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| copyright © Brighton & Hove City Libraries Thomas Simpson (1825-1908) was a busy architect who designed no less than thirteen schools in Brighton and two in Hove at Ellen Street and Connaught Road. This photograph shows the handsome edifice of Ellen Street Schools. |
Building the Schools
A competition was staged for the honour of designing the
Ellen Street Schools and the winner’s plan was published in Building News (7
December 1877). Thomas Simpson of 16 Ship Street, Brighton and Frederick W.
Roper of 9 Adelphi Street, London were the successful architects. An additional
note appears on the side of the plan ‘it is possible that in order to comply
with requirements of the Local Government Board as to heights of buildings in
new streets, the rooms may have to be reduced to 15 feet and 16 feet in height
respectively instead of 16 feet and 17 feet as figured.’
The design was in grand Queen Anne style and the long
building was enhanced by four gable-surmounted projections containing two
windows; at either end there was a more elaborately decorated projection over
arched doorways. There was a cupola in the centre, tall chimneys and decorative
ridge tiles.
The walls were constructed of picked stock brick, red
brick was used for gables and groins and moulded red brick was used for
cornices, string-courses and panels. There were brown tiles on the roof and the
turret of oak was covered with lead. The building was set back ten feet from
the street line and there were wrought iron railings along the frontage. Hook
& Oldrey were the builders.
The lavatories were situated outdoors in three separate
blocks for boys, girls and infants and each block was reached through a covered
way.
Ellen Street Schools were designed to accommodate 400
infants, 250 girls and 150 boys. The site cost £1,560 and construction and
fitting-up costs came to between £6,000 and £8,000
Schools Opened
Ellen Street Schools opened their doors on 12 October
1879. It was the first school to be erected under the auspices of the Hove
School Board, which was formed in 1877.
At this juncture education was not free and parents had to
fork out three pence a week for boys or girls and two pence a week for an
infant. Although this sounds a paltry sum, many men were earning very little
and every penny counted in the household budget.
In 1880 Her Majesty’s Inspector for Schools pronounced the
new building to be excellent.
Girls’ School
When the Girls’ School opened the staff were as follows:
Mrs Maria Callingham Cathrick, head
Sarah Wilmer, first assistant
Julia McGregor Blunt, second assistant
Agnes Maria Cathrick, fifth year pupil teacher
Alice Hollamby, second year pupil teacher
Mary C. Wilkes, third year candidate
Miss Blunt left to join the infants’ department in the
same year
The school photographer called remarkably early, his first
visit being recorded on 12 July 1881.
The school was closed for four weeks in September 1881
because of an outbreak of smallpox and there was a second outbreak in November
of the same year.
On 22 September 1884 two girls were sent home; one was
suffering from ringworm while the other had ‘a loathsome eruption almost
covering the face’.
In October 1890 only 150 girls out of 240 on the books
were present at school because of the prevalence of measles and whooping cough.
In October 1885 some 69 girls were absent from class and
enquiries were put in hand to ascertain the reason. It was found that some
families had moved away without informing the authorities while other girls were
required to help out at home; one girl was found to be serving in a shop and
two girls were just playing in the street because their mothers were out. The
remainder were suffering from ringworm, scurvy, mumps, measles, ophthalmia and
colds.
The school was closed from 9 July to 25 September 1898
because of diphtheria and there was a further closure from 1 July to 3
September 1899 because of scarlet fever.
Of course it was always an occupational hazard that a
teacher might become infected by one of these diseases and in 1905 Miss Hannah,
who became head in 1894, became such a victim. She was carted off to the
sanatorium with scarlet fever and was absent from school for six weeks
Other Reasons for Absence
In 1886 it was recorded that some girls were away for five
weeks to go hop picking. But sometimes the head sanctioned closure because of
outside events. These included the following:
21 July 1881 – School closed for the afternoon because the
Prince and Princess of Wales were visiting Hove.
