The Building of St Edward's School: A Chronology (1870 - 2020)

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ST. EDWARD’S SCHOOL OXFORD

J UNE 2018

The Building of St. Edward’s School Oxford A Chronology (1870 - 2020)

C HRIS N ATHAN A RCHIVIST

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The Building of St. Edward’s A Chronology (Version 2) 1870-2020

This booklet originally came about over several years, basically compiled piecemeal from enquiries received both inside and outside the School, and then recording the researched material in various notebooks, so as not to have to go over the same ground continually in the future. The compilation of the 2013 School Roll was another good reason this material had to be ‘joined up’ in order to give an outline Buildings and Estate Chronology of St. Edward’s. I brought all the various elements together into one publication in 2016, both for my own information going forward and also perhaps helping others who had a close interest. Pictures were also selected from the Archives which were hopefully additive to the text. All this data has been obtained from ‘bona fide’ sources including the Archives, the two official histories of the School by Desmond Hill in 1963 and Malcolm Oxley in 2015, Nicola Hunter’s ‘150th’ Year Book of 2013, the excellent ‘Chronicles’, relevant written quotes from Council Meetings*, Governors’ Meetings*, General Purposes Committee Meetings*, several anecdotes and diary entries from such dignitaries as Simeon, Cowell, Ferguson, Kendall and the memories of a predecessor of mine, Jack Tate, the School Archivist for 19 years on top of a teaching career spanning 32 years, whose records were all left perfectly preserved. More recently the written notes of the late Nick Quartley (who proof read this booklet the first time round), Fran Prichard and Hubert Beales amongst others were most helpful with the original production. Richard Hayes was also a constant sounding board. This work only seeks to cover the record from the time the School arrived on Summertown in 1870/1, and does not include the New Inn Hall Street Days 1863-1870. In an effort to give some perspective to the monetary amounts invested over the years in the School Estate, actual figures are shown and brought up to date by using the Stephen Morley “Historical Inflation Rates and Calculator’ website 1751-2025 throughout. Now following the Heritage Report commissioned by the School in 2024 by Worlledge Associates and the release last summer to the School Archives of the 2010-2020 Governors’ Minutes. I have updated this Chronology to 2020, which I will use for enquiries as needed and share with whoever it is felt appropriate. (*Up to 2020)

Chris Nathan Archivist November 2025

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St. Edward’s School Buildings Chronology

The First 50 years (after the arrival in Summertown)

1870 - The Reverend Algernon Simeon purchases the nine year old St. Edward’s School, based in New Inn Hall Street Oxford, paying £300 (£48,600 today) for the furniture and fittings from the Reverend Thomas Chamberlain, the original founder. 1871 - Simeon secures 5.75 acres of farmland at the Old Diamond Farm in Summertown from its owner, the Reverend Canon Henry Edward Bull, Vicar of Lathbury (a cousin of Thomas Chamberlain). Cost is a ‘modest’ £1,500 (£243,000 today) paid out of Simeon’s personal funds and a mortgage. Edward Bull proves very stubborn and the negotiations are prolonged and very stressful for Simeon

Old Diamond Hall Farm, circa 1767, looking south down the Banbury Road towards Oxford. The farm buildings are on the left.

The eminent Oxford based architect, William Wilkinson, is engaged by Simeon to design the first School buildings and the Quadrangle (then called the ‘Meads’*). His instruction is to build ‘a modest and sufficient building’. Initial cost of these original buildings will be £3,000 (£486,000 today) paid for by mortgage and partly guaranteed by personal friends, particularly Lord Beauchamp, as well as from Simeon’s own funds. In the first schedule between Simeon and Wilkinson, the stated objective is to ‘prepare some plans for a School Building of a very plain character at the lowest sum for which a building suitable for the purpose could be erected’ (Simeon Obituary - Chronicle June 1928). * The Meads is a Winchester College term and introduced by Algernon Simeon, a former student. (Box 307) Wilkinson, in addition to the architectural challenges, also handles the final and conclusive survey of the School’s New Inn Hall Street premises in 1871, recommending that no extra expenditure should be made to improve what was already a condemned building and encouraging Simeon to look elsewhere. He also interviews contacts regarding other possible sites in and around North Oxford, including with a Mr. Napier, the Duke of Marlborough’s agent. He is also deeply involved in Simeon’s negotiations with the Reverend Bull. Furthermore he makes contact with Highway Board in order

