Rhubarb Issue 12: November 2023

2 023 is the 150th anniversary of St Edward’s move to Summertown.The School was founded in 1863 in central Oxford and under the guidance and vision of its second Headmaster,The Reverend Algernon Simeon, the entire school moved to the new site, in the then remote village of Summertown in 1873.The incredible foresight, courage and determination these pioneers demonstrated during these first years, is outlined in the below feature . St Edward’s Themove to “ the miserable village of Summertown ” By Chris Nathan, School Archivist

FEATURE

YEARS ANNIVERSARY

Cricket XI outside Mackworth Hall, 1869

St Edward’s first site – New Inn Hall Street, Central Oxford

St Edward’s School was first established by the Reverend Thomas Chamberlain in New Inn Hall Street, Oxford in 1863 under Headmaster Frederick Fryer, one of his curates.The buildings, leased from Brasenose College, were very dilapidated and in fact were ‘dangerous and over-run with rats’.The pupils and staff lived in very difficult cramped conditions; some teachers even slept in cupboards under the stairs. Hygiene was very primitive and, with only cold water available, tin baths in front of the open fire once a week and swimming in the Cherwell were the only means of keeping clean. Sports were played in a small yard attached to the property and in the local parks, where cattle could be relied upon to cause disruption.The School struggled to find pupils despite offering low fees as an incentive and their target audience were the sons of the

St Edward’s first site – New Inn Hall Street, Central Oxford

low-paid clergy. In 1870 Chamberlain appointed the young and untried Reverend Algernon Simeon, to the role of Headmaster and he soon hired William Wilkinson, the renowned Oxford-based architect to find other premises for a new school.This he did – in Summertown.

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