4 September 1881 – School attendance affected by Hove Regatta.
1884- School closed because of Hove Regatta,
3 November 1882 – School closed because ‘Egyptian troops’
were parading at Brighton.
12 April 1883 – School attendance was poor due to the
presence of the Salvation Army in the neighbourhood. (In those days the
Salvation Army was a controversial organisation and opponents often caused
riots. By 1889 several children at Ellen Street Schools were ‘soldiers’).
13 September 1883 – School attendance low because a travelling
circus was camped in a field close at hand.
Sad Circumstances
The Log Book contains some sad details about some of the
girls. For example, on 29 May 1904 there was concern for Lily Austen and Elsie
Owen:
‘The former has been looking very ill again lately. She
was re-admitted here after her discharge from the Consumptive Hospital at
Hampstead in October 1902. Knowing her to be a delicate child, special
attention has been given to her, but I am doubtful of her fitness for school in
her present state. The other child Elsie Owen is, according to her mother’s
statement, suffering from consumption of the bone. Since hearing that, I have
permitted her to lie flat on a form during oral lessons.’
In 1906 Lily was absent from school for nine months.
Then there were Dorothy and Doris Cullen who were absent
from school because of dirty heads in 1904. The NSPCC asked Miss Hannah to give
evidence in court because their mother was being summoned for neglect.
In 1907 Agnes Ellen Greenland Newman, aged 12, became a
pupil at the school. According to her foster mother Agnes had a growth on her
brain and was the last survivor of her family who had all died from consumption
or epilepsy.
These examples were by no means the only delicate girls at
school but by 1908 proper medical attention identified such cases earlier on.
It is sobering to note that out of fifteen infants examined in May 1908,
thirteen were found to be in need of medical attention. In June 1908 the doctor
ordered nineteen children to do special breathing exercises, which they
performed daily in the playground under the supervision of the head.
Fortunately, there were some robust children too. In 1901
Lily Maynard received a prize for full school attendance for six years in
succession.
Discipline
Strict discipline was enforced by liberal use of the cane
and recorded as follows:
18 November 1881 Ellen Hunt received three or four light
strokes on the hand for disobedience and insolence.
16 March 1882 – Jane Green received one stroke on each
hand for damaging school furniture.
Emily Lenton was caned five times between 1882 and 1883.
17 December 1882 Margaret Redman received one slap and one
stroke for trying to argue rather than obey. She ran home to tell her mother
and Mrs Redman came storming up and ‘disturbed the whole School with her noisy,
foul language’.
Court Cases
On 9 March 1893 Miss Hannah had to punish Mabel Smith for
rudeness and obstinacy. Mabel was supposed to receive two strokes on her hand
but she displayed such defiance that Miss Hannah felt obliged to cane her arms,
reasoning with the girl as she did so. Her outraged mother then had a summons
issued against the headmistress who had to appear before Hove Magistrates. But
the summons was dismissed and the magistrates expressed complete confidence in
Miss Hannah’s ability.
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| illustration from the Brighton Season Magazine of 1907 Baron de Worms |
It seems Miss Hannah had not learnt her lesson because
another summons was issued two years later. Another teacher had asked her to
cane Clarissa Comber for idleness, disobedience and rebellious conduct on 28
November 1895. When Clarissa refused to extend her hand when asked, Miss Hannah
rapped her four or five times on the upper arm instead. Clarissa eventually put
out her hand and Miss Hannah gave her one rap too.
Clarissa’s mother lost no time in showing her daughter’s
injuries to a policeman. Baron de Worms also saw the marks and considered the
punishment was excessive. When Miss Hannah appeared before Hove Magistrates it
was Baron de Worms who presided over the court and this time she was convicted
of assault and fined £1. This conviction was despite the evidence of two
teachers who were present in the room at the time of the caning and the medical
evidence was that the caning was moderate.
