St Peter's Court was a prep school for boys at

Broadstairs Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St Peter's, and had a population in 2011 of ...

in Kent, U.K. In 1969 it merged with the nearby

Wellesley House School Wellesley House School is an independent day and boarding preparatory school in the coastal town of Broadstairs in the English county of Kent. Founded in 1866, it educates boys and girls aged 3 to 13. History The history of Wellesley House Sch ...

and its site was redeveloped for housing.

History

The school was established during the 19th century and came to prominence in the early 20th century when it was chosen by the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

(later King George V) for his younger sons. 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

it was evacuated to Shobrooke House, near

Crediton Crediton is a town and civil parish in the Mid Devon district of Devon in England. It stands on the A377 Exeter to Barnstaple road at the junction with the A3072 road to Tiverton, about north west of Exeter and around from the M5 motorwa ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, and its head master, F. G. Ridgeway, predicted that after the war many preparatory schools would not survive much longer. In the event, the move to Devon had one alarming result. At 4 a.m. on 23 January 1945, while occupied by some seventy St Peter's schoolboys and staff, Shobrooke House caught fire and was almost completely destroyed, with the death of two of the boys. After the end of the war the school returned to Broadstairs and was able to continue for many more years. In 1954 it had two joint head masters, the Rev. F. G. Ridgeway and C. C. Ridgeway, M.A., the number of boys was stated as 70 to 80, and there were ten teaching staff ("seven resident masters and three ladies"). In 1969 the school merged with another Broadstairs prep school, Wellesley House. The school had its own Eton Fives court, and many of its boys were prepared for Eton. The writer

Simon Raven Simon Arthur Noël Raven (28 December 1927 – 12 May 2001) was an English author, playwright, essayist, television writer, and screenwriter. He is known for his louche lifestyle as much as for his literary output. Expelled from Charterhouse Sc ...

later recalled that "St Peter's Court was once a very smart private school, much patronised by the Royal family." In October 2019, Wellesley House celebrated the 50th anniversary of its amalgamation with St Peter’s Court.

Former pupils

Those educated at St Peter's Court include: *

Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, (Henry William Frederick Albert; 31 March 1900 – 10 June 1974) was the third son and fourth child of King George V and Queen Mary. He served as Governor-General of Australia from 1945 to 1947, the only memb ...

(1900–1974)James Panton, ''Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy'' (2011), p. 251 *

Prince George, Duke of Kent Prince George, Duke of Kent, (George Edward Alexander Edmund; 20 December 1902 – 25 August 1942) was a member of the British royal family, the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary. He was a younger brother of kings Edward VIII and Geo ...

(1902–1942)Peter Millar, "The Other Prince" in ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, wh ...

'' dated 26 January 2003 * George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe (1918–2007) * Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Leach (1923–2011) *

Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu Edward John Barrington Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu (20 October 1926 – 31 August 2015), was an English aristocrat and Conservative politician, best known for founding the National Motor Museum, as well as for a pivota ...

(1926–2015) *

Robin Leigh-Pemberton, Baron Kingsdown Robert "Robin" Leigh-Pemberton, Baron Kingsdown, (5 January 1927 – 24 November 2013) was a British Peer and banker, who served as Governor of the Bank of England from 1983 to 1993. Education and career Leigh-Pemberton was educated at St P ...

(1927–2013),

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the Bank of England * Neil Sclater-Booth, 5th Baron Basing (1939–2007), financierPaid Notice: Deaths SCLATER, BOOTH, NEIL LUTLEY
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' accessed 2 October 2017 * Sir Peter de la Billiere (born 1934), Commander-in-Chief of British Forces in the Gulf War

Notes

{{authority control Boarding schools in Kent Broadstairs Defunct schools in Kent