Discovering Warren Hill School in 1880

The indefatigable Barry McAleenan is at it once again! Just when we think we've culled all of the archival images of Warren Hill School possible, Barry has sent more—for our personal use in this research [click the images to enlarge]!

Here's a message I recently received from Barry:

The local library found a couple of photos of Warren Hill School taken in 1880. The second assistant was most insistent that copies should only be for personal use - not for books as they have the copyright... The first assistant was affable and helpful. So it goes.

The scanner was unavailable, so I resorted to using a camera and natural lighting from a small window as the flash was far too bright:

Both are stamped BUDGEN BEQUEST

[This image is located above, left]

Reference PG 01316
Builders at work. Note the extensive landscaping that must have occurred.

The back says
Warren Hill School Additional buildings
Genl [General] Buchanan 1880 [The 1875 map shows no buildings on the site]
Meads road etc


[This next image is seen, right]

Reference PG 01510
School and 2 people

The back says
Building the 3rd Addition to Warren Hill School [Phase 4 since the first sod was cut?]
Photo Genl Buchanan


Are they good enough?



Far more than good enough, Barry!

First, it's interesting to note the change from an 1875 Eastbourne map that shows no buildings at all on this site to what apparently is the "third addition" to the main building. There is much to be learned from these images since we know that Warren Hill didn't become a school until 1885!


Right off the bat, we can see that the building layout depicted on the 1930 map [see it by clicking HERE] grew from right to left (east to west), and appears to be growing quickly at the time of these images.

But for what reason? Warren Hill started as a school in 1885, some five years later. Was this the Victorian mansion of a homeowner? If so, why were three additions done in so swift a time—between 1875 and 1880?

The provenance indicates that these 1880 images were captured by a "General Buchanan."

This is likely Gen. James Buchanan, who appeared on the 1881 UK census living at No. 5, Grange Gardens, in Blackwater Road. He was 63 years old that year, and had been born in Bangalore in the East Indies. His occupation was listed in what appears to be this way: "General [illegible symbol—"H"?] Ind. Army Cavalry." He dwells there with his wife, 54, two adult daughters (one of whom was born in India), and a son-in-law, along with servants.

Incidentally, the General lives next door to a retired Colonel from the Bengal Staff Corps, James W. H. Johnstone, and the Colonel's family—a wife, three daughters, 13 through 21 years of age, and servants—who reside at No. 6.

Grange Gardens [Both No. 6 and No. 5 are pictured today, at left] at Blackwater Road appear to be about a half mile east-northeast of the site where these photographs of the additions to Warren Hill were taken. Just as an aside, but seeing these homes of retired British officers still makes me wonder why Lt. Arthur F. H. Mills, brother of George Mills, was unable to support an allegedly impoverished wife back in England during the First World War (and a promotion to Captain during the conflict did not seem to help). Did wages only become enough to support a wife and consider having a family when one became, say, a Major? And then was one able to afford a home like No. 6 after reaching Colonel?


Anyway, Barry adds:

The index for the files and labels gave the following details

Warren Hill

Alfred M Wilkinson 1885-1916/17

Preparing boys for public school or Royal Navy

M A North and F R Ebden 1916/17 -

War Memorial designed by Sir Robert Lorimer.


We can now corroborate that the complete roster of principals of Warren Hill were, in order: A. Max Wilkinson, M. A. North, F. R. Ebden, Joshua Goodland, and Bertram de Glanville.

It strikes me as odd, however, that someone might have invested in building this beautiful structure, and spent over five years slowly adding on to the empty structure, turning it into a school for boys headed into the military. It must have first been a home, or even a business, it seems, for however briefly. One wonders why it is identified here as "Warren Hill," and not "The home of Someone-or-Other," even if the annotations were written later.

And beautiful this edifice is! We now can easily see the finish of the walls, windows, gables, and chimneys, and what one supposes was the original landscaping to the right [east] in front of what must have been the first part of the structure built.

There's reason to believe that someone constructing an edifice of this size, even for use as a private residence, would have expected a great deal of company. Our assumption that the kitchen is likely located there, in the original structure to the east, remains plausible.

We can also see that the conservatory/greenhouse clearly visible in the sepia image [view it by clicking HERE] is part of that original structure.


Just past the conservatory, to the northeast, Barry writes: "The masters' house appears to be down Beachy Head road and the optimum reproduction scale probably shows it to be behind the man's left ear beyond the lean-to conservatory. It shows up conveniently alone in both the 1899 and 1930 maps. What do think? Number 161 in the parcel (on the 1930 map)."


I had to admit, I couldn't see anything in the image, beyond that left ear [seen, right]. Barry, however, has seen the original image.

Barry continues: "If I look carefully enough, I seem to be able to see a gable - in the mess of tree branches - of what could well be the Masters' house. But it is only discernable briefly if you do a slow zoom!"


Admittedly, I still can't make out a gable, no matter how, but I accede to Barry's careful perusal of the original photograph, and believe that the house across and down Beachy Head Road from the school may have been the mysterious and missing master's residence.

Now, I don't think that house was in the West Ward census from 1901 that I examined here a few weeks ago [see it by clicking HERE]. And my access to those census records from the United States is only searchable by people--I need surnames, at least. Once I "hit" someone in that locale, I can search it entirely, including all surrounding dwellings, but I can't enter it in any other way. Without the name of someone living in that home during the late 19th or early 20th century, I can't check census documents to see if it may, indeed, have been chock full of schoolmasters!

We can see further evidence of the house to which Barry refers by examining the vintage image of it from the post card photograph as it is inset against a screen shot of the road as it appears today [pictured, left], captured from Google Maps Street View. We can see that, while some modifications have been made, the real structure of the dwelling's chimnneys still are exactly the same!


Lastly, these old photographs indicate that I must flip-flop one again in my speculation regarding the age of the post card image (seen by clicking HERE) of Warren Hill School that we have previously discussed. I had originally thought that it must have been the oldest of the images, but changed my mind to it being the newest—perhaps more recent than 1930—and thinking it simply must have been "antiqued."

Still, that didn't explain the flatness of the front façade of the building, facing Beachy Head Road. These 1880 images depict the structure before the final westward additions have been built, and it seems likely to me that the front of the building would not yet have included the bulge in the front that is missing in the image on the post card.

Hence, I believe that the post card image is the oldest of Warren Hill [seen, right] out of the original three I received from the Eastbourne Local History Society, and nearly identical in overall structure to these latest 1880 images found in the library by Barry Mc!


Once again, I owe Barry a greater debt of gratitude than I could ever begin to express. His resolve and ingenuity have helped me grope my way along the way here at Who Is George Mills? and I am most grateful.

As always, thanks, Barry!

