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!

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!

A Few Headmasters and Ronald Searle

It's a sunny day here in the rolling hills of horse country of Ocala, Florida, during what constitutes our rainy season. The forecast is remarkably similar every day, as you can see, especially in the afternoons and early evenings. The only thing that can prevent rain from falling during this time is if one absolutely counts on it. Failure to water outside plants, for example, can somehow steer clouds right around the entire area, which is how I'm sure the Sahara was created—soon-to-be Bedouins continually procrastinating about watering their foxgloves!

While we wait to see what our skies will become, I've been looking over the last couple of entries here and considering headmasters. Here's an amusing snippet on the subject [click to enlarge] sent recently by the indefatigable Barry McAleenan:



As always, thanks very much, Barry!

One wonders which of these stereotypes might resemble the headmasters we've met along the way here: Charles Scott Malden and Mr. H. D. L. Patterson of Windlesham House School; A. Max Wilkinson, F. R. Ebden, Joshua Goodland, and Bertram de Glanville of Warren Hill, William Snow of The Craig; Capt. William E. Mocatta of the English Preparatory School in Glion; E. A. F. "Tony" Roper of Ladycross School in Seaford; A. H. B. Bishop of Magdalen College School and Warwick; H. F. and David Chittenden of Newlands School in Seaford; and the fictional Dr. Howell "Peter" Stone of Leadham House School, the creation of author George Mills.

By the way, I love the work of Ronald Searle, and know I'll see it at least once a year, during the credits of the film version of the musical, Scrooge.

Searle's vision [below] of the classic tale, the characters and the setting, is what makes the art direction and cinematography so stunning. It's a must-see in my home every Christmas, even if I am usually the only one who actually must see it!

Locating the Head Masters of Warren Hill

Here's one last "quick hit" regarding Warren Hill School (1885-1936) in Meads, Eastbourne. It may not seem like much, but it does help verify a couple of matters.

Over the past year we have received some photographs courtesy of the Eastbourne Local History Association, and those images have divulged much about Warren Hill. Today we'll look at the specific images of the Head Masters (or at least business partners), Joshua Goodland (referred to on at least one image as "Jim") and F. R. Ebden, Goodland's partner at the time, circa 1930.

First let's look once again at an enlargement of the southeast corner of the main building [above left]. We can see a low, one-story addition that is not in the pre-1900 image from the same angle. We can also see an embankment behind parents watching the cricket game that's occurring outside of the frame.

Warren Hill rested on the south side of Beachy Head Road between Darley Road to the west and Coltstocks Roads to the east. As one traveled westward toward the school, one would have been rising uphill. The above image of the school, however, shows a perfectly level field behind the building—hence the embankment to the left (west) in the photograph.

Let's now take a look at the image taken of "Jim" Goodland around the same time [below].


Goodland appears to be standing, facing southeast by judging the position of the morning sun, on a level concrete slab of some large dimension—a playground.

Behind him we can see what is obviously a retaining wall and steps upward, off the playground, to the west-northwest. And that's just where we would expect a retaining wall next to a level area, given the uphill rise to the school's west.

The Goodland photograph gives us an idea of how developed the playground area was, including some very nicely conceived brickwork rising at about a 45° angle behind him.

We also have an image of Ebden taken the same day, and have every reason to believe it was taken nearby. In the image at the top of the entry, we can make note of its light-colored roof of the lower building, its large windows, and distinctive wide, white corners at each end of the wall.

Let's take a look at the circa 1930 photograph of Ebden [below], quite probably captured the same day as the image of Goodland.


Ebden faces directly into the morning sun, revealing behind him a background to the northwest. We see foliage and the ground rising slightly as the image proceeds to the left—the west. Also behind the one time Head Master is a low-slung, light roofed building with large glazed windows of panes and muntins. Finishing off the image and disappearing behind Ebden's dated double-breasted suit is the white-coloured corner of the building finishing the brick façade.

This building clearly is built too low in the roof to have been an adequate gymnasium for a boys' preparatory school, reinforcing our notion that the large windows provided fine light for reading in the school's library/reading room, which had been a built as a memorial to alumni lost in the First World War.

We can see on the area map below where Goodland [red] and Ebden [blue] must have been standing when those photographs were taken, giving us some better idea of what the grounds looked like there to the west of the school. Each man is represented by the 'dot' in the center of a circle representing the possible area photographed.


Incidentally, also behind Ebden there appears to be a fenced in patch of ground that may have served as the garden of one of the boys. Perhaps students were not welcome to plant in the glass-walled greenhouse to the east, but were welcome to tend small plots in the southern exposure near the new library.

