St Peter's School, Seaford was an independent boys' preparatory school in

Seaford, East Sussex Seaford is a town in East Sussex, England, east of Newhaven and west of Eastbourne.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. In the Middle Ages, Sea ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, that ran from 1903 until 1982.

History

Before and during World War One

Seaford House played host to St Peter's School in 1903, as an Edwardian prep school when it was founded by Maude Taylor in Crouch Lane. Taylor, who brought a small number of boys with her from an earlier school in Broadstairs, is recorded in the school history as having been a granddaughter of

Thomas Arnold Thomas Arnold (13 June 1795 – 12 June 1842) was an English educator and historian. He was an early supporter of the Broad Church Anglican movement. As headmaster of Rugby School from 1828 to 1841, he introduced several reforms that were wide ...

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

. In 1907 it moved to a purpose built house designed and built by a Mr Morling and there it remained until 1982 when the school closed. On moving into the purpose-built school, Taylor brought in two masters from St Peter's Broadstairs, Geoffrey Hellard and

Oswald Wright Oswald Walter Wright (20 March 1877 – 19 December 1933) played first-class cricket for Cambridge University in 1899 and Somerset in 1902. He was born at Maxton, Dover, Kent and died at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Wright was educated a ...

, and became matron instead. Taylor left in 1912 when Hellard married. In 1914 Rolf Henderson became the headmaster and his portrait painted by his brother,

Keith Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

, a Scottish artist, hung in the school dining room. In many ways Rolf was the first true headmaster of St Peter's. On 20 July 1915 the school playing fields were used to host a review of troops by Lord Kitchener. Kitchener mounted his horse in front of the school, and the boys gave such a loud cheer that the horse reared up, and almost dismounted its rider.

Before and during World War Two

In 1934 Pat Knox-Shaw, who had joined the school in 1919 as second master, took over the reins as headmaster on Rolf Henderson's retirement. With the support of Marjorie, his wife, Knox-Shaw steered St Peter's through until 1955. In 1940, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, St Peter's evacuated to The Nare Hotel in

Veryan Veryan ( Cornish: ''Elerghi'') is a coastal civil parish and village on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village has been described as one of Cornwall's loveliest inland villages and as ′a mild tropic garden′ ...

near

Falmouth, Cornwall Falmouth ( ; kw, Aberfala) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,797 (2011 census). Etymology The name Falmouth is of English or ...

. It soon moved to Castle Hill, home of Lord and Lady Fortescue at

Filleigh Filleigh is a small village, civil parish and former manor in North Devon, on the southern edge of Exmoor, west of South Molton. The village centre's street was, until the 1980s opening of the North Devon Link Road, the main highway between ...

in North Devon until the end of the war, when in 1945 St Peter's moved back to its old home in Seaford, now vacated by the Army, and resumed normal service.

After World War Two

In 1955 Pat and Marjorie Knox-Shaw retired and Basil Talbot, an assistant headmaster, a member of the team from the 1930s briefly took over but he retired through ill health. Michael Farebrother, another assistant headmaster, took the helm and shortly after was joined by an old boy, Harry Browell who together with Serena his wife, ran St Peters until 1967 when they retired to Australia. The gap was filled by Farebrother's brother and sister-in-law, John and Margaret Farebrother who moved down from Malvern College where John was a senior housemaster. As times changed, and boarders began to be fewer, the age of the traditional prep school's days were numbered and that coupled with the age of the Farebrothers left no alternative but to close St Peters in the summer of 1982. The school was well-equipped, with facilities for rugby (called rugger), football (called soccer until the late 1970s), tennis, cricket, hockey, squash, shooting, Eton fives, archery, climbing and swimming. A chapel, with windows by

Goddard & Gibbs The firm of Goddard & Gibbs were London-based English glassmakers and stained glass window manufacturers. The company was established by Walter Gibbs in 1868, although one firm which it subsequently acquired had been established earlier, in 18 ...

, was built from 1938 to 1940, and opened just before the school was requisitioned for the War. It has all been swept away. There was an auction and many of the contents were purchased by friends of the school. The war memorial in the Chapel is now in

Seaford Museum The Seaford Museum and Heritage Society is a local history museum located at the Martello Tower in East Sussex, England. It was established in 1979 and contains objects, archives and displays relating to the history of the local area. The Muse ...

, located in the

Martello tower Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts. They stand up ...

in the town. The buildings and grounds disappeared under a housing estate. What remains of the school are the large number of old boys many of whom meet at reunions in London held since 1990. They are members of The St Peter's Old Boys Association which has a web-site a
St Peter’s, Seaford
- www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Mike Farebrother died in 1987, John Farebrother died in 1996 and his widow, Margaret Farebrother, died in 2006. In 2013 a retired teacher at the school, Christopher Jarvis, was convicted of sexually assaulting boys at St Peters in the 1970s. He was sentenced to eight years in prison. Jarvis taught at St Peters from 1962 to 1980, and at Bede's prep school in Eastbourne from 1982 to 2012. In 2015 he was convicted of further cases of sexually assaulting boys at St Peters from 1962 onwards.

Former pupils

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. * Peter Blake (1927-2011), cricketer. *

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(1928-2013), actor. * Sir Trevor Dawson, Bt (1931-1983), the 3rd Baronet Dawson, who was a merchant banker and committed suicide following an insider trading scandal. * Nic Fiddian-Green (born 1963), sculptor. * Sir

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(1914-2001), MP. * Sir John Fletcher-Cooke (1911-1989), MP. * Sir

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. * Herbert Jones (1940-1982). * Rupert Jones (born 1969), army officer. *

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References

External links

* http://www.stpetersseaford.org.uk/ * http://www.stpetersseaford.org.uk/history/history.htm where licence documentation is referred to. {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Peter's School, Seaford Educational institutions established in 1903 Educational institutions disestablished in 1982 Defunct schools in East Sussex 1903 establishments in England 1982 disestablishments in England Seaford, East Sussex