P AGE N O : 6 that the land chosen can be enclosed and he seeks out fixtures and fittings including furniture. His relationship with Simeon is a strained and often distant affair, with the architect’s clerk handling most of the correspondence between them, usually about disputed bills. 1872 - First turf cut by Simeon and his confidante Felicity Skene in a daisy and onion field School enters into a contract with Thomas & Steven Orchard of Banbury for the building of the new School following the ‘plans and specifications of Mr. William Wilkinson of Oxford, Architect’ for the sum of £8,659 (£1,385,440 today) before ‘any alterations and reductions’. Six other building companies will join Orchard during the first years of construction (Oxley, 2015) The terms of the contract stipulate that the Main Buildings be finished by May 1st - in fact on that date the building still has no roof (Simeon, 1898 Roll) Initial buildings planned for accommodating 135 boys, a figure not actually reached until 1915 (Oxley 2013) Thomas Chamberlain lays foundation stone of first buildings on 15 th July 1872. Work commences on the School House (Main Buildings) and Warden’s House ( both William Wilkinson designs ). 1873 - School (80 pupils) migrates to the new site from New Inn Hall Street, Oxford in August despite the building work being by no means complete. Simeon himself lives in the Servants’ Hall for the first term. ‘The place was full of workmen; doors and even some windows were not in. It was a desperate condition. Unspeakable muddle and confusion everywhere, and nothing ready’ (Simeon Biography). Nevertheless the June 1881 Chronicle reports that ‘the first block of buildings was formally opened on 25 th November 1873, in the presence of a large company’ School rent ‘Watcombe Cottage, 13 Banbury Road’ as the first Sanatorium - initial contract is for two years. Eventually succeeded by the ‘The Hollies’ in South Parade, purchased by the School in 1878 (Boxes 15 and 30) Good progress made with the new build during the fine weather in the early part of the year. ‘The West Wing (Warden’s House) is roofed in and preparations are made for beginning the Headmaster’s House’ (New Buildings)’ (February 1925 Chronicle) In the later part of the year the weather changes and so does Simeon’s mood, not helped by his bad health; from his sick-bed he conducts a correspondence with Wilkinson and his clerk in an attempt to hasten completion, but by 22 August ‘the site is still awash with workmen and their concomitant paraphernalia and some of the doors and windows were still to be fitted’ (Hill, 1963) ‘I swept out dormitories, throwing chips and lime out of the windows - there was not time to scrub them. I worked like a navvy from morning to night to get the absolute necessities of life, beds into the rooms before the boys came in August 22. The first morning after their arrival the new stove would not draw. We could not get any hot water for a long time and the poor boys had to wait for their breakfast, confusion - nothing ready. One boy fell into the well that had been dug for building purposes’ (Simeon Diary) (Hill, 1963) Foundation Stone laid for the Chapel ( William Wilkinson design ) by the Bishop of Oxford, John Mackarness and Lord Beauchamp (School Trustee) on 25 th November. Expected costs for building the Chapel are £10,000 (£1,600,000 today), with half coming from donations (N. Hunter, St. Edward’s, 150 Years -2013) The School (and certain named Trustees) purchase a plot of land adjacent to the Chapel site to be used as a future burial ground. Measuring 52ft by 16ft, the vendor is a Robert Blackford Mansfield of Southampton

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Masters’ Common Room erected by extending the Box Room in Main Buildings northwards ( William Wilkinson design ). At the eastern end (now Apsley), Reading and Games Rooms are added Main and small Dining Rooms finished in Main Buildings, also first kitchens built ( William Wilkinson design ) Gas Company quote £400 (£60,800 today) for laying a mains supply to the St. Edward’s site, although the School will only be liable for £250 (£38,000 today) with the Gas Co paying the rest. Extended terms are permitted, 10% per annum over 14 years until the total amount is paid (Box 12) 1874 - ‘School House’ is completed, later referred to as ‘Main’ or even ‘Old’ Buildings. Amongst the plants bedded at that time on the south and east walls is ivy from John Keble’s home, Hursey Vicarage. This lasted ‘in its extensive foliage’ until the Beehive is demolished in the 1930s (Hill, 1963) Dormitories in ‘Main Buildings’ are named ‘Ken’ (30-40 beds), ‘Combe’ (30-40 beds) and ‘Keble’ (25 beds). A further dormitory ‘Beauchamp’ is converted into a temporary Chapel until the real one is finished. Chapel building commenced Fives Courts erected ( William Wilkinson design ) against north wall perimeter, the first of much future permanent and temporary building in this area School acquires a cottage with stables in South Parade for the School’s animals (today’s Estates Offices and Reception) (Box 303). Part of this property is converted into workshops. The previous owner is Mr. Davenport, a tailor in Oxford The School leases the Cricket Ground ‘adjoining the Keble Cricket Ground, west of the Woodstock Road’ for one year at the cost of £5 (£740 today - Box 15). The first School cricket square is rolled by ‘voluntary gangs of workers’ (Beatrice Simeon, 1929), including some of the pupils during the holidays 1875 - First Cricket Pavilion erected, in the form of a small hut made of corrugated iron, in the south east corner of the Keble Fields School rents ‘Grove House’ in Middle Way, Summertown for one year from March, where a teacher (the Reverend Ernest Letts) and his wife, preside over fourteen boarders (Box 15 and Hill, 1963) School purchases the land immediately east of the Main Buildings and Woodstock Road, again from the Reverend Henry Edward Bull, Vicar of Lathbury, Bucks for £ 265 (£40,545 today) (Box 15) The School enters into a contract with the Duke of Marlborough to rent three acres of land (then called Graf’s Field) on the west side of the Woodstock Road, at a yearly rental of £20 (£3,060 today) to be used as ‘a Cricket or Recreation Ground on which the tenant may erect a temporary wooden pavilion for his own use’ (Box 15) Maintenance Workshops and Stores Building built along the north wall 1876 - The Bathing Place (also later called the Outdoor Pool or Bath) dug out and completed ( William Wilkinson design ) in a kidney-shape (to accommodate existing overhanging trees) and originally lined with wood. The shallow end is so low that grazed knees are a real hazard. The ‘Bath’ is partly dug out by the boys under the supervision of the Reverend Ernest Letts. Previously the School had used ‘Chubb’s Corner’ for swimming which was on the Cherwell, beyond The Cherwell Inn* (Cowell, April 1933 Chronicle) *The Cherwell Inn no longer exists

