glass Room on the far right; the cricket field is in front. |
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| Copyright © J.Middleton The Big Hall resembles a baronial hall with a minstrel-like gallery on the left. The stuffed animal heads on the walls reinforce the idea. The armchairs are comfortable and modern and the corner of a billiard table can just be seen. |
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| Copyright © J.Middleton The dining room is dominated by the school motto in large letters ‘Modus et Ordo’. Starched white tablecloths cover the tables and by each place there is a table napkin in its own ring; it was considered not the done thing to refer to them as a ‘serviettes’. |
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| Copyright © J.Middleton This classroom is well decorated with school photographs. But what really strikes the modern observer is the smallness of it. The teacher’s desk is on a podium to the right but there is only enough space for fourteen boys. In these days when classes of 30 are unfortunately all too common, the idea of one teacher to fourteen boys is luxury indeed. |
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| Copyright © J.Middleton This dormitory contains the standard hospital-style bed most probably with a lumpy mattress. A touch of homeliness are the eiderdowns / coverlets and as they are different, it seems likely the boys brought their own from home. |
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| Copyright © J.Middleton The Vita Glass Room was something like a conservatory with large south-facing windows. The sun streams in and there is a good view of the cricket field. |
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| Copyright © J.Middleton The Chapel has wooden panelling and is reminiscent of the sort of interior to be found in Norway. The letters above the altar proclaim ‘My Father’s House is a House of Prayer.’ Unusually, the benches face each other. It is probable the plaque on the wall is a war memorial and there is a little vase of flowers on the shelf underneath. |
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| Copyright © J.Middleton You would expect to find a classic wooden horse and climbing ropes in a gymnasium but the space also doubled as a playroom, hence the billiard table on the right. |
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| Copyright © J.Middleton Obviously cricket was taken seriously at Cottesmore and the covered cricket court meant that cricketing skills could be practised in all weathers. |
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| Copyright © J.Middleton This photograph shows some action on the spacious cricket field. Note the small garden with its bushes kept in topiary-like style. |
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| Copyright © J.Middleton Physical training was part of the regime and there was a hard court, a squash court and even a shooting range. |
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| Copyright © J.Middleton Cottesmore had its own swimming pool too. If the standards usual in school swimming pools during the 1930s were followed, it is probable that the water was not changed too often. |
Heads
1896-1929 Colonel Davison-Brown
1929-1940s Harry S Forster
1946-1971 Michael Rogerson
1971 Mark Rogerson
School colours navy blue and grey
School motto Modus et Ordo
Sources
Rogerson (M) In and Out of School (1989)Additional information from Michael Rogerson
Copyright © J.Middleton 2022
page layout by D. Sharp