Playing Jenga with Barry and Warren Hill

Sometimes doing the research for this blog is like playing the game Jenga. A piece of history gets taken away for my use here, and everything is all right. Another piece… still all right. Another piece…

Bam!

Everything can fall apart.

That happened to me last week after good friend of Who Is George Mills? Barry McAleenan took a trip, doing valuable legwork I simply cannot do from here in steamy Ocala, Florida.

Barry writes: "I had a look at the map cabinet for 1875 to 1934 at the local library. There are only 3 for your area of interest. You've already seen the 1930 one.

So I attach a copy of 1899 with a selective enlargement for Warren Hill."

You can click on the entire 1899 map at the above left for the entire enlargement. What I'll focus on will be the devastating image in Barry's "selective enlargement" (which sounds exactly like an offer made in some unwanted spam e-mail I recently received).

At first glance, one finds that the image [below, right; click to enlarge] seems almost exactly like the 1930 map of Warren Hill School. In fact, it's similar as far as that entire property goes, showing only a difference in the northeast corner of the main building (A new isolation/sick wing spurred by the influenza epidemic?), a small addition to the low building in the SE, and a modified outbuilding to the northwest. All of these changes in the building are noted in the illustration, below left, with red arrows.

How disheartening for a hardworking Yank trying to 'virtually' figure out the campus, building, and neighbourhood from across the pond!

"There are three key photographic images in the provenance of our examination of Warren Hill School (1885 – 1936) in Meads, Eastbourne. All were very kindly provided by the Eastbourne Local History Society, and have been featured numerous times here.

In lieu of actual names, I've loosely considered those three the "post card image" (see it by clicking here), the "sepia image" (click here for that one), and the "B&W image" (seen by clicking here). Chronologically, it appeared to me that was the sequence in which the photographs had been taken—the post card early in the school's existence, the sepia-toned image in the 1890s and possibly 1900, and the black-and-white image much later, after an addition had been built.

That alleged order is immediately jumbled by Barry's 1899 map.

The low building I was certain must be the memorial library/reading room dedicated to those alumni who had lost their lives in the First World War was obviously fully constructed in 1899. Scratch that entire idea.

That would also make the "sepia image" the oldest of the three photographs, even if only by the length of time it might have taken to break ground on that new, low wing situated to the Southeast.

Secondly, on the 1899 map, there is no building directly across Beachy Head Road from Warren Hill. That means the structure presently there was constructed sometime between 1899 and the 1930 map. Consequently, the "post card" photograph was captured during that time frame as well.

But the post card shows a roof slanting down to the east from the eastern wall of the main building [shown in the final illustration, far below, left], and no such wall exists in the "sepia image"—simply a glass-walled and roofed conservatory/greenhouse. That could indicate an addition built there, and could be a locale for that library reading room.

However, thirdly, my reconsideration of the three photographs forced me to notice another difference that had previously escaped my eye: there is a bank of tall, thin windows, possibly almost a bay of windows protruding, on the second floor at the most eastern part of the southern wall of the school. It's seen in the B&W image, just above the tree line. There had previously been separate, paired windows there.

Also, in that "B&W image," it's difficult to discern anything to the right, on the eastern wall, that could be the protruding roof indicating a two-story tall addition there to the east. That structure appears not to exist in this image.

This would seem to mean a couple of things. First, that the post card image, depicting the eastern addition, is actually the newest of the three, not the oldest—and now that I really look carefully, does that appear to be a tall electrical light standard at the main gate, and not the flag pole I assumed it to be?

As I considered it, Barry wrote: "The lamposts look like a corporation design for gas street-lighting. The third post (later moved) may be for electricity (using 4 insulators for three-phase and neutral) or possibly telephone lines."

In addition, it appears that the new memorial library/reading room may have been added on the southern side of the second floor of the main building, adding a bay of windows with southern exposure to what must have been a remodeled library.


So much for my supposedly informed speculation!

One still wonders where the school garden that Bertram de Glanville describes would have been located. Were the glass-roofed greenhouses replaced, or simply roofed over and made sturdier?

And this completely blows up the idea that the building across the street from the school was any sort of long-time master's residence for the school—it wasn't there in 1899, and doesn't appear on the 1901 census. That residence was either elsewhere in Eastbourne, didn't come to be until after 1901, or was simply a myth.

There's only one thing that I simply don't seem to be able to resolve in my own mind: Why does the postcard image appear to show a building with a relatively flat façade in the north, along Beachy Head Road, while both maps clearly show a rounded protrusion jutting out, northward, from that wall [shown with the blue arrow in the 1899 image far above, left, to the left]?

Is it possible some of that main building to the west was demolished after 1930? Looking at the postcard image, the building across the street seems to be quite ivy-covered, and it apparently did not yet exist in 1901. Is that almost 30 years growth of ivy in Sussex [below]? 20 years? 10? How quickly will ivy creep up a wall along the Channel coast?

Could the post card be of such recent vintage that part of Warren Hill has been razed—a good reason for Joshua Goodland to have wanted to part with the school at the time! Might this post card have been produced by de Glanville to boost enrollment, using a quaint sepia image to hearken back visually to the school's halcyon days?

My, would I love to know if there's a dated post mark stamped on the other side of that post card!

The ubiquitous Mr. McAleenan notes: "It's entirely possible that aspects [of Warren Hill] would have been remodeled or demolished when changes to the layout were made."

Demolished. Just like my much of my metaphorical Jenga puzzle here...

Well, once again, I am beholden to the industrious Barry Mc for his assistance in my research and for punching larger, quite noticeable holes in my less-well-thought-out suppositions, allowing the light to shine in.

Thanks again, Barry, and if anyone else has any information, maps, images, ideas, or recollections about Warren Hill School, please let me know!

The Gardens and Sick Wing at Warren Hill

For our last "quick hit" regarding Warren Hill School (1885-1936) in Meads, Eastbourne, we'll take one last look at some of the exterior of the building that's visible but not prominent.

Last time we looked at the difference between a probably-just-before-the-turn-of-the-20th-century image of the school and compared the southwest corner of the building with a photograph taken circa 1930. In addition to providing a possible location of the "new" library, the opposite end of the former photograph mentioned above also seems to provide a location of the school's gardens.

In the promotional leaflet written by Bertram George de Glanville sometime in the mid-1930s, he states: "There is a large kitchen garden which supplies fresh fruit and vegetables for the School. Boys may, if they like, have small gardens of their own."


On the 1930 map and plan [above], the eastern facade of Warren Hill creates a "C" shape with an interior space that is not a part of the main building's foundation.

In the pre-1900 photograph [below], we see what appears to be a large green-house/conservatory structure extending a few yeards eastward of the school itself. This glass structure would have received morning sun entirely, and the portion of it extending past the building's southeast wall would have enjoyed southern exposure for much of the day.


