A Geography Lesson Courtesy of Keith's Mum

Brilliant!

Following up on my entry earlier today, the omniscient Keith's Mum has once again set me on the correct path.

The comment just arrived:

Keith's Mum thinks that the Bird's Eye view on Bing Maps would give you a better view of Warren Hill Cottage and Stelvio Cottages.


Now, I have found that it's best not to ignore Keith's mum. The suggestion above reminded me of information sent by the ever-reliable Barry McAleenan regarding the 1899 map he scanned for us:

        • Plot 81 became Stanton Prior
       • Plot 80 became Stelvio Court
       • Warren Hill site, plot 77, now [2011] includes Stelvio Cottages.


You can see the locations he mentions on the detail of the 1899 map of Eastbourne, above, left.

Having never warmed up to Bing Maps, I decided to give the suggestion a try and am certainly glad I did. Below, you can see the image Keith's mum recommended, and it's far more useful than those available at Google Maps [click any image to enlarge it in a new window].


And here you can see the view of the same location, around those Stelvio Cottages, pivoted around and from the north:


Great stuff!

It looks to me as if the building with the lighter-coloured roof is more alike to images and maps we've seen than anything else [below]. One has to consider the fact that it may be the elusive "last vestige of Warren Hill School." There is a comparison of the southern Bird's Eye View image with a crop from the 1930 black-and-white image of Warren Hill, circa 1930, showing Warren Hill's latest addition [below].


The overall appearance seems correct. The chimney seems correct. The roof seems correct. The white-cornered wall seems correct. The location seems correct.

Keith, please give the old girl my best, will you? She never fails!

And if you are wondering why I wasn't enamored with Bing Maps, here's the first thing I naturally looked up when it came out: My house. I've made all of the settings identical to the ones used to render the beautiful colour images above. You can see it as I see it, at right [clicking on it will not improve it whatsoever].

The orange push-pin indicates the exact location of my own dwelling. Lovely, eh?

Yuck. (Is that also a British expression of disgust?)

Thanks for getting me out of my own dull and poorly pixilated neighbourhood and into the real world…

It's Always Sunny on Beachy Head Road

Lately, as steamy Ocala dries out from our daily subtropical cloudbursts, I've been sifting through some older information, trying to get all my ducks in a row (Is that a British idiom as well?) and have found some items about Warren Hill School in Meads, Eastbourne, that may be of interest.

It's been over a year now since I received information researched by Michael Ockenden of the Eastbourne Local History Society, the man who located Warren Hill School for us and has provided a wealth of information over time.

However, when the location of Warren Hill was still unknown, that had been my obsession, I'm afraid to say. In my zeal to locate the site of the campus, Michael O. had provided some nuggets of information that flew past me unnoticed, well beyond what was then my narrow field of vision.

Here's the first:

One of our senior members has just e-mailed to say:-

I remember Warren Hill School as a regular opponent on our fixture lists during the 1930s. Their football field was at the top end of Carlisle Road. But I seem to recall that it was dropped from our fixtures well before 1939, so maybe it had closed by then.


I paid homage to this bit of information, along with many others, at the time (24 March 2010), but this particular recollection really failed to sink into my notoriously thick skull. (Is that a British idiom as well?) It corroborates something we eventually "discovered" later on: Warren Hill School held land at the top end of Carlisle Road.

A few days later, Michael verified it:

[In August 1931] the Times reports the registration of land (the school and its grounds) at Warren Hill, Beachy Head Road, and land (the playing field) in Carlisle Road, Eastbourne.


Sometimes one can't see the forest for the trees (Is that a British idiom as well?) in that we'd actually had that information for quite a while, and was eventually corroborated here [right]. Looking for the actual location of the building, though, seemed to be my only passion a year ago or more, and I promise that the next university degree I earn will be in History so I can manage all of this properly!


Another bit of information from last year, however, was something that has stayed on my mind constantly since then. Michael had also written during that time:

The school (which no longer stands ... apart from the former hall or gym) was situated on the left-hand side of Beachy Head Road, between Coltstocks Road and Darley Road.

Later, he added:

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.


The low structure to which Michael refers might have been, I had always thought as we went along, the addition we have seen numerous times at the southwest corner of Warren Hill in the black-and-white image, circa 1930 [left].

I've wondered frequently about that "last vestige" of Warren Hill, the "former hall or gym."

