PRIVATE SCHOOLS
King James's Theological College or Chelsea College,
incorporated in 1610 and intended as a polemical centre
for the defence of the Church of England, was national
rather than parochial. So too was the Museum
Minervae, a courtly academy which Sir Francis
Kynaston (d. 1642) proposed to move from his London
house into the half-built college during the plague of
1636 before the college's resistance forced him to go to
Little Chelsea. Although neither institution survived the
collapse of royal patronage, the college's site eventually
being taken for the Royal Hospital, (fn. 9) their presence
suggests Chelsea's early attraction for those engaged in
private education. In 1650 Henry Bull, late of Chelsea,
was said to have taken a house there as a school c. 1644
but to have been distrained for not paying the rent. (fn. 10)
Masques at a Chelsea school in 1656 or 1657 were
recalled in 1663 by Elizabeth Pepys's paid companion
Mary Ashwell, who still assisted with small children
there. (fn. 11) Possibly it was the good school which had been
within convenient distance of a house leased to William
Lawrence in 1652 and 1662. (fn. 12)
The Restoration brought the fruitless publication of a
pamphlet aimed at reviving Chelsea College. (fn. 13) The lexicographer Adam Littleton (d. 1694) opened a school in
Chelsea where he practised a new way 'of learning the
Latin tongue by the English', presumably before
becoming rector in 1670. (fn. 14) One lessee of a large house in
1675 sued another for not having opened it, as promised, as a school for young gentlemen. (fn. 15) The boarding
schools of Mrs Priest (at Gorges House, below) and Mr
Woodcock (below) were advertised in 1694 and 1695. (fn. 16)
Music and dancing were the subjects most notably
associated with a new girls' boarding school at Gorges
House under Jeffrey Banister and James Hart, whose
scholars in 1676 presented the masque Beauties
Triumph, written by Thomas Duffet and with music by
John Banister, a presumed relation of Jeffrey. (fn. 17) In 1680
Josias (also recorded as Jonas, Joseph and Josiah)
Priest, (fn. 18) a dancing master, and his wife took over the
school, where in 1682 Sir Edmund Verney's 8-year old
daughter learnt japanning and distinguished herself at a
ball. (fn. 19) Priest persuaded Henry Purcell, with Nahum Tate
as librettist, to compose Dido and Aeneas, 'the first true
English opera', which was performed there c.1689 or
1690, (fn. 20) on one occasion with an epilogue written by
Thomas D'Urfey and spoken by the earl of Clanricarde's
daughter Lady Dorothy Burke. D'Urfey's caustic
comedy Love for Money, or the Boarding School of 1691
probably derived material from Priest's school, (fn. 1) which
may have continued until 1710-11, the last year for
which Priest paid rates. (fn. 2)
Another girls' school at Chelsea was that kept by
William Dyer, who in 1683 moved to Kensington where
he took over an established dancing school. (fn. 3) Mr Woodcock who advertised in 1694 was presumably Robert
Woodcock (d. 1710), who kept at school at Shrewsbury
House from 1694; it was continued by his widow
Deborah until she moved the school in 1713 to Manor
House, as a tenant of Sir Hans Sloane, where she
continued until 1728, and was probably succeeded by
Mrs Edwards. (fn. 4) Bowack in 1705 cited the great number of
boarding schools, especially girls', as an instance of
Chelsea's growing prosperity. (fn. 5) Among them was
Blacklands House, a French boarding school, which may
have survived for a century. (fn. 6) Priest, Woodcock,
Webster, and Lefevre were all named as schoolmasters. (fn. 7)
John King, rector 1694-1732, likewise noted the leasing
of several large houses as schools. (fn. 8) The wife of a papist,
Thomas Humphreys, kept a small school in 1706. (fn. 9)
Sir Robert Walpole's two daughters attended the
expensive Blacklands school c. 1715 (fn. 10) when it was kept by
Mme Judith Nezerauw or Nazareau, who paid rates
from 1702; (fn. 11) Charles Nezerauw paid in 1728. (fn. 12) Mrs
Woodcock's school at Manor House was continued by
Mrs Edwards from 1729 until 1741. (fn. 13) At Turret House,
Paradise Row, (fn. 14) the parish lecturer William Rothery
taught boarders and day boys including the botanist
Thomas Martyn (1735-1825), who attended for ten
years and remembered him as an excellent master but
one who had died in 1759 'lost in drink'. Rothery offered
a comprehensive education, (fn. 15) as did an advertisement
for a school 'at the Five Houses in Chelsea Park', probably of 1729. (fn. 16)
Mid 18th-century schools, otherwise unrecorded,
included Mr and Mrs Phillips's girls' boarding school in
Lawrence Street in 1750, (fn. 17) Mr Glover's school for
deportment and dancing, praised by the master of
Tonbridge school in 1751, (fn. 18) and probably a house leased
to Mrs Jeuslin for boarders in Millman Row. Mrs Sarah
Bellie, 'governess of an eminent boarding school in
Cheyne Row', died in 1766, (fn. 19) as did a servant of Mrs
Aylworth, keeper of a boarding school near Chelsea
Common. (fn. 20) Mary Robinson, the actress 'Perdita' (b.
