Hill Brow Preparatory School for Boys

Hill Brow School was restricted to boys-only and never admitted scholarship boys or others funded by the public purse on grounds of academic merit rather than the ability of their parents to pay the fees.

The 1901 Eastbourne census records confirms the presence of Hill Brow School at that address and under the same headmastership, together with 13 boys aged between 9 and 14.

Gowland's Eastbourne Postal & Borough 1936 Directory[4] records that in that year the school was registered under the names of Robert Gidley Thornton and JP & F.J. Matthews MA as joint-principals.

What had been the school building in Gaudick Road, Eastbourne, was subsequently damaged on 16 August 1940 when a German pilot was killed falling onto its roof after his parachute failed to open.

[5] The school's new location was at Somerset Court in Brent Knoll, which was locally (but fallaciously) remembered as one of Judge Jeffreys' court-houses in the aftermath of the 1685 Monmouth Rebellion.

[6] There Matthews had the assistance of a small staff of seasoned, if untrained, teachers most of whom had experienced active service during the war, including: (Major) George (Rory, O'Brien) Newbery who first joined the school in 1929; James Serjeant (believed to have been ex-RAF); and William 'Bill' Mayo (ex Royal Navy).

He also imparted his carpentry and gardening skills to boys who signed up for his after-school classes, and set up a rifle range for pupils to use as an extracurricular activity.