St Peter's Court
| Closed | 1969 |
|---|---|
| Type | Independent prep school |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Location |
Broadstairs Kent United Kingdom Coordinates: 51°21′N 1°25′E / 51.35°N 1.42°E |
| Gender | Boys |
| Ages | 7–13 |
St Peter's Court was a prep school for boys at Broadstairs in Kent, U.K. In 1969 it merged with the nearby Wellesley House School 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 (later King George V) for his younger sons. During the Second World War it was evacuated to Shobrooke House, near Crediton in Devon,[1] and its head master, F. G. Ridgeway, predicted that after the war many preparatory schools would not survive much longer.[2] 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.[3]
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").[4] In 1969 the school merged with another Broadstairs prep school, Wellesley House.
The school had its own Eton Fives court,[5] and many of its boys were prepared for Eton. The writer Simon Raven later recalled that "St Peter's Court was once a very smart private school, much patronised by the Royal family."[6]
Former pupils
Those educated at St Peter's Court include:
- Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1900–1974)[7][8]
- Prince George, Duke of Kent (1902–1942)[9][8]
- George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe (1918–2007)[10]
- Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Leach (1923–2011)[11]
- Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu (born 1926)
- Robin Leigh-Pemberton, Baron Kingsdown (1927–2013), Governor of the Bank of England[12]
- Neil Sclater-Booth, 5th Baron Basing (1939–2007), financier
Notes
- ↑ Cyril Cunningham, Beaulieu: Finishing School for Secret Agents (2005, ISBN 1844153126), p. xi
- ↑ Donald P. Leinster-Mackay, The Rise of the English Prep School (1984)
- ↑ Potpourri, from Exeter Express & Echo newspaper dated 23 January 1945, accessed 6 January 2015.
- ↑ The Public and Preparatory Schools Year Book 1954, p. 643
- ↑ Lord Kingsdown, a tribute at fivesonline.net, accessed 6 January 2015
- ↑ Simon Raven, Alms for Oblivion (2012 edition), p. 30
- ↑ "Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1900–1974)" in Oxford Dictionary of Biography (Oxford University Press, 2007)
- 1 2 James Panton, Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy (2011), p. 251
- ↑ Peter Millar, "The Other Prince" in The Sunday Times dated 26 January 2003
- ↑ Lorna Almonds, A British Achilles: The Story of George, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, p. 25
- ↑ Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Leach, obituary in The Daily Telegraph dated 26 April 2011, accessed 6 January 2015
- ↑ The International Who's Who 2004 (Routledge, 2003, ISBN 1-85743-217-7), p. 892