Your thoughts on my speculation, your memories, and your ephemera would be most welcome, and thank you!

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…

Looking at the Life of J. Goodland, Part 1

We know from our examination of the post-WWII croquet playing of the Mills siblings—George, Agnes, and Violet—that studying the Mills often introduces us to interesting characters who help us better understand George and Co.

One such person we've discussed recently and wondered about often is "J. Goodland," to whom George's 1933 Meredith and Co.: The Story of a Modern Preparatory School is dedicated.

Joshua Goodland [left] was "a some time Head Master" of Warren Hill School on Beachy Head Road in Meads, and we were recently introduced to photographs of Goodland, one-time business partner F.R. Ebden, and some others.

Goodland obviously was admired by Mills, but further research shows the Head Master to have been the sort of man Mills couldn't have helped but to respond to and admire.

Goodland was born sometime in July 1873 in Exeter, Devon, to Gillmore Goodland, a "certificated" elementary school teacher at a school in Exeter. The elder Goodland hailed from Bristol, Gloucestershire, and lived with his wife Frances at 39 Exeter Road at the taking of the 1881 census.

Joshua, seven years of age, was the second of four Goodland sons at the time, with a daughter, Grace, having been born in the middle of them. The family lived with two boarders, one of whom was a teacher at Gillmore's school, and the census counted a domestic servant and a nurse—Joshua's as yet unnamed youngest brother apparently had just been born!

As we reach the time for the 1891 census, we then find the Goodlands living in Exmouth at 5 Parade in Withycombe Raleigh. Joshua, then 17, is listed as a "school teacher's assistant."

Goodland drops from the grid until 1901 when he is recorded as a Trinity Hall student at Cambridge who was "Throwing the Polo Ball" at an athletic event (Joshua finished third) in Volume 23 of the Cambridge Review, and also as the visitor to the home of a building contractor who lived at 24 Hawthordew in Bristol. Goodland's occupation is recorded as "architect." He was 24 at the time.

Five years later, the record shows that Goodland had become a Fellow of the Royal Geograhic Society on 7 May 1906 meeting of the Royal Geographical Society at which he heard delivered a paper, From Victoria Nyanza to Kilimanjaro, by Captain G.E. Smith of the Royal Engineers. This snippet from volume 27 of The Geographical Journal [left] attests to Goodland's interest in travel.

In 1908, we find Goodland doing something about that interest. On 1 January 1908, Joshua crossed from St. John's, New Brunswick, Canada into the United States at St. Albans, Vermont, having sailed in on a ship of the Allan Line. He lists his address as "Mrs. Gillmore Goodland, Gresham House, London, England," and claimed to be a "tourist" with a destination of San Francisco, California. Using his mother's address at 24 Holborn Viaduct, near Blackfriars Bridge, would seem to indicate that, despite his age (35-ish), Joshua had yet to put down any roots.

Goodland was travelling with his friend Peter Wallace, an Australian attending Cambridge, as well as a university mate we've met before, Vyvyan Holland, the son of playwright Oscar Wilde. Holland later wrote a line in his 1954 autobiography, Son of Oscar Wilde, "Another month passed, and then one day Joshua Goodland came to see me and told me that he and Peter Wallace, with whom I had traveled to Russia and Sweden, were going to Canada on a shooting expedition in the north of Quebec." Presumably, the trip to Canada documented in the paragraph above was to Quebec. We also know that Goodland already had made a trip through northern and eastern Europe.

Then, on 13 May 1908, Joshua sailed into Seattle, Washington on the S.S. Minnesota, having traveled from Yokohama, Japan on 1 May. He then listed his home as "Inshaw House, London" (now apparently an artists' studio), and his occupation as "lawyer," not architect. He was 5' 9" tall, with a ruddy complexion, in good health, and was "passing through."

The record at this point is unclear how he came to arrive in Japan, but we know where he was bound from Seattle.

At the age of 34 and still travelling with Wallace, Goodland sailed out of New York City on the famed Lusitania [above, right] and into Liverpool, England, arriving on 11 August 1908.

Having left England sometime in 1907, Goodland and Wallace (with Holland along for some of the trip) had taken what amounted to a whirlwind trip around the world. When a 34-year-old bachelor takes the trip of a lifetime with his university pals, something big must have been in the wind.

On 19 June 1909, Goodland, aged 35, married Florence Annie Holdsworth in Middlesex. He is described as a bachelor "Barrister-at-Law," and she as the 24-year-old spinster daughter of the late William Holdsworth, Doctor of Medicine. It is likely that the younger woman that we see in the recent photographs from Warren Hill School were images of Florence Goodland.