P AGE N O : 8 The top stone of the Chapel Spire laid on 25 th November by Algernon Simeon ‘in a Bucket raised by block and tackle, with a surpliced choir grouped on the top most scaffolding in pouring rain, singing appropriate psalms and antiphons’ (Chronicle, Autumn 1988). Teachers who live outside the School have a tough time commuting, as the lack of draining services in Summertown often results in flooding underfoot 1877 - Chapel and burying-ground consecrated on 5 th June by the Bishop of Oxford, John Mackarness (Box 12) Work on first Chapel Organ ( by Vowles ) commences in September Algernon Simeon adopts title of Warden Work commences to provide two further Fives Courts and a Playground (with shelter) at the northern end of the School’s premises Agreement reached between the Warden and his Headmaster, the Reverend Herbert Dalton, to have the use of a house called henceforth ‘The New Buildings’ ( William Wilkinson design ) to be erected on the south side of the Quad . Simeon will provide £2,000 (£312,000 today) towards the costs and Dalton will pay 5% of any interest on loans taken out to complete the outlay (Oxley, 2015). In a personal note left by Simeon after he left the School in 1894 he writes: ‘In 1882, the large house called ‘The New Buildings’ was added - very much against my will; but in accordance with an indefinite promise of providing a boarding house for the Reverend H.A. Dalton. He claimed the fulfillment of the promise upon the marriage with my sister (Mabel) and I felt bound to carry it out’ (Box 17) 1878 - Work on the Lodge (or Porter’s House) commences ( William Wilkinson design ) ‘which provided security from trespassers, also afforded rooms for three Masters’ (Simeon, School Roll 1898) The ‘Hollies’ house in South Parade completed for the use of un-married Masters (later a Sick House then quarters for domestic staff) (Hill, 1963) Nine acres rented from the Duke of Marlborough Estate across the Woodstock Road from the School at a cost of £160 per year (£25,120 today). 1879 - Chapel bells hung on 3 rd March, cast by John Taylor & Sons of Loughborough, numbering four in all and weighing in at 29 cwt. The cost is £280 (£45,080 today) (N. Hunter, 2013). They are first rung on March 1st 1879 (Hill, 1963) The Lodge completed in August, first housing the Headmaster, the Reverend Dalton, until his marriage and the completion of the New Buildings; contractors are Symm & Co. a builder who will have a long association with St. Edward’s Upper South Side Cricket Field completed Quadrangle laid out and Big School building commences ( William Wilkinson design ) Cloisters ( William Wilkinson design ) between the Main Buildings to the Chapel completed at year-end Nearly all existing buildings re-decorated The ground on which Field House (later Corfe House) ( William Wilkinson design ) is to be built is rented from the Duke of Marlborough at a rate of £130 and 5 Shillings per year (£20,950 today) plus £50 (£8050 today) per acre for any ‘turf dug up’ (Box 15)

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‘Considerable progress has been made laying out the Quadrangle. The roads are nearly finished and the planting will be done this winter’ (November Chronicle) ‘In 1879, there were no omnibuses, no trams, and practically no bicycles. Oxford ended on the Woodstock Road at Rackham’s Lane (later St. Margaret’s Road). Beyond the lane was open country. There was a footpath without lamps, but with horse-posts. Beyond the allotments was the wide expanse of Diamond Farm, nearly all open grass fields. The old grey stone buildings of the farmhouse stood on the Banbury Road side, just where Rawlinson Road now enters it. There were no buildings and no crossroads till you came to South Parade, along the south side of which ran the buildings of St. Edward’s and after a gap the old vicarage. The School buildings then consisted of the Main Buildings (but only half of the present Warden’s House) and the Chapel. Between these and the crossroad was a short line of low erections - a diminutive ‘shop’ with one small window, and an open shed, known as the Covered Playground. Behind the Chapel was a kitchen garden, with a greenhouse along the only wall - that facing the street - and a row of pig-sties at right angles to it. If you walked out from Oxford, you might meet a postman with a lantern - never a policeman!’ (Cowell, December 1930 Chronicle) Cowell’s memories also state that the Quad had just been laid out and was no longer used as a playground and the cricket field opposite had just been enlarged ‘up to the Keble Field’. The School entrance then was a small gate ‘exactly opposite the end of the long Main Buildings passage’. The Lodge and the School wall along the Woodstock Road was replacing the old hedge, but was unfinished. ‘Indoors, the main room extended from (the then existing) Tilly’s Junior Room to Mr. Yorke’s sitting room - and in this dwelt all the boys except the Second Form, who had one-third of Cowell’s Senior Room, and a third of Tilly’s Senior Room. The latter were proud and exclusive, (they owned a chessboard) and ‘are said to have taken in a daily paper’ * ‘The organist, Dr. Iliffe, and two other Masters lived in the Main Buildings. Three others lived in what now is the Liberal Club in George Street, and the Head Master (Dalton) in South Lawn, at the corner opposite the new garage, The Matron’s Room was at the back of the Warden’s House’. ( *The above extracts were from Cowell’s original memories after his first visit to the School for interview in 1879 as well as later memories and printed in Chronicles in 1930-31, so the descriptions are from that date) 1880 - Entrance gates to the Woodstock Road hung, made of ‘very heavy English Oak, very massive, and will be worthy of their prominent position when the whole of the School buildings are complete’ (March Chronicle). These are the gates in the arch of the Lodge A second and more robust Cricket Pavilion is built in the eastern side of the Keble Grounds (or ‘Pound Ground’), standing on the same side as the existing one, but a few yards further north and facing due east instead of south-east as before’ (March Chronicle). The building is broken into in July but the thieves quickly apprehended by the ‘efficiency of the local police’ (July Chronicle) ‘During the holidays the Quadrangle has been laid out and plans for the new buildings on the east side have been completed. These will comprise the Big School (84ft by 28ft), the new Library* (50ft by 24ft), the Masters Common Room (18ft by 24ft) and one Class Room** (17.5ft by 24ft)’. Mr. Franklin of Deddington undertakes this work, which should be finished by the beginning of the Summer Term 1881’ (May Chronicle) ‘The Big School is approached by a handsome flight of stone stairs lit by three large light windows, the tracery of which is in harmony with the windows in School and Library. All these will be filled with cathedral glass, each section bearing one quarter of the Warden’s family arms. The (Big) School itself has a high platform at the northern end which will be useful on all public occasions, and a turret staircase at the back is provided for use at such times. The roof is arched and paneled and the room will be lit by two gas sunlights in the roof. Underneath is the Library, which is intended for the use of Masters and boys who want books of reference, which cannot generally be obtained in private libraries. The ceiling and walls will be panelled, and the bookcases constructed of oak and walnut, with

