All Change Again

 By 1931, the East phase, the first of the three educational re-organisation programmes, was more or less complete.  At least for the moment.  So, on to the Central phase.  As with the East phase, Central wasn't quite self-contained, but somehow the Education Committee needed to create Primary or Junior Mixed Infants (JMI) schools from the elementaries at Alma Road, Bernards Heath and Garden Fields.  To achieve this senior boys would attend Hatfield Road (how many more pupils could this set of buildings accommodate?) and senior girls would attend Priory Park.  If you have been following closely to this series of posts you will note two facts: that Alma Road was already full of senior girls and Priory Park was already full of senior boys.  But at least the girls would be given access to the new Central School and the junior age girls would remain where they were.  The girls now to attend Priory Park were given one benefit at an otherwise inadequate building: a hot water central heating system would replace the inefficient and time-consuming coal burning classroom stoves.  At the same time St Peter's Elementary next door would become a JMI with the older seniors transferring to the same two senior schools. 

Bernards Heath School frontage in Sandridge Road, built to serve the community of Sandridge
New Town.  It became infants only when Spencer Junior School (now renamed) opened.
COURTESY BERNARDS HEATH INFANT & NURSERY SCHOOL

Christ Church School, Verulam Road, in 1936.  The same building is now occupied by the
Royal British Legion.
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Out west St Michael's would become a JMI, Abbey would become Juniors only and Christ Church would limit itself to Infants only.  The first of two senior schools would be constructed on a new site in Townsend Drive.  Initially called the Church School(s) it was formally named  Townsend School(s) on opening.

Townsend CE Senior School buildings almost complete at the end of 1933.
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Back East the Education Committee had to manage three new issues in the form of expanding housing.  Beaumonts estate was already emerging from the ground in the early 1930s; just in time the Committee promptly snapped up three future streets east of Oakwood Drive for a pair of senior schools.  Plans were being laid for a significant new residential estate between Camp Road and London Road, although it was still too early to identify potential land purchases. Finally, more new housing was imminently expected at Marshalswick, the land for its future school being acquired in Sandpit Lane – an extension of the site for a future primary school and the new Beaumonts site, eventually extending in a continuous band from Hatfield Road to Sandpit Lane, extending Oakwood Drive through to Sandpit Lane – although that never happened.  

Plan drawn up in 1936 for land acquired east of Beaumont Avenue.
The pink area is the school's original footprint and the three access
points from Oakwood Drive (left). In the future the boundary would
be extended to Hatfield Road (bottom).  Further land towards Sandpit Lane 
(top) just purchased for playing field for Beaumont Schools girls, a future primary
 school and for a future senior school to serve Marshalswick; the latter proposal,
however, faltered.
COURTESY HALS

In each case both JMIs and senior schools would be required, but the most immediate requirement would be for the Beaumonts site.  Plans were ready for building to begin in 1936.  The girls' school would be on the first floor while the boys would occupy the ground floor level.  There were, inevitably, very limited shared facilities, mainly the gymnasium, and even that was not part of the initial proposals. Before c1937 the schools design template required school halls to double up as gymnasia.  As with other similar schools it remained a pair of senior schools until 1947, the singular alteration being the removal of the final s, becoming Beaumont Schools rather than Beaumonts Schools shortly after opening.

Beaumont Schools opened in 1938, with girls occupying the upper floor and boys on the ground.

Opening in 1938 the first tranche of pupils transferred from Hatfield Road and Priory Park, and a school not yet featured in these posts, Colney Heath Elementary, allowing that school to transform into JMI status.

From the mid-twenties Parliament paid much attention to the question of secondary schools.  The term senior was traditionally the older department of elementary schools, and simply hiving off those pupils into separate buildings while still calling them senior schools, did nothing positive for their educational aspirations unless closer  attention was given to the curriculum.  The much acclaimed Hadow Report highlighted the right of every pupil to take advantage of a secondary school, irrespective of ability to pay the fees, if they could legitimately take advantage of its curriculum.  Spoiler alert for the eleven plus coming up!

So it was that still more schools of a new type would be required during the 1930s; they would be known as Modern schools – confusingly the first of two styles using this designation.  We will follow up the Modern schools next time and discover what happened to them.

So, we are on the cusp of the Second World War and the East End still has Fleetville and Camp school buildings, plus recently added new Central (1931) and Ss Alban & Stephen (1934).

Let's Think Again

 No sooner had the County Education Committee come to terms with the requirements of the 1902 Balfour Act, surveyed its sometimes woeful array of school buildings, and set out a plan for the future, than the upheavals of the First World War intervened.  At least, the east side of St Albans fared well from those early years; the two buildings of Fleetville Elementary Schools were both open before the onset of war, and Camp Elementary School just before the millennium.  But in the latter case day-to-day existence persevered  with limited water supply, no heating and an unfinished playground.  But at least the buildings were sound.