Due to the substantial growth of a tree line, we cannot see it in the circa-1930 image, but according to de Glanville's brochure, this glassed arboretum must have remained.

Does a garden on that eastern side of the school imply it would have been near the kitchen, and the kitchen near the great room in which the boys and masters would have dined? If so, it would relegate the actual gymnasium to the other (west) side of the school as it seems unlikely that it would have been just inside the front door. Indeed, the western wing of Warren Hill is half-again as large as the eastern portion of the main building on the 1930 plan, implying the possibility of ample room for a gymnasium.


We do have another image of part of that eastern façade of Warren Hill [above]. It is taken from a post card (provided by the Eastbourne Local History Society) that was probably captured not long after the school was built in 1885.

The institution towers above seemingly everything from the high ground there, and we can see a slanted roof protruding from the façade to the left. That would mark the southern part of the "C"-shape we see on the 1930 map.

However, there is no corresponding protrusion to the right, the northern corner of the main building, below the turret/tower. Whatever was built there, at the northeast corner of the building was not part of the original structure of the school.

de Glanville's leaflet states: "There is a capacious sick wing which has its own kitchens, bathrooms, etc., and can be completely isolated from the main building in case of need."

Being near what we might assume to be the main kitchen, this addition clearly could have tapped easily into existing plumbing to construct a sick wing kitchen and bath. Given that visions of the epidemic of Spanish influenza less than a dozen years before still were established in the public's consciousness [flu patients receiving treatment, right], the availability of a facility to provide not only a comfortable respite for the ailing, but also protection for those not afflicted, would have been quite a selling point for the school.

The real question about all of this: Is my speculation correct? Time hopefully will tell.

Pieces of the proverbial puzzle continue to metaphorically fall into place regarding Warren Hill. Additional photographs taken on the grounds—whether or not they depict characters in the saga of George Mills—or of a "war memorial" that is distinct from the school's memorial library—would increase our knowledge even more.

Once again, if you have images, memories, or information regarding the history of Warren Hill School in Meads, please don't hesitate to let me know—and thanks!

Antarctica , Ceylon, and a Gaggle of de Glanvilles

While Bertram George de Glanville, terminal owner of defunct Warren Hill School in Eastbourne, is not intrinsic to the story of George Mills—there's no reason to believe the men ever even met, for example—there is a bit more to know about him, courtesy of resolute researcher extraordinaire and friend of this site, Barry McAleenan.

This is from a recent message from Barry [with my emphases]:


I thought that you would like scans of the press cutting from The Times of Ceylon for January 31st 1925. You will find a reference to Mr and Mrs BG de Glanville in the G's. What I can't explain is how I remembered the name to link it with your recent citation. My great aunt Ursula Pirrie (nee McAleenan) was mother of the bride. Her sister, Evelyn Masters was an aunt to the bride. To further compound the coincidence, is to add that the bride was widowed in 1929 and, having done a runner from Spain at the beginning of the Civil War, was in Eastbourne in early August 1936 [cutting exists]. She could have met up with the de Glanvilles before Bertie went bust ...

Ascham St Vincents [de Glanville's address during Warren Hill's bankruptcy, seen above, left] was the full formal name of Ascham, a prep school feeder [now demolished] for Eastbourne College.

May Pirrie's father [Norman] was a first cousin of the Titanic's Lord Pirrie. Allegedly, they were brought up together for a short while. Same generation, but the orphaned Lord Pirrie (born 1847) was 17 years older and working when Norman (the last of 12) was born in 1864, so probably not in the same house.

[Throughout this entry, please find the entire clipping from The Ceylon Times regarding the wedding—click the images to enlarge.]


Barry also directs us to this excerpt from a blog, Turtle Bunbury [again, my emphases]:

The younger sister Kathleen Crawford Ievers (Kitty) married B. de Glanville of the Ceylon Civil Service. I believe this was Bertram George de Glanville, born in 1885 and educated at Taylor’s School, Crosby, and Worcester College in Oxford. [viii] He joined the Ceylon Civil Service as a cadet in 1908 and worked his way up the ladder to the offices of magistrate and district judge… In 1909, he marrried Dorothea Frances Allen (1879-1910), daughter of David Bird Allen of the Bengal Civil Service. Sadly she died the following year… In 1929, the year the Silvermugs succeeded as 3rd Baron Rathdonnell, Bertram became Chairman of the Colombo Port Commission (and was till there when “The Dominions Office and Colonial Office List” was released in 1932). The CPC was established in 1913… to administer the affairs of the Port and to collect customs from passing ships.[ix] They were responsible for developing the harbour, dredging the water and extending the warehouses, quays and waterways in the port. Kitty bore B[ertram] four sons (Ranulph[x], Geoffrey[xi], Robert[xii] and John) and two daughters (Joan[xiii] and Moira Dorothea[xiv]). These were also first cousins of The Baron.


According to a family tree at ancestry.com, Kitty was born in Jaffna, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1886, although her death certificate provides her birth year as "about 1885."

On 2 July 1928, she steamed into Plymouth from Colombo aboard the S.S. Herefordshire of the Bibby Bros. & Co. Line. She was alone, and her age is given as 42—hence a speculative birth year of 1886. She was traveling alone to "Eastnor, Exmouth," and intended to make England her "Country of Intended Future Permanent Residence."

The family tree also records 29 May 1931 as the date Mrs. de Glanville sailed into London with her children John and Moira, but there is no attached citation to provide evidence. (I have, however, found the manifest and that data is accurate.)

She passed away in Bishop Stortford in Hertfordshire in the late Spring of 1970.


Bertram George de Glanville, her husband and future principal of Warren Hill School, was born in Ashby Passa, Leicestershire, on 1 July 1885. The 1901 and 1911 U.K. censuses recorded him as living at Formby, Lancashire. On the latter date, Bertram was a 16-year-old "scholar" living with his older sister, Louise.

As above, the tree cites that he was educated at [Merchant] Taylor's School in Crosby, and at Worcester College, Oxford, where we already know he was an "Open Mathematical Scholar".

The tree records him joining the Ceylon Civil Service as a cadet in 1908 at the age of 23, followed soon by a marriage to Dorothea Frances Allen at St. Michael's Church in Colombo, Ceylon, on 21 September 1909.

The marriage did not last long, and the family records his residence in 1911 as having been 14 King's Square, Mitchelstown, Cork, Ireland. He was 26 and already a "widower." Dorothea had passed away in December 1910.

[From RootsWeb, Barry notes a relationship to Cork, Ireland, where Bertram had probably gone to mourn Dorothea's passing:

Father: James DE GLANVILLE b: 16 OCT 1843 in Kinnegad, Co Westmeath, Ireland

Mother: Emily Georgina CREAGH b: 1853 in Doneraile, Co Cork, Ireland]

The family tree next lists his promotion to Chairman of the Colombo Port Commission in 1929 at the age of 44.


