Mount House was a

coeducation Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

situated in the outskirts of

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town and civil parish in the West Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy, from which its name derives. At the 2011 census, the three electoral wards (N ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

; there was an associated preparatory school for primary school children. In June 2014, the school formally merged with Kelly College to form Mount Kelly School. The school had fifty

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

s, including playing fields, set on the edge of

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite that forms the uplands dates from the Carb ...

and including a stretch of the

River Tavy The Tavy () is a river on Dartmoor, Devon, England. The name derives from the Brythonic languages, Brythonic root , once thought to mean 'dark' but now generally understood to mean 'to flow'. It has given its name to the town of Tavistock and ...

History

Mount House School was founded in 1881 by Miss Parker and Miss Tubbs at Alton House, Tavistock Hill,

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

. In 1890 the school moved location to North Hill, Plymouth (now the site of St Matthias church hall), moving in 1900 to larger premises at Mount House, Approach Road, Plymouth (Tubbs's birthplace). Plymouth was heavily bombed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the school re-located to a 50-acre site at Mount Tavy in 1940. The school was considerably developed from 1955 onwards by its last 'owner headmaster' H.P. 'Tony' Wortham (1919-2004) who made it over to a charitable trust on his retirement in 1984. The school subsequently became co-educational in 1996 with a pre-prep established for 3 to 7-year-olds. The nearby public school Kelly College had long been the destination at age 13 for a good proportion of Mount House pupils, and the two institutions merged in 2014.

Facilities

Facilities that were available at Mount House:- * All-weather pitch * 6 grass pitches for rugby, football, cricket and rounders * 700 square metre indoor sports hall * 2 squash courts * Out door cricket nets * 3 cross country courses * Netball court * Tennis court * 9 hole golf course * 25m heated outdoor swimming pool * Theatre * Boating lake

Notable former pupils

* William Child Villiers, 10th Earl of Jersey, film and TV producer *

Ed Bye Edward Richard Morrison Bye is a British film and TV producer and director. He directed the episodes of the science-fiction sitcom ''Red Dwarf'' from Series I-IV and VII-VIII. Early life Ed Bye is the son of Royal Marine Colonel Francis Cliffo ...

, film and TV producer and director * Philip de Glanville, former England Rugby captain *

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist. He was the author of Christopher Hitchens bibliography, 18 books on faith, religion, culture, politics, and literature. He was born ...

, journalist *

Peter Hitchens Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 1951) is an English Conservatism in the United Kingdom, conservative author, broadcaster, journalist, and commentator. He writes for ''The Mail on Sunday'' and was a Foreign correspondent (journalism), foreign cor ...

, author and writer * Lord

David Owen David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, (born 2 July 1938) is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 to 1979, and later ...

, former Foreign Secretary and Leader of the SDP * Lewis Pugh, endurance swimmer and ocean advocate * David Somerset, chief cashier,

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

Paul Tyler Paul Archer Tyler, Baron Tyler, (born 29 October 1941) is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from February to October 1974 and from 1992 to 2005, and sat in the House of Lords as a life pee ...

, Liberal Democrat MP for

Bodmin Bodmin () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor. The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is bordered ...

References

{{authority control Defunct schools in Devon Educational institutions established in 1881 Educational institutions disestablished in 2014 Boarding schools in Devon Tavistock 1881 establishments in England 2014 disestablishments in England