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…

Coniscliffe and Canucks by the Sea

It's been an in-and-out sort of day here in sunny Ocala, Florida. While we were away to the north in much cooler Michigan [left], there must have been a great deal of rain here: The grass in some places is nearly knee deep after just 10 days or so. The heat has me ducking in and out of doors as I do battle with my lawn.

While I'm in right now, let me follow up on some other information related to George Mills that's come in.

Michael Ockenden of the Eastbourne Local History Society has been a friend of the site and provided information that was used in the entry called "22 Meads Street." Our speculation that the "enumerator" of the 1911 census at Coniscliffe had misspelled the name of a Warren Hill School colleague of George Mills, Eric Streatfeild, was apparently incorrect.

Here's word I've received recently setting the record straight:

From: Jane O'Connell
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 2:07 AM
Subject: Eric Streatfield

Hello

I was looking at your site as I am researching a young woman who was also living at 'Coniscliffe'. I just wanted to reassure you that in the 1911 census, it was the occupier who completed the form. The person who misspelled his surname was the person who transcribed the entry into digital form...

Best wishes,

Jane

PS If you would like a copy of the census return, just let me know.

I've asked for a copy, just for my records. Thanks very much, Jane! And, just for the record, the correct spelling is: Eric Streatfeild.

One other item regarding this subject and my holiday up north: While away, I read Ockenden's terrific book, Canucks by the Sea: The Canadian Army in Eastbourne during the Second World War.

In this informative text, he personally relates the story told in "22 Meads Street" on this website in much greater detail, and with background information that makes the events of that day, as well, as the war years in Sussex, fit into a broader and very human context.

Meads was the location of Warren Hill School, an employer of George Mills before it closed in 1936, and anyone interested in learning about the area in the first half of the 20th century is certainly advised to read Canucks by the Sea!

For more information on Eric Streatfeild himself, his wife, novelist, Kitty Barne, their cousin, author and performer Noel Streatfield, and even a link to Arthur Conan Doyle, all somehow fitted into the context of the life and career of George Mills, read the entry from Saturday, 10 April 2010, entitled "Visualizing Warren Hill School and Some Possible Muses."

Finally, once again, I'd like to thank Michael and the Eastbourne Local History Society as a whole for all of their valuable assistance in my research!

Visualizing Warren Hill School and Some Possible Muses

I slept in this morning, a wonderful lie about that's allowed me to really enjoy the cool, sunny morning here in Ocala. The trees were not long ago brown and grey scratches on a sky that was becoming increasingly blue. Now the breeze has trouble making the boughs, heavy with leaves, sway in the breeze. The delicate blossoms are falling gently from the fig tree, and even the birds seem languid as they call this morning.

I couldn't have been more relaxed when I opened my e-mail box, but now my heart has sped and I'm truly excited: I've seen Warren Hill School!

Sometime between 1926 and 1933, George Mills taught in Eastbourne, and along the way, the members of the Eastbourne Local History Society have gone out of their way to help me understand the world he lived in at the time, from the location of the school, to the school's history and staff, right down to the local where Mills likely would have had his pint after a long day in front of the desks.Still, the images I'd seen of the area were from today. Warren Hill as it stood in the time of G. Mills, full of laughing [well sometimes laughing] boys at work and at play, lived only in my imagination. Today, however, we have our first glimpse of what Mills saw [click images to enlarge].

Here's word from Michael of the ELHS:
Hello Sam:

Another Michael of Eastbourne Local History has turned up these two photographs of Warren Hill School. The first 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.

The second is a private photograph showing a cricket match on the playing field behind the main building. (See the plan of the school.) The picture clearly shows the spaciousness of the school grounds. The low structure to the left is probably the house which still stands on the site (50 45 22 95 N and 0 15 52 90 E) - the last vestige of Warren Hill School [see image, far below, left].

Brilliant! Thank you, Michael, and the other Michael! It's interesting to see students engaged in one of the sports that Mills obvously loved so much, and that are also an integral part of his novels. And, now that I've discovered how to enter latitude and longitude into Google Earth correctly—What a difference adding a decimal point makes!—we can see that "last vestige" of Warren Hill from above, and not just an anonymous field in France!

It's interesting to think that Mills, besides being from a family that frequented the publishing houses of London, had the opportunity to meet novelist Kitty Barne, wife of Eric Streatfeild who likley taught music at Warren Hill, and their cousin Noel Streatfeild, not to mention the possibility of having an acquaintance with Arthur Conan Doyle, who published 10 books between 1924 and 1930, including The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes in 1927. And all of this was likely happening at, around, or near Warren Hill School, pictured again at right.

Eric and Kitty married in June, 1912. Kitty had studied music at the Royal College of Music, and was listed as living in Eastbourne in the 1911 census. Eric isn't to be found on that census [Correction: We now know Streatfeild was, indeed, listed in the 1911 census—his surname had been misspelled]. There is a household of the Revd. William C. Streatfeild in Eastbourne listed at the time. The reverend is Eric's father.


[Note (6 Oct 2012): From Roger Sharland in a comment recorded below: "William Champion Streatfeild was not Eric Streatfeild's father but rather uncle. William Champion was the father of Noel Streatfeild, but his brother Alexander Edward Champion Streatfeild was Eric's father."]