For some reason, though, I recently decided to drive 'virtually' down Beachy Head Road once more and do some snooping via Street View at Google Maps.

Here's an image captured along Beachy Head at a gate in the wall that presumably divides the property that was once the campus of Warren Hill School from the property upon which now sits Stanton Prior (on the corner of Beach Head and Darley Roads. That is the closest I can prowl, from Ocala, Florida, to what would have been the southwest corner of the main building of Warren Hill.


Clicking once to enlarge, I find this:


There is clearly something visible from the street [click the image to enlarge it]. You'll notice that, in the bottom right hand corner of that image, the small golden avatar that represents where I am looking is locked on a building that is in a similar spot to that low-lying addition.

Let's check the 1930 map, but at the same time see where I was looking today. I've also marked three places where structures on both seem to coincide [click to enlarge slightly]:


Only one seems to have the look of something that could have been a "former hall or gym": Number 3.

However, there are some similarities between what is visible today and what would have been there in 1930, albeit very difficult to see.

Here's a side-by-side comparison of our snooping peek through the hedge via Street View set next to an image of former headmaster F. R. Ebden standing to the west of the main building and facing the southeast in relation to the structure behind him. The street view image was captured from the opposite direction, looking in from the northwest [click to enlarge].


It seems that there are definite areas of similarity, pointed out in the comparison above, and the fact that those north-side characteristics reveal a mirror-image of the southern view would be something a symmetry-minded person might have been expecting. While this low-lying structure doesn't necessarily have the appearance of a "former hall or gym," its physical characteristics seem oddly similar to the structure that may have been there, circa 1930.

This structure would be immediately behind the hedge today, and would correspond to the narrow, east-west building we see in the map far above at location Number 1.


Sometimes I feel a bit like a veritable prowler, but is broad daylight—always broad daylight—in Street View. Perhaps then, I'm more of a stalker, but my stalking target is merely history. I suppose I can't feel too guilty about skulking about outside the gate on Beachy Head Road and peeking through. After all, I'm 4,000 miles away!

In the end, it's really all I can do, sitting here on the sun porch, watching dark the clouds roiling together above in advance of our expected afternoon thunderstorm.

So is the narrow building at Number 1 the last vestige of Warren Hill School, or is it the beefier structure found at location Number 3?

Perhaps neither. Perhaps both!

I can't tell from here, but as the thunder drives our cat out of this room and under the bed, it's nice to know that, courtesy of Google, it's always sunny on Beachy Head Road!

Focusing on Warren Hill's Master's Residence, 1901

As regular readers know, some time ago, Michael Ockenden of the Eastbourne Local History Society sent this message: "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."

It's that post card image that interests us today, especially regarding that master's residence.

The last time we looked at Warren Hill School, we determined that the configuration of the structure in those 1880 photographs discovered by Barry McAleenan was essentially the same as the image of the school from the post card mentioned above. Mr. Ockenden's assessment of the image as dating from before the turn of the century was spot on!

The house in the image is now 10, Beachy Head Road, and we've wondered for a while here about the possibility of it being the hard-to-find master's residence. I had searched the "West Ward" census for 1901 and found nothing that could be called a Master's residence, although I did find many homes and flats containing a schoolmaster or two!


It turns out that the "West Ward" document I could access using the name of Head Master A. Max Wilkinson (giving me access to the census at Warren Hill School that day) did not contain the houses across the street down near what is now the junction with Colistocks Road [pictured above, today]. And the only way of "getting in" was by knowing the name of a resident—shutting me out of those nearby houses completely.

The problem has been solved by the intrepid Jennifer M., a dear friend and a wizard with these census documents.

Here's what she had to say:


Looking at the 1899 map [which you can see by clicking HERE], I’m fairly sure the building on lot 161[which is on the 1930 map, which you can see by clicking HERE] (#10) is what the 1901 census taker called “Warren Hill cottage.”

The inhabitants are:
     1. Charles E King, 38, schoolmaster
     2. Francis H. Brodrick, 33, schoolmaster
     3. George Anderson, 24, schoolmaster
     4. Eliza Shepherd, 46, housekeeper - domestic
     5. Isabella Morrison, 25, parlourmaid


I think #6 BHR is “Fairfield Cottage.” It has a family living in it by the name of Broson. I think. The handwriting is old-fashioned and curly. The family members names are Arthur, Orpha, Katie and Edith.