P AGE N O : 10 handsome carving. The fireplace is placed in an arched recess, and will be one of the principle features of the room. Folding doors separate the Library from the Common Room’ (December Chronicle) *The Library was afterwards used for some years as the ‘Shell’ class room and by 1925 as the Masters’ Dining Room **The School Room ran the full length of the East Wing and was divided into three rooms, which in 1925 were called New Zealand, Natal, and the Sixth Form Room. The Sixth worked at the south end, the Shell on benches raised between the door and the wall facing Chapel and the Modern Form occupied the middle of the room (February 1925 Chronicle) ‘The south side of the Quadrangle will be composed of three Boarding Houses, each capable of accommodating 30 boys. The Head Master’s, which will be built first (later New Buildings), will occupy the south-west Corner.’ (December Chronicle). This statement proved very premature and thirty-five years ahead of its time The Cloisters running down the east and south sides of the Quadrangle ( Harry Wilkinson Moore Design ) ‘will enable those living in the masters’ houses to come to Chapel without going into the open air’ (December Chronicle). Again very premature and in fact erroneous, as no Cloisters were ever built on the south side of the Quadrangle The ‘Chronicle’ publishes a ‘remarkable lithograph’ entitled “Simeon’s Dream” showing a Quadrangle ‘completed by two Boarding Houses on the South side and a third in the south east corner, which is connected by cloisters to Big School and the Chapel’ (Hill, 1963). This iconic lithograph is uncannily accurate as to what followed in the years ahead, apart from the south east corner of the Quadrangle and the southern Cloisters ‘The Lodge was completed, and the Head Master, the Reverend H.A. Dalton, through whom I came ( Cowell had just been hired onto the staff ) was settled with his family in the Lodge. The front wall was complete up to the green gate, the entrance to the field opposite the Lodge was made, and the new pavilion built (it replaced a corrugated iron affair, which was moved down to the Lower Field and became a cow-shed, which duty it performed for many years). The slope on the Lower Fields had been planted with a collection of willows given to Mr. Simeon’. By 1930 only two of these trees remained (Cowell, 1930) ‘In the large room there (Big School) were nearly always four forms. The Sixth with the Headmaster at the far end, the Modern Form in the middle, and the Shell by the door. There were two lines of desk benches on both sides all down the room, and in the corner by the door, in the space between it and the wall facing the Chapel were three small benches raised slightly behind the other, so the boys on the top form could comfortably kick the boys below them! Opposite to me was the Second Form, nominally doing exercises. Behind me were the Fifth doing ditto, but generally engaged shoving men off the form. Opposite them was the Modern Master, supposed to be looking after them, but generally quite fully occupied with his own lot, who were a handful; at the far end was the Headmaster and the Sixth. Opposite him was a huge locked box, called the Pound, into which anything left about - books, clothes etc. was placed, and only released on payment of a fine’ (Cowell, February 1931 Chronicle) The above arrangement was common in most Public Schools of that time, using ‘the Westminster Model’ where the boys sat in ‘groups’ up each side of the large School Room (or Hall) - one side being called ‘Up’, another called ‘The Shell’ as it was formed in a semi-circular shape - this name became popular and common throughout many Public Schools and ‘generally designates a Form linking Lower and Upper Forms - at St. Edward’s however the Shell formed the lowest of the three forms in the Upper School’ (Box 303) Cowell describes the fact that almost all the boy’s daily possessions were kept in their desks including sports clothes (except boots). Changing was done in the lavatory, ‘a room with (cold water) basins all around on the site of what is now (in 1930) the Masters’ Dining Room. There was a Boot Room beyond it’ (Cowell Diaries)

P AGE N O : 11 1881 - Big School completed and used for the first time on Simeon’s birthday, February 20 th . Included are a new Common Room, School Rooms and Library ( Harry Wilkinson Moore Design ), first used on 23 rd March. The more public opening of Big School is on 9 th June (the first play in Big School is held 5 th June 1882) This completes the east side of the Quadrangle, the north side already occupied by dormitories, Hall, and Class Rooms, the Warden’s House being at one end of the block, and the Chapel at the other end. On the west side is the Entrance Lodge, and the group of buildings, already a familiar object to travellers on the Northern Line from Oxford, will be completed by the erection of three Boarding Houses on the South side, one of which (New Buildings) will be begun immediately. The total accommodation, when all is finished, will be for 200 boys, beside Day Boys, who can now be received from Oxford’ (Chronicle June). As shown earlier some of these statements were premature and even incorrect finally East end of Main Buildings converted into Class Rooms New Buildings ( William Wilkinson design ) construction begins, the first on the south side of the Quadrangle, planned to house the Head Master (Rev Herbert Dalton) and his future family. During the initial evacuation of this building site, a ‘femoral bone’ and ‘two teeth’ of a mammoth is uncovered. These are sent to the Oxford Museum of Geology for analysis; a long detailed report follows of their findings in the December Chronicle, which is inconclusive, but felt that the specimens came from ‘a woolly Elephant or Mammoth’! South east corner of the cricket field levelled, with new seeding expected in the spring of 1882 ‘The spectacle of gangs of workmen, bricks and mortar, et hoc genus omni - the visible capital of the contractor - cannot claim to possess the charm of novelty to us. But gradually and surely the whole plan of St. Edward’s is advancing to completion, and since the foundation stone was laid in 1872, hardly a year has passed without leaving its legacy of additions and improvements, until we are almost, as it were, in sight of the end’ (November Chronicle) ‘In the midst, like the Tree of Life in the garden, stands the Chapel, the centre and source of the truest life of the School, and linked to it by Cloisters are the (Big) School and Library, expressing by their union our belief that human wisdom is only valuable when it advances hand in hand with what is divine’ (November Chronicle) ‘Deep drain’ laid across the Cricket Ground, which will ‘secure the new houses from damp’ and ‘add materially to the supply of water in the bathing place’ (November Chronicle) ‘In February Big School was completed, which gave us a Mathematical Room, a short-lived Masters’ Common Room, besides a room above for preparation’ (Cowell, February 1931 Chronicle) Big School was lighted in early days simply by two gas ‘sunlights’ in the roof. These had a large group of jets at the foot of a six-foot tube, which carried the hot air up to a couple of terra cotta ventilators close to the ridge of the roof, their louvres were supposed to be wired against birds, but this was defective’ (Cowell, July 1931 Chronicle). 1882 - New Buildings are opened 25 th November ‘During the Eighties a good deal of building went on. Big School was finished in 1881. In 1882 New Buildings were opened as a separate ‘House’ for the Headmaster, the Reverend Dalton. There was a ceremonial opening. The Choir, or part of it, went in procession from room to room, and some prayers and responses were recited in each. Dalton only stayed one year and left in 1883 (Cowell in the December 1931 Chronicle and separate notes in Box 15)