To herald peacetime the government announced further legislation.  Finally enacted in 1921 and known as the Fisher Act, the new Education Act established an all-embracing education programme for children between the ages of 5 and fourteen, with separate phases defining Infants (5 to 7), Juniors (7 to 11) and Seniors (11 to 14, but initially 13).  For the first time the Act laid out an approach to learning, not simply attendance and inspection; the phrase child centred learning entered the educational lexicon.  

The Education Committee, having carefully launched its initial programme, stretching limited funds as far as they would reasonably go, was now expected to adjust and expand even further, with no immediate expectation of increased funding.

The former St Albans School of Art in Victoria Street, whose buildings eventually extended
back to what became the Chequer Street Car Park following the closure of the brewery site.
The building also incorporated the first public library, the Central School and workshops for
senior boys from the town's schools.

However, there is one more local school not mentioned so far, which came into being during the Balfour era; and there were plentiful examples of them throughout the UK.  Central Schools were established in response to a demand by senior pupils coming to the end of their elementary education but with no access, including scholarships, to the existing secondary schools, which in St Albans at the time meant St Albans High School for Girls and St Albans School for Boys.  St Albans Central School was accommodated rather uncomfortably in the first library and art school building in Victoria Street.  It included workshop rooms for senior boys from the city's elementary schools that lacked their own facilities.  It was a shoe horn existence and badly needed sorting out.

The issues facing the Education Committee in addressing the Fisher Act requirements in St Albans was complicated by the nature and condition of the existing estate and it was agreed to manage the process by phasing the improvements, beginning with what was perceived as the most challenging to tackle; the East Ward.  Central and West areas of the city would have to wait their turns.  Even so, the East Plan's implementation stretched out over more than a decade, exacerbated by the stream of housebuilding in the Ward, unbroken for the past forty years or so. Thus huge pressures were placed on available spaces in all three schools; Hatfield Road, Camp and Fleetville – even though the former was not actually located in the East Ward.

Top priority was given to building boys' and a girls' senior schools on land the Committee had purchased in Fleetville (where today's Fleetville Junior School is located).  At the time, in 1921, the land was naively considered sufficient for two separate schools. The norm for the time would have been each school occupying the ground or first  floor of a single building; an arrangement which the Education Committee referred to as "adjacent sites".   While it was a bold start to the plan the new schools would take many years to open; an interim solution was desperately needed for shorter term gain.

Top: a Fleetville School senior class from 1931. From the following year the girls would attend
the new Central School on the other side of Hatfield Road.  Below: In the same year, senior
children at Camp School.  From 1932 senior girls would transfer to the new Central School, 
and senior boys to Fleetville seniors or Hatfield Road.

Funding for a girls' senior school was granted, though no building emerged.  If it had the new building would accommodate senior girls from Fleetville and Camp, and girls from the Central School in the centre of town.  The Camp senior boys would transfer to Fleetville and allow Camp to become the first of the Primary (Junior Mixed Infant) schools.  The interim plan wasn't signed off until 1928, at which time there was still no new senior school!

Top: the new Central School main building – although this photo was taken later than the year
of opening (1931) by which time a new teaching block had been added.  Below: a cookery class in one
of the practical rooms at the new Central School.

Meanwhile, conditions at the Central School deteriorated further and it was agreed – a euphemism for protracted and sometimes heated discussions – that a complete new school would be built – on the land at Fleetville previously reserved for two senior schools.  Central's new school, with an increased number of places, opened in 1931.  The Fleetville and Camp senior girls could finally move into bright new buildings, but Fleetville could not become a primary while its senior rooms were full of Fleetville and ex Camp boys.  Gradually boys transferred from there to Hatfield Road as its accommodation became available; Fleetville therefore emerged as a Primary over time; and it seemed that no sooner had later boys enrolled at Hatfield Road they transferred en-bloc to another new school which opened in 1938 at Beaumonts!  But that is a later chapter in the story.

Fleetville's senior boys did, however, enjoy one new benefit from 1931.  The new Central site also included workshops for practical activity, deemed essential since the existing elementary schools had contained no such facilities.

Ss Alban & Stephen's new school building opened on the corner of Camp Road and Vanda
Crescent in 1934.
COURTESY HERTS ADVERTISER

A further school which had been educating children from across the city, had its base behind a church building in Beaconsfield Road.  Its lessons were regularly interrupted by the arrival of trains at the station at the foot of the shallow cutting.  Ss Alban & Stephen Catholic School became part of the system under the Balfour Act, in which grants were paid by the local authority.  Such schools, controlled by the Church of England or Catholic Church, were and are known as Voluntary Controlled or Voluntary Aided schools.  In 1932, the Church acquired land from the Friederick Sander estate in Vanda Crescent for its new school (now the Ss Alban & Stephen Infants); perhaps surprisingly opening as an elementary model, but that was undoubtedly its most economic arrangement given the smaller numbers of expected pupils.  So Alban and Stephen became the next new establishment in the East End, just a year after the new Central.

Although later phases of the re-organisation plan would also impinge on the East Ward a brief explanation would be better left to a later post, otherwise readers would, I fear, find the changes more mystifying than the Hatfield House maze! 

It's Elementary

It is now over thirty years since the first major legislation authorising education provision on a national scale; the 1870 Education Act.

