Milham Ford School was a girls' secondary school in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, England, located in the suburb of
New Marston
New Marston is a suburb about northeast of the centre of Oxford, England.
History
New Marston is built on land that was originally part of the manor of Headington. It was rural until the 19th century, when housing began to develop along Marsto ...
on
Marston Road
Marston Road is a road in the east of Oxford, England. It links London Place, the junction of St Clements, the foot of Headington Hill ( Headington Road), and Morrell Avenue by South Park to the south with the suburb of New Marston to the n ...
. It was founded in East Oxford in the 1880s and closed in 2003.
History
The school's origins lie in the 1890s when sisters Emma and Jane Moody started a private nursery school for boys and girls, located in their house in
Iffley Road
Iffley Road is a major arterial road in Oxford, England. It leads from the Plain, near Magdalen Bridge, southeast towards the village of Iffley. While it becomes Henley Avenue at Iffley Turn, and then Rose Hill, the whole stretch from the ri ...
, East Oxford;
it seems likely that this was their parent's family home at 7, Iffley Road.
Milham Ford Cottages
By 1898, the school had moved to a cottage, or group of cottages,
in
Cowley Place, south from
The Plain
The Plain (french: La Plaine), better known as The Marsh (french: Le Marais), was the majority of independent deputies in the French National Convention during the French Revolution. They sat between the Girondists on their right and Montagnards ...
close to
Magdalen Bridge
Magdalen Bridge spans the divided stream of the River Cherwell just to the east of the City of Oxford, England, and next to Magdalen College, whence it gets its name and pronunciation. It connects the High Street to the west with The Plain, no ...
and
Magdalen College School.
It was from there that the new girls' school was launched, being named after the Milham Ford that crossed the River Cherwell nearby. It was advertised as "a new day and boarding school for girls" which also took boys up to the age of ten and made "special arrangements" for children under seven.
Fees at the new school were 2
guineas
The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from t ...
(£2 2s) a term.
The initial curriculum, which was described as "thoroughly modern",
consisted of English, divinity, mathematics, French, Latin, class singing, drill and needlework; extra fees were charged for French and German conversation, drawing, painting, music and singing.
Mllham Ford School opened to the pupils on 1 May 1899 with Miss Jane Moody as Mistress (Head) and her sister Emma and cousin Talbot Moody as Assistant Mistresses.
The first boarders joined in the Autumn Term.
The cottages in Cowley Place appear to have been a combination of school, boarding house and family home; in the 1901 Census the household consists of the Moody parents, Jane and Emma Moody (schoolmistresses working at home), another 19-year-old schoolmistress, eight boarding pupils and a domestic servant.
[Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901 Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archive]
Expansion at Cowley Place
In 1904, Emma and Jane Moody sold the school to the Church Education Corporation.
The Corporation acquired the school in connection with Cherwell Hall, a women's teacher training college which it had established on a neighbouring site in 1900 and the two institutions fell under joint management until 1908. When Miss Dodd took over as headmistress in 1905, Milham was described as consisting of "three picturesque but scholastically inconvenient cottages"
and in 1906 the school was rebuilt with a view to accommodating up to 225 pupils; the Corporation also established a boarding house to be "run along Cheltenham lines".
["Ecclesiastical Intelligence." ''The'' ''Times'', 9 July 1906, p.13]
Pupils at this time were taught by a "staff of women graduates" which included student teachers from Cherwell Hall who were expected to spend a term teaching at Milham as part of their practical training; the student teachers were drawn from universities in the United Kingdom, Canada and India. In 1906, ''The Times'' reported that the curriculum made special reference to Oxford's historical and literary associations and that each girl had a school garden.
In 1908, Oxford City Council approached Milham as part of its programme to increase the number of secondary places in the City. The management of the school was separated from that of Cherwell Hall and a new board of governors was created. In 1923 the school was sold to the City of Oxford as the Local Education Authority (LEA), as the governors could not meet the cost of further expansion.
After buying the school, the LEA rapidly expanded it by adding huts as extra classrooms.
One of these huts was used by Magdalen College School and, in 1957, dismantled and re-erected in Cowley as a band hall for the
City of Oxford Silver Band
The City of Oxford Silver Band is a long-established competing, performing and touring band playing in the British brass band tradition. The band is notable for its emphasis on training and being the progenitor of several other bands in the loc ...
