Clifton College Website

The History of the Preparatory School

Providing for the younger boys

Percival was committed, from the first, to a school containing both very young boys and sixth-formers. It was not surprising that among the first 76 boys in the school, 20 were under the age of 12 and two were only 9, for he wanted to fill it as quickly as possible. However, by the early 1870's there were enough applicants for places to have made it possible to limit the age of entry and rely on entrants from the many dame and private schools around Clifton.

Percival, however, had different ideas, and as early as February 1863 wrote of starting a separate preparatory school for boys from the age of 6 upwards. This initial proposal did not meet with a great response, so he again suggested to the College Council in November 1873 that it would be a good idea to:

This was, in fact, how the Preparatory School began. E. D. Mansfield was appointed master in charge. He was later to become a successful head-master of Lambrook Preparatory School, Bracknell, co-author of the famous Greek grammar, and three times chairman of IAPS, like two of his successors (the only three to do so). At first the school was situated in 4 College Terrace, Northcote Road, adjacent to the Zoological Gardens. No 3 College Terrace was also rented and a doorway was made in the upper storey as a means of communication. There the boys had their classes and those few who were boarders had accomodation above. By 1880 this was proving too small and the school was moved to Gresford Lodge, 6 The Avenue, where North Town Pre is now situated.

The 'preparatory' boys remained there until 1908 when they were moved to No 12, The Avenue, which had been a school since 1870. H. Norton Matthews, an outgoing, sociable man who later when on to become Warden of Will's Halls, part of the University of Bristol, had purchased the property and the Rev. A. A. David appointed him head of the 'College Preparatory'.

Mr Matthews quickly set about publishing a Preparatory School prospectus advertising very good facilities for boarders. Photographs showed a large schoolroom, a spacious dormitory for seven boys with individual washbowls and jugs lined up along one wall, a dining room with linen tablecloth and flowers on a table where the boys would dine with the Headmaster and his wife. There was also the very latest in 'fire escapes' consisting of a canvas chute extending from a first floor window at the front of the house. Tuition fees were £24 a year and the boarding fee was £60.

Norton Matthews wrote re-assuringly in the prospectus:

The Preparatory School only catered for boys up to the age of 11. The Junior School, for 11-14 year olds, developed in a different way. In 1863, when Percival could not get enough support for a separate preparatory school, he persuaded the Rev. Bedford Hartnell, who ran a school at 7 Rodney Place, Clifton Village, to become part of the College. The arrangement between them was similar to that made with the early College housemasters. The College Council rented 7 Rodney Place for for teaching use and as a dwelling house for Hartnell, who received £150 per annum and was allowed to take up to 30 boarders. He paid the school a £5 fee for every boarder in excess of ten in the house, and presumably kept the rest of the boarding fees to cover the cost of caring for the boys and any profit he might make. No 8 Rodney Place was later also rented as more space was needed and by 1867 the Junior School boys had to go to Big School to be taught.

Continued in Part 2...

© 2006-8 Clifton College