The 1929 edition of The Dominions Office and Colonial Office List (comprising historical and statistical information respecting the oversea dominions and colonial dependencies of Great Britain) contains the following entry. It has been gleaned through dozens of dubious and often conflicting snippets generated by Google Books, by whom it was read mechanically. I have pieced it together as accurately as possible. Make of it what you will:

"DE. GLANVILLE, Bertram George. — B. 1885 ; ed. Merchant Taylors' sch., Crosby, and Worcester coll., Oxford ; cadet, Ceylon civ. ser., Nov., 1908; asst. coll. of cust. and pol. mag., Trincomalee, Dec, 1909 ; pol. mag., Matale, June, 1911; ag. addtl. comsnr. of requests and addtl. pol. Mag. Kurunegala, Aug., 1911 ; off. asst., to govt agt., W. Prov., Oct., 191 1 ; pol. mag., Panadure, Nov., 1911 ; asst. settmt. offr.. Fek. 1912; pol. mag., Kurunegala, Mar., 1912 ; secocic [sic]; for serv. under the excise comsnr., June, 1912. ag. comsnr. of excise, N. Divn., Jan., 1913: addtl. dist. judge and pol. mag., Ratnapun June, 1915; ditto, Kegalla, June, 1915: dk. judge, Nuwara Elira, May, 1916 ; asst. govt. agt., Mannar, July, 1917 ; ag. chmn., man. coun.; Colombo, Nov., 1920; asst. govt. agt., Kalutara Sept., 1921; dep. collr., cust., Aug., 1922; i prin. collr., cust., Oct.-Nov., 1922, and Dec. 1924 to Jan., 1925 ; asst. govt. agt., Trincomalee…     [missing text]…     gen., 8th Aug. to 3rd [illegible month] 1922 ; ag. atty.-gen., advoc. gen. and ads" [sic] advoc., contr., local clearing office and temp, mem., exec. coun. on various occasions, in 1923, 1924 and 1925; regisr.-gen., 23rd Apr., 1923."


Kathleen Crawford Ievers was de Glanville's second wife, but no date of that marriage is evident anywhere that I can find. Named children of the couple, however, are listed in his on-line family tree as:

Geoffrey Ievers de Glanville (1917 – 1993; moved from Ceylon to England in 1954 and passed away in Cornwall)

Robert de Glanville (1918 – 1942; born in Ceylon, he lived in Sussex at the onset of WWII, was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, posted to the Middle east, and was killed in action on 2 June near Bir Harmat leaving behind a wife he had married in 1940; his body was never recovered)

Moira Dorothea de Glanville (1921 – 1975; she arrived from Colombo on the S.S. Chesire in 1931 with her twin brother, John, her mother, and her maternal Grandmother, Cathleen Y. Ievers, aged 78, on their way to "Dr. Glanville, Eastnor, Essex"; she later lived in Sussex and married in 1945; she passed away in Epping Forest, Essex, as Mrs. Moira Dorthea Wait, age 53).

There are three other children, each listed only as "Living de Glanville," although that may or may not be fact. But it is possible that Randulph, John, and Joan may, indeed, be alive.

Bertram pre-deceased Kitty, passing in 1967 at Bishop Stortford, Hertfordshire.


Here are some additional tidbits gleaned from a reference section of Turtle Bunbury:

[ix] The Port of Colombo [left] has existed for many centuries but, due to its vulnerability to the South Western monsoons, was superseded by the Port of Galle as a landing place for passenger ships during the 19th century. In 1874 Governor William Gregory initiated work on the SouthWest breakwater for which he received a knighthood. This major development led to the shift of traffic from Galle to Colombo. The evolution of Colombo as the business centre of Ceylon commenced thereafter and all imports and exports came through the Colombo harbour. The commercial and mercantile sector grew within the Fort of Colombo. The Macan Markar jewellery business, established in Galle in 1860 shifted to Colombo in the early 1870s. From : "The Port of Colombo 1860- 1939", Dr K. Dharmasena (an economist). Published in 1980

[x] Ranulph de Glanville married Daphne Pethides and bore Susan, Sarah and Christopher Michael.

[xi] Geoffrey de Glanville married Angela Benison.

[xii] Robert de Glanville married Joan Davidson and was killed in action in 1941 [sic].

[xiii] Joan de Glanville married Vivian Sauvagny and had a son Philip.

[xiv] Moire Dorothea de Glanville married E.M.C. Wait and had a daughter, Angela Jean, and son, Jonathan.


One last word from Barry:

I'd swapped emails with Lynne Nelson [compiler of the RootsWeb info above] notionally because she mentions Emily Creagh [my grandmother's maiden surname] in her de Glanville listing and I'd been at university with a Tim de Glanville who had links with Ceylon, though I can't claim to have known him very well…

The local family history society have talks occasionally at one of the local schools. One such was by Peter Bailey [of Families in British India Society, including Ceylon, Burma etc; FIBIS.org]. Of the 700,000 names on their database, the 15, including 'de Glanville' [that I looked for] failed to get a single hit except for one - but that was for Johnson!


As time passes, I become more keenly aware of how small a planet we really do live upon. In researching George Mills and his life and times, I've been transported vicariously, via one character or another in this saga, to every continent on Earth, save one.

If someone could link this research to Antarctica, I would be most grateful. I even now can envision the aging-but-athletic Agnes & Violet Mills, clad in tweed-and-Gore-Tex® parkas and mukluks, having wielded their mallets amid penguins during the big Geographic South Pole Croquet Tournament, while George sat inside their Quonset hut, out of the stinging polar breezes, sipping a hot cup of tea, and working the Times crossword…

Well, Barry?

Just kidding. Thanks again for everything!

An Afternoon at Warren Hill with George Mills and Bertram de Glanville

After spending the morning in Meads at the now defunct Warren Hill School, it just feels right to spend the afternoon there as well. It seems I'm not ready to leave as of yet.

In the last entry, we saw that Warren Hill had the use of land to the north of the school, just south of Moira House Girls' School, along Carlisle Road. That land (now part of Eastbourne College), it seems, was owned by the school.

We know that business partners Joshua Goodland and F. R. Ebden dissolved their partnership as of 31 July 1931, with Goodland becoming sole owner of the school. From the 11 August 1931 issue of the London Gazette, we can see an entry in a section, containing the addresses and owners of land about to be registered, entitled "Freehold," which reads: "7. Warren Hill, Beachy Head Road, and land in Carlisle Road, Eastbourne, by Joshua Goodland, Warren Hill, Beachy Head Road, Eastbourne."