Miss Hannah was so shocked at the outcome that she went
home sick. On 11 December 1895 she wrote in the Log Book ‘I resumed duty
yesterday after a week’s prostration at the extraordinary result of the
summons.’ Other teachers in the district were sympathetic towards her ordeal
and rallied around to pay her expenses.
Happier Events
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| copyright © Brighton & Hove City Libraries This nostalgic photograph shows the staff at Ellen Street Girls’ School c. 1900. Alice Botton, pupil teacher, stand in the middle of the back row. |
Miss Hannah had a gentler side to her character too. In
1893 she encouraged girls to join the Children’s National Guild of Courtesy
whose rules were read out to members every week. In 1893 some 63 girls joined,
by 1895 there were 206 members and the number had risen to 252 by 1900. There
was a monthly magazine costing a halfpenny. Three girls appointed as officers
were given a medal to wear around their necks; after one year the medal became
their own property.
May Day was celebrated at Ellen Street Schools. In 1904
Rose Norris was elected as May Queen and Queen of Courtesy for a year. She
received a silver medal and was crowned with roses. Classrooms were decorated
with numerous garlands, daisy and bluebell chains and branches. Miss Hannah
recited from Tennyson’s May Queen. In 1908 the celebrations were
somewhat marred by a scarcity of flowers caused by a bad weather. In 1914 it
was recorded that the school received a quantity of cowslips from school
children in Somerset.
Food
There was a great deal of poverty around Ellen Street and
in November 1884 experimental penny dinners were introduced. Around twelve of
the older girls came to school before 9 a.m. to prepare the ingredients for
Irish stew and later in the month some 62 dinners were served, consisting of
pea soup and suet pudding with treacle.
By December 1884 some 121 dinners were sold, mostly plum
puddings but soup too. Hove School Board agreed to sanction the penny dinners
three times a week and the experiment continued the following year bolstered
with cash donations from sympathetic ladies.
By November 1885 Mrs Watts was responsible for cooking the
dinners of soup and pudding – in that month boiled current pudding was on
offer.
In 1886 the penny dinners were abandoned for a while
because it was felt that distress in the area had eased but by November 1887
brown bread and lentil soup was on offer.
While on the subject of food, it is fascinating to note
names of some of the dishes created during cookery classes in the school
kitchen during 1891 and 1892 but unfortunately no recipes were recorded. The
names were as follows:
Poor Man’s Goose
Wakefield Pudding
Velvet Soup
Aunt Sarah’s Pudding
Rizine Pudding
Homing Pudding
Wyvern Pudding
Steamed Canary Pudding with Lemon Sauce
On 8 December 1886 cookery lessons were cancelled for the
day because the kitchen had to be used to dry off boots and aprons after girls
were caught in a storm of wind and rain on their way to school.
Poverty
On 21 September 1885 the head remarked on the destitute
condition of two girls, Louise and Mary Maddocks, while in April 1887 Eliza
Sharpe was noted as being weak through under-feeding and wretched home
conditions.
In April 1888 Minnie Reynolds could not come to school
because she had no boots to wear. Colonel Baines, who was a member of Hove
School Board and a Special Visitor, authorised Miss Hannah to buy the girl a
new pair of boots.
In February 1889 Fanny Loughton returned to school after
eight weeks of illness and she was allowed to sit near the fire because the
toes were out of her boots. Colonel Baines at once provided the 3/6d needed to
buy her a new pair and she walked home in them. Naturally enough, the school
felt deep regret when Colonel Baines died in March 1889.
By January 1889 new boots were being awarded for good
conduct.
Some unfortunate girls were in and out of the Workhouse,
which meant that their families were truly destitute. In December 1887 Louisa
and Kate Garbutt left the Workhouse for the second time, while in September
1888 Kate Jasper was living inside the Workhouse.
In March 1887 several girls were unable to attend to their
needlework because of painful chilblains on their hands.