1758) recalled a seminary of 5 or 6 girls which she had
attended from 1768 under Meribah Lorrington, the
most accomplished woman known to her. After its
closure in 1770 due to the intoxication of Mrs
Lorrington, who died in Chelsea workhouse, Mary
briefly went to Battersea, leaving her brother under the
Revd Mr Gore at Chelsea, until in 1773 her own mother
Mrs Darby opened a short-lived school at Little Chelsea,
where Mary taught English to 10 or 12 boarders. (fn. 21)
Whitelands House or Lodge in King's Road was a girls'
school in 1772, when the Revd John Jenkins gave a
lecture there on women's education. Formerly under
Mrs Grignon in 1791, it continued as a school, where in
1797 the music master complained of his treatment. (fn. 22)
The author Elizabeth Montagu was pleased at the progress of her favourite niece at a Chelsea boarding school
in 1772. (fn. 23)
David Williams (d. 1816), founder of the Royal
Literary Fund, began his radical career by moving to
Lawrence Street, where in 1774 he opened a school
which charged high fees but soon had c. 20 boys. It closed
on his wife's death in 1775, despite its success based on
the preference for scientific training expressed in his
Treatise on Education (1774), and has since been seen as
a unique attempt to put into practice the educational
principles of Rousseau. (fn. 24) The Revd Weeden Butler (d.
1823), miscellaneous writer, kept a classical school at no.
4 and then no. 6 Cheyne Walk from the early 1770s,
retiring after more than 40 years in 1814. (fn. 25) His son the
Revd Weeden Butler (d. 1831), author, succeeded him
and died at Cheyne Walk, apparently having closed or
handed over the school. (fn. 26) The historian Robert Bissett
(d. 1805) kept an academy in Sloane Street, perhaps only
briefly. (fn. 1)
More specialized schools, although still offering some
general education, included that of the mathematician
Samuel Dunn (d. 1794), who apparently taught
astronomy and navigation with commercial subjects
from 1758 until 1763 at Ormonde House (below),
where there was an observatory. (fn. 2) 'The English Grammar
School' opened in King's Road in 1766 under the Revd
William Williams and Jacob Desmoulins, a writing
master, both as a preparatory school and for foreigners,
where it was recognized that some boys would not need
Latin. (fn. 3) The Revd Mr Porter, who had included naval and
military subjects at his London school, offered them
together with the classics when advertizing for boarders
at Tobias Smollett's former house in Lawrence Street
c. 1766. (fn. 4)
Greater success attended a military academy at Little
Chelsea from c. 1770 under Louis Lochée and a maritime
school at Ormonde House, acquired in 1777, opened in
1779, and later under John Bettesworth. (fn. 5) Lochée wrote
several works on fortifications and provided examples at
his academy, which he publicized as a 'military republic'
in 1773. The scene of an attempt at military ballooning
in 1784, it won royal patronage and offered a course
without holidays, for which cadets paid £50 a year and
provided their own uniforms. (fn. 6) Although it occupied a
large building on the Kensington side of Fulham Road,
which was extended in 1776, Lochée also acquired
Stanley House and other property on the Chelsea side in
1780-1. The school probably closed in 1788 or 1789,
before his execution at Lille in 1791 as a supporter of
Belgian independence. (fn. 7) The maritime school was
founded by subscribers and with the philanthropist
Jonas Hanaway (d. 1786) as treasurer, to train 25 boys
who would become midshipmen in the Royal Navy; the
course was normally 2 years and 13 boys were on the