This "land in Carlisle Road" is, we now know, where the photograph we examined in depth last time was actually captured.

Although Goodland sold the school sometime thereafter, we can surmise when the sale may have occurred based on this research, shared by friend of this site Michael Ockenden on behalf of the Eastbourne Local History Society: "According to street directories, the principals in 1925 were M A North and F R Ebden; in 1929 they were F R Ebden and J Goodland; in 1932 Joshua Goodland is the sole principal; in 1933 the sole principal is H E Glanville. (I have not seen a directory for 1930 or 1931.)"


We know Glanville's exact name is Bertram G. de Glanville. The ELHS has also graciously provided a promotional leaflet created by de Glanville after assuming the reins at Warren Hill. It contains some interesting information, available nowhere else that I know of. Let's take a look at it!


Initially, we find that Warren Hill was founded in 1885, telling us that its demise came shortly after the celebration of its 50th anniversary. The first page continues, "The school stands on high ground at the edge of the South Downs on the western side of Eastbourne. It is within a few minutes [sic] walk of the sea and from the house and grounds there are fine views of the English Channel and the Downs."

This is noteworthy. In two novels of George Mills, Meredith and Co. (1933) and King Willow (1938), prep school boys venture out onto the nearby Downs to play and sometimes engage in perilous escapades. Wikipedia notes that Brighton and Hove are remarkable in their residential encroachment into the South Downs, and as we are not now exactly sure where Windlesham House School (another school at which Mills taught) was located when it was in Portslade at the time, it would appear that Warren Hill, not Windlesham, would have offered the easily walkable access to the Downs enjoyed by his books' schoolboy characters.

This page of the document also adds that "There is a capacious sick wing which has its own kitchens, bathrooms, etc., and can be completely isolated from the main building in case of need."

Might we assume that sick wing is adjacent to the main building, abutting it at the southwest corner, as seen on the 1930 map [below, left]? Or could it be the outlying rectangular building to the west, near Beachy Head Road?


The second page of the document continues: "In the grounds there is a large concrete playground, a gymnasium, five squash racquet courts, a miniature rifle range and a carpentry workshop."

On the 1930 map, it appears we can see what are likely the squash courts to the left of the main building. It's also likely that the concrete playground is in that area as well. Since the gymnasium is listed above as having been "in the grounds," we can reasonably assume it, too was some sort of outlying structure. Unless either the sick wing or the gymnasium had been constructed after 1930, we may well assume that they are the buildings to the left of the main structure.

In addition, it makes sense to have both the gym and the infirmary close to an area that included athletic pursuits engaged in upon concrete and amid gunfire.

In a private photograph previously provided by the ELHS [click HERE to view it], seemingly from this time, we can see a new building at the left that is not in older photographs of the school taken from the south. A game of cricket is being played on that field, and we can see no signs of squash courts or a rifle range from this angle, again leading us to believe those are enclosed in an area behind that new addition to the school at left.

Regarding the playing field in that image we learn: "The playing fields consist of a large level cricket field of over 2½ acres and two other fields adjoining the school."

The "two other fields" are obviously the ones we see next to Carlisle Road, over which Moira House Girls' School looks. They are divided by a wall that was once covered with ivy, and are now owned by Eastbourne College, as we can see in the image.

In an archival photograph taken from another angle, again provided by the ELHS, we see Warren Hill towering at left [click HERE for the image]. We learned from Ockenden at the time: "[This image] is probably from a postcard and shows the view looking up what is now Beachy Head Road with the school on the left. It's hard to date precisely but one can suppose that it is pre 1900. The masters' residence must be the house on the right. The girls walking down the hill are almost level with a group of flint cottages which still stand. One of these was rented during various summers by Arthur Conan Doyle."

It would be interesting to know on which side of the road that unknown number of "flint cottages" mentioned here actually rests.

Figuring that the building on the right hand side of the postcard image is, indeed, the master's residence, Goodland, we can see, owned quite a bit of land in Meads. If the cottages mentioned face Denton Road, behind the supposed masters' residence on Beach Head [as seen today, above], and it was all in possession of the principal of the school, Goodland was, indeed, quite a landholder. One wonders what that entire tract of land as a whole would be worth today!



I do wonder if the current building across from Warren Hill School's location [above] is the same one referred to above as the "residence" of the schoolmaster's. We can do a drive-by via Google today, but we again notice its adorning ivy is no longer in place. Does the ivy in that postcard image obscure some of what we would need to positively identify the currently standing structure as being the same as the one to the right-hand side of the postcard image from the ELHS?

I don't feel qualified, sitting here half a world away, to discern that.


Another aspect of Warren Hill School that figures into the books of George Mills is related in this excerpt from the third page of de Glanville's leaflet: "Unless parents specially desire it, pocket money is not issued regularly to the boys, as it is felt that this practise tends to lead the boys to spend money for the sake of spending and encouraging waste. Any money sent with, or to, the boys is put in a special boys' bank and they may draw upon it in reasonable amounts. It is suggested that the amount sent with or to a boy in any one term should not ordinarily exceed £1."

Hijinks involving the need, or simply the desire, for money from that "bank" figures in many chapters of the stories told by Mills. Whether or not Windlesham House had a similar arrangement at the time, withdrawals from which could only be made under the watchful and thrifty eye of the Head Master, is unknown, and we may reasonably conclude that the yarns Mills spins regarding it were given rise at Warren Hill.

The last sentence on that third page is pertinent to the novels of George Mills as well: "Accomodation is reserved to take the boys to and from Victoria Station at the end and beginning of term, and boys are met at and conveyed to that station."

Not meaning to imply that Windlesham did not offer a similar service, we have no like ephemera or other evidence to conclude that they did. Warren Hill, however, offered such a convenience, and Mills used it to his advantage in designing his plots. Both Meredith and Co. and King Willow, begin at Victoria Station, and it is mentioned as the locale of the very first sentence Mills ever published in 1933:

"Percy Oliphant Naylor Gathorne Ogilvie, complete with a nurse, red hair, and freckles, stood with his mother on the platform at Victoria Station."

There is every reason to believe that Percy, who would soon be nicknamed "Pongo"—a spoilt, unattractive, sheltered nine-year-old—is autobiographically based on George Ramsay Acland Mills himself. Percy is described in this first lad-to-lad exchange after finally arriving at fictional Leadham House School by the Downs:

When his mother had gone, Percy felt the feeling of utter loneliness and physical emptiness which all new boys experience. He walked sadly into the school, and entered an empty form-room. Finding a convenient desk, he sat thereat and wept. He seemed to have sat there a long time, with his face in his hands, when he suddenly looked up and beheld, standing in front of him, the ugliest small boy on whom he had ever set eyes.