P AGE N O : 12 Three new Chapel windows are installed ( Charles Eamer Kempe design ) representing the ‘Holy Eucharist’, presented by Frederick Noel, ‘Baptism, and ‘Confirmation’, both presented by W. Bates and R.J. Bates in memory of William Bates, a member of the Cricket XI, who had died of Tuberculosis while still at the School in 1882 (Hill, 1963). 1883 - Meadow below Cricket Ground converted into a Sewage Farm The Outdoor Swimming Pool’s annual drainage and cleaning proves interesting as it continues to show an increasing weight of the fish. ‘Unfortunately some of the finest always get knocked on the head, but some Tench have been returned which put on half a pound to their weight since last time’! (March Chronicle) ‘The bathing-place is full again. The springs ran slowly from want of rain, but the water was of an exquisite cleanliness, such as we seldom see in the Low Countries. The fish, unfortunately, have not prospered as had been hoped. There are a good many small ones, but the neighbourhood of Summertown seems unfavourable to the growth of larger specimens.’ (April 1884 Chronicle) New stops added to the Chapel Organ (Hill, 1963). 1884 - Two new stained-glass windows ( Charles Eamer Kempe Design ) are added to the Chapel on the South side of the Chancel, one representing ‘Holy Matrimony’ (presented by the Warden and Mrs. Simeon on the occasion of their marriage) and the second ‘Christian Burial’, presented by the Warden, W. Bulstrode and Mrs. W.A. Athawes - parents of pupils who had died while at the School - also W.C. Hopton and H. Packe, both O.S.E. The Chronicle gives the cost of each window as £40 each (£6,560 today) (Hill, 1963) School leases a Boathouse at Hermes Lake, measuring 25ft by 115ft, for a 14-year period (Box 15) School Prospectus emphasises the ‘seven acres of sporting fields and the outdoor bathing place’ (Oxley, 2015). 1885 - Further Kempe stained-glass window installed in the Chapel, a joint gift from existing members of the School, representing ‘Christ, The King of Glory, exalted upon the Cross, triumphing by his death over death’ (October Chronicle). This window filled the Eastern lancet (central) window. 1886 - Warden’s House completed, including the new western extension consisting of a New Dining Room, new entrance and new bay ( Harry Wilkinson Moore design ). ‘From the Quadrangle the addition is an unqualified success; it gives mass and solidarity to the main building of the School, and enhances the dignity of the whole wonderfully. From the (Woodstock) road it is not so good!’ (October Chronicle) With the completion of the Warden’s House ‘came accusations from the uncharitable that the School now possessed four Chapels: - Big School and The Reverend Olive’s Common Room in the New Buildings being the others not generally recognised’ (Hill, 1963) School purchases the plot of land on which the ‘Hollies’ (then a School Sick-house) stands from the estate of the Reverend Cannon Bull now deceased’ (Box 15) ‘The Dining Room in the Warden’s House only catered for six people, and the upstairs accommodation was in every way too limited for a growing family’, this was prior to the extension (Cowell December 1931 Chronicle) The Gymnasium built and opens on the north wall perimeter, standing in the ‘Warden’s Garden’ and constructed of brick and timber with a boarded roof. Measuring 56ft by 28ft with a gallery at the west end and ‘heated with hot water’. Lit by skylights in the roof with windows in the east and west gables. It ‘will contain everything necessary for a first class Gymnasium’. Thomas Adams is hired as Gym