I’m not sure which are the Beachy Head Villas #1 and #2 (maybe on the 1899 map in section 115 2-790?), but I think “new cottages 1-6” are the ones next to #6. If you want those names, too, let me know.

And when I searched, yes, the school itself was in a different district from all the cottages on the other side of BHR.


So, we find that the cottage of schoolmasters was appropriately named "Warren Hill Cottage." You can see the entire page of the census document by clicking HERE.


Along the road today, traveling west toward the site of Warren Hill School [as seen, above], we can start at the intersection of Beachy Head and Meads Street. On the right hand side, now recessed off the road and behind a thick hedgerow, would seem to be the "new cottages." We clearly can see cottages number 5 and 6, however, listed on this excerpt from the full census page.

Then the census taker came to Nos. 1 & 2 Beachy Head Villas. They would seem to be the L-shaped buildings across the road, to the south.


Then the taker went to both Warren Hill Cottage and Fairfield Cottages [seen, above, as they appear today, No. 10 (left) and No. 6]. One of the two buildings would be the master's residence of Warren Hill School, although I might have guessed it would have been what is now No. 6, Holly Cottage. We'll never know, however, the exact path walked by the census taker on 31 March 1901.

What is particularly interesting would be to know if the cottage was owned by Warren Hill School. We know the school's grounds encompassed land along Carlisle Road up to Boston House, which is now a girls' school. Could that tract of land have extended east to include the cottages mentioned above? Or did the school simply rent a house for the use of the schoolmasters. It would seem to have been a fairly posh set-up: In no other residence of an ordinary schoolmaster did we find domestic servants—at least not in the West Ward!

Nonetheless, it would seem the entrepreneurial enterprise known as Warren Hill School would have been flush with assets that went beyond the mere operation of the school early in the 20th century. It is staggering to consider what all of that land would be worth today!


When Joshua Goodland bought and then sold the institution [above], around and during the onset of the Great Depression, it was probably a substantial transaction. It also allowed Goodland to hire a young schoolmaster named George Mills, who is the focus of our research here.

George in all likelihood lived in that master's residence while his wife, Vera, stayed in Knightsbridge with her mother and sister, and described it in his novels. It may not be exciting for everyone, but I'm delighted to have a location for Mills during his time in Meads!

Many thanks to the relentless Jennifer, the Sultana of the Census, for her persistence in locating first, the census document, and then the residence itself. And many thanks for her kindness and friendship as well.

A Scrapbook of Croquet Memories

Today, we'll take a look at a scrapbook full of photographs and writing that have been shared with me. They match faces with many of the names we've mentioned here at Who Is George Mills? and should be of interest, particularly to croquet enthusiasts or denizens of Budleigh Salterton—or both! (You can click any image to enlarge it in a new window.)

Our first one, seen above, is scan I received from Michael Downes of Budleigh, and he provides the source volume below, as well as a list of local players at the Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club in 1958, along with a visiting team from London. Michael wrote:

Details are:

Back row (l-r); C.V. West (Groundsman), J.W. Solomon (London), Major G.F. Stone (Budleigh Salterton), R.F. Rothwell (L), A.J. Cooper (BS), J.G. Warwick (BS), W.P. Omerod [misspelt: should be Ormerod] (BS).

Middle row: J.A. Holliweg (L), Ian Baillieu (L), Miss E.J. Warwick (BS), Lt-Col G.E. Cave (BS), M.B. Reckitt (L).

Front row: Mrs W. Longman (L), W. Longman (L), Mrs E. Rotherham, capt. (BS), E.P.C. Cotter, capt. (L), Col D.W. Beamish (BS)

Source: Les Berry & Gerald Gosling, Budleigh Salterton and Raleigh Country, 1998. p.78



Next up is a scanned newspaper article along with a photograph sent by the omnipresent Barry McAleenan. It describes a tournament at the Saffrons in which Barry's grandfather, Dr. H. R. McAleenan, competed as an octogenarian and won the X Handicap. Pictured is Mrs. Barbara Chittenden, then captain of the Compton Club.


Taking a look at the article, it mentions some familiar names: Mrs. E. (Hope) Rotherham and Mr. E. A. (Tony) Roper, Dr. McAleenan's victim in the X Handicap finals.