The new-comer was first to speak.

'Are you a new boy?'

Percy, who lisped when he was excited, answered, 'Yeth.'


This tender scene simply may reflect Mills's ability to observe and empathisize with young boys, but it more likely additionally reflects Mills own experience, to some degree, upon leaving home to attend Parkfield School in Haywards Heath around 1905.

Mills, as we know from his WWI records, suffered from a speech impediment, and the brief scene above may describe intimately Mills's first anxious experience talking to another child without the comfort and support of having members of his family nearby.

Small, tender, and genuine observations such as these are truly the strength of Mills's prose. Perhaps it's natural that a child so aware of his own language pathology would have painstakingly studied the oral language used by those around him, allowing him to replicate it in a way completely unique to the genre of children's literature of that era.


Returning to de Glanville's leaflet, we find on the last page a list of costs for boys attending Warren Hill.

A boy whose program included all of the extracurriculars offered would have accumulated a tab of over 70 guineas per term, payable in advance. Riding then cost an additional 8 shillings per lesson.

de Glanville acquired Warren Hill from Goodland around 1933, a year deep within the period known as the Great Depression. Michael O. of the ELHS weighs in with this insight:

The school was still in existence in Beachy Head Road in May 1934 because there's a reference to a scholarship in the Times of 29 May 1934.

The prevailing economic situation in the 1930s meant that private schools were having a hard time. Some were forced to close in Eastbourne and I guess this it could have been the reason for the demise of Warren Hill. However, the owner (headmaster) would have been sitting on some valuable real estate and would have been able to sell for a good sum.

Undoubtedly.

de Glanville's bankruptcy was the second one filed in Eastbourne in 1937, with all petitions entirely settled before the end of the calendar year. Given the value of the land, as mentioned, it seems unlikely that he had lost everything.

With this particular entry having grown to an almost unwieldy length, next time we'll take a look at some additional information on de Glanville gleaned by the ubiquitous Barry McAleenan. Don't miss it…

Looking at the Life of J. Goodland: Part 4

There is a 1600-year-old yew in the Old Churchyard in Compton Dundon.

I was born just outside of Philadelphia in Haverford Hospital and grew up in the next community over, Broomall. I'm not sure of the age of Haverford Township, but Broomall was founded in 1682.

I now live in Florida, just a 90 minute drive to St. Augustine, founded by the Spaniards and the oldest continually inhabited city in North America. It was established in 1565. Walking through the main gate into the old city always seems a trip back in time.

However, if the yew were to be exactly 1600 years old, that meant that the seed split open and the moist green tendril would have taken root and begun its life in the year 411. 411!

That's staggering for an American—relatively speaking we're barely out of nappies— to wrap his or her mind around fully because, as opposed to something like Stonehenge, a Roman aqueduct, or a Saxon sundial, the yew is living, breathing, and still shading the ancient churchyard. And there's little here that's nearly as old—living or dead.

At right, you see a diagram of the Old Churchyard indicating the locations of the memorials to those buried there.

At Number 73 the headstone reads:

"Of your charity/
pray for the soul of/
Joshua GOODLAND/
born July 17, 1873, he/
was Vicar of this/
Parish, from August/
1937 & died Jan: 22, 1939/
Also in loving memory of/
his wife, Florence Annie/
born April 17, 1885/
died August 8, 1954"

Josua Goodland was no longer a "priest in charge." He had become vicar in the charming village of Compton Dundon in Somerset.

When last we met, Goodland had sold Warren Hill Preparatory School in Sussex to Bertram de Glanville in the depths of the worldwide depression. The year was probably 1933 based on a change in telephone directories. His name was removed from the school's listing in Eastbourne, and the name Joshua Goodland cropped up at the River House on St. Peters Road, Twickenham, near Hounslow in Greater London.

The impetus for selling Warren Hill, however, may not simply have been the Great Depression (although it would be foolish to think it did not play some role). Rather, the record shows that in 1932 a woman named Josephine M. Goodland married a gentleman named Bernard M. Lowe in Marylebone. Josephine was Joshua and Florence Goodland's daughter, and there is a real possibility that she is the younger woman in the archival photographs from Warren Hill, circa 1930, just before her marriage.

Based on telephone directories, Bernard was an estate agent on High Street in Heathfield, about 20 miles due north of Eastbourne.

Her death record indicates that Josephine Mary Goodland was born on 23 May 1910, probably while Joshua was on the "North Eastern Circuit," but there is no available record recording her birth. She appears on the 1911 census [left] as a 10 ½-month-old infant living with her mother in Hertfordshire. There was a servant at home at the time, Mary Kate Grey, a 26-year-old listed as "Dom: Servant Nurse Housemaid." There was also a "visitor" in the home that day, 2 April. He was a 25-year-old, single "student-at-law" named W. A. Bainbridge.

A couple of oddities jump out. Joshua, 37 years of age, was not at home at the time. He was almost 200 miles away, visiting the family home of a retired tar distiller, John George Lyon, in Pontefract, Yorkshire, which was presumably on his circuit. Part of me wonders why a 25-year-old law student was visiting his 25-year-old wife while Goodland was so far afield. Perhaps Bainbridge was sweet on Miss Grey, who was also single.

The form clearly indicates he either "arrived on the morning of Monday, April 3rd," or "passed the night of Sunday, April 2nd, in this dwelling and was alive at midnight."

Another thing I find odd is that next to the entry for Florence Annie Goodland, she was originally recorded in black ink as "Wife." That entry is amended later in blue ink to read "Head." The numeral "1," written in black ink, is used to record the number of years she has been married, the number of children she had borne alive, and the number of "Children still living." Then a red line is drawn through them all, striking out every numeral.

Finally, Florence's "Personal Occupation" is recorded in crisp black ink as "Married Woman." Subsequently, that information is crossed out several times in blue ink. Still, Joshua and Florence were married in the parish of St. Mary, Finchley, in London on 19 June 1909.

I have no real understanding of any 'colour coding' that may have been used in compiling data for the 1911 census, but something tells me that Florence Annie, far from being a subservient housewife to Joshua, at least may have been resentful of being left alone in Hertfordshire by the father of her new baby. In fact, it is not difficult to surmise that she wasn't enamored of being saddled not only with the baby, but with Joshua as well. Perhaps, if she had been born before the wedding, that may be why there is no real record of Josephine's birth.

Other than some few details of her own marriage in 1932, we know little about Josephine Goodland save that she passed away in December of 1988 in Liverpool, Lancashire. Turning over care of his daughter to Bernard Lowe [his 1934 telephone listing is seen, right], however, could have eased Joshua's mind about his responsibility to her and allowed him to consider his final career change that he was at the very least toying with: Becoming a vicar.