The original inset name panel at Alma Road School is below the first floor window. Although the date of installation is not known, the lower Public Elementary School panel would have been installed
post-1902 and fixed directly into the brickwork without being set into a border frame.

After playing around with government's potential responsibilities for educating the nation's children, the Education Act of 1902, commonly referred to as the Balfour Act, sealed the state's future pathway, formalising the provision of education throughout the country for all children, not only those who weren't lucky enough to receive a classroom place from one of the voluntary organisations.  Further, transferring existing responsibilities from local boards (described in the previous blog) and voluntary organisations to the recently formed county councils.  Although districts could apply for exemption, St Albans, after much lengthy discussion, agreed to pass over its schools to Hertfordshire County Council (HCC).

While HCC lost no time in familiarising itself with its portfolio of existing premises and the need to standardise the facilities' requirements for new buildings, it was clear to the authority that improvements to existing buildings would be limited, given the disparity between need and available resources.  For example, the entirely sensible desirability of providing a bathroom for the benefit of any child arriving at school dirty from normal living conditions endured at home, would potentially have a facility to use before the school day began.  However, some members of the education committee were not convinced of the committee's responsibility to ensure children were clean. Standard building foundations would also be reduced for new buildings to a depth of 18 inches.  Porches would not be provided, and pianos were also considered unnecessary expenditure.

It may be a challenge to view, but this photograph, published in the Herts Advertiser in 1914, 
shows boys from Hatfield Road Elementary School working on the school's allotment garden
in the Ninefields, Brampton Road.  The houses in the background are on the south side of
Brampton Road.
COURTESY HERTS ADVERTISER

On the other hand,  a proposal for woodwork to be introduced for boys, and for school gardens to be provided, both for which were accepted. Accommodation for the first was found initially at the old Art School premises in Victoria Street, and a section of ground at Hatfield Road Boys' School was made available, although it is not known whether other schools also benefited before the First World War.  During the war the same school took on allotments on spare ground north of Brampton Road. 

The committee was also concerned that younger children, including infants, traditionally spent too much time sitting at desks. It urged that more time was given for education for the body – active pursuits.

So, the new school style would provide full-time attendance at a recognised school from the age of 5 to 7 in mixed infants classes, thereafter in senior classes of single gender until the age of 12, above which it was slowly but progressively advanced by a year at a time.

Two recent views of the former St Peter's Elementary School, the top picture from Old London
Road and the lower picture from the top of Cottonmill Lane.

The first school to operate as an Elementary school was the former St Peter's Rural Board School, opened in 1898, which was quickly renamed St Peter's Rural Elementary in time for the new Act, and quickly identified as Camp Elementary Schools.  It should be noted that in most cases the title was pluralised to Schools as each section was operated as a separate school department, whether or not it operated within the same building.  Camp Schools quickly filled up as children not living within the city boundary, but who had previously received informal permission to attend their nearest city school, were now required to  attend their nearest "other" school. Since most of the new housing being provided on the east side of the city fell within the "other" areas and there was only one available school, the Camp School's accommodation was soon depleted.  More new homes were also being provided astride Hatfield Road – but  no school, board or elementary, was initially provided in that location.

Camp Elementary School in Camp Road.  The top image is a recent view of a little-altered
frontage (except for the hanging baskets).  The lower image shows a group, possible, two
classes from the leavers' year, aged 12, c1900 to 1905.

Parental pressure quickly mushroomed among parents moving to Fleetville, and by 1906 a site, intended to be for future houses in Royal Road and Tess Road (now Woodstock Road south) was turned over to the County Council for its next new elementary school.  By November 1908 the senior section of the new Fleetville Elementary  Schools was complete.  However, as the infants building was still in the future – and would not open until 1913 – it was decided infant classes would be enrolled and join the senior groups in the 6-classroom building.  For five years the three  infant classes would share the hall space.  

Recent photographs of the former Fleetville Elementary Schools.  The top image is the building first opened in November 1908.  This was intended for Senior classes, later designated Junior and Senior
classes.  The lower image is the smaller building, opened in 1913, for three infants classes.

The previous two paragraphs are naturally inadequate to describe the East End's two original schools.  So they will join a growing list of organisations enjoying more extended posts – eventually!

In other parts of the city and in more rural settlements the existing British, National and Board schools would continue as usual, but as Elementary establishments, the responsibility of Hertfordshire County Council.  Its Education Committee would then decide when a school was deemed full, with arrangements made to add either permanent or temporary rooms according to need. Or, of course, adding more desks to existing classrooms!

Remembering that the system in St Albans largely relied on making use of existing buildings for an existing system.  Unsurprisingly, it did not take long for the modified structure of the Education Committee to require unpicking.  The elementary system was about to be re-organised less than two decades onwards. We'll discover how next time.

Towards Public Learning

You may be surprised when opening this page. Is this the correct link?  Rest assured; from this post the top banner has finally been replaced to match the banner of the website – I finally got there! 