.
In 1939, the school moved to new and larger premises on Marston Road.
The former school premises were used to teach evacuee children during the Second World War and by th
Architecture Department of the College of Technology, Art and Commerce (later part of Brookes University)from 1945-1958 when it was acquired by
St Hilda's College. The Milham Ford Building was demolished in 2018.
Boarding house
The boarding house built in c.1906 was at 210 and 212 Iffley Road. In 1911, it was home to 7 women, 23 pupils aged 10-18 and 4 female servants of whom three were teenagers . The house was supervised by the House Mistress, Miss Mulliner, and the School Matron. Other residents included two teachers, one a German national. The pupils were mainly from England and Wales, although eight were born overseas including British India, South Africa and Argentina.
Harberton Mead
The new school was built on a site on
Marston Road
Marston Road is a road in the east of Oxford, England. It links London Place, the junction of St Clements, the foot of Headington Hill ( Headington Road), and Morrell Avenue by South Park to the south with the suburb of New Marston to the n ...
between
Harberton Mead
Harberton is a village, civil parish and former manor 3 miles south west of Totnes, in the South Hams District of Devon, England. The parish includes the village of Harbertonford situated on the main A381 road. In the 2001 census the parish ...
(which was its address) and
Jack Straw's Lane
Jack Straw's Lane is a residential road in Oxford, England.
It runs between the north end of Pullens Lane on Headington Hill and Marston Road.
History
The land east of the Marston Road was part of Headington until the 20th century and was ...
.
[Jack Straw's Lane](_blank)
. The original 1906 foundation stone was moved to the new site.
Milham Ford became a girls'
grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
in 1944. In 1948 it was described as a two-form entry school with 380 pupils, but with plans to move to three-form entry. It had grown to 500 pupils by 1959 and 570 by the end of Miss Price's headship in 1966.
It became a girls'
comprehensive upper school
Upper schools in the UK are usually schools within secondary education. Outside England, the term normally refers to a section of a larger school.
England
The three-tier model
Upper schools are a type of secondary school found in a minority of ...
in September 1973 as part of the City's move to a
three-tier comprehensive system, with pupils joining in the third form (Year 8).
In 1976, Milham became caught up in the debate over the controversial sex education film
Growing Up (1971) after a number of parents and pupils contacted the
National Viewers and Listener's Association. The film had been shown to pupils in biology lessons with the support of the then headmistress, Miss Laws and the majority of the governors.
The school was closed following a return to a two-tier system and the majority of the site was sold in 2003.
The school was sold to
Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...
in 2003 and the following year it started to be used by its School of Health Care and Social Science.
The former playing field area in front of the school is still owned by Oxford City Council and is no
Milham Ford Nature Park In 2006 Brookes sold part of the site to the south for housing; the new streets were named Mary Price Close and McCabe Place in memory of two former headmistresses.
Headmistresses
1890s–1978
Jane Moody (b. 1878) and Emma Moody (b. 1880), joint founders. The Moody sisters were the daughters of James Moody, a butler at St John's College, Oxford. Jane Moody was educated at Oxford High School
and was Mistress (Headmistress) of Milham from 1899 until the school was sold in 1905
when she became Vice-Principal and Secretary; she is also described at this time as a "Registered Teacher".
Jane married in 1909 and by 1911 was living in Camberly, Surrey with her husband and her sister Emma.
[Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911 Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archive][1939, England and Wales Register]
Miss MacKenzie-Smith
LLA (Hons) (St Andrews) became the first Principal of Cherwell Hall Training College when it was opened in 1902 becoming, additionally Principal of Milham Ford when it was acquired by the Church Education Corporation in 1905. Miss MacKenzie-Smith is described in advertisements as a "sometime student" of
Newnham College
Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicent ...
.
Catherine Isabella Dodd
Catherine Isabella or Isabel Dodd (8 April 1860 – 13 November 1932) was an English academic, novelist and education writer. In 1892 she became the first woman on the academic staff of Victoria University of Manchester, as a lecturer in educatio ...
LLA (St Andrews) (1860–1932), principal 1905-1917 and also Principal of Cherwell Hall Training College 1905-1908. Catherine Dodd was an educationist and author with a national reputation whose achievements included being the first female academic on the staff of Victoria University of Manchester.