In 1934, the name on Goodland's Twickenham listing changes slightly, giving us evidence of the direction in which he was heading. In 1933, it read: "Goodland Joshua." In 1934, it changes to "Goodland Rev Joshua."

Now, I'm quite uncertain how, in the Anglican Church, one would become a vicar. We've read of the circuitous route that George Mills's father, Rev. Barton R. V. Mills, took from Battersea to the Chapel Royal after he gained a Master's Degree in History from Oxford. Would Twickenham have been a similar stop for Goodland on his way to his own vicarage? And was any sort of education in divinity necessary at the time, or would a law degree from Cambridge have sufficed?

Anyway, the stop at River House [left] in Twickenham was apparently brief: Goodland does not appear in any of the 1935 or 1936 directories, which covered all of Greater London. 1935, Goodland had clearly left town.

How and where Joshua and Florence Goodland spent those two years is open to conjecture at this point. A listing for a "Goodland J" reappears in the London telephone directory, residing at "34 Bloomfield rd E.3," but that listing remains in place in the February 1938 directory—and we know from Goodland's headstone that he began his living in Compton Dundon in August 1937.

Perhaps he spent time with Josephine and Bernard in Heathfield as he sought a living. Perhaps he was tucked away in another parish elsewhere, using a phone listed under another name

Nevertheless, he took up residence at The Vicarage of St. Andrew's Church [below, right] in Compton Dundon at summer's end in 1937.

There isn't much known about his time there, but we know that his long-dormant lust for travel may have been unquenched.

On 16 June 1938, Joshua and Florence Goodland steamed into Avonmouth at Bristol aboard the S.S. Bayano out of Port Antonio, Jamaica. The couple, a 63-year-old "priest" and 53-year-old "housewife" respectively, gave their address as "Compton Dundon Vicg, Somerton, Somerset."

It had been 30 some years since Goodland had been able to travel abroad. We don't know how long Goodland spent in Jamaica, or if this was a vacation or a recuperative trip for the benefit of his health.

What we do know is that Joshua Goodland passed away just months later on 22 January 1939.

The National Probate Calendar for 1939 reads:

GOODLAND the reverend Joshua of Compton Dundon Vicarage Somerton Somersetshire clerk died 22 January 1939 Probate London 26 May to Florence Annie Goodland widow. Effects £4241 0s. 7d."

Britain was on the eve of conflict with Germany, and the entire world braced for war. It was a trying and anxious time for many in England.

1939 was a banner year for our George Mills, though. After publishing a novel, King Willow, in 1938, he published a pair in 1939—Minor and Major and Saint Thomas of Canterbury.

However, Mills—who had dedicated his only other book, Meredith and Co., to Joshua Goodland in 1933—would never publish anything more than a letter to The Times.

Coincidence?

Next time we'll take a look at both Mills and Goodland, how their paths must have crossed, and what influence Joshua must have had on George.

Looking at the Life of J. Goodland: Part 3

When Gillmore Goodland's family boarded the S.S. Saxonia along with former neighbour Edmund Stephenson in 1918, bound for New York and then Hollywood, their "nearest relative" recorded on the ship's manifest was not Gillmore, waiting in North America.

It was Joshua Goodland [pictured, left, circa 1930; image courtesy ELHS], Gillmore's younger brother, a barrister who lived with his wife, Florence, and his daughter, Josephine, at 144 Ashley Gardens in London.

From everything we now know, Gillmore Goodland financed his brother Joshua's re-education in the field of Law. As we've seen, Joshua had been first an assistant teacher in Exmouth, and then spent most of the final decade of the 19th century in Cardiff, Glamorganshire, as a "probationer," studying to become an architect. He passed his exams and even mentored another architect for a year before eschewing it all and beginning his legal studies at Cambridge in 1901.

Looking over the life of Gillmore Goodland, it's easy to see why he might have wanted a barrister on hand, especially one he could trust inherently. Gillmore ran afoul of the law on several occasions—a couple of bankruptcy proceedings in England, an arrest in Mexico [right], and a civil lawsuit in the United States. It's clear how very much he liked money. What we don't know is the exact nature of his dealings to acquire it.

Gillmore loved to travel first class in his capacity as a mining engineer and consultant. This proclivity to see far off lands also seems to have rubbed off on Joshua, who spent much of his time during his eight years studying at Cambridge travelling around England, Europe, and the world.

Joshua settled in as counsel on some very substantial cases before the First World War, and worked for the government as an advisor in the Department of Munitions during that conflict. He subsequently was awarded an M.B.E. in January 1918 for his work on behalf of the crown.

Later in 1918, we know he was involved in an extremely high-profile case on behalf of the Department of Munitions and the Metropolitan Water Board of London.

At the end of the war, Gillmore's family's departure from the U.K. in 1918 coincided with Joshua's return to private practice in London.

By 1921, Goodland's London telephone directory listing is twofold: "Central  . .  . .  . 99 Goodland, J  . .  . .  . .  . .  1 Papr Bldgs Tmple EC4," and "Victoria  . .  . .  7691 Goodland, Joshua, Barrister-at-law  . . 144 Ashley Gdns S.W.1." The Paper Buildings [left], even today, are prime real estate for barristers in the Temple District. Goodland obviously was doing quite well for himself and his family.

Goodland had become a barrister, at least in part, to help his brother in Gillmore's frequent dealings with capitalists and investors regarding their mines. Once the elder brother skipped the country, however, Joshua would no longer have had any substantial tie to a profession that really had not been his "first choice."

While Joshua might easily have returned to the discipline of architecture, we have come to realize that that was not his first choice, either. His father had been a "certificated elementary school teacher," and as an adult, he had assisted at the school during his own first steps into adulthood.

By 1 May 1922, we find a ship's manifest of interest. On it, Mrs F.A. (Florence) Goodland of "144 Ashley Gardens" and Miss M.E. (Margaret) Goodland of "Westminster" [both "domestics"] steamed into London from Sydney on the S.S. Borda of the shipping line P. & O. S.N. Co. Ltd. That would be Joshua's wife, Florence, and his sister Margaret, the latter then sporting a Westminster address. That gives us a clue as to how Gillmore Goodland's family was able to live in London while he was ensconced in America from 1915 through 1918.

It also gives a good idea of how close the Goodland family attempted to remain in general, despite the vast distances between and among many of them. It would be uncanny to me to find that Margaret Goodland hadn't been visiting her brothers Ernest and Kenny, and possibly even Theodore, along with her sister-in-law, Florence, whom they had likely never met.

The following years, 1923, 1924 and 1925, reveal telephone listings for Joshua Goodland, barrister, at home in Ashley Gardens and at his offices in the Paper Buildings.

Not in 1926, however.