foundation. The drawing master was John Thomas
Serres (d. 1825) (fn. 8) and the mathematical master from
1777 until 1782 was Bettesworth. The governors in 1785
transferred control to Isaac Dalby and Henry Fox, the
mathematical and French masters, (fn. 9) and the school
closed in 1787, to be reopened as a 'naval and commercial' academy under Bettesworth, who offered a more
general education in partnership with Fox. Both partners wrote on education. A fully rigged ship had been
'lately erected' in 1782 in the playground. The school
was under William Goddard, another naval author, in
1802 and its 'recent extinction' led James Simpson to
seek more pupils for his own naval and commercial
academy in Wilderness Row c. 1805. (fn. 10) Presumably only
the naval side had ended, as a school known as Ormonde
House continued under Edward Francis in 1827 and
1828 and was replaced by Elizabeth Fry's School of
Discipline in 1830. (fn. 11) Distinguished sailors who had been
pupils included the master's son George Bettesworth
(1780-1808) (fn. 12) and Hans Hastings, later earl of
Huntingdon (1779-1828). (fn. 13)
A French boarding school in Sloane Street was advertised by Mrs Chassaing in 1797. (fn. 14) Nearby at no. 22 Hans
Place was a superior school kept from 1796 or 1797 by
Dominique de Saint-Quentin, an emigré who had
married Miss Pitts and taken over her Abbey House
school at Reading. Saint-Quentin was among
subscribers to a fund for poor relief in Chelsea in 1795,
1809, and 1814. At Hans Place, which offered Greek and
Latin, the chief mistress was apparently Frances
Rowden, who as a parlour boarder at Abbey House had
met the writer Mary Martha Sherwood (1775-1851).
Miss (styled Mrs) Rowden was herself a writer and an
enthusiast for the theatre and, as a former governess, was
probably responsible for the attendance of Lady Caroline Ponsonby (later Lamb). (fn. 15) After moving to Paris with
the Saint-Quentins, Miss Rowden kept a small school
connected with theirs, her pupils in the early 1820s
including the actress Frances (Fanny) Kemble
(1809-93), and later married Saint-Quentin. Among
their Chelsea pupils were the novelist Mary Russell
Mitford (1787-1855) from 1798 until 1802, the poet
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802-38), who was born at
no. 25 Hans Place, and the writers Emma Roberts
(1794?-1840) and Anna Maria Hall (1800-81). (fn. 16) The
education of young ladies by French nuns of the Visitation, presumably at Queen's Elm, was to be continued by
a Miss Berthe in 1808. (fn. 17)
Another Frenchman, J. Ouiseau, by 1801 (fn. 18) had
opened a preparatory school at Durham House which
was continued from 1808 by Hector Clement and from
1826 until 1834 or later by Dr Bonaventure Granet; it
had 40-50 boys 'nearly related to the nobility' by 1829 (fn. 1)
and perhaps c. 100 in the late 1830s. (fn. 24) Durham House
school was long lived, as it was under Henry Hofland in
1842 and 1855 and perhaps was still maintained by the
Revd Dr J. Wilson in 1863. (fn. 3) The premises were leased to
the Girls' Public Day School Trust in 1873. (fn. 4) Another
well reputed boys' academy was that kept at Cheyne
House, Upper Cheyne Row, in 1801 by Thomas
Edwards, tenant since 1795. It was a 'finishing school'
under the Revd Dr David Felix, brother of Chelsea's
assistant curate Peter Felix, in 1828 and probably
survived in 1836. (fn. 5)
In 1801 there were at least 25 private schools,
although not all were described as such, their existence
being implied by the size of the household: Dominique
de Saint-Quentin's totalled 23 and Weeden Butler's 27.
