The Abbey Connection
[Hero image: The Abbey School at Ashurst Wood, 1940s view]
Two Schools, One Destiny
The story of Clare House Preparatory School cannot be told without understanding its relationship with the Abbey School. Though they were distinct institutions with separate identities, their fates became intertwined in the 1930s – a connection that would prove both beneficial and, ultimately, fatal.
The Abbey School: A Brief History
Founding and Early Years
The Abbey School was founded in 1866 by the Reverend Thomas Lloyd Phillips in Brackley Road, Beckenham, Kent – thirty years before Clare House opened its doors.
[Image: Abbey School First World War Memorial]
Like Clare House, the Abbey School began as a preparatory school for boys in Beckenham. It established its own traditions, educated generations of pupils, and built a solid reputation.
Original location: Park Road, Beckenham
The Move to Ashurst Wood
Shortly after the start of the Second World War, the Abbey School moved permanently to Ashurst Wood, near East Grinstead, Sussex – to the magnificent country estate of Sir Abe Bailey, the South African mining millionaire.
This would become the Abbey School’s permanent home, though it had originally been intended as a wartime evacuation.
The Link: Robin Gladstone
Connecting the Two Schools
In the 1930s, Robin Gladstone (of the famous political family) was Headmaster of the Abbey School. During this period, Clare House Preparatory School was struggling – managed by a consortium of former pupils and businessmen who found running a school more challenging than anticipated.
Gladstone’s intervention: He purchased the goodwill of Clare House, though this didn’t become public knowledge until 1939.
The arrangement:
- Gladstone owned both schools
- Cyril Crump appointed as Headmaster of Clare House
- The schools remained distinct institutions but shared ownership
- Both eventually came under the Abbey and Clare House Company Limited
This corporate structure would tie their fates together for the next three decades.
Wartime: Shared Evacuation
September 1939: The Charter Train
When war was declared, Robin Gladstone made a bold decision. He chartered a train to evacuate staff and pupils from both schools who wished to escape the anticipated German bombing of London and the South East.
First destination: Woolacombe, Devon – but this lasted less than a year
Permanent solution: Both schools moved to Ashurst Wood in 1940
Life at Ashurst Wood (1940-1946)
For six years, Abbey and Clare House boys shared the magnificent estate:
The facilities:
- Three-storey mansion with extensive rooms
- Forty acres of parkland
- Cricket field, swimming pool, tennis courts
- Chapel, gymnasium, squash court
- Kitchen gardens and glasshouses
Shared staff: Some teaching staff taught boys from both schools, creating connections and shared experiences
Distinct identities: Despite sharing space, the schools maintained separate identities – Clare House boys remained Clare House boys
Memorable details:
- Swimming every day in summer in the pool filled from natural springs
- V-1 Doodlebugs overhead during Sports Day 1944
- VE Day celebration with picnic at Hammerwood
- Three good meals daily thanks to productive kitchen gardens
The Divergence: 1946-1947
Different Paths After the War
When the war ended, the two schools’ paths diverged:
The Abbey School: Remained permanently at Ashurst Wood
- Continued operating in the Sussex estate
- Never returned to Beckenham
- Established itself in the new location
Clare House: Returned to Beckenham
- Major Hodges fought to reclaim the requisitioned buildings
- Reopened in 1947 with just two classes
- Rebuilt to full capacity by late 1950s
Continuing Connection
Despite physical separation, the schools remained linked:
Shared ownership: Both operated under the Abbey and Clare House Company
Some shared resources: Clare House boys may have occasionally used Ashurst Wood facilities (swimming pool) even after returning to Beckenham
Corporate management: Financial and administrative decisions made at company level affected both schools
Sporting fixtures: Latterly, the two schools played matches against each other
The Abbey and Clare House Company
The Corporate Structure
Both schools were operated by the Abbey and Clare House Company Limited, based in East Grinstead, Sussex (at the Abbey School location).
Management challenges: While Clare House in Beckenham ran successfully under Major Hodges’ careful leadership, management at the Abbey School level showed less financial prudence.
The problem: At one point, the company was supporting three Headmasters at the Abbey School, each in his own residence – a level of expenditure that suggested poor financial management.
The contrast: Clare House in Beckenham was full, successful, and well-run locally, but the Company’s overall finances were deteriorating.
The Financial Crisis: 1969
The Abbey School Closes
In April 1969, the Abbey and Clare House Company faced financial crisis. The Abbey School closed in July 1969.
The hope: Initially, there was hope that Clare House might survive independently. After all, it was:
- Full to capacity (140 pupils)
- Financially sound at the local level
- Well-run under Major Hodges
- Academically successful
The reality: The Company was already in receivership. The financial damage was done.