P AGE N O : 13 Instructor (July Chronicle). Building mostly paid for by parents (£300 (£52,200 today) and Simeon himself £700 (£121,800 today) (Hill, 1963) The Gymnasium and Indoor Bath were the final two additions to the School for which Simeon was responsible (Simeon, 1898 Roll) Changing Rooms (‘ Chaggers ’) - ( Harry Wilkinson Moore Design ) completed against the north perimeter wall A lengthy report for the School’s Trustees dated 25 th February 1886 by Philip Tuckett, a surveyor working for Davidson, Burch, Whitehead & Davidsons of London, followed a visit made to inspect the School at the request of Algernon Simeon to help obtain an advance of £20,000 (£3,480,000 today) ‘on mortgage’. Within Tuckett’s report is a description of the School at that time (Box 15) as follows: ‘The School consists of a large nearly square piece of Freehold Land between five and six acres, fronting the Woodstock Road and with a side frontage on the north to a cross road connecting it with the Banbury Road. Across this road, another small Freehold has been bought consisting of a small house (‘The Hollies’) used as a Sanatorium or Sick House and a plot of land adjoining on which Mr. Simeon has erected his stabling. The site first described has been enclosed from the roads (but not on the other sides) by stone walls and upon it has been erected a set of School buildings partly surrounding, and if the design was ever fully completed intended to entirely surround - a large central Quadrangle. They are substantially built chiefly in red brick with stone dressings, stone stairs, plain iron balustrades, iron window sashes; and while the design is handsome and appropriate and the accommodation, so far as I could judge good and well arranged, the fittings are plain and inexpensive and I do not see that much money has been unnecessarily spent except as to the Chapel which is costly beyond what is usually provided. The building to the left or north contains the Warden’s residence communicating by doors with the main School House and having kitchens and offices in common. The private apartments include a Vestibule Entrance Hall and rather small Dining and Drawing Rooms and study, three good bedrooms on the first (floor) and three others on the second floor. The adjoining block contains on the ground floor - a Dining Hall (60ft by 24ft), six form rooms, two (Masters’) private rooms, six Prefects’ Studies, boys’ lavatories etcetera, and the kitchens and other domestic offices with a steam engine working on pump heating apparatus. On the First Floor are two large dormitories for 30 and 25 boys respectively, nine or ten private rooms, bathrooms etc. On the Second Floor are two other large dormitories with sundry smaller rooms and bathrooms. There is cellarage under only a very small part. A Cloister leads from this block to the Chapel and to the central part of the School Block (Big School) beyond. This latter is immediately opposite the main entrance and contains a School Room on the first floor (86ft long by 28ft wide), approached by two staircases and under it are the School Library (50ft by 20ft), a class room and the Masters’ Common Room; these rooms are heated by hot water pipes. The Chapel, built of local limestone, is about 90 or 100ft long and has a small tower with massive stone walls containing an expensive block and a peal of four bells and an Ante-Chapel in the Vestry. It also has an organ loft containing an organ and six stained glass windows in very considerable artistic merit. The south side of the Quadrangle is only partly occupied at present with a Master’s Boarding House. This is built around a central area and contains in the basement, kitchens and other usual offices with heating apparatus. On the ground floor is a Vestibule Entrance Hall, dining room about 18ft by 17ft, a drawing room about 18ft by 15ft with a bow (window), a study 15ft by 14ft, Butler’s Pantry and bedroom and other offices. (There is) a Boys’ Dining Room 33ft 9in by 19ft, a (Boys’) Common Room 33ft by 16ft divided by cubicles into 18 studies, a Museum 19ft by 15ft and two Prefects’ Studies. On the first floor are two dormitories, two best bedrooms and three smaller ones or Dressing Rooms and on the second floor is one large dormitory, day and night nurseries, four small bedrooms, Work Room, bathroom, closets and there is a Servants’ Attic above.

P AGE N O : 14 The Gatehouse contains about ten rooms besides offices, of which four form a Porter’s Lodge and six are Assistant Masters’ Sitting Rooms and Bedrooms. Behind the Main Block is an enclosed Playground with (a covered) Playing Shed and Carpenter’s Shop and one Fives Court. Behind the Chapel is a large walled kitchen garden with a range of glass houses about 70ft long, and there is a small enclosed Masters’ Garden. There are also five pigsties. The Quadrangle is neatly laid out with graveled carriage drives and walks and turf with some shrubs and flower beds in front of the houses, but one position (the site of future buildings) has not yet been put into order. The stabling across the road is built in brick and tiles in a superior style, and includes two loose boxes, two stalls, washing box, Harness Room and Double Coach House with loft and man’s room over. Immediately opposite the school across the Woodstock Road are 18 acres of land extending to the Oxford and Birmingham Canal and affords space for capital cricket and football fields, and on the lower part of it a Bathing Pond has been constructed. This is stated to be leased from the Duke of Marlborough for nine years unexpired, at a rent of about £140-£150 (£24,360- £26,100 today) per annum. No commercial value attaches to this lease and the only question is whether it forms an element of weakness lest anything objectionable should hereafter be put up just opposite the school or whether an exorbitant rent or price may not be exacted for it. On the other hand, the Quadrangle and buildings are very fairly self-contained and I presume that land might always be hired for a cricket field within a short walking distance. I find that the drainage of the whole of the buildings is received by a large cesspool upon the lower part of the leased land, part of which is used in some measure as a small Sewage Farm or garden. If this land were lost, I fear that even if cesspools were constructed on the other side of the road it would not be possible to get rid of the effluent’. Mr. Tuckett’s extensive report also alludes to long conversations with Algernon Simeon who appears to have come across very well and possibly served to give the eventual overall report a favourable outcome. On the sewerage issue, Simeon stated that the Oxford Local Board was already considering a new extension of the Oxford Drainage network to include the Summertown area and Tuckett noted: ‘Looking to the buildings in progress along the road between the School and city I should think such a result probable’. Simeon advised that the ‘whole property’ had so far cost him £45,000 (£7,830,000 today). Out of this total amount £8,902 £1,550,688 today) is ‘attributed to the Chapel and its fittings’ - the assessor felt that the Chapel was far too excessive both in size and cost. Tuckett’s own value assessment of the other School buildings was £30,000 (£5,220,000 today) , the boundary walls £1000 (£174,000 today) , the (owned) land £2,500 £435,000 today) and the Sick-House and Stabling £1,000 (£174,000 today) making a total of £34,500 (£6,003,000 today) In conclusion the surveyor felt that despite certain reservations, the School had a good reputation and should not ‘be allowed to shut up for want of £20,000’ (£3,480,000 today) The Warden had confirmed that in every year that the School had been in North Oxford, net income had been in excess of £2,000 (£1,640,600 today). Of the £20,000 now desired, Simeon wanted the inclusion of £1,000 (£82,300 today) for a new Gymnasium and £1,000 (£82,300 today) for upgrading his own residence. With Simeon obviously working his legendary charm, the surveyor was able to give the bankers a positive view and while not committing to an overall judgment on how much risk this large loan carried, wrote: ‘while I cannot say that it is one as to which I would take responsibility of advising Trustees that it (the School) forms a thoroughly good security for so large a sum as £20,000, but if any client who has full power over his own funds inclines to lend that sum, he might do so with considerable confidence, that there would be extremely little risk of his losing any part of the money’ Simeon got his loan