Barry adds: "Dr HR 'Herbie' McAleenan was my grandfather. In 1957 he would have been 76 years old, but played on for another decade. Eventually, he gave up on the grounds that the youngsters 'ought to be allowed to win more often.' I attach a cutting from the local paper for 1964. He was born in 1881 and married in 1914. I presume he was a member of the Compton Club."


Next up, we'll see a series of images sent by the extremely generous Judy Perry, daughter of Bill Perry of the Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club.

In the first, below, we see what Judy describes as "Geraldine Cave (2nd left) and Bill Perry(Best Man) (right) at Gerald Cave's wedding to Marjorie in London."


Judy: "Sorry I can't remember date, nor do I know who the other two people are." If you happen to recognize either, please let me know!


Judy continues: "The 2nd photo is a line-up for, I think, the President's Cup, not sure which year (if you can't work it out I probably will be able to). Location looks to me to be the Hurlingham Club, London. They are Back row. Bill Perry, Douglas Strachan, Gerald Cave, Nigel Aspinall, and Roger Bray. Front Row is Bernard Neal, John Solomon, William Ormerod and John Simon"


Anyone having an idea about the year, again, please let me know! [Update: From Chris Williams of the Croquet Association: "The President's Cup photo would be 1968 at Hurlingham."]


As well as the above photographs, Judy shared something very special:

I have discovered a poem by Gerald Cave as follows:-



THE BIG FOUR – AN AFTERTHOUGHT
By G.E.Cave.

Nigel & Keith, Roger and John –
Their names are fresh to ponder upon.

Champion of Champions: the title is new;
John keeps his grip on it, what can we do?
Nigel, the toast of Australia, snoops
Round the court, leaving balls tucked in hoops.
Keith is the artist, displaying his zeal
With quadruple, Quintuple, Sextuple peel.
While Roger strides smilingly round on his way,
With a Triple – taken – ‘Three times a Day’.

Solomon, Aspinall, Wylie & Bray:
Which is the one for your money today?

While you’re deciding, remember the skill
Of William & Patrick & Bernard & Bill:
Also David O’Connor, John Simon and Strachan
Who well may come back in unbeatable form.
The future is bright with a host of young stars,
But we do need a Venus to stand up to Mars.

So again I’ll endeavour to sum the thing up –
WHO will part John from his Championship Cup?"


I think it is dated 1970.


Many of these are the players Judy identified in the image above. The great John Solomon owned the CA Championship from 1963 to 1968, and won it a total of 10 times between 1953 and 1968.


In addition, Judy sent the following colour images. I've included her descriptions with each.


Bill Perry + Guy and Joan (Warwick)


This is a photo taken on the bottom lawn at Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club. Date unknown, (late 60s early 70s?) but several people who weren't locals are in it so it must have been a tournament of some sort.


Line up is:

Front Row: Unknown could be Robin Godby who lived in London, Joan Warwick, John Solomon (who was the subject of the poem I sent you by Gerald Cave), Bill Perry + Sally his dog, unknown, Sir Leonard Daldry.

Back Row: John Cooper (I think), unknown, unknown, unknown, Guy Warwick, unknown, Gerald Cave.


What wonderful image of several of the characters we've been following here. Should you be able to identify any of the "unknowns," please let me know and I'll update this at once!


In closing, Judy also included this:

There is another croquet poem which you may have come across already, written in much the same era by Giles Borrett who you may have come across in your research.


A CROQUET PLAYER'S PRAYER

I thank thee Lord that in my life
Croquet has played a lovely part;
Has found me friends and kept me fit
And warmed the cockles of my heart.

So when I play my final match
May I not have the smallest doubt
That when I've run the Rover hoop
Thou wilt be there to peg me out.

Giles Borrett


I know that all the croquet players of that generation loved it.


What a wonderful way to close things here this afternoon.

It is difficult for me to express adequately my gratitude for the generosity and kindness of Michael, Barry, and Judy. In fact, my thanks go out to everyone who has helped me along the way!

Next time, we'll return to Warren Hill in Meads and get help from a different source in finding something that's been elusive. Stay tuned…

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!