Before moving on to formal systems of education, there is one further photograph which belongs in the previous post on the subject of private schools.  Mention was made of Manor Lodge School in Upper Lattimore Road.  St Albans Museums does have a small monochrome photo of the school, but since the building survives I've included instead a picture of the house today as you might come across it while walking along the footpath towards Hatfield Road and just before reaching the Friends Meeting House.

This house used to be Manor Lodge School; located in Upper Lattimore Road.
COURTESY GOOGLE STREETVIEW

Now on to the subject of this week's post.

Until the 1870s there was little of relevance to our East End in the availability of education for children, there were, after all, so few families living in that part of the parish of St Peter, except those in isolated hamlets, farm houses and cottages of a few agricultural labourers.  The education of girls was mainly home learned; boys worked on farms, or may have made their way to St Albans and been employed in workshops where there might have been an industrial school.  Less of a school; more of the industry.  However, it can't be denied, a system had grown slowly and spasmodically.  It would be pertinent to explore its beginnings and how it relates to current school sites throughout the city.

Surviving British School at Hitchin, today a thriving education museum.
COURTESY THE BRITISH SCHOOLS MUSEUM

At the start of the 19th century there arose a movement to widen the availability of schools through a concept of mission to strengthen the national industrial base and wider empire trade. An organisation was the known as the British and Foreign Schools Society, begun in 1808; their schools were called British Schools.  In St Albans a British School opened in Spencer Street; while I'm not certain when it first opened, the building is shown behind Dagnall Street Baptist Church, a site in use since the 1720s, and for the purposes of this summary, it would have become a British School soon after 1808 even if schooling took place in some other form before then. As with other nonconformist churches they led the way in holding Sunday schools and classes in the closely associated churches where the buildings could be used during the week.  The St Albans British School is said to have had a maximum of 90 boys on its roll according to the Herts Advertiser Almanack printed in 1877.  Incredibly, in 1886 over 1,000 children were enrolled into the Sunday schools at the four nearest chapels to the British School.  

Within three years of the formation of British Schools the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor was launched and typically set up schools in parish churches and were generically called National Schools. Their intentions were to further the principles of the Church of England, and they were able to benefit from a larger number of available buildings – the parish churches and their church halls.  They also found it easier to attract state funds, and to operate their schools on lower costs.

So, let's discover the range of National schools in St Albans.

The wide, sprawling and mainly rural parish of St Peter had its school for up to 85 infants in Bernard Street.  It was typical of early schools tucked away in the side streets of the town centre; a single room in which the children were educated or "looked after". It is likely that the prime motive was not so much the provision of an education but to free up mothers for useful employment.  Incidentally, the term "infant" did not have the precise meaning the word does today; older and younger children were sometimes accepted as well.

In 1872 on a rather more open site at the junction of Old London Road and Cottonmill Lane was
the St Peter's National School. The footpath which passes to the south of the school can just
be seen to the right of the gates in the photo below.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

The entrance to the former St Peter's School.  The gates are today named Old Priory Park.
Priory Park School, buildings extant, was further along Old London Road.

The parish's main school building was on the corner of Old London Road and Cottonmill Lane and opened for 205 pupils in 1850.  Ad hoc accommodation may have been utilised at the church in St Peter's Street before the separate school could be afforded.  As we shall discover in a later post, a separate school was later created for children living beyond the city limit, but in the early days distance was the main obstacle in attending the parish church National school.  The parish church school was, as was not uncommon, restricted to girls when first opened.  The current St Peter's JMI now operates from modern buildings nearby.

What of the other city parishes?

St Stephen's, like St Peter's was responsible for a large rural parish, some of which spread towards our East End, and its urban  population was small.  There were around 60 pupils on roll in 1890, reducing to around 30 in 1923.  The opening of a school, possibly on a different site from Watford Road, is not known about.

St Michael's can trace its first parish school, in the church, back to 1811, accommodating girls whose families lived on the Gorhambury estate.  A separate building was opened next to the church in 1854, and it took until 1876 for a separate National building, nearer to the river, to open for boys.

The crowded site between Dagnal (with one l) Street and Spencer Street in 1872.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

Abbey parish occupies the smallest acreage but possesses the greatest population density.  In the narrow and crowded Cross Street close to Dagnall Street opened Cross Street Infants which opened in 1836 accommodating 120 children.  It is therefore possible that abbey-owned building was utilised before then. Spicer Street provided accommodation from the 1840s for junior and senior girls and boys, amounting to over 400 children on a very constrained site. It was not until the post-war period that new buildings were provided in Grove Road.

In recognising the role being played by the National and British organisations the state formalised a system of maintenance grants to schools from the 1830s.  These were dependent on common standards being set and met.

Shortly, we will enter the period when Government began to formulate laws and lay the foundation for compulsory education.  During February we will identify the locations of Board schools to which children would attend; and the transformation into Elementary school.

Training conditions

 Much outline detail is available concerning the presence of troops in training both in and around St Albans during the First World War. Photographs of soldiers marching along Hatfield Road, and encampments which were set up at Cunningham, Beech Road, Verulam Road, north of Sandpit Lane and at Oaklands.  However, specific details of daily routines are sparse.