Treats
In the midst of all this poverty there were a few bright
spots. Mrs Henriques, her daughter, some teachers and other concerned ladies
provided treats for the girls. In December 1884 they provided a well-decorated
Christmas tree besides distributing oranges, cakes and bonbons.
In December 1885 Mrs Henriques and her daughter helped to
distribute gifts from the Christmas tree to the girls. This was no mean task
because there were 190 girls on the books.
In December 1886 parents were invited to come inside and
admire the Christmas tree.
Other Schools
In 1884 the head was disappointed when 53 girls left to
attend the new school in Connaught Road. Some of them were amongst the best in
work and attendance.
In September 1889 several girls left to attend the Roman
Catholic School in Haddington Street. Finance might have had something to do
with it because the fee at Haddington Street was only one penny whereas at
Ellen Street it was two pence. In 1891 school fees were abolished.
In 1893 around 100 girls were transferred to the new
school in Holland Road (later known as Davigdor Road School). But this was to do
with catchment areas rather than the girls deserting en masse.
Education
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| copyright © Robert Jeeves / Step Back in Time. In this photograph of Ellen Street the charming cupola on top of Ellen Street Schools can be seen. |
In 1886 Her Majesty’s Inspector for Schools commented that
while Miss Hannah had worked diligently, he was of the opinion that considering
the class of children attending Ellen Street, it would be better to concentrate
on core subjects rather than attempt too wide a curriculum. She took his advice
and the following year he reported a great improvement throughout the whole
school.
In April 1891 Miss Hannah visited some schools in London
where the ‘phonic system of teaching reading is practised’. In July 1891 the
Jackson system of teaching writing was introduced at Ellen Street.
On 2 May 1891 children from Ellen Street took part in the
grand procession to mark the opening of Hove Recreation Ground. They were
accompanied by their teachers: Miss Hannah, Mrs Redish, Mrs Gibbins, Miss
Wilmer, Miss Cracklow and Mrs Moore.
In 1900 the school was functioning with some difficulty
because a new central hall was being built. There was scaffolding about, planks
and piles of rubbish at the school while clouds of dust invaded the classrooms.
It was all too much for Miss Hannah who went off sick with nervous
exhaustion.
In 1904 the HMI reported on the Girls’ School ‘Routine
work of the classes is most efficiently controlled and directed by Miss Hannah.
Discipline is excellent and instruction quite satisfactory.’
In 1905 the HMI noted that the Girls’ School had suffered
a great deal from staff changes and ‘at present their mental alertness is not
very conspicuous’ – presumably he meant the children.
In November 1909 a circular was despatched to every head
teacher of Hove schools requesting that the School Medical Officer should be
informed if any of the children appeared to be underfed. As a result of this
directive around 30 children from the Ellen Street Girls’ School and Infants’
School were found to be suffering from malnutrition.
Boys’ School
The Hove Gazette (7 May 1898) recorded that some
time ago the teachers at the Ellen Street Boys’ School had clubbed together to
buy several pairs if football boots for the boys and now they had been rewarded
by the school team winning the cup from St Paul’s School, Brighton.
The HMI report for 1904 had this to say about the Boys’
School. ‘The work of the classes is going on quite efficiently and discipline
is very good; but a numerical strengthening of the staff is expedient, so that
the headmaster may have more freedom for general supervision of class work
throughout the whole school.’
But he did notice the walls were very dirty and the same
with the Girls’ School while the central hall was inefficiently heated and he
had found that at 10.15 a.m. the temperature was only 46 degrees Fahrenheit.
In 1904 the average attendance in the Boys’ and Girls’ schools
was 499 whereas there was only supposed to be enough space for 479 pupils.
In 1905 the HMI was more guarded in his praises. He
considered that although elementary subjects were well taught, teaching in
other subjects failed to hold the attention of the scholars.
Great War
In January 1915 instructions were issued on air raid
precautions. The most important point was ‘to remove children from the
neighbourhood of windows’. In the event of damage to the building, the children
would be marched outside in the same way as for a fire drill. Should a
bombardment from the sea occur, the children must lie flat on the ground.