Walking the West Ward around Warren Hill in 1901

Just when you think there are no "quick hits" left to hit, more quickly turn up! Here is another one involving Warren Hill School (1885-1936) in Meads, Eastbourne. Well, maybe it's actually "not so quick" a hit…

Here is a result from the 1901 census found at: http://www3.telus.net/ggassoc/family_tree/were/pafg373.htm

It's a genealogical entry for a lad named Percival Armorer Forster, who was born in 1888 in Bishop Middleham, Durham, England. here are the details:

1901 British Census:
Dwelling: Warren Hill School - Beachy Head Road
Census Place: Eastbourne, Sussex, England
Source: PRO Ref RG13 Piece 880 Folio 90 Page 8 Family 30

WILKINSON Alfred Max, head, M, age 44, b. Hong Kong, Occ. Headmaster of Preparatory School
WILKINSON Jane [sic], wife, M, age 36, b. India
WILKINSON Kenneth, son, -, age 8, b. Eastbourne, Sussex
WILKINSON James, son, -, age 5, b. Eastbourne, Sussex
WILSON Archibald, boarder, S, age 25, b. London, Occ. Schoolmaster

FORSTER Percival, boarder, -, age 13, b. Bishop Middleham, Durham, Occ. -
+51 other pupils and 19 staff at the preparatory school


The 1901 census was conducted on 31 March 1901, and while the campus was seemingly fully staffed with servants (19 of them were on the premises), there were no schoolmasters there except the Head Master, A. Max Wilkinson and a "boarder" who was also a "schoolmaster."

Suddenly, it hit me: I could use the 1901 census to find out exactly where the mysterious "masters' residence" of Warren Hill School was! After all, it was believed to be in an image from a post card from before the turn of the century.

I checked the entire 28-page record from 1901 for the count done that day in East Sussex, Southern Eastbourne, West Ward, in the Parish of St, John the Evangelist. With every obsessive-compulsive bone in my body, I recorded the living quarters of each inhabitant even remotely connected with a school!

Here's the list, address first, noting if there was a "head" of the house who was not an educator, and exact occupation (as recorded):


Timsbury Lodge:

Herbert G. Daymond, S, 38, Tutor at Timsbury School
Emily R. Daymand, S, 34, Music teacher at Timsbury School


Aldro, Darley Road [seen above, right]:

Head, Harold R. Browne, M, 41, Clergyman, Church of England—Schoolmaster
(living with wife and 3 children; 1 nephew, age 10)

Also: 42 boarders (all students)

And: A school matron, kitchenmaid, nurse, cook, and 5 housemaids, one who also cleaned the stables.


Edensore [sic] Road (School House):

Head, Edwin G. Capon, M, 38, Head Master, National School*
(living with wife, 2 daughters, 4 sons; 1 sister, a dressmaker)

* According to Bygone Eastbourne (1902) by John Charles Wright, the National School took children "under 8 or 9" from the "manufactory" of the workhouse for lessons in the afternoons.


Warren Hill School, Beachy Head Road [census seen, left, and in next two images below]:

Head, Alfred Max Wilkinson, M, 44, Headmaster of Preparatory School
(living with wife, Jone, 38, and sons Kenneth, 8, and James, 5)

Boarder, Archibald Wilson, S, 25, Schoolmaster

Also: Boarders, 52 students, ages 9 – 13

And: 19 servants, including 2 school matrons, 6 housemaids, cook, kitchenmaid, scullerymaid, 2 footmen, a house boy, 2 hospital nurse, a parlourmaid, and a governess.


No. 1 Dalton Terrace:
(dwelling headed by a resident bath chair proprietor, his wife, and 2 daughters)

Boarder, Anna E. Magis, S, 53, Teacher of Languages


Heads of other flats at No. 1:

Eric L. Streatfeild, S, 29, Schoolmaster's assistant

Charles W. Slade, S, 34, Schoolmaster's assistant


No. 2 Dalton Terrace:

Head, Ernest C. Rogers, M, 35, School Porter
(living with wife and 2 sons)

Heads of other flats at No. 2:

Basil M. Downton, S, 22, Schoolmaster—
Gentleman's Preparatory School

Arthur C. Miller, S, 24, Schoolmaster

Bevil Close, S, 22, Schoolmaster


No. 3 Dalton Terrace:
(dwelling headed by Sarah Bartholomew, W, 62)

Daughter, Louisa Bartholomew, S, 32, Teacher of Music
Daughter, Sarah Bartholomew, S, 31, Teacher of Music
Daughter, Edith Bartholomew, S, 28, Teacher of Music