A friend has just passed to me a copy of an article written in 1914 and published in a newspaper called the Woman's Dreadnought.  It was published by London East End groups led by Sylvia Pankhurst, and in this article the article's author came to the east end of St Albans where battalions of troops from Bow, Poplar and Stepney were billeted. So, already we know these weren't just "men"; they were groups from the same home areas and many were probably friends, or even siblings. The article gave accounts of the men's living conditions two inform their families back home in the East End and wider London.

The County hall north of St Peter's Street and close to Drovers Way was one billet for soldiers in
training.

The Salvation Army Citadel had the advantage of containing a former private swimming
pool.  A frequent comment was over inadequate bathing facilities, so use of a pool 
would be a distinct benefit for the men.

This building was the employees' club before the war for those who worked at Smith's
Printing Works.  A large number of soldiers were billeted at the Fleetville Institute, which, 
in this picture looks very much as it did during the First World War.

We are informed of the kinds of accommodation being used: the County Hall (behind St Peter's Street), the Town Hall, Salvation Army accommodation (possibly the Citadel itself), schools (Camp, Fleetville and Hatfield Road), garages, stables, and empty and private houses. There were many large villas some of which would have been vacant, although a very small number may have been accommodated in even modest terraced dwellings.  The Fleetville Institute contained a considerable number, and Oaklands Mansion had been handed over by the occupiers, Mrs and the Misses Fish, having the additional benefit of being the location of a tented training camp.  Hatfield too was busy with troops.

This frequently seen postcard photograph shows a company of troops approaching the 
recreation ground en-route to Oaklands training camp or Hatfield.

Some quarters had satisfactory health and sanitary conditions but the author was concerned about many of the accommodations.  "Many of the men are quartered in empty houses, eight in a room.  We each have two blankets and a waterproof sheet.  The sheet is spread out on the floor and we use our kitbags for pillows.  We get used to lying on the hard boards, but what we can't put up with is the cold.  If we want a fire we have to buy our own coal and wood.  As for light we find it very hard sometimes to get candles, unless we buy them also. Twenty-four men sleep in the house where I am, and we all have to wash under one tap."

School premises were used in the early days of training.  A number of soldiers, both on and off
duty were being photographed outside Camp School.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

Rations were a restricted range and quantity.  "For breakfast we get two 1-lb pots of jam, two loaves, a pound of cheese and boiled bacon between eight men, with half a pint of tea each. The bread and jam is supposed to last for tea time, but it seldom does.  At dinner time we sometimes get roast mutton and sometimes shackles (stew minus the carrots and onions), and potatoes served up in their skins.  Anything else in the way of chicken, lamb, butter, milk and eggs we buy (when we ain't broke)."

Remembering these are soldiers in training the days are long and were intended to prepare the men for arduous activity on the battlefield. "We rise at 5.30, breakfast at 6 and parade at Hatfield Park at 7.30." So that means reaching there on foot from their billets. "Some days the whole battalion goes out for a field day; other times our own companies for drill.  We generally go out for five or six miles out of the town and arrive home about one o'clock."

More parading and marching takes up the afternoon with the day finishing at about 8 in the evening.  As an example of something different one day was described as digging trenches and standing in them all night until the following morning, when a practice battle took place.  A 25 mile march was referred to and presumably this was also a regular feature of training.

Wet conditions at the lower end of Cunningham Field adjoining London Road.

A camp set up for training on the town side of Beech Road.  In telling the story of the WW1
training camps we should remember that each man shown had left behind family members, and for many this might be the last photograph taken to remind future generations of their 
contribution to society.

For the benefit of the wives and families at home mention was made of the YMCA who had erected a large tent for the benefit of the men during their down time.  No mention of its location was made in the article.

"Paper, ink and pens are provided free of charge, as also are games and books.  There is a platform and piano and concerts are frequently given.  A lady gives lessons to men desiring to learn French, also free of charge.  A canteen is next door where the men can get food and drinks."  It was not stated whether these were also provided free.

The report makes it clear the majority of the men were fed up with the period they have spent in St Albans and were anxious to make progress to "abroad".  But while here they have received formal visits from the Mayor of Poplar and the Town Clerk.  Lord Kitchener also arrived to review the battalion.

Simply recording that certain battalions and companies were in training at given locations tells a poor story on its own.  To be in a position to relate what the men were doing for their training, what they thought about their day to day circumstances and how they occupied themselves in their limited spare time, adds much fullness to what we can record of their period in St Albans.  And how appropriate to know where the homes of the men were.  In 1913 Councillor and the manager of Smith's Printing Works, Ernest Townson, compared the circumstances of Fleetville's untidiness to London's East End.  Now, this district was hosting thousands of soldiers whose homes were in Bow, Stepney and Poplar, very much part of London's East End. 