Largest of all was Thomas Pemberton's girls' school at
Gough House, Paradise Row, with 72 residents. (fn. 6) Sarah
Fernside's predominantly female household in Garden
Row numbered 62 and Thomas Whiting's predominantly male household at Chelsea Common 58. After
Pemberton's, the largest to be called a school was
Thomas Edwards's, with 53. (fn. 7) Eight of presumed schools
were in Sloane Street, all save one being for girls and the
largest being Ann Babbington's, with a household of 44. (fn. 8)
Short lived schools included one near Oakley Square
under the poet and novelist Isabella Kelly (d. 1857) (fn. 9) and
Albion school in Paradise Row, which presented its
second public examination in 1812. (fn. 10) Pemberton's
school (fn. 11) was continued at Gough House by his widow
Maria in 1826 and later probably by his daughter; it was
a 'finishing establishment, very select'. (fn. 12) A boys' school
was kept there by the Revd Dr Richard Wilson in 1845
and 1861. (fn. 13) Thomas Pilsbury's girls' school at
Monmouth House, Lawrence Street, in 1801 was
continued by his widow in 1815. (fn. 14) Few other schools of
1801, apart from Ormonde House, Durham House, and
Cheyne House, survived in 1828. Catherine Elmes, who
had kept a school in Smith Street, had been reduced to
poverty at the time of her murder in 1833. (fn. 15) Thomas
Bilby, author of several books on infants' instruction
from 1828, taught briefly at an unidentified Chelsea
school. (fn. 16)
At least 28 gentlemen's academies and 46 ladies', both
day and boarding, existed in or on the borders of Chelsea
in 1834. Another estimate gave Chelsea at least 95
private schools and Kensington 75. Masters included
Richard Bailey of no. 10 Manor Terrace, King's Road, (fn. 17)
who was presumably the man of that name at no. 9
Adam's Place, King's Road, in 1838, where John Paxton
Hall had succeeded him by 1844. (fn. 18) Hall's day preparatory school by 1861 was called Oxford House, no. 185
King's Road, and by 1863 was under Charles Henry
Lake, a founder of the Teachers' Guild, who taught 120
boys with 10 masters. (fn. 19) It was under Alfred Bonifacio,
whose Chelsea Commercial School had replaced Ranelagh British school, by 1879 and closed between 1881
and 1885. (fn. 20)
The Roman Catholic Manor House boarding school
for boys was kept from 1834 or earlier until 1851 by
William Frederick Mylius at no. 7 Cheyne Walk, which
in 1828 had accommodated boarders under the Revd
H. Blunt. Mylius, who had moved from Carshalton
(Surrey) was said in 1852 to have conducted it for
upwards of 50 years. His sons Charles and John offered
a wide curriculum but failed to maintain the school
after 1853. (fn. 21) Roman Catholic girls could board from
1834 or earlier at no. 1 College Street under Mrs Lloyd
and Miss Little. In 1846 Miss Little's seminary, established upwards of 20 years, was at College House,
Rayner Place (later St Leonard's Terrace), and from
1847 to 1849 at no. 6 Paradise Row. Roman Catholic
support was also sought by the Misses Keats at no. 46
Paradise Row in 1838 and by Mr De Wuits at Cam
House, College Street, in 1846-7. (fn. 22) Such establishments
may not have been able to compete in the 1850s with
the London Oratory school (fn. 23) or with St Mary's day
school for young ladies, recently opened in 1860 in
Halsey Terrace (later Cadogan Street) by the Sisters of
Mercy in addition to their charity school. (fn. 24) St Mary's
took boarders by 1865 and proved to be Chelsea's most
enduring private school, being described as a girls'
boarding school in 1935 but receiving small boys in
1938. It had 148 mixed pupils, aged 5-11, on the eve of
its closure in 1954. (fn. 1)
Other comparatively long lived mid 19th-century
schools included that of William Webbe, probably at no.
