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Page Two: 5th November 2007

The King's Leigh School

As you may know, we have been slowly piecing together a broad history of education in Whitstable for our Days Gone By menu. Recently, we came across yet another school name from the past and it arose when we received a request for information from Sandford MacLean in Kentucky (see our Visitors Book). Sandford was able to supply some fascinating material.

Sandford's father had attended a school called the King's Leigh in Tankerton during the 1930s. This was an establishment that we had not encountered before but, within a few days, Brian Eames  got to work and started to unravel the mystery and we have since received contributions from some of our other regulars. 

Findings to date are given below. 

Location of the School

Brian's first discovery came from the relevant Street Indexes......

This address is located on the east side of Northwood Road close to the junction with Tower Parade. 

History of the School Building

Brian also pointed us to page 53 of Doug West's delightful book 'Portrait of a Seaside Town'. This contains a photo of Tower Parade (circa 1893) - looking eastward towards the junction with Northwood Road. In those days, little development had taken place in that locality and no properties had been built on the western side of the road. Thus Nos. 3-5 Northwood Road can be seen as a single, large building on the extreme right of the picture.

On the basis of Doug West's photo, we can suggest that the school building was one of the first properties to be constructed in Northwood Road. However, it doesn't appear to have had any substantial history as an educational establishment. In fact, Doug's accompanying text mentions that it was once the residence of a local doctor. That was Dr. Parris Piper who moved into the property in 1902 when he first came to Whitstable. He practiced in the town for a further 28 years. 

Entries in the Vistors Book from Diana Suard have provided some extra information. The house was known as King's Leigh during occupancy of Doctor Parris Piper. The school took over the site after the death of the doctor in the late 1920s and it inherited the name.

I doubt that any of our readers are old enough to have been treated by Doctor Parris Piper! However, the name will ring some bells with many local people as a Mr. Parris Piper was a well known dental surgeon at No. 1 Argyle Road in the 1950s.  He was known simply as Mr Piper but Diana has confirmed that he was the son of Dr. Parris Piper.

The King's Leigh building still exists and we can plot the site on one of  Peter Dalrymple's recent aerial photographs....

Aerial photo by Peter Dalrymple

At some stage after 1893, an extension was added to the northern wall of the house but I am not sure whether this was done to accommodate the school. In the new millennium, the whole structure has become three private properties with the original house reverting to separate numbers 3 and 5. 

The building came close to disaster during World War II. By then the western side of the road had been developed and a garage (Northwood Garage) had been located close to the junction with Tower Parade. This garage was commandeered by the army at the outset of the conflict and hit by a low flying bomb that caused a substantial fire. The garage was rebuilt in peace time before being demolished in recent years to make way for apartment block.

The School - A General View

Brian Eames has located an advert for the school. This was  published in the 1930s....

Although this provides a fairly brief synopsis, I suspect that a lot can be gleaned from it if we examine the wording closely. 

As a 'boys preparatory' school, the establishment would have catered for a relatively young age group. It also seems that it was intended for both 'board' and 'day' pupils. This makes it the first boarding school that I have come across in the Whitstable area. 

The description 'one of the healthiest parts of England' is consistent with Whitstable being a base for a number of convalescent homes in the first half of the twentieth century. I doubt that the area had any magic healing powers. I suspect that it was more a case of it being one of the seaside towns closest to London.... and, above all else, cheap! However, the boast does suggest that Mr. E. Laurence Taylor was targetting families much further afield than Whitstable and the surrounding districts. He was perhaps also looking at situations in which parental contact would be limited - hence the reference to 'Complete charge taken if desired'. But what did that phrase encompass? Did it mean that some children remained at the school during holidays... or did it almost approach legal guardianship? 

There is further evidence to support the idea that the school was aiming at an upmarket clientele...  ie the statement that boys would be 'prepared for Public School and the Royal Navy'. The reference to Royal Navy is curious. After all, who, in modern times, would direct their child towards the armed forces at prep school age?

Well, could it be that Mr Taylor was hoping to provide a service for parents whose careers or personal circumstances meant that they were away for much of the time.... possibly abroad? In particular, could he have been targetting the offspring of servicemen or families with a strong military background? At the time, Britain's massive navy and global interests may have generated a substantial market for boarding schools. It should also be remembered that the Royal Navy had a substantial dockyard, military base and marine unit at Chatham.  

Although the Kings Leigh School now appears to have been lost in the mists of time, it was sufficiently prominent in the 1930s for Mr Taylor to drop the road number from the address. 