Joan Stewart Hamon McCabe OBE (c. 1868–1938),
[England and Wales, ''National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations''), 1858-1995] vice-headmistress 1912–1917,
[''The Times'', 6 Sept. 1912, p 8] headmistress 1917–1931.
Joan McCabe was born in St Helier, Jersey where she attended
Jersey Ladies' College.
[University of London; London, England; ''University of London Student Records 1836-1936'', Senate House Library, 1899] In 1890, she gained an
Intermediate of Arts
Intermediate Arts (IA) is an academic diploma awarded by a high school or junior college after the completion of 12th grade or equivalent in some countries like India and Nepal. However, as for Nepal, the usage of IA, ISc, and the like has become ...
as an external student of London University.
Before moving to Milham, Miss McCabe taught at
Cheltenham Ladies' College
Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Consistently ranked as one of the top all-girls' schools nationally, the school was established in 1853 to pr ...
.
She died in January 1938 and is buried at Rose Hill Cemetery, Oxford.
Evelyn Bailey (b. 1903),
headmistress 1931–1949
Mary Roper Price OBE, MA (Oxon) (1902–2002), headmistress 1949–1966.
Mary Price graduated in history from
St Anne's College, Oxford
St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 ...
and was a respected educator and historian with a commitment to girls' public sector education; she served on a number of national bodies.
Mary Price wrote or contributed to several history books including ''Portrait of Britain'' and ''Portrait of Europe'' (
OUP
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
).
Winifred Mary Laws MA (Oxon) (1918–2021), headmistress 1966–1978.
Winifred Laws graduated in physics from
St Hugh's College Oxford. She entered teaching following war service as an officer in the
WAAF's Technical (Radar) Branch, becoming headmistress of Burnley High School for Girls for ten years before moving to Milham in 1966.
1979–2003
* Miss Alice Wakefield 1979 to 1986
* Miss Janet Edwards 1986 to 1987
* Miss Elizabeth Higgins 1987 to 1996
* Mrs Gloria Walker 1996 to 1999
* Mrs Anne Peterson 1999 to 2003
Notable alumnae
*
Gertrude Entwisle (1892-1961), engineer, first female student, graduate, and associate member of the
Institution of Electrical Engineers
The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and Information Technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of Te ...
.
* Marion Elaine Richardson (1892-1946), art teacher. Richardson was a pioneer of a child-centred approach to teaching art and was also active in introducing art classes in prisons. She was the author of ''Writing and Writing Patterns'' (1935) and ''Art and the Child'' (1948).
*
Gladys Fischer (née Munday), MBE (1914-2011), educationist. Gladys Fischer's first job on leaving Milham was as the School's librarian. In 1939, she married and moved to Germany, where she spent the rest of her life. In 1945 she founded the Englishes Institut Heidelberg, and was active in promoting British-German understanding and cultural exchange.
*
Olive Gibbs (née Cox) , DL (1918-1995), Labour politician,
anti-nuclear
The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, natio ...
weapons campaigner and Lord Mayor of Oxford
*
Joyce M. Bennett (1923-2015), the first Englishwoman to be ordained a priest in the
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
was a pupil when her school was evacuated here in 1939 .
*Tamsyn Love Imison (née Trenaman), DBE (1937-2017), educationist
*
Elaine Margaret Paintin (1947-2010), historian, archaeologist and arts administrator; former Head of Art at the British Library and drafter of the
Treasure Act (1996)
*
Jeanetta Laurence OBE (b. 1949), ballet dancer and former Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet
*
Isabel
Isabel is a female name of Spanish origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of '' Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheva''), Arising in the 12th century, it became popul ...
and
Christine Maxwell (b. 1950). internet entrepreneurs
*
Frances O'Grady, Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway (b.1959), trade unionist; the first woman to hold the post of Secretary General of the TUC
References
External links
Names Database: Milham Ford School, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK Retrieved 29 July 2014.
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Educational institutions established in 1938
Educational institutions disestablished in 2004
Schools in Oxford
Defunct grammar schools in England
Girls' schools in Oxfordshire
Defunct schools in Oxfordshire
Oxford Brookes University
1938 establishments in England
2004 disestablishments in England