32 Paradise Row by 1834 and at no. 9 Lower Sloane
Street by 1838, at no. 18 Sloane Terrace in 1848, and at
no. 17 in 1850. Webbe was styled principal of Sloane
Terrace Academy in 1872 and remained at no. 17, as a
'private teacher', in 1881. (fn. 2) Frances and Elizabeth
Faulkner, daughters of the local historian, taught 11
young boys at their father's house, no. 27 Smith Street,
in 1851, when Mary Ann Faulkner taught girls at no. 24,
Waldegrave House. (fn. 3) The first advertised their preparatory school as Cadogan House and had moved it to no. 1
Markham Square by 1863 but Waldegrave House
remained a ladies' school, under Mrs Frances Clarke, in
the 1870s. (fn. 4) Catharine or Katharine Lodge, Trafalgar
Square, was so named from 1850 when Mrs Julia Field
and Miss Lowman renamed Bath lodge and opened a
girls' school there, which passed to Miss Catherine Hall
and closed probably in 1895. (fn. 5)
Of 29 private schools advertised in 1861, 11 were
solely for boys. Only four masters were associated with
the College of Preceptors: J.P. Hall and Dr Richard
Wilson, who were fellows, Bonifacio, and J. D'Arnaud in
Whitehead's Grove. Among the ladies, only Miss A.
Ward in Markham Square was an associate of the
college. (fn. 6) Many more schools existed, since in 1871 13
were classed as private and 30 as 'adventure'. Most,
however, with attendances of under 30, can have occupied no more than one room and did not survive the
opening of board schools. (fn. 7) St Leonard's Terrace
provided instances of short lived enterprises, with
schools kept by Mrs Mary Little at no. 18 (then Rayner
Place) in 1845, by Mrs Caroline Smart at no. 9 in 1850
and at no. 13, with Robert Smart and apparently as two
schools, in 1855, by Mrs Burnett next door until 1869,
and by Henry and Clara Durant at no. 23 in 1872, where
they were followed by Mrs Ann Harrison and in 1879 by
Misses Mary and Jane Moore. (fn. 8)
Chelsea Grammar School, for 35 boys including
boarders, was opened by the Revd J.E. Wilson in 1870
and survived in 1879. Other apparently new and short
lived preparatory schools in 1872 were F.J. Weightman's
Hollywood and the Revd W. Harris's school at no. 10
Walton Place, Hans Place. (fn. 9) The Girls' Public Day School
Trust in 1873 was leased Durham House for its first
school, from which it moved in 1879 to Cromwell Road,
Kensington. (fn. 10) The Daughters of the Cross at St Wilfred's
convent, besides briefly conducting an orphanage
school, from 1870 taught young lady boarders. (fn. 11) The
Daughters later also taught at the Oratory middle
school. (fn. 12) Advertising a commercial class in 1920 and a
high school in 1935, they apparently still took boarders
in 1938 but after the Second World War may have
provided merely a hostel. (fn. 13) Chelsea High School for girls,
under Miss Hitchcock in 1884 and under Miss Hart at
no. 10 Durham Place in 1891, had closed by 1894. (fn. 14)
In 1902 only two preparatory schools were listed,
both presumably for boys, at no. 103A Fulham Road and
at no. 37 Sloane Street. (fn. 15) In 1924 there was a girls' school
at no. 131 Sloane Street and a boys' at no. 134. (fn. 16) The first
survived under Miss D.M. Birtwhistle in 1938; the
second had opened by 1918 under Charles Herbert
Gibbs, a 'pioneer of pre-preparatory schools', and was
still at no. 134, under C.H. Taylor and W.W.M. Holding,
in 1938. (fn. 17)
Several schools flourished from the 1950s, most of
them in the area of Sloane Street. Hill House, opened by
Lt-Col. H.S. Townsend in Switzerland in 1948 and at no.