The next documented event in the life of Joshua Goodland is a manifest showing Goodland arriving in Brisbane, Australia, on 27 October 1909—just in time for Spring!—after sailing out of Colombo, Brazil, on a ship called the Oroya. The young couple's honeymoon? Probably, although I can find no record of Florence being aboard any ship until 1938!

Actually, there are no records showing the couple traveling to South America, or anywhere else, by ship, or returning home—at least not until 1938. But, they must have returned.

It was apparently time for Goodland and wife to settle down and leave his life as a student at Cambridge behind, and in 1912 what could have proved that better than being tagged by the telephone company. Joshua was listed as having a number in the Holborn exchange, 4571, with an address at 9 King's Bench Walk, Temple, just off the Thames (near his mother's address, also close to Blackfriars Bridge), east-southeast of the Royal Courts of Justice and the Chancery. Interestingly, the listing above Joshua's was for his older brother, Gillmore Goodland, then a Consulting Engineer at 17 Gracechurch Street, about a mile to the east of Joshua. As you can see [right], you could ring Gillmore at London Wall 1969.

We find Goodland, according to the Law Reports, Chancery Division, volume 2, 1912, working in the court in the Court of Appeal and serving as junior counsel in a case (behind Cambridge's Mr. William Otto Adolph Julius Danckwerts, KC, highly-paid counsel (left) to Commissioners of Works and Public Buildings, and whose office was at 11 King's Bench Walk, Temple) involving the Metropolitan Water Board.

According to volume 29 of Reports of Patent, Design, Trade Mark, and Other Cases (Patent Office, 1912), he also summed up the plaintiff's argument in a copyright infringement case that year.

We lose track of Goodland and his career until he crops up in 1915 as a minor shareholder in the Standard Woodwork Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (The Electrical Review, vol. 76, 1915).

Then in 1918, he worked on an appeal in the House of Lords between the Water Board, appellants, and Dick, Kerr, & Co., respondents, regarding the construction of a £670,000 waterworks reservoir.

This case was lead by learned counsel P.O. Lawrence, KC, and assisted by junior counsel Goodland and Gregory Holman, KC (according to British Ruling Cases from the Courts of Great Britain, Canada, Ireland, &c., volume 8, 1919).

These seem to be very high profile cases, involving some heavyweights of litigation. Finding Goodland's address next to the prolific Danckwerts, who was rumoured to have earned in excess of £20,000 per annum at the time, speaks volumes about how quickly this long-time world traveler and some time architect became fairly prominent in the legal profession in London.

Next time we'll come back and find Goodland at new address, and, before long, in a new profession. See you then…

Visiting Warren Hill School, Eastbourne, circa 1928 – 1931

While plumbing the depths of the military file of George Mills during the Great War, another message from an old friend was put on the proverbial back burner. A couple of weeks ago, Michael Ockenden of the Eastbourne Local History Society e-mailed with some news and some images. These images recalled our indistincy knowledge of the whereabouts of Mills during the period from 1922 when he ostensibly departed Oxford University without a degree, on through to Oxford University Press's publication of his first children's novel in 1933, which was presumably done while George and his wife, Vera, were living in London.

Let's take a look at Michael's message:

"Hello Sam:

Eastbourne Local History Society has been given some photographs of Warren Hill School. They were taken between 1928 and 1931. Alas no shots of George Mills but we've found one of the headmaster, Mr J Goodland, to whom Meredith and Co was dedicated. There is another of a previous headmaster, Mr F R Ebden. A local street directory gives Ebden as joint principal with Mr J Goodland in 1929.

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.)

By the way, an undated leaflet (not part of the album of photos) published by the school shows the sole principal as Joshua Goodland MA (Trinity Hall, Cambridge). This leaflet must have been published after the departure of Ebden in 1931, so probably in 1931 or 1932. There is a list of teaching staff and Mills is not mentioned.

Another photograph shows a woman and is captioned, "Jim" Goodland. She seems quite a bit younger but could have been the headmaster's wife, sister or perhaps a daughter. She is not mentioned in the leaflet and so was not a member of the teaching staff.

Is there a school dog in Meredith and Co? There are several photographs in the batch showing a dog called "Tiny".

