SCHOOLS.
In his will Thomas, Lord Knyvett
(d. 1622), lord of the manor, provided for the foundation of a free school in Stanwell which was to be
endowed with lands worth £20 a year. The lands
purchased comprised some 57 acres in Great and
Little Kimble (Bucks.) and still belonged to the
trustees in 1940. The school was built in 1624 by
Elizabeth Hampden, the executrix of Knyvett's
widow, at her own expense. (fn. 35) Soon after it was
founded (fn. 36) Dr. Heather gave it £2 a year for the
purchase of books and paper, and Dorothy Leach,
apparently a servant of Elizabeth Hampden, gave
£10 a year to apprentice two boys from the school. (fn. 37)
Both these sums were still being received in 1940,
though the apprenticing fund had for many years
been used for further education. (fn. 38)
In 1646 the schoolmaster was sequestered by
Parliament for drunkenness. (fn. 39) The school had
apparently fallen into a bad state under him, but
a successor was appointed and the building was
repaired. (fn. 40) In 1813 the building was in bad repair,
the apprenticing fund was not being used, and the
master was receiving only £24 a year, in addition to
his house, although the value of the school estate
had risen. The number of boys in the school had
fallen from 60 or 70 to under 6. Following proceedings in Chancery a new master was appointed
and, until the costs of the proceedings had been paid,
his salary was raised by private subscription. By
1823 there were 39 free boys in the school: both they
and the master were appointed, according to the
founder's will, by the lord of Stanwell manor, (fn. 41) who
continued throughout the century to play an important part in running the school. (fn. 42) In 1823 the master
also took 10 paying pupils, but this practice seems to
have been stopped soon after. The school did not
receive any state aid until 1873, by which time 55
boys were in attendance. (fn. 43) Fees of 1d. -2d. were
charged in 1877 apparently for the first time. (fn. 44)
The school building which is described elsewhere, (fn. 45)
was altered probably c. 1885 (fn. 46) and attendance
remained at about 70-100 until 1937, although the
seniors were moved to Woodthorpe Road School,
Ashford, in 1932. (fn. 47) In 1938 Lord Knyvett's was
transferred to the county council, (fn. 48) and the endowment was thereafter set aside for assisting Stanwell
children to obtain further education. (fn. 49)
In 1955 the Town Farm County Primary School
was opened and Lord Knyvett's School became part
of it, taking two classes. The new school is in St.
Mary's Crescent and is intended primarily for the
children of the surrounding housing estate. There
were nearly 400 junior children in attendance in
1956. (fn. 50)
Lord Knyvett's School appears to have been the
only one in the parish before the 19th century. No
evidence can be found for the local tradition that
there was once a grammar school in the Stanwell
part of Colnbrook. (fn. 51) By 1819 there was a girls' school
supported by voluntary subscriptions. (fn. 52) By 1844 it
was held in the cottage which adjoins the present
Stanwell Church of England School in Park Road
and which was used as the mistress's house in the
later 19th century. (fn. 53) In 1871 Sir John Gibbons gave
this house and the site for a girls' National school,
which was then built by subscription. (fn. 54) It received
state aid from 1872: (fn. 55) before this the mistress had
not been certificated. (fn. 56) The attendance rose from
about 30 to over 170 in the early 20th century. The
older children were transferred to Ashford in 1932
and in 1956 it became a junior mixed and infant
school. There were then about 100 children in attendance. (fn. 57)
St. Anne's County Primary School was opened in
Long Lane in 1939. It was originally in one department, but by 1956 had separate departments for
juniors and infants. Additional temporary buildings
were erected after 1945, and the war-time nursery
building on the site was also taken into use. In 1956
there were about 550 pupils. (fn. 58)
A British school was opened in Colnbrook in 1832,
and in 1833 had about 130 pupils, of whom a
number came from Horton and elsewhere in Buckinghamshire. (fn. 59) It never received any state aid, and
seems to have closed later in the 19th century. The
building was still in existence in 1956, when it was
part of a workshop behind the houses on the north
side of the Bath Road. (fn. 60)
In 1844 there were one or two schools, probably
dame-schools, in Stanwell village. One of them was
an infant school on the west side of Oaks Road. (fn. 61) It
contained only 21 children in 1846-7, never received
state aid, and was apparently closed between 1865
and 1896. (fn. 62) In 1846-7 there was also a school in
Stanwellmoor, with 16 boys and 26 girls. Nothing
else is known of it, though it and the infant school
were both supported by subscriptions as well as by
school-pence. (fn. 63)
Shortwood County School is here treated as lying
in Staines parish and is described above. (fn. 64)