17 Hans Place in 1951, was the first school attended by
Prince Charles (later Prince of Wales), in 1957.
Described as pre-preparatory in 1958 and as Hill House
International Junior School by 1970, it had five premises
around Knightsbridge and over 1,000 boys and girls
aged 4 to 13 in 1999, when it was managed by the
founder. (fn. 18) Garden House was opened by Margery de
Brissac-Bernard, originally a ballet teacher, (fn. 19) at no. 53
Sloane Gardens in 1951. It had 347 pupils in 1997, when
the school office was at no. 53 and girls aged 3-11 were at
nos. 28, 49, and 51 Sloane Gardens and boys aged 5-8
were in new premises at nos 26 and 28 Pont Street. (fn. 20)
Sussex House was opened in 1952 by V.W. Davies of
Davies's (Tutors) at no. 68 Cadogan Square, where he
had taken tutorial pupils since 1950. Named after an
earlier tutorial establishment in Holland Park
(Kensington) and a sister of Lyndhurst House (Hampstead), Sussex House was managed by Davies's Educational Services Ltd from 1974 and by an independent
trust from 1994. In 1958 it bought premises which it had
shared at no. 67 Cadogan Street, formerly a Sunday
school of Westminster's Belgrave Presbyterian chapel,
and which it converted in 1977 into the Nicholl hall.
Sussex House had 175 boys aged 8-13 in 1997. (fn. 1) Bridge
House, no. 2 Cadogan Gardens, existed in 1958 but
perhaps only briefly. (fn. 2) A house in the Vale was used as a
day school without planning permission from 1958 and
had 107 pupils in 1963, when the LCC ordered its
closure. (fn. 3) Cameron House, founded in 1980 as a
co-educational preparatory school called Cameron
Learning Tree, moved in 1986 from St Luke's church to
no. 4 The Vale, where it had 100 pupils aged 4-11 in
1997. (fn. 4)
The Octagon school took its name from the former St
Mark's Practising School, which was equipped as a
library when the neighbouring science block was opened
as a co-educational nursery and preparatory school in
1994. Although fashionable and soon with 210 pupils, it
only had a short lease which had been granted to an
American businessman, Ed Loyd, by King's College.
Friction over plans for expansion and arrears of rent led
to the school's abrupt closure in 1996. (fn. 5)
Jamahariya school opened in 1982 in the former
Kingsley (originally Cook's Ground) school in Glebe
Place which had been sold by the ILEA to the Libyan
People's Bureau in 1979. The sale caused alarm,
bringing assurances from the United Kingdom and
Libyan governments that the school was solely to
provide an Islamic education. It was expensively refurbished for c. 300 children, mainly of diplomats and aged
5-17, and was still open in 1995. (fn. 6)
Private institutions for older pupils (fn. 7) included the
Automobile Engineering Training College, found in
1924 to train for the car industry and including aeronautics from 1931. Its war-damaged premises at no.
102 Sydney Street were largely rebuilt in 1950, when
the college had 350 students and was about to offer
agricultural engineering. It had ceased to be independent by 1989. (fn. 8) The London Academy, residential
and 'run on university lines', offered a general education and a course for continental students at no. 15
Cadogan Gardens in 1958 (fn. 9) and until 1975 or later. The
Heatherley School of Fine Art, originating in a secession
from the government's School of Design in 1845,
moved from Warwick Square, Westminster, in 1978. It
used part of the former college of St Mark and St John
until the ILEA helped to install it in 1979 in the former
Ashburnham school, whose east wing was bought by
the Heatherley charity in 1988. The school had 50
full-time and 120 part-time students in 1997, besides
160 at its 'open studio' which retained the traditional
atelier system. (fn. 10)
The many nursery schools since 1945 have included
the Violet Melchett Training College at no. 43 Chelsea
Manor Street, which offered a 20 months' course at its
own residential and day nursery in 1958. (fn. 11)