Clare House’s Fate Sealed
January 1970: Parents informed that Clare House would close in July
The effort: A group of parents formed a consortium and offered to buy the school to keep it open
The failure: Clare House was in receivership; negotiations failed
July 23, 1970: Final Sports Day – the last official day
August 5, 1970: Auction dispersing the school’s contents
1971: Buildings demolished
The Bitter Irony
Clare House didn’t fail on its own merits. It was:
- Full enrollment
- Excellent academic results
- Well-maintained facilities
- Dedicated staff
- Sound local finances
But mismanagement elsewhere in the corporate structure doomed it. Major Hodges, who had given thirty-four years to Clare House – who had fought to reopen it after the war, who had led it to its most successful period – could not save it from decisions made at the Company level.
Memories of the Abbey Connection
From the Wartime Years
Former Clare House pupils who attended during 1940-1946 have vivid memories of Ashurst Wood:
Michael P. Miller (1943-1949): Provided detailed accounts of life at the estate – the swimming pool, the cricket field, the V-1 Doodlebugs, VE Day celebration
Simon Bowen (1943-1949): Remembered shared staff, especially:
- George Storrs (Deputy Head) – universally popular, taught Latin and Maths
- Clayton Palmer – former Middlesex cricketer who coached teams
- Rev. Edward Wallace Green – in charge of spiritual affairs
- Robert Thompson – music master with popular Friday singing classes
- Miss Kitty Arbuthnot – who taught history and later married Robin Gladstone
The shared experience: Boys from both schools swimming in the same pool, playing on the same fields, attending chapel together – while maintaining distinct school identities
The Legacy
Positive aspects:
- Ashurst Wood provided magnificent wartime refuge
- Shared facilities far superior to what either school could have afforded separately
- Association with Abbey School’s longer history (founded 1866) added prestige
- Wartime camaraderie created lasting memories
Negative consequences:
- Corporate structure meant Clare House’s fate wasn’t in its own hands
- Financial mismanagement at company level doomed both schools
- Clare House couldn’t be separated and saved when crisis hit
Robin Gladstone: The Linking Figure
His role:
- Rescued Clare House from near-liquidation in 1930s
- Created the corporate structure linking the schools
- Made bold decision to evacuate both schools in 1939
- Provided leadership through difficult years
His decline:
- By post-war period, in poor health, spending much time in nursing care
- Unable to provide active support when Major Hodges fought to reopen Clare House
- Died April 1962, seven years before the final crisis
His legacy:
- Without his intervention, Clare House might have closed in the 1930s
- His leadership extended Clare House’s life by three decades
- But the corporate structure he created also tied Clare House to the Abbey School’s eventual financial failure
Two Schools Remembered
Today, both schools exist only in memory:
The Abbey School (1866-1969): 103 years of history
- Founded three decades before Clare House
- Moved permanently to magnificent Ashurst Wood estate
- Closed first, in July 1969
Clare House (1896-1970): 74 years of history
- Founded in Beckenham, returned to Beckenham after war
- Survived one year longer than Abbey School
- Closed July 1970
Both were victims of the same financial crisis in the company that owned them.
The Estate Today
[Images: “The same view today” comparisons]
The Ashurst Wood estate where both schools operated during wartime has been converted to residential use. The House and Lodge became flats.
Former pupils who have returned report:
- The magnificent south-facing apartments
- The essential buildings surviving
- The cricket field turned into plantation (on some visits)
- The tennis lawn overgrown (on some visits)
- But the view toward Ashdown Forest essentially unchanged
One alumnus wrote: “Nevertheless even now in early summer, whenever I pick up the scent of azaleas in my nostrils, I am momentarily transported back well over fifty years to the Abbey, its beautiful grounds and its memories.”
In Summary
The Abbey School and Clare House Preparatory School were distinct institutions with their own identities, traditions, and histories. But for three decades (1930s-1969), their fates were linked through shared ownership and corporate structure.
That connection brought benefits – particularly the magnificent shared wartime refuge at Ashurst Wood. But it also meant that when financial crisis struck the Abbey and Clare House Company, both schools paid the ultimate price.
The Abbey School closed in July 1969 after 103 years.
Clare House followed in July 1970 after 74 years.
Two schools, separate in identity but joined in destiny, now live on only in the memories of those who knew them and in the historical record preserved by their respective associations.
For more information about the Abbey School, visit: [If there is an Abbey School alumni website, link here]
The Clare House story continues on this website, preserving the memory of both schools’ interconnected history.