With best regards

Michael Ockenden
Eastbourne Local History Society"


We've had a chance to look at the history of Warren Hill School in the past. To review, George Mills wrote in the dedication to his 1933 book, Meredith and Co., "To MR. J. GOODLAND, sometime Head Master of Warren Hill, Eastbourne; to the STAFF AND BOYS OF THE SAME SCHOOL, and to those of WINDLESHAM HOUSE, BRIGHTON, THE CRAIG, WINDERMERE, and the ENGLISH PREPARATORY SCHOOL, GLION, among whom I spent many happy years, this book is affectionately dedicated."

Now, we've read that dedication several times before. My assumption—and it may be incorrect—is that Mills listed Warren Hill School first because it was most proximate in time to the publication of the book. I know if I wrote a text and thanked my employers, I would thank my current employer first, and by name. I would probably do the same if I was currently unemployed and was planning on using that most recent employer as a primary reference.

However, Mills simply may have listed the schools in chronological order, Warren Hill (whose headmaster possibly gave him his first job as a schoolmaster) and the English Preparatory School at Glion last. Or, just the reverse: His most recent experience at Warren Hill, dating back to getting his feet wet, so to spoeak, as a novice in the snows of Glion.

We do know the opinion of respected Windlesham House Association historian, Dr. Tom Houston, who wrote: "[Mills] taught at three other schools probably after Windlesham; viz; at Warren Hall, Eastbourne (a 19th century school closed in 1930s or 1940s); at The Craig, Windermere (founded 1899); and at the English Preparatory, GLION."

His speculation is likely based, at least in part on this bit of information from the school's archives: "During summer 1935 he visited Mrs Charles, then in Springwells, Steyning, W. Sussex, and told her he had written a book 'largely about Windlesham', published by O.U.P. 'He had been at 2 or 3 schools since, but is very faithful to Windlesham', she said."

He concludes: "My guess is that Mills came to the school soon after leaving university to teach English or 'English subjects'; that was a junior appointment, seldom held for long."

Assuming that Mrs. Charles was reasonably correct in her guess of "2 or 3 schools" after Windlesham, that very probably kicks Windermere and Glion into the post-1926 period of George's career. Warren Hill, however, still may have come before Windlesham in the chronology. If so, though, why would Windlesham have had a record of George's alleged degree (BA Oxon), but not of his prior teaching experience in nearby Eastbourne.

While it is possible that Mills worked at Warren Hill before Windlesham, one has to defer to Dr. Houston's opinion based on his assessment of the primary sources. Mills must have joined the staff at Warren Hill after departing Portslade.

Laboring now under the opinion that one works close to home, and in failing at that, then has to travel farther and farther afield, I estimate that Mills taught at Windlesham, Warren Hill in Eastbourne, The Craig at Windermere, and the English Preparatory School in Switzerland, in that order.

Even allowing for just one year in Cumbria and one year at Glion, and those being 1931 and 1932 respectively, that puts Mills at Warren Hill in the neighborhood of 1927 – 1930.—and this meshes perfectly with the date of the "list of teaching staff" that Michael mentions above.

By 1933, according the information above, Joshua "Jim" Goodland is no longer listed as a principal of the school, perhaps explaining George's description of him as being "sometime Head Master."

You can see the photographs Michael sent throughout this post. Perhaps I am being overly nostalgic about the past (indeed, a depicted past from before my birth), but it is easy for me to see (and the feeling is almost palpable when one reads his books) why relatively idyllic images such as these, etched in his memory, must have seemed to Mills to have been his halcyon days.

Oh--and Uggles, a bulldog, was an extremely important and lovable character in Meredith and Co. and its sequel, King Willow. Even though there had been a gog, Tubby, at Windlesham, I actually would be surprised if I was told that Tiny [pictured, right], Warren Hill's dog, had done nothing to inspire some of Uggles's shenanigans.

Once again, I am indebted to Mr. Ockenden and the entire Eastbourne Local History Society for their thoughtfulness, generosity, and kindness.

Of J. Goodland, Warren Hill, and perhaps the Son of Oscar Wilde...

Today, let's take another look at that dedication to Meredith and Co. written in 1933. To recap, George Mills was employed as a junior teacher at Windlesham House School, in Brighton [but more specifically Portslade at the time] from Lent 1925 until Easter 1926. He may have been there during the summer term as well, but his name was definitely taken off the staff list by the end of that summer term.

In some order, Mills then apparently taught at The Craig in Windermere, the English Preparatory School in Glion, and Warren Hill School in Eastbourne [more specifically Meads] where the "sometime Head Master" was a "Mr. J. Goodland".

An archival Eastbourne Local History Society newsletter has noted that an early headmaster of Warren Hill was A. Max Wilkinson, who was likely there from 1895 through 1918. The newsletter noted that Wilkinson was succeeded by "M.A. North and F.R. Ebdon" and that the school was no longer listed in the local directories in 1936.