Private Learning

 The SAOEE website contains pages on most of the current primary and secondary schools in our East End. But there are and were other schools available to the children of the east side of the city – under the right circumstances.  The wider history of schools in the city is a much more complex structure than the establishments which are open today, wherever the are, and for the most part is focused on the three parts of St Albans at the centre of the 1920s education re-organisation: West, Central and East.  The latter was heavily delayed, however, and wasn't completed until 1932. We will review this re-organisation in later posts.

What might be more interesting initially is to explore a number of privately run establishments.  Most of these were to be found in the central and inner wards; only two were known to have operated in the East End, specifically Beaumont Avenue and Elm Drive.  I would urge readers not to expect much detail in what follows – I have relied heavily on display advertisements in the Herts Advertiser, and although parents throughout the city could have taken advantage of any of the establishments, their ability to do so was determined largely by their private incomes.   What follows is arranged in no particular order and does not express a complete statement of what is known about each school.

An infants classroom at Oxford House school.
COURTESY ANDY LAWRENCE

Oxford House Schools was in existence before 1880; a boys' establishment under the tutorship of Mr G James Nettleton in Alma Road.  Later moving to possibly larger premises, it found accommodation  in Bricket Road.  After this move it offered an education to girls in separate accommodation, and to day pupils as well as boarders.

Rochester House School, quickly retitling it to Rochester House High School, was owned by Miss Clara Bamforth. First noted in London Road in the 1890s it later moved to 101 St Peter's Street, next to The White House.  Miss Bamforth specialised in elocution training.

Gentlemen's Preparatory School was in one of the Hatfield Road villas in St Peter's Park. In 1900 it is associated with Mr J Harrington, but by 1919 it was advertised for "young gentlemen from 5 to 13" and in the charge of Mr W Millington at Wellington House, Bricket Road.

Rowlatts.  First spotted in advertisements in 1886 when Miss Lewin announced it as The High School for Girls in London Road, but within the year Miss Lewin had purchased a villa named Rowlatts in The Avenue.  The advertisements are linked to a separate school named Lyndale on the corner of Hillside and St Peter's roads.  Lyndale was kept by the three Sheehan sisters but was then a school for boys.

A day visit made by children of Lyndale School
COURTESY DIANA DEVEREUX

Manor Lodge was in Upper Lattimore Road and run by Miss Palmer, who gave a Ramsgate address, and Miss Miskin, who offered a Paris address!  It began as "a high class school for girls" (1886); by 1907 it was able to add "with classes for little boys."

Loreto College began in a private house – a large one – in Hatfield Road where they are still located.  This successful school was soon able to expand (in the 1920s) by taking over a garden nursery, and the house and land of Marlborough House which had belonged to Samuel Ryder, before his family moved to Clarence Road.

Merrilands. A later arrival on the private scene, it was opened in 1933 in a bungalow by Miss I M Kell in Elm Drive.  The pupils wore orange and grey uniforms.  The school had closed by 1960.

The impressive buildings and grounds of Birklands in London Road on a pictorial postcard.

Few private schools were identified by name on maps.  The expansive Birklands College for Girls is shown on the OS 1924 map.  The main road shown on the right is London Road before the lower
end was diverted to leave this section as a cut-de-sac in the 1960s.
COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

Birklands. Probably grew to be the finest school building and site, Birklands moved into a substantial house built for wealthy Henry Jenkin Gotto in 1883, partly on land acquired from Newhouse Park.  The property was sold to Miss Elizabeth Cox, who moved her small girls' school there from Highgate.  Although moving out during 1939 the school re-opened in 1945.  Part of the site was sold for housing as Whitecroft, and later Hertfordshire County Council purchased the main property for Hatfield Polytechnic, later becoming the University.  It is now a range of apartments.

Clare House began life in Stanhope Road in the 1890s, but by WW1 it had moved to Lemsford Road.  It was still listed in Kelly's 1932 directory as a girls' school.  The boys' prep class which was part of the original school was not, it appears, included in the move.

Claremont House had began life under the name College House in College Street, then moved to Alma Road. Advertisements had been appearing in the Herts Advertiser since 1872 under the rather long name of Mr C Root's Middle Class Boarding and Day School for Young Gentlemen.  In this year Claremont House was described as The Classical Commercial and Scientific School intended for day boys and boarders.  Mr Wroot was still the owner in 1898, by which time the 13-bedroomed building was taken over by Mr J. Harrington.

Russell House.  The final advertisement for this school appeared in 1932 Kelly's Directory.  Opened c1914 in premises formerly occupied by the High School for Girls at the former cottage hospital  in Holywell Hill.  Russell House was owned and run by three sisters, the Misses Cloute.

Aylesford House. This boys' school was begun by Mr W Hanford Turner from a villa on the country side of the London Road railway bridge. Ownership later passed to Mr C Leighton.  A second villa was later purchased next door, and in the 1930s ownership was transferred to Mr and Mrs Bayley, who announced that it was their intention to "take boys from 7 to 14 for acceptance to public schools and the Royal Navy."  The uniform was grey with pink edging.  The school moved to part of Sandridgebury House in 1947, and from 1958 it was jointly run by Mr J Thompson and Mr R H Lee.