In April 1915 the Army took over Portland Road Schools and
turned the buildings into a military hospital. The result was that the schoolchildren
were displaced and had to attend Ellen Street Schools instead. To cope with the
rise in numbers, a double shift system was put into operation resulting in the
Ellen Street children receiving lessons in the morning and the Portland Road
children being taught in the afternoon. To ensure fairness the system was
alternated every four weeks or so.
Changes
On 1 April 1927 the separate departments of the schools
amalgamated and the establishment became Ellen Street Mixed School.
In September 1929 the boys and girls were again separated
to become East Hove Junior School for Girls and East Hove Junior School for
Boys.
In 1931 Sydney Smith became assistant head and head three
years later. On 3 September 1934 the separate schools were again amalgamated and
became East Hove Junior Mixed School. Sydney remained head until 1957 when he
retired; he died the following year.
Second World War
In the Spring of 1943 there was a daylight raid with no
alert beforehand. When the children heard the noise of aircraft and bombs
falling, they had to dive under their desks. The bomb fell on 6 Goldstone
Street, which fortunately was empty at the time. But the blast caused plaster
from the ceilings at Ellen Street to fall on the children.
Last Days
In 1952 the school was ready to be condemned and by 1953
conditions were described as appalling. By 1958 the school had been re-named
Goldstone Junior School and in the 1960s there were over 500 pupils.
By 1964 people were becoming frustrated at the delay in
knocking down the old building and erecting a new one. Apparently, a site had
been available since 1953 but each year the Minister of Education had deleted
the re-building scheme from his estimates and for years the Government had
concentrated on secondary schools.
In June 1964 Robert Gunnell, chairman of Goldstone Junior
School, led a deputation to lobby Hove’s MP Anthony Marlowe. In 1965 Hove
Education Committee requested East Sussex County Council Education Committee to
treat plans for a new school building as a top priority. Meanwhile, all around
the school, houses were being demolished as part of the Conway Street
re-development plan. The 1960s was the heyday in the belief that the way
forward lay in high-rise blocks of flats rather than in modest terraced
housing. Many years later it was realised that such ideas were a big mistake
and many Victorian houses were perfectly sound and just needed updating.
Some of the demolition work was done during August 1964 in
order not to disrupt lessons. But sometimes events did go as planned. In July
1965 parents waiting to collect their children were suddenly showered with dust
when workmen demolished a wall opposite the school half an hour too early.
Finally, in January 1972 plans were released and the old
Ellen Street premises finally closed in July 1974. The closure meant that the
children were split up because some went to the new Goldstone Junior School and
others to Somerhill Junior School, both officially opened in 1975.
Heads – Boys
1879 – Peter Anscombe
1919 – R. Redish
1927 – W. Hayward
Heads – Girls
1879 – Miss Maria Callingham Cathrick
1894 – Miss Sarah J. Hannah
1919 – Miss Pullings
1927 – Miss A.E. Demberling
1932 – Miss M.H. Atkinson
Heads – Infants
1897 – Miss Hammond
1904 – Miss Scivyer
1927 – Miss Dovey
Heads – East Hove Junior Mixed
1934-1957 – Sydney Smith
1958 – H. W. Mugridge
Sources
Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
The Keep
R/E5/1/25 – Ellen Street Schools 1877 article in Building
News
R/E5/1/26 – Ellen Street Schools 1877-1895, six plans
ESC 102/1/1 – Ellen Street Girls’ School Log Book October
1879 to November 1907
ESC 102/1/2 – Ellen Street Girls’ School Log Book 1907 to
1929
Thanks are due to Robert Jeeves of Step Back in Time, 36 Queen’s Road, Brighton for allowing the reproduction of one of his photographs.
Copyright © J.Middleton 2016
Page layout by D. Sharp
Page layout by D. Sharp