More research has come to light about Warren Hill School and the identity of "Mr. J. Goodland":

In the [London] Times of Saturday, 16 May 1925, there's a report stating that the partnership between M A North and F R Ebden (school proprietors of Warren Hill Eastbourne) had been dissolved. So Goodland must have gone into partnership with Ebden.

In the Times of Wednesday 03 Oct 1928, there a report of the death of Mr M A (Michael Arthur) North, who died at Farnham on 27 Sep at the age of 63. It states that he was headmaster of Warren Hill until 1925. One can suppose that North had been ill and therefore sold his share in the school in 1925.

In the Times of Saturday 8 August 1931, there's a report stating that the partnership between F R Ebden (note the spelling, which differs from what you have) and J Goodland was terminated on Friday August 7, 1931. Both are recorded as school proprietors.

Then, a few days later, 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. The property was registered by Joshua Goodland. So now we know the Christian name of the headmaster. It seems that Goodland continued alone and one may assume that he had bought out his partner, F R Ebden.

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.

In the Times of Saturday, 30 Oct 1948, there's a notice reporting the death of an early headmaster, Mr A Max Wilkinson, at Exmouth. It is noted that he was 'sometime of Warren Hill, Eastbourne and of Wittersham, Kent'. He was 92 years of age.

Now, let me see if I can interpret all of this at least somewhat correctly. Joshua Goodland, between May, 1925 [the dissolution of North's and Edben's partnership] and 1931 [the dissolution of Ebden's and Goodland's partnership], had acquired a shared proprietary interest in Warren Hill School. I suppose it may have been in 1925, with North selling his share directly to Goodland.

Goodland takes on sole proprietorship in August, 1931. Am I correct in assuming that, as Mills wrote his 1933 dedication, he was recalling time when Joshua Goodland shared the role of Head Master, presumably with F.R. Ebden? That would place George's employment at Warren Hill sometime between Summer, 1926 [when he is last recorded teaching at Windlesham] and August, 1931.

It could be posited that Mills had been working at Warren Hill School when the dedication was written, as Warren Hill was given 'first billing', so to speak. One could even have surmised that his employment may have extended past 1933, at least before this new information came to light. This all might narrow the window of his time spent in Meads, at least somewhat.

It now seems unlikely, given that Goodland was mentioned as "sometime Head Master"—something that might've been amended to simply "Head Master—that Mills was teaching there when and after Goodland took over by himself. If so, why not simply refer to him as "Head Master" and be done with it? Why hedge? A gap of years that could have been as wide as a decade—1926 to 1936—may perhaps now have been halved.

Of course, all the air will rush out of my balloon if we find that, Ebden alone had been Head Master until 1931, with Goodland taking over after the August dissolution of their partnership while Mills is in the school's employ. That could also explain the word "sometime", especially if Mills didn't care for Ebden, wasn't sorry to see him go, and wanted to name only Goodland for tribute.

The evidence above fuels conjecture, but still proves little. The question still remains: For how long did Mills teach and have his pint in Meads?

And Meads is significant. Not only does naming "J. Goodland" in the dedication of his first novel appear to indicate Warren Hill was a significant part of George's career, but the new French master at fictional Leadham House School, introduced in 1933's Meredith and Co., is named "Mr. Mead".

Mr. Mead's first day taking the school's French Grammar is outlined in a chapter entitled "DESCRIBES A NEW MASTER'S FIRST HOUR IN SCHOOL," and Mead is portrayed as an understanding, fair sort of fellow with a good ear, who likes boys and dogs, and takes ample care to heed the Head Master's sage advice to "start off by standing no nonsense" and "keep the class busy every moment of the time".

Is Mead's name a tribute to the locale of Warren Hill School, a place remembered fondly by Mills, and a name of the same initial he's used to cloak his own identity in the story? Perhaps only the author can be absolutely certain, and he's not telling.

Another question: Is the Joshua Goodland at Warren Hill School the same Joshua Goodland who is mentioned numerous times by Vyvyan Holland, in his 1954 memoir, Son of Oscar Wilde, the author having written that he had been "sent up to Cambridge to prepare for the examination in charge of Joshua Goodland, with whom I lived in rooms in Trinity Street" when Holland was denied entrance to Oxford due to antipathy toward his controversial father, circa 1904? It would certainly give us a better glimpse of Goodland, a man obviously admired by Mills.

As always, if you have any thoughts, ideas, information, or informed speculation, please don't hesitate to let me know!