The school address is also interesting for a more general reason. Nowadays, the word 'Whitstable' would be used for properties in Northwood Road but the advert only deployed the name "Tankerton-on-Sea". Maybe that reflects the fact that Tankerton had a distinct identity of its own during the first half of the twentieth century. However, bearing in mind that the school was within spitting distance of the industrial areas of the harbour lands and only a few yards outside the boundary of Whitstable, there could be another reason. 

In the past, Whitstable was very much a grubby working town based around its marine activities... and the name would carry less appeal to potential customers. Tankerton sounded better and the chance to add the term 'on-sea' might seal an extra school fee or two!

Even into the 1950s, there was quite a bit of elitism over the names.... with people desperately trying to say that they lived 'in Tankerton' rather than 'Whitstable'. Oh how things have changed now that Whitstable has become 'chic'!  

Curriculum 

There is nothing quite like a school report for information about the inner workings of a school. Sandford has very kindly forwarded a copy of his father's report for the Spring Term of 1935...

Immediately, we can get some idea of the size of the school register. John MacLean was in form III with fourteen other boys! As we know, the Kings Leigh building was a substantial house but it must have been pretty cramped bearing in mind that the accommodation needed to embrace 'dormitories' for board pupils, an office and catering facilities.

It would also have been restricted in terms of open space and this must have restricted sporting activities to 'physical' drill, some games and (probably for older boys).... boxing! Such outdoor facilities were clearly inferior to those of State Schools. (For example, by 1930, the Oxford Street Boys School had large playgrounds, a substantial garden and massive playing fields at Church Street). However, what the Kings Leigh lost in this respect it compensated for in terms of a more extensive academic curriculum. 

That curriculum adhered very much to the aims in that advertisement. Subjects were designed to 'prepare pupils for public school' - including Latin, French,  music and a detailed foray into specific elements of Mathematics. These would not have been available to pupils at an average State School.

Teaching Staff

We do not yet know how many teachers served the school. However, that school report provides evidence of at least three (with initials 'ELT', 'KLT' and 'VL'). There may also be evidence of a fourth (initial LT) but this may be a shortened version of ELT.

Clearly, there is evidence of the Kings Leigh being a family enterprise with much of the teaching being undertaken by Mr. E Laurence Taylor (ELT) and Kate E Taylor (KET). As yet, we do not know the relationship. It may have been husband/wife or brother/sister. However, we can have a go at putting together some tentative CVs!  

Mr. Taylor appears to have provided the physical and more general subjects (eg Physical Drill, Games, Scripture and General Knowledge). Bearing in mind the school's claim to prepare pupils for the Royal Navy, one would suspect that he might have completed a significant naval career. 

Kate E. Taylor picked up the more academic subjects. Bearing in mind the school's claim to prepare pupils for Public School, one or more of the Taylor's probably had a public school background. If that included Mr Taylor, then I would cautiously enhance the theory about a naval career.... ie "Public School + Royal Navy = Officer"

I wonder how close these theories are to reality. We may yet find out! 

School Uniform... 

Sandford has very kindly supplied a photo of his father wearing the school uniform...

As you can see, the school badge simply comprised the initials 'KL'.

The photo is also interesting for another reason. Sandford's father remained in Whitstable for a while after his grandparents moved to the USA and the lady in the centre acted as his temporary guardian. That lady is Sister Ada Sharman and she will be fondly remembered by some of our older readers as a stalwart of St Heliers Nursing Home in Castle Road. As such, she would have overseen the arrival of so many of us Natives! 

Sister Sharman was also one of the founders of the current day St John's Old Peoples Home in Gloucester Road. Quite a lady!

Other Staff

I am not sure that teachers would have taken on all the duties involved in cooking meals, cleaning classrooms, putting pupils to bed or dealing with cases of measles! So, it is likely that it employed other staff... and I wouldn't be surprised if one or two had a nursing qualifications to bolster the school prospectus.

All this raises a vague possibility. Is it conceivable that Sister Sharman had some connection with the Kings Leigh School.... and is that how she became the temporary guardian of Sandford's father back in the 1930s? 

Signs and Mists of Time...

It all adds up to a fascinating piece of social history because it is all so different from the way that things operate today. I also suspect that the King's Leigh was also quite different from any of the other schools that we have discussed to date on our Days Gone By menu!

Why is the King's Leigh not better remembered by local people? Well, part of this may stem from the fact it may  have existed for only a very short time. On the other hand, it could be that the majority of its pupils came from elsewhere. Now that we have started the ball rolling, a few extra memories may come to light. 

So... can anyone add to the picture?

Comments...

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