The Hall. For a short time around 1930 a small school "for young children" under this name was opened at 20 London Road, supervised by Miss Elsie Bodkin.  This was the address of the former Temperance Hotel.

Verulam School. Not the establishment in Brampton Road, but one of the villas overlooking Clarence Park at 88 Hatfield Road.  Owned by Mr J W Cassels it espoused "a modern and practical education". It was first spotted in 1903, and by 1919 had moved to Upper Lattimore Road.  While beginning as a boys' school the move appeared to coincide with a change of ownership to a Miss Collier, where the emphasis shifted to a girls' school with a boys' prep class attached.

Dirleston House School.  It opened its doors c1901 in a quite new house at the Sandpit Lane end of Battlefield Road, owned by Mr John Henderson.  It is thought the school had closed by 1911.

Athalls. Housed in what was probably new accommodation in Hall Place Gardens in 1907; pre-empting the arrival of the High School for Girls by some two years. "A boarding and day school for young ladies."  It is directory listed after the junction with Townsend Drive; if correct then Maple School occupies this site today.  Mrs Brumleu was in charge and lived in the house next door.

Grosvenor House. A girls' boarding and day school "with classes for little boys", run by the Misses Garlick from a house in Bricket Road. It advertised a "resident French mistress and fully qualified visiting staff." The school was c1908 vintage but the length of its tenure is unknown.

Home School for Girls:  Probably opened c1898 "for yearly, weekly and daily boarders".  Owned by Mr and Mrs Baird at Worley House.

Windcliffe advertised in 1898 as "a school for the daughters of gentlemen." Owned by Miss Elizabeth Sheehan from a house in Hatfield Road.

St Albans Kindergarten and Preparatory School. Open around 1930 from 26 Beaconsfield Road, and owned by Miss Kathleen Kidd.

Holywell House School from a house formerly owned by Mr and Mrs Wix.  In 1931 it was purchased by the Misses Cloute who converted the house into a school – for boarding and day girls, and a boys' prep class.  Even evening classes were advertised. The school closed c1960 when it became commercial premises for S Lander, architects.

Durnford House opened in 1951 in part of the Liberal Club building at 9 Hatfield Road.  The principal was Mrs Ruby E Holby.  Its  uniform colours were wine and blue, with the initials DH in the centre of the blazer badge.  There was space for 10 day pupils from 6 years upwards; by 1953 it had moved to occupy The White House in St Peter's Street north while retaining the Liberal Club and a house at 19 Hall Place Gardens.  Pupil numbers quickly increased to 150 three to 18 year olds.  However, the establishment was thought to be effectively bankrupt and was looking to consolidate its use of accommodation.  Last referenced in 1955 but may have lasted longer.

The Misses Wright School for Young Ladies, Shanklin House, 38 Victoria Street, opened in 1877 and appeared to have a short life.

Battlefield House School.  Miss Mason opened the school at 4 Chequer Street, and was advertising between 1880 and 1886.

Mr Hawkes' High Grade Elementary School advertised at 13 Verulam Road in 1886. "Mr Hawkes will be preparing boys for Oxford and Cambridge entrance examinations, and the College of Preceptors and Post Office exams.  Mrs Hawkes looks after the under sevens."

Miss Hestor's School advertised in 1887 at 3 Victoria Street and was probably one of the shortest lived establishments.

The Ladies' School advertised in 1872 stating that it was located at Alban House, under the care of Miss Upton. It is not known where Alban House was located.

Alma Road Girls' School.  This may have been an early iteration of Clare House School in Alma Road.  An advert appeared in a low circulation newspaper called The Clocktower in which the Head was named as Mrs Deed.

St John's Lodge, formerly Avenue House, in Beaumont Avenue, part of which was occupied by
St John's School.
COURTESY HALS

St John's Prep School, accommodated in part of St John's Lodge, Beaumont Avenue (now the site of St John's Court) by the Misses Blackwood in the 1920s.  How successful this school was is not certain, but when the Blackwoods moved c1936, the school transferred to a house on the north side of Jennings Road.

Well, that's a substantial list of educational establishments!  Within  that total may have existed the occasional school which was essentially one place of learning, but with a changed name, especially if it was taken on by a new owner.  Many owners possessed brave ideas which failed to live up to promise; others carved out small reputations for themselves with names that have lived on in our local history.  And it is probable readers got to know one or two of them, or they or their relatives may have attended as pupils. I am not claiming either that the above is a complete list. So contributions from readers will be welcomed.

Hailing the Bus

 Are we being spoiled by the availability of personal vehicular travel opportunities, or the public equivalent, a bus?  Or do we still demand more instant availability?

Anyone needing to travel anywhere in the days before most of us possessed a car, were not, it has to be admitted, well served.  Let's suggest before World War One, so that would be in the period of our families' previous generations. Personal transport may have included a pony and cart, possibly a bicycle, or probably reliant on walking. Limited horse-drawn vehicles were available to carry passengers between Hatfield and other stations to St Albans High Street or St Peter's Street.  It took until the 1920s for a mix of private operators to enter the streets and ply their trade on one or two local routes.

