Plymouth, Schools - Schools of the Late 19th Century

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The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History

SCHOOLS OF THE LATE 19th CENTURY

One could be forgiven for thinking that with education being provided by the State, through the Board of Education and the local Schools Boards, there was little need for any private investment in the provision of schools. That was not correct, however. The first to be opened, in that same year of 1870, was St Stephen's Parochial Schools at Devonport.

The Roman Catholic School of the Holy Cross was erected in the garden of Gasking House, Plymouth, and opened in May 1872. In that same year the St Paul's National School was built to take 220 children in the area of St Paul's Church at Stonehouse.

In February 1874 the Devon and Cornwall Girls' School Company was formed and they opened a school for girls in Sherwell House, North Hill, Plymouth, on September 14th of that same year. This developed into the Plymouth High School for Girls and the first section of its own premises were opened in January 1878.

Devonport was not to be left out and in May 1875 the Devonport, Stoke and Stonehouse High Schools for Girls was established. It soon had its own building in Albert Road, adjacent to St Michael's Church.

The Royal Marine School at Stonehouse was founded in 1882 for the free education of the children of non-commissioned officers and men of the Royal Marines and auxiliary forces, as well as marine pensioners, and was paid for entirely by the Admiralty.

Headland College, a private school for girls in Headland Park, Plymouth, was founded around 1895.

The Devonport, Stoke and Stonehouse High School for Girls went into voluntary liquidation in November 1895 and the few remaining pupils were transferred to the new Devonport Technical School in Paradise Road, Devonport.

In January 1896 Mr Alonzo Rider opened his Naval, Civil Service and Commercial School in the building formerly occupied by the Devonport, Stoke and Stonehouse School for Girls in Albert Road. It was soon renamed Devonport High School for Boys.

During the construction work on the North Yard Extension to the Royal Dockyard, the contractor, Sir John Jackson, opened a school for the children of the workmen. It was never formally named but was known as Sir John Jackson's School.