P AGE N O : 15 In a note left in Simeon’s hand, dated after he left the School, he stated: ‘The buildings have been erected from funds as follows - £20,000 (£f3,480,000 today) from the bank, £6,000 (£1,044,000 today) from private funds ( his own ) plus a (further) bank loan of £1,500 (£261,000 today) toward ‘the Baths’. The rest, amounting to £25,000 (£4,350,000 today), accrued from profits while I was Warden 1870-1892’. This total amount then would reach a staggering £52,500 (£9,135,000 today). 1887 - After the Reverend Dalton’s departure from the School in 1883 for Winchester College, the Reverend C. Olive and his wife take over the running of the New Buildings and lodged there. When Olive in turn left shortly afterwards, the building becomes less of a personal dwelling and more of a School facility. Its original Dining Room is altered to become the first Laboratory (later a dormitory and then Menzies House Junior Room in the 1930s) (Cowell, December 1931 Chronicle). 1888 - First Laboratory (in New Buildings) opens in January. The New Buildings also now houses the third School Sanatorium or Sick-house on the two upper floors The indoor Swimming Bath ( William Hanson design ) along the north wall perimeter opens on Easter Day, ‘when the whole School lined the sides and dived in at a signal’ (Cowell, December 1931 Chronicle). Costs for the Indoor Bath, including the design, amounted to £62 (£11,036 today - Box 12) ‘While the Indoor Bath was being excavated there was a curious accident, which just missed being a tragedy. The high wall along South Parade had been skinned inside for re-facing, and a long stretch of it had fallen into the bath. Close to the inside wall of the bath was a workman with a barrow. The ruin fell right over him, just clearing his head. I remember how we admired the two clever Italians who laid the mosaic at the bottom of the Bath’ (Cowell, December 1931 Chronicle) A list of the buildings then considered ‘St. Edward’s School’ is divided thus according to Harold Rogers (O.S.E. and School Architect) written some years later - The Quadrangle – including The School Buildings and Warden’s House (completed 1873), The Chapel (completed 1877), The Lodge (completed 1880), The Big School (completed 1881), The New Buildings (completed 1882), additions to the Warden’s House (completed 1886) and The Outdoor and Indoor Swimming Baths and the Gymnasium (completed 1887). Of the above buildings, Big School had since been altered to incorporate a gallery and outside staircase and both the School Building and New Buildings had had ‘many additions and internal rearrangements’. ‘The School Buildings were entered from the main door at the east end and from the door beneath the Arches on the south side. At the right hand side of the door as one entered from the east end was the Lower Third Form Room, on the blank wall on the north side was the principal notice board ‘whereon were posted Warden’s notices, Games and Library Lists and other announcements of general interest, another notice board was added later on the south side of this entrance vestibule, with Form Lists and Masters’ notices about work’. Directly opposite, as one entered, was the long corridor leading right through the building from east to west, and connecting at the far end with the Warden’s House. On the left was the Upper Third Form Room and south of it were two more Form Rooms, which had been formed soon after 1881 by partitioning the original Schoolroom (about 60-foot-long) wherein several classes were held simultaneously. On the left side past the Upper Third Form Room was the staircase and passage with a door to the Quadrangle known as ‘The Short Way’ and whose use was limited to Masters, Prefects and the Sixth Form’ and would only be used by other boys by Prefects’ leave. Left of this door was a narrow passage into the ‘Beehive’, with the door to the Fourth Form on the left. The ‘Beehive’ was semi-circular and one storey in height, with a picturesque curved roof and lantern light and which contained six Studies for Prefects arranged fan-wise, the inner end of each Study being just wide enough for a narrow door, the curved outer wall long enough for a couch and on which the owner