Information from the 1901 census has Eric L. Streatfeild born in Nutfield, Surrey in 1872, but living in Eastbourne and working as a "schoolmaster's assistant," presumably at Warren Hill. That would make Streatfeild 40 years of age at the time of his marriage to Miss Barne. If he were to have known George Mills in, say, 1926, he'd have been approximately 54 years old. Mr. Streatfeild passed away in Sussex in 1954.

Now, we already know George Mills was clearly interested in the performing arts, as indicated from his time spent at Windlesham House in Brighton just before. He had even written songs, so his involvement with the Streatfeilds is even more likely.At that time, Streatfeild's wife, Kitty was on the verge of becoming a children's book author herself when she must have become acquainted with Mills. However, she had already put herself on the proverbial map: In 1925, she published The Music of Amber Gate: A Pageant Play [J. Curwen & Sons; London, 1925] with a pianoforte score, after having previously published Winds ... A play written by Kitty Barne & D. W. Wheeler. Composed by Kitty Barne. Illustrations by Lucy Barne. (Staff and tonic sol-fa notation.) [J. Curwen & Sons: London, 1912], Timothy's Garden: A Children's Play [J. Curwen & Sons: London, 1912] with a vocal score, and To-morrow. A play written by Kitty Barne and D.W. Wheeler. Composed by Kitty Barne. Illustrated by Lucy Barne, all in the year she was wed [Note: All of those titles appear just as they are catalogued in the British Library]. The last published work that I can find credited to her would be Introducing Mozart in 1957. Wikipedia has her dying on 3 February 1961, "after a long illness."It's presumable that George Mills had also made the acquaintance of Eric and Kitty's cousin, the renowned Noel Streatfeild [pictured, right], who was born in Sussex, trained as a performer at the Academy of Dramatic Art, and learned to write through a correspondence course after spending volunteer time authoring plays to entertain wounded soldiers during the First World War. Noel later published novels for adults, the earliest I can find being in 1931 [The Whitcarts], but before that she had also written children's plays and had a story published thatb had been printed in a children's magazine. Perhaps she was involved in learning to write professionally while George Mills, himself from a family of then-currently popular authors [Arthur Hobart and Lady Dorothy Mills], was in Eastbourne.

Streatfeild, born on 24 December 1895, would have been just a year younger than George when he found himself in Eastbourne where Noel was presumably writing those children's plays. She published a collection of them, The Children’s Matinée, in 1934, just a year after Mills had published his successful children's book, Meredith and Co. Streatfeild was soon convinced to write her first children's book, Ballet Shoes, by J.M. Dent & Sons, London, in 1936. Many feel it is still her most enduring work.Contemporary Americans best know Noel Streatfeild as the author of the books higly and very personally recommended by the character played by Meg Ryan in the film You've Got Mail.

After coming from a family of authors of both fiction and non-fiction in many genres, and finding himself at Warren Hill in the midst of the Streatfeilds and Kitty Barne, not to mention the possibility of Arthur Conan Doyle, Mills must have been inspired beyond anything we can imagine. Suddenly, a man who'd left relatively little mark on the world is poised to write unprecedentedly realistic books about the British preparatory schoolboys he found himself among at the time. Imagine the conversations about books, music, drama, and the effect of those on youth that must have filled the air around Meads!

Artistically, Warren Hill must have been the place where the seed of his books was first planted and nurtured. One can see that in the back cover art of the 1950 Oxford University Press edition Meredith and Co. The façade of the master's residence of fictional Leadham House School is depicted with a single, unadorned gable [right, click to enlarge], extremely similar to the building to the right in the first image of the school above. Windlesham has no gables at all, and The Craig has gables that resemble Dutch "crow stepping". This illustration, which substitutes a school bell for chimneys atop the building, much more resembles Warren Hill than either of the other two!

How much of an influence did the Streatfeild family, either en masse or individually, have on George? How much influence did George have on them, as well as on the school and Meads? Did Doyle, who rented a flint cottage at Warren Hill in the summers figure into this community in any way, despite his international renown, or was he simply reclusive? Even if Doyle's presence was not simultaneous with George's, how could the author of Holmes, Watson, Moriarty, and much else not have left some sort of a "legacy" around the campus? How much influence did the community of Eastbourne have on them all, and vice versa?

That is all, at this point, open to conjecture. In Warren Hill and the community of Eastbourne, though, he seemingly had found a place where he felt more free to express himself tha he might have before, and lived and worked among friends and colleagues with whom I suspect he might have felt he truly belonged. To me, it would be simply stunning if a gregarious, creative, arts-oriented chap like Mills had managed to avoid the influence of the Warren Hill of that era, despite Eastbournbe's overall reputation for staid respectability.A final note, according to wikipedia.com: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was found dead, clutching his chest on 7 July, 1930, in the fall of "Windlesham," his home in Crowborough, Sussex. Windlesham...?

Did the onset of the Great Depression hasten George's departure from Warren Hill? If so, what a shame! Anyone with any information about how Mills may have thrived, and why he eventually left, the apparently fertile soil of Meads [left, as seen from above today], please don't hesitate to let me know!