St Cyprian's School
- For the girls school in South Africa, see St. Cyprian's School (South Africa).
St Cyprian's School was an extremely successful preparatory school for boys, founded in 1899, which operated in the early 20th century in Eastbourne, East Sussex, England. Like similar preparatory schools, its purpose was to train pupils to do well enough in the examinations (usually taken around the age of 12) to gain admission to Eton, Harrow, and other leading "public schools" (as private secondary schools are known in England).
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History
St Cyprian's was founded and run by L. C. Vaughan Wilkes and his wife Cicely (known as "Mum"). The school uniform was a green shirt with a pale blue collar, corduroy breeches and a cap with a Maltese Cross for a badge. The colours of the old boys' tie were "dark green, pale blue, and black."
The school building, located on fields behind Summerdown Road, was gutted by fire on 14 May, 1939, and one of the housemaids died in a fall from an upper window. Emergency accommodation was arranged at Ascham St Vincents, another preparatory school in Eastbourne. On 20 July 1939, St Cyprian’s moved to Whispers, near Midhurst in West Sussex. It stayed here for 18 months until the building was requisitioned by the army during World War II and then went to Rosehill in Gloucestershire. Numbers dwindled and the remaining boys finally went with the then Headmaster, W. J. V. Tomlinson (Bill), to join Summer Fields School, in Oxford.
In April 1997, Eastbourne Civic Society (now The Eastbourne Society), in conjunction with the County Borough of Eastbourne, erected a blue plaque at the house in Summerdown Road which is all that remains of the school building.
Former Pupils
The school was attended, among others, by
- Sir Cecil Beaton (1904-1980)- Photographer and Designer
- Alan Clark MP (1928-1999) - Politician and Diarist
- Cyril Connolly (1903-1974) - Literary Critic and writer
- Henry Robert Bowreman Foote VC (1904-1993) – Major-General
- Dyneley Hussey (1893-1972) – War poet and Music Critic
- Alaric Jacob (1909-1995) – Journalist and writer
- Henry Longhurst (1909-1978) – MP, Golfer and Golf Correspondent
- Gavin Maxwell (1914-1969) - Naturalist and Writer
- Anthony Mildmay (1909-1950)– amateur steeplechaser
- David Ogilvy (1911-1999) – advertising executive
- George Orwell (Eric Blair) (1903-1950) – author and journalist
- Charles Rivett-Carnac (1901-1980) – Commissioner Royal Canadian Mounted Police
- Richard Wood MP (1920-2002) - Politician
- Philip Ziegler (1929- - Historian
Accounts and recollections
Connolly discusses his recollections of life at St Cyprian's at length in the book The Enemies of Promise, published in 1938 (with the name of the school disguised as "St. Wulfric's" and referring to the Headmaster by the pupil's nickname "Sambo" and his wife as "Flip"). Orwell drew on this and wrote scathingly and bitterly of his experiences at the school in the quasi-autobiographical essay "Such, Such Were the Joys." This was considered too libelous to be published during his lifetime and appeared in print in the USA in 1952 with the name of the school changed to "Crossgates." Although Orwell described the school as expensive and exclusive, he was in fact one of many children of less well-off parents who was taken on at significantly reduced fees. This social engineering by the Wilkes was recognised by Maxwell's parents who saw St Cyprian's as a more democratic institution than many other prep schools. Writing in the early or mid 1940s, Orwell claims to have avoided all contact with the school after leaving St Cyprian's and concludes "Such, Such Were the Joys" with the observation that his resentment towards it has diminished in recent years to the point where he no longer hopes that the Wilkes "are dead or that the story of the school being burnt down was true."
A contemporary of Orwell at St Cyprian’s, John Christie, commented in 1981 that it was arguable whether Orwell’s criticism of the school and its owners had been justified. Christie had previously written an article for Blackwood's Magazine in defence of the school. Henry Longhurst was also a stout defender of the school. However it was Connolly himself who, after reading his parents papers, wrote apologetically "The Wilkes were true friends and I had caricatured their mannerisms... and read mercenary motives into much that was just enthusiasm" and he described Mrs Wilkes as "a warm-hearted and inspired teacher"
John Christie's cap and other items are currently displayed at the Chalk Farm Hotel in Willingdon.
See also
References
- Michael Sheldon, Orwell: The Authorised Biography, 1991.
- Bernard Crick, George Orwell: A Life, 1980.
- Cyril Connolly, Enemies of Promise, 1938.
- W H J Christie. St Cyprians Day's, Blackwood's Magazine, May 1971
- George Orwell, "Such, Such Were the Joys." First published in the Partisan Review Sep.-Oct. 1952.
- Henry Longhurst, My Life and Soft Times, Cassell 1971.
- Gavin Maxwell, The House at Elrig,1965.
- Eastbourne Local History Society: Newsletters 37, 39
- Eastbourne Society: Newsletters 130, 131
External Links
- Eastbourne Local History Society
- Eastbourne Society
- St Cyprians School - includes illustrations and Wilkes details