By that time, Joshua Goodland had made a career move. This vocational change also entailed a geographical move from central London to Eastbourne, Sussex. Goodland's new career would begin at a local preparatory school, Warren Hill. Joshua had taught in Exmouth, taken a student under his wing immediately after becoming an architect in 1899, and had served as a law coach at Cambridge and thereafter in London. In some ways, he had always been a teacher, so this shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise to anyone.

Warren Hill School in Meads [below, right; image courtesy ELHS] had been run by Michael Arthur North and Frederic Rogers Ebden under the auspices of the firm North & Ebden until the partnership was dissolved officially on the "31st Day of December, 1924," and announced in the London Gazette on 15 May 1925.

That dissolution, for some reason must have attracted Goodland. Joshua was quite possibly an advisor in the proceedings, or perhaps he heard of it around chambers. We do know Goodland was an enthusiast of golf and loved playing in Sussex in the summer. Joshua turned 52 in 1925 and, although a fit-looking and energetic man, the weight of the law and of private practice may have become a real burden to him, so a move to a quieter setting by the sea may have greatly appealed to him—and why not?

Perhaps it had even been what we today might call a 'mid-life crisis'—a desire to return to the pursuits of a simpler and seemingly happier time.

For whatever reason, Joshua committed himself to a return to the discipline of education in 1925. He likely would have had some savings in the bank, and with experience in the law and in contracts, it would seem that he could have made himself quite valuable to F. R. Ebden while becoming his partner.

Far from being cloistered in Eastbourne and quietly enjoying his waning years, we find Goodland mentioned in Volume 6 of the periodical Hockey Field and Lacrosse, distributed by the All England Women's Hockey Association in 1926. His name is mentioned in an item as having been selected to serve on an "Umpires Sub-Committee." How unusual might it have been for one of the Heads of a boys' prep school to not only serve as an girls' hockey umpire, but to serve on the Association's Umpires Sub-Committee back in 1926?

If anyone needed further proof of Goodland being an avid sportsman, even into his fifth decade, membership on that committee would seemingly do the trick! After that 1926 mention, though, we lose track of Goodland to a degree.

We've read a promotional leaflet from Warren Hill, circa 1930, in which his school is described in great detail, and, of course, we've seen Goodland mentioned as being the "sometime Head Master" of Warren Hill in the dedication to George Mills's Meredith and Co.: The Story of a Modern Preparatory School in 1933. It has been assumed that "sometime Head Master" referred to Goodland's partnership with Ebden.

The most interesting post-1926 reference to Goodland, however, is another one from 1930. It's on page 1960 of Crockford's Clerical Directory, published by the Oxford University Press in that year. Although I can only read a "snippet" of the text on-line, it records a list of former and current bishops and priests, among them "J. Goodland,  P.-in-c." following an entry for a "G. Camp,  I." (Did the capital "I" mean 'incumbent'?)

Where exactly Goodland served as a "Priest in Charge" in 1930 cannot be determined from this snippet, but it is presumably somewhere in or near Eastbourne. Wherever he was "in charge," he may have been waiting for bishop to offer an incumbency and change that title to "Vicar."

It seems that Goodland's 1925 love affair with education was a brief one. Perhaps he simply looked at partnership in the school as an investment. Perhaps he found he liked dabbling in education and theology simultaneously.

Either way, we now have a much clearer idea of what George Mills meant by "sometime Head Master" of Warren Hill School. This was likely not a reference to sharing duties with Ebden, but to splitting time between school and church.

It's interesting to note, though, that Goodland appears amongst archival photographs circa 1930 without any sort of clerical accoutrements. In fact, Goodland looks quite worldly and dapper in a taut bow tie and nicely tailored, double-breasted suit [top, left]!

Joshua Goodland took over Warren Hill School himself in 1931, dissolving by "mutual consent" his partnership with Ebden on 1 August, according to the 7 August 1931 issue of the London Gazette. Goodland resolved to receive and pay "all debts due or owing to the said late firm." Goodland at this point seemed to have been staying the proverbial course. Warren Hill School was all his!

The 1932 Eastbourne telephone directory features this new entry: "Goodland Joshua , Warren Hill Meads . . . Eastbourne 204."

There is no continued entry, however, in 1933. Well, at least not in Eastbourne!

Here's his 1933 entry [left]: "Goodland Joshua, River ho St Peters rd Twickenham . . . . . POPesgve 3563."

Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway), residing in Twickenham, almost 90 miles NNE of Meads, made a daily commute to Warren Hill quite impossible.

We do know, however, that Goodland at some point sold the school to Bertram George de Glanville, a former long-time magistrate in the Ceylon Civil Service and more recently the Chairman of the Colombo Port Commission, through his final appearance on "The Dominions Office and Colonial Office List" in 1932.

Goodland sold the school to de Glanville sometime after 1932, probably in 1933, when the telephone record for Eastbourne 204 changed from "Goodland Joshua, Warren Hill Meads" to "Warren Hill, Preparatory School, Beachy Head rd."

Warren Hill [right; image courtesy ELHS] remains listed as noted above until 1936, when it disappears from the telephone record. Eastbourne's 1936 directory does contain the listing: "de Glanville B.G., Ascham Lodge . . . . . . . . . Eastbourne 204."

That number at de Glanville's private residence is the same number as had been Warren Hill's. It is questionable at that point if the school still existed, or was simply hanging on perilously, hoping for a miracle in the midst of a worldwide economic depression.

On page 55 of the 29 June 1937 edition of the London Gazette, we find the following item:

No. 1600. DE GLANVILLE, Bertram George, Ascham St. Vincents Lodge, Gaudick Road, Eastbourne, Sussex, SCHOOLMASTER, lately carrying on business and residing at Warren Hill, Beachy Head Road, Eastbourne aforesaid.
Court—EASTBOURNE.
Date of Filing Petition—May 14, 1937.
No. of Matter—2 of 1937.
Date of Receiving Order—June 27, 1937.
No. of Receiving Order—2.
Whether Debtor's or Creditor's Petition—Creditor's
Act of Bankruptcy proved in Creditor's Petition—Section I-I (G.), Bankruptcy Act, 1914.

Warren Hill was quite certainly out of business as dawn broke on the year 1937.

Joshua Goodland probably was fortunate to find a buyer returning from decades overseas, a man who was unaware of the financial climate of the times. I hesitate to conjecture that the deal was in any way shady—caveat emptor, after all.

Unlike Gillmore Goodland, who fled his creditors, de Glanville, incidentally, made his debts for "5s. in the £" by 3 November 1937, according to the London Gazette dated 16 November (page 7239).

Goodland, who had been dabbling in religion as well as education, had closed the book on his life as a Head Master.

And next time we'll examine the remaining years of Joshua's life, as well his last career change…