An early St Albans and Fleetville Express pictured in 1931 at the Stanhope Road shops,
having been involved in a crash.
COURTESY HERTS ADVERTISER

However, enterprising combines grew: The General, which saw one route (number 84 and still running today) taking passengers between north London and St Albans.  By the mid twenties routes had grown between a number of Home Counties towns under the National brand.  One of these routes was the National route N10 between St Albans Market Place, Hatfield Station and Hertford Post Office on 13 journeys per day in 1926.  A circular service was thought to be useful to serve passengers in an anti-clockwise direction between Market Place, the Midland Station, The Cricketers and Market Place, presumably using Victoria Street, Beaconsfield Road, Hatfield Road and St Peter's Street.

While these 1920s services largely connected neighbouring towns,  Arthur Blowers ran local buses to Fleetville, Camp, Hill End and Tyttenhanger Green.  A partnership of Etches & Flowers based at Oaklands observed the growth of houses along Hatfield Road and at Wynchlands, choosing to compete with the National services which tended to have fixed stopping points.  Local services found it easier to pick up and set down wherever it was convenient for passengers.

The advertised new range of bus services by the integrated London Transport St Albans district
network in 1934.

A rather mixed picture of services, owners, prices, timings and gaps in areas served continued until 1933, after which St Albans benefited from the re-organisation under a new corporate network under London Transport (LT).  LT acquired almost all of the former private and combine companies and began the major task of re-organising a more systematic series of connecting routes and fares, all with stopping points and available timetables.  So how did our East End benefit from the new format?

A previous route between Hemel Hempstead and St Albans was extended to provide a service to Fleetville (314) but it is not clear where the terminus was, maybe it was Sutton Road.  An earlier route along Hatfield Road to Oaklands would have given a through route to Watford, but LT chose instead to link Watford with Luton (321) which is largely retained today.  Instead Oaklands was linked with St Stephens and St Julians as a local service.

Other routes arriving in St Albans and using Hatfield Road had started out in more distant places: Welwyn Garden City (330 and 350), Bishops Stortford (340), Stanstead (341), and Enfield via Smallford and Colney Heath (343).  All of these services terminated at Townsend, which may have been intended to provide connections with the hospital via Waverley Road. Even if each route offered only one service per hour, we could say for the time Hatfield Road was comparatively well served.

The route map for the 1930s labels Marshalswick estate to the north of Sandpit Lane.  The route 338 linked London Colney, St Albans and Blenheim Road, probably the triangle at Gurney Court Road which would have been laid out by then, even if most of the homes nearby had yet to be constructed.  Later Sandpit Lane would form part of a future Circular route (354) between Fleetville and Marshalswick.  An very early rural route had a future under the  route number 382 via Sandpit Lane, Lemsford, Ayot and Welwyn (not Garden City!)

Winning entry in a Herts Advertiser children's competition in 1933.  We can assume the
pictured vehicle to be typical of the vehicles using Hatfield Road.  The young artist 
probably lived  somewhere along Hatfield Road in our East End.
COURTESY HERTS ADVERTISER

The previous Blower's route to Camp, Hill End and Tyttenhanger was partly protected for staff transport to the mental hospitals, and for residents of Tyttenhanger Green this was a benefit which would not otherwise have been provided.  For generation it served Camp Road and was therefore that district's only regular service.

Even in 1933 no service along Clarence Road was provided; perhaps it was considered not to be a good fare road.  And it was only after the Second World War that other parts of Fleetville became connected, for example, Blandford Road, Brampton Road, Woodstock Road south and north, and a small part of the Beaumonts estate (Chestnut Drive) before being diverted to Marshalswick Lane and the newly finished The Ridgeway south (354 Circular route). Can you imagine a large bus turning into Blandford Road at St Paul's (with a request stop half way along), and then making a right turn into Brampton Road (two stops), before connecting with Hatfield Road once more via Woodstock Road south.  Later the service ventured into the newer housing of Marshalswick.  Even in pre-war days the Blandford Road section was only one-way!

The former long-distance route from Stanstead (341) was later shortened as Hertford and Hatfield to St Albans, and was eventually extended out to Marshalswick via Sandridge Road and Marshalswick Lane to serve the mainly pre-war Nash estate (Kingsfield Avenue).  However, the delay in launching this service was due to the late arrival of the widening and making up of upper Marshalswick Lane, which remained a narrow and unmade lane until the mid 1950s.

Of the array of Green Line coach routes, none served Hatfield Road before the Second World War.  The first to appear was a reinvention of the National route linking Essex, St Albans and Watford (321).  It appeared from 1955 as an ordinary double-decker weekday peak time to Rickmansworth and Uxbridge (803) limited stop.  An actual  Green Line service was launched along Hatfield Road linked Harlow and Romford (724). Like the 803 you could only board and alight at a small number of stops, so the journey times were much improved.

Although in more recent decades the S routes and the University-linked routes have altered the patterns of routes and level of services, it is still possible to trace a few of the early routes.  Our expectations may be left wanting if travelling in the evenings or on Sundays.  But then it probably always was.