No. 5 Dalton Terrace:
(dwelling headed by a resident stationer who lived there with her servant/shop assistant)

Heads of other flats in No. 5:

Charles S. Cross, S, 26, Assistant Schoolmaster

Arthur G. Topham, S, 32, Assistant Schoolmaster

Duncan B. Tugwell, S, 24, Assistant Schoolmaster

Edward Berens, S, 27, Assistant Schoolmaster

[Update, 11-6-11: Michael O. of the ELHS relates: "Dalton Terrace is now part of Meads Street itself. It was not originally Dalton Road, which still exists as a separate road. The shops with maisonettes above, between the present 7 Meads Street (the corner of Dalton Road) and 17 Meads Street used to be known as Dalton Terrace."]

No. 2 All Saints Cottages, Meads Street:
(dwelling headed by a resident 'pensioner' master mariner, his wife, and son)

Boarder, Joseph Nicholls, S, 27, Schoolmaster


No. 1 Compton Terrace:
(dwelling headed by a resident carpenter, his wife, 2 infant daughters, and a servant)

Boarder, Samuel A. Elliot, S, 27, Schoolmaster

Boarder, Edwin Wall, S, 31, Schoolmaster


No. 5 The Village:
(dwelling headed by a resident gardener, his wife and 2 daughters)

Head of a flat at No. 2:

Rose Butler, S, 30, Teacher of English, Mathematics, and Latin


No. 6 The Village:
(dwelling headed by a resident gardener, his wife, and sister)

Boarder, Rosanna Marshall, S, 37, Elementary School Teacher


No. 9 The Village:
(dwelling headed by a resident carpenter/joiner, his wife, and 2 sons)

Boarder, Hilda F. Mueller, S, 29, Pianoforte Teacher


No. 37 The Village:
(dwelling headed by a resident gas fitter, his wife, daughter, and 2 sons)

Boarder, Lily A. Jones, S, 30, Pianoforte Teacher


No. 38 The Village:

Head, Harris Diplock, M, 39, Swimming Instructor
(living with his wife and 6 sons, ages 13 years down to 5 months)

[Update, 11-6-11: Michael O. adds: "Harry Diplock was the swimming instructor at the Devonshire (Swimming) Baths in Eastbourne. He was not associated with any school as far as I know. He used to perform a Houdini-style escape act from a barrel (ref Eastbourne Local Historian Issue 152, Summer 2009)."]

And that's it.

There is no house full of schoolmasters on Beachy Head Road, save Warren Hill itself, which housed the Head Master and one schoolmaster boarding there.

There were a couple of addresses over on Dalton Terrace [Now perhaps Dalton Road?], past The Village, that held numerous teachers, but nothing in the same census ward.

And if one of those large homes we've looked at "just below" Warren Hill on the other side of the street housed schoolmasters, why was Wilkinson boarding one at the school, and why didn't Streatfeild—one person we're certain taught at Warren Hill—live in a collective residence like that?

Oh—perhaps all of the masters were down at The Ship having a pint after a day of tough classes!

Nope.

The only people recorded at The Ship were the owners, Amos and Ada Luck, 35 and 34 years of age respectively, and their barman, George Levett, 19. Slow night...

I suppose it's possible that the masters were all simply in transit between destinations, each one always zigging while the census taker was zagging as the evening unfolded, but that simply doesn't seem very likely.

Is it possible that, if there was, indeed, a 'house for masters,' that it wasn't in existence until after 1901? If it existed in 1901, it must have been at quite a distance from the campus.

And—just an aside—in 1901, except for the above-mentioned Head Masters, the "swimming instructor," the porter, and the clergyman who doubled as a schoolmaster, not one other person charged with working with children was married.

Was that the norm? And was there a reason? As an elementary school teacher (of 10- and 11-year–olds) myself, I am curious! Around that time in the States and before, only a woman could have taught in an elementary school, and she would have had to have been unmarried (virginal) in many American locales...

Adding Antarctica!

Sometimes, while working on this George Mills project, I wonder what actually gets read and what doesn't. Do my hits from Uzbekistan or Benin really mean anything? Probably not. Still, who knows? I just click "Publish," and whatever I've written whirls out into the world via broadband, and I often never know what comes of it.