P AGE N O : 16 could lie full length! For the rest the furniture consisted of a table and chair, bookshelves and ‘decorations to taste’. From the lobby from which these Studies’ doors opened, the Sixth Form was entered; this was the smallest of the three divisions of the Old School Room and the best lit, with two south-facing windows and one facing east. Proceeding westwards down the main corridor, the recess and two small rooms on the left hand were the Matron’s Quarters, though the first room was later used for various purposes, at one time a private study and another a Lending Library, and also used as a Piano Practice Room. The second room was the Matron’s Sitting Room, where she kept her store of medicines and the collars and handkerchiefs of all boys in this building - these last in pigeon-holes in recesses each side of the fireplace. Beyond the Matron’s Room was the Shell Form Room with south-facing windows overlooking the Quadrangle. This had originally been designed for a Library but became the Masters’ Dining Room before it was merged into the enlarged Dining Hall. The original Dining Hall, measuring 50ft by 25ft, occupied the rest of the building as far as the Warden’s House. On the right of the main corridor, with its door opposite the Matron’s Room was a square room with basins around three sides of it which had boot lockers with hinged flaps beyond into the Boot Room. These three rooms looked into the Playground on the north side. The Second and Lower Third Rooms had fixed desks with flaps, receptacles for books and seats around three sides with a stack of lockers, with hinged fronts, on the fourth wall; the Second Form Room had in additional central table and an armchair for the Master. The Lower Third had no table as its classes were held in the Upper Third Room where also some of its older members lived and had their lockers. The Upper Third, Fourth and Shell Form Rooms had a range of desks with lockers above them against their two long walls with a fixed bench in front, tables with moveable forms down the middle and a chair at the head for the Master. Each of these rooms had a chalkboard, maps on rollers of “the World” and “Europe”. The Fourth Form possessed a framed engraving of the Duke of Wellington on horseback. The Shell had long engravings of the meeting of Wellington and Blucher (at Waterloo) and of the battle scenes of H.M.S. Victory at Trafalgar, as well as a Christmas-Number Supplement of Portia in the Merchant of Venice. Each of these three rooms had a bracket to hold Cricket or Rowing Cups and an oak board bearing the names of some successful crews in the Bumping Races. The Sixth Form aspired to more dignity and had a window with curtains. There were a few fixed lockers, moveable forms, an adjustable reading table and a chair for the Master, as well as one or two framed photographs of Greek and Roman antiquities and a bracket for athletic trophies. The Dining Hall had a dais raised by one step along the eastern end with the High Table at which the Masters sat. There were two long tables down each wall, the Prefects (ten in number) sat at a table in the middle of Hall and those Sixth Form boys who were not Prefects had a small table between the dais and the Prefects. With increasing numbers two other tables were introduced at the west end of the Hall. The boys sat in School order with (looking from the Dais) the first table being the Second Form and beyond them the Third Form. Nearest the Dais on the left was the Fifth Form and beyond this the Fourth Form. Between the Fourth and Fifth Tables was a ‘Hot-Plate’ on which the joints were carved, this was opposite the lower of two doors, and through this door across the corridor and straight into the kitchen beyond, was trundled a heavy two-tier table called ‘The Tram’ running on wheels, in grooved metal lines laid in the floor. The first and second floors of the building remained unaltered from the original with four dormitories and the passage. With rooms either side leading to the ‘Combe’ and ‘Keble’ Dormitories. The first room on the left (on each floor) was a Master’s Sitting Room with his bedroom across the passage and the adjoining Bedrooms included a spare room on the first floor and above the second floor was Matron’s Room. The space north of the Ken Dormitory on the first floor was divided up into three bathrooms with fitted baths, and two studies, one of which was occupied by the Senior Prefect. The corresponding rooms on the second floor were a locked storeroom later converted into more bathrooms. There was a W.C. on each floor near the bathrooms. In all there were four dormitories in the School House; ‘Combe’ (Junior Forms) and ‘Ken’ (Shells and Fourth Forms) on the first floor and ‘Keble’ (Junior Forms) and ‘Beauchamp’ (which served as a temporary Chapel 1873-77, then served as sleeping quarters for the Shells and Fourth Forms) on the second floor. There were two Prefects in each dormitory sleeping in corner beds and having the ‘luxury’ of a strip of carpet and a bedside chair together with a table with a table-cloth, collar-box, looking glass and a pair of candle sticks. Every boy had his trunk at the bottom of his bed, containing his suits with a rug folded on the top. Boots were

P AGE N O : 17 kept in open lockers in the Boot-Room on the ground floor and were put on after breakfast, being exchanged for slippers between tea and bedtime. A clean white shirt, collar, socks and handkerchief and under clothes were put on the beds each Saturday night and a clean collar and handkerchief on Wednesday nights. Down the centre were washstands, three in each of the long dormitories with a double row of basin-holes and loose basins, five or six aside and a low partition in the centre carrying narrow shelves for sponge and tooth brush, etcetera and an ‘occasional’ looking glass. A towel rail ran the whole length, below the front edges of the washstand. Basins and mugs were filled with water each day for morning used. There were a further two small dormitories in the New Buildings accommodating 20 of the very youngest boys at the School later called the ‘Junior House’ by Warden Ferguson in his personal diaries The Chapel is approached from the main (East) Door of the School building through a covered way of eight bays of which six led due east, and the last two turned south. Two of these bays had arches to the Playground, on the north as well as towards the south. Beyond the double arches the corridor, or Cloister as it was called, was railed in with folding gates that were locked every night. The western portion, some 10 feet wide, formed an Ante-Chapel with an organ in the gallery above, and an oak screen with glazed fenestrations and central gates separating it from the Chapel proper. The Vestry was east of the tower, the base of which formed part of it. Set against the screen, on each side of the aisle, was an oak seat with a canopied stall at its outer end, in front of which was another oak seat, with a portion marked off by an arm in front of the stalls, and in front of the book-desks of these seats was a row, four on each side, of armed seats in pitch pine which had been in the Beauchamp Dormitory when it was used as a chapel, and in front of these the communion rails from the same source, consisting of cast-iron standards with moulded wood rails. The Warden sat in the stall on the south side with his family in the adjoining seat. The Masters occupied the back row on the north side - the Senior Master in the stall. In the second rows the Sacristans occupied the armed seat in front of the stalls, the remainder being used by visitors. The main congregation sat in rush-bottomed chairs battened together in rows of six facing inwards (i.e. north to south) in three blocks of three rows on each side of the central aisle. Boys sat in School order, the lowest forms in the front (beginning from the west) - the Prefects in the back row of the centre block. (Harold Rogers, O.S.E. and School Architect, writing in 1938 - Boxes 303 & 306) Further stained-glass window ( Charles Kempe design) installed in Chapel: ‘Unction’ in memory of Thomas

Roberts, publisher of the City of London (N. Hunter, 2013). 1889 - Additional stops added to the Chapel Organ (Hill, 1963) School Governing Body of twelve members established.

1890 - Field House (later renamed Corfe House) and adjoining cottages built next to the Avenue on the western side of the Woodstock Road. This is purchased by Algernon Simeon as a possible future family home and in the meantime leased to the School (Oxley, 2015). In reality Simeon never lived there and eventually leased then sold it to the School During negotiations to set up the Governing Body, an independent valuation of the School’s estate at that time is estimated at £34,500 (£6,003,000 today). Simeon believed this is too low and should be closer to £45,000 (£7.830,000 today). (Oxley, 2015) The seating arrangement in Chapel changes from ‘the monastic north-south orientation’ to chairs facing eastwards in rows of six or seven (Oxley, 2015)