Clovelly-Kepplestone
[1] The founder and driving force behind Clovelly-Kepplestone was Frances Anna Browne, whose first venture was a dame preparatory school for boys in Eastbourne, St Bede's.
[1]A capable woman of considerable strength of character,[2] she was the daughter of an Irish clergyman, Rev Neligan, Chaplain to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
Finally a compromise was reached whereby she was permitted to open a preparatory school (maximum age normally 14) which would primarily feed pupils to the college.
During the Michaelmas Term of 1894, "St Bede's – Eastbourne College Preparatory School" opened in Blackwater Road with four pupils under the supervision of Mrs Browne's headmaster, Mr Burnett.
Alarmed, the College Council proposed that an annual capitation fee of £10 per boy be paid by Mrs Browne, who defended her ground stoutly in a number of long and baffling letters before agreeing to a temporary compromise of a guinea a year.
This background is mentioned in Too Late to Lament, the autobiography of her son, Maurice Browne, known as the theatrical manager responsible for Journey's End.
[3] With the original premises no longer big enough to accommodate its pupils, Mrs Browne decided to purchase Clovelly, a large detached house also in Blackwater Road, Eastbourne.
Relations between Mrs Browne and the college became strained, the latter proposing a fee of £50 – £60 annually for any boy remaining at St Bede's over the age of twelve.
A brochure produced towards the end of the First World War states that, "Mrs Browne and Miss Tait-Reid receive pupils of good standing, whose parents wish them to have the benefit of the best modern education combined with healthy and home-life surroundings."
Pupils included a member of the Jordanian Royal Family, the daughter of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the first President of Pakistan, and HRH Princess Amrit Kaur of Kapurthala, who was later to marry the Rajah of Mandi.
Due to poor health, Miss Tait-Reid gradually became less involved with the school and by 1917, Mrs Browne is described as the sole principal in Gowlands directory of Eastbourne.
After the First World War expansion took place and a junior school with a separate principal was set up at Leighton Lodge, also in Staveley Road.
[1] Each term began with the pupils assembling at Victoria Station in London to catch the school train to Eastbourne, where (in the early days) a convoy of horse-drawn carriages was waiting to take them in procession to Meads.
After the Upper IV, there was a choice of curriculum: some parents preferred their daughters to continue to matriculation, but others opted for a full domestic science qualification which included cookery, laundry, upholstery and home nursing.
[1] Feared but respected by pupils and staff alike, the imperious Mrs Browne insisted on strict rules, while still cultivating a family atmosphere.
Nevertheless, some girls became expert at flicking a letter into the wall letterbox outside the main gate as the crocodile (a line of children walking in pairs) passed.
In addition to the traditional school orchestra, there was a fifth form jazz band, conducted during 1921 by the future Rahnee of Mandi, Amrit Knaur.
Holy Days were kept when they occurred during term and Jewish girls were not required to attend morning prayers, which was unusual in boarding schools at that time.
Many nationalities were represented: Czech, Indian, Latin American, Persian (as Iranians were generally known in those days), Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish.
Each magazine carries a diary of school events such as a concert by Fritz Kreisler at a local theatre, a lecture on Sir Ernest Shackleton's expedition to the South Pole.
Sir Ernest and Lady Shackleton lived near to the school and the latter helped with the Girl Guides and presented prizes at the annual Speech Day in 1926.
Another magazine reports on a lecture of the exploits of Captain Hill (Mrs Browne's son-in-law) as a secret agent in Russia; yet another relates the participation by girls at the "Waifs and Strays Bazaar" at Eastbourne Town Hall.
[1] Mrs Browne, in poor health, retired to Putney in the autumn of 1930, selling out to finance a pension on the clear understanding that her daughter would continue to be Principal.
To the stunned assembly of parents, teachers and pupils Miss Frankie Browne announced that she had been told the previous day by the chairman of the board that a new principal had been appointed for the coming term and that she would be leaving.
Miss Browne stated further that the Executive Committee of the Old Girls’ Club had given her a vote of confidence and that a letter of protest had been signed by every member of the teaching staff and sent to the Board.
But most parents remained loyal to the Brownes and transferred their children to a new school to be opened by Frankie and "run in the best traditions of Clovelly-Kepplestone".
Somehow the new school was made ready for September 1934 at The Hoo, a house designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens just outside Eastbourne in Church Street, Willingdon.
In 1934, the year when the Governors dispensed with the services of Frankie, more shocking news arrived: her youngest son, Ted, had committed suicide.
These qualities gave her the will to survive and make a success of her first two schools (St Bede's and Clovelly) although she failed for various reasons to realise the full value of each when they were sold.
In his autobiography, Maurice Browne writes of the end of Clovelly-Kepplestone and its effect on his mother: "When the final collapse came she was on her death bed; her three surviving children tried to keep the news from her.
