Hove in the Past: Westcombe, Hove

18 December 2022

Westcombe, Hove

Judy Middleton 2022

This was the name of an exclusive Girls’ School that existed for almost 100 years. The 1851 census records it at 5 / 6 Dyke Road, Hove, with Louisa E. Chapman, aged 36, in charge. There were fifteen girl pupils, three governesses and three servants.

An impressive advertisement appeared in the Hove Year Book 1907 stating that the Misses Stevens received from 30 to 40 young ladies as resident pupils. ‘It is their aim to unite the comforts and sympathies of home life with a thorough and systematic education of the mental and physical facilities.’ Westcombe received the recognition of the Board of Education, and there was a resident staff of six mistresses with university qualifications and diplomas, as well as visiting professors. Westcombe had notched up many successes at Girton and elsewhere, and was ‘one of the best educational establishments for the daughters of gentlemen.’

The school was obviously doing well because in 1911 Hove Council approved plans by H. W. Sanders for additional rooms in the roof, while in 1914 Messrs Norman drew up plans for yet more rooms.

Jean Whitcher was at Westcombe in the late 1920s and she was fortunate to have been accepted. This was because her father had started his career as a qualified engineer, and inventor, with particular reference to the gas industry. He had done well, and become wealthy, as well as being a passionate sportsman, later being chairman of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club. But Mr Whitcher did not match the popular notion of a ‘gentleman’. There was quite a discussion among those in charge of the school, as to whether or not young Jean should be allowed to join the company of young ladies because her father was regarded as being in ‘trade’. At length it was decided that perhaps they could overlook this unfortunate fact, no doubt thinking of the fees involved. Jean duly took up residence. She thoroughly enjoyed her time at Westcombe, saying it was tremendous fun, just like the novels of Angela Brazil, and did she not remember mid-night feasts in the Dorm and an illicit visit to a Brighton cinema? Strangely enough, Jean’s son and daughter were less enamoured of the boarding school experience.

In 1926 / 1927 there was a tidying-up of the boundary between Brighton and Hove, which meant that the boundary between the two ran straight down the middle of Dyke Road. Thus properties that had once been firmly in Hove, such as Westcombe, Belmont, and Hove Villa, now found themselves ensconced within Brighton.

Westcombe lasted until the 1940s.

Sources

Census returns

Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade

Hove Council Minute Books