But sometimes a reaction from a reader arrives, and it's simply… Brilliant!

Just a few hours after I posted my tongue-in-cheek request for information that might tie my research to Antarctica, I received this anonymous message:

Keith's mum says that Ernest Shackleton spent time in Eastbourne...


Of course, I was completely unaware of Shackleton's Eastbourne connection. And what a timely response!

First, here’s a brief description of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton from the Encyclopædia Britannica:

(Born , Feb. 15, 1874, Kilkea, County Kildare, Ireland—died Jan. 5, 1922, Grytviken, South Georgia) British explorer. In 1901 he joined Robert Falcon Scott's expedition to the Antarctic. He returned to Antarctica in 1908 and led a sledging party to within 97 mi (156 km) of the pole. In 1914 he led the British Trans-Antarctic Expedition, which planned to cross Antarctica via the South Pole. His expedition ship Endurance was caught in pack ice and drifted for 10 months before being crushed. Shackleton and his crew drifted on ice floes for another five months until they reached Elephant Island. He and five others sailed 800 mi (1,300 km) to South Georgia Island to get help, then he led four relief expeditions to rescue his men. Shackleton died on South Georgia at the outset of another Antarctic expedition.


Regarding his residence in Eastbourne, here's information from a site entitled Low-Latitude Antarctic Gazetteer Database Index.

Site No 258

House No 11 — The Eastbourne house.

14 Milnthorpe Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, UK.

In later years the Shackletons, certainly Emily and the children, seemed to be living at Eastbourne on the Sussex coast. Sir Ernest was there between April and December, 1919, from June to December 1920 and April to August, 1921 (according to James and Margery Fisher's Shackleton).

My visit of 1/30/98: The house is located perhaps a mile west (I believe) from the center of Eastbourne. It is in a very interesting section of the town called The Meads and only a block or two from the seafront.

I also visited the house with Jonathan Shackleton on 1 November 2007, and had tea with the current residents. (The house was reconfigured into four flats about 20 years before.)

When information on the Eastbourne house appeared as a 'Low-Latitude episode," Judith Faulkner in Surrey wrote to say that she had visited the Eastbourne house in June 1994 and that it had, shortly thereafter, been honored by a ceramic blue plaque placed on the ground floor facade by the Eastbourne Civic Society and the Eastbourne Borough Council. The accompanying newspaper cutting (East Sussex Eastbourne Evening Argus) notes that Shackleton lived at 14 Milnthorpe Road "...for the last five years of his life before he died in 1922." The unveiling, on the 23rd of November 1994, was overseen by Shackleton's granddaughter, Alexandra Bergel. The photographs accompanying Ms Faulkner's letter show a 2-1/2 story semi-detached brick house on a tree-lined street.

Emily lived on at this address for sometime after Shackleton's death. Her correspondence with Hugh Robert Mill while the latter was writing his Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton (1923) is from this address.


This additional information was found on a site called China Rhyming:

Weekend Deviation – Emily Shackleton

Posted: April 10th, 2010

A rather weird but potentially interesting deviation this weekend. While back visiting the UK a few weeks ago I happened to be exploring villages around West Sussex. One, Coldwaltham, is an interesting little place – picturesque. Wandering around I happened to notice that the local churchyard, St Giles, contains the grave of the wife of Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer. Shackleton’s daughter, Cicely, is also buried there.

Shackleton himself died while exploring and was buried in South Georgia in the South Atlantic in 1922 (how and why he was not shipped home for burial is apparently the subject of some controversy) while Emily, at home in Coldwaltham, died in 1936.


Google Maps shows that Shackleton's home at 14 Milnethorpe Road was a mere 1200 feet away from Warren Hill School, as the idiomatic crow flies, and it's highly unlikely that the boys were unaware of that the great polar explorer was so near. He must have been their hero, and quite a 'real' one at that!

Also, given sometime Head Master Joshua Goodland's standing as a Fellow in the Royal Geographical Society and lifelong love of travel and adventure, he at the very least is likely to have heard Shackleton speak in Kensington or elsewhere. For all we know, it may have been Shackleton's residence in Eastbourne that eventually drew Goodland to seek a place there as well!

It seems that Shackleton's celebrity would have made him a popular guest at local parties, and his charm is apparent in the accompanying photograph.

Anyway, many thanks to "Keith's mum" for linking Antarctica to my research here!