Hastings Schools in 1924

Questions on schools and colleges, past and present
Chris Page
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Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2016 10:22 pm

Hastings Schools in 1924

Postby Chris Page » Sun Sep 03, 2017 12:36 pm

Can anyone tell me where I can find a listing of all schools in the Hastings and St Leonards area that existed in 1924 or thereabouts, please? I am trying to find out what school my father and an aunt might have attended between 1913 and 1926. I have done the usual searches on Google, etc but haven't been able to come up with anything.

Does anyone have a Street Directory for Hastings of that period as I believe they may contain a listing of schools?

Thanks for any help.

Chris Page

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ColinL
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Re: Hastings Schools in 1924

Postby ColinL » Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:10 pm

There are some school attendance and admission records on Find My Past & Ancestry. There are others on East Sussex 'The Keep' website. There were many private schools in Hastings at that time in addition to state schools. I don't have time at present but I could look up Hastings newspapers because they some times had reports of school sports and prize giving days. Your relatives may well be mentioned. In addition if you let us know where they resided at the time and if it was likely that they attended a private school, some of us on here might be able to suggest a likely school.

Chris Page
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2016 10:22 pm

Re: Hastings Schools in 1924

Postby Chris Page » Thu Sep 07, 2017 6:49 am

Thanks Colin. I have a FMP subscription and have checked The Keep indexes to see what Admission records they hold for Hastings but, as you say, there were a large number of schools and i am trying to narrow it down by finding the schools close to where they lived. I am not sure where my father, Stanley Thomas PAGE born 26 July 1912, lived when his family moved to Hastings in October 1924 but think it could have been Hillside, Westfield. He went to the Municipal Secondary School (now Varndean College) in Brighton up to the family moving to Hastings. Presumably he would have attended school in Hastings until he was 14 (the school leaving age at that time) in July 1926. My aunt, Margaret Ellen Anatasia GOLLOP was born 10 December 1909 at 33 Tower Road, Hastings where she lived with her family until 1915, then at 1a Wellington Houses in 1916, and 226 Bohemia Road from 1917 to 1920 when the family moved to Brighton.

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ColinL
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Re: Hastings Schools in 1924

Postby ColinL » Thu Sep 07, 2017 11:53 am

Have you posted on SFHG? Your name is familiar? I have different name on SFHG

There was a Tower Road school (if you are the same poster, then I have already sent you this info). That would have been nearest both addresses for your aunt. As for Stanley Page at Westfield it is possible that he had gone to a school in a village rather than Hastings, perhaps Brede or perhaps to Battle. Local borough boundaries meant that Westfield was not a part of Hastings

Chris Page
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2016 10:22 pm

Re: Hastings Schools in 1924

Postby Chris Page » Thu Sep 07, 2017 2:27 pm

Thanks again Colin and yes, I am a member of SFHG and post on their forum, but I don't recall being in contact with you before. I thought Tower Road School was a junior and/or primary school whereas my Dad would have gone to a senior school, being aged 12-14. For the same reason I didn't think he went to a school in Westfield or one of the other villages as I didn't think they had any senior schools?

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ColinL
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Re: Hastings Schools in 1924

Postby ColinL » Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:40 pm

I was thinking of Tower Rd for your aunt who lived in the catchment area it was junior/primary. Village schools would often teach mixed age groups, given that in the first second decade of the 20th C it would not in many cases be possible to get to a school in a nearby town. In some very rural parts of the country (Scottish islands) it is the same today, particularly if slightly older children do not wish to board.

My knowledge of Hastings schools in the east/north of the town is relatively limited but there used to be Clive Vale, Sandown and Priory Road and Mount Pleasant that would have been operational at the time given that their architecture was similar having been built around the same time. Although Mt Pleasant became a junior later my dad was a pupil there around 1928 aged 14. In addition I read in a newspaper item about a Tower Rd prize giving that some pupils gained scholarships to St Helens School. It was probably a girls school. Some boys also got scholarships to the Art School from there as well.

I use the name Gerry on SFHG

Chris Page
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2016 10:22 pm

Re: Hastings Schools in 1924

Postby Chris Page » Thu Sep 07, 2017 5:55 pm

Ah, Gerry, yes we have been in contact on SFHG but as you are known on here as Colin, i didn't recognise you! Thanks for the further info on Hastings Schools and I will look into all of them. I will check newspapers as well, a good idea, as I have a subscription to FMP.


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