[Photo: Staff group photo, if available, or collage of classroom images]
The Dedicated Few Who Shaped Young Lives
Behind every classroom door, every lesson, every moment of guidance stood teachers who gave years – sometimes decades – to Clare House. Most were not formally trained in the modern sense, but what they lacked in certificates they made up for in experience, dedication, and personality.
The impressive Common Entrance results year after year proved their effectiveness.
Form Teachers of the Later Years
Records from the 1960s preserve these names – familiar to every boy who sat in their classrooms:
Miss Mayhew – Form B
The youngest pupils’ first teacher, introducing small boys to school life and the fundamentals of learning.
Mrs. Burr – Form A
Continuing the foundation with slightly older boys, preparing them for the structured learning ahead.
Miss White – Form 1
A long-serving staff member whose dedication was particularly evident during the difficult post-war restoration period. When the school buildings were still occupied by the Ministry of Works, Miss White conducted lessons for a small number of pupils in a private house in Oakwood Avenue opposite the school – ensuring Clare House boys continued their education even without proper facilities.
Mr. Thompson – Form 2
[Alumni memories of Mr. Thompson welcome here – his teaching style, memorable moments, subjects taught]
Mr. Scott – Form 3
[Alumni memories of Mr. Scott welcome here]
Mr. Ridgeway – Form 4
[Alumni memories of Mr. Ridgeway welcome here]
Mr. Scully – Forms 6A & 6B
Teaching the senior pupils, the oldest boys preparing for Common Entrance. The responsibility for final preparation before public school rested largely with him.
Other Clare House Staff
Beyond the form teachers, other staff members contributed to school life:
Mrs. Hodges – The Headmaster’s wife, involved in various aspects of school life
Mr. Chambers
Mr. Whitton
Mr. Mayhew
Mr. Gillam
Miss Caskey
[For each of these, we welcome alumni memories – what subjects they taught, personality traits, memorable incidents, how they influenced boys’ lives]
The Abbey School Staff Connection
During the war years at Ashurst Wood (1940-1946), Clare House boys also encountered Abbey School staff. Some made lasting impressions:
George Storrs – Deputy Head
[Photo if available from Abbey School documents]
Living in the Lodge with his wife and son, George Storrs bore much of the Abbey School’s routine administrative burden. He taught Latin and Maths to the lower forms and always organized Sports Day.
Character: A cheerful, kindly man with a dry sense of humor – universally popular with staff and boys alike. Alumni remember him with real affection.
Teaching style: Minor classroom infractions earned a tap on the head from the bowl of his pipe!
Interests: A keen philatelist who encouraged this hobby among the boys.
Mrs. Storrs looked after pocket money accounts and ran the Tuck Shop, opening once a week in the Lodge. During the war years, the sweet ration varied between 2 and 4 ounces per week – those visits to the Tuck Shop were highlights of the week.
Clayton Palmer
[Photo if available]
A big, bluff, larger-than-life character who joined the Abbey staff early in 1944.
Background: Played cricket for Middlesex after earning his Cambridge Blue. The story went that he’d met Robin Gladstone unexpectedly on a train, and Gladstone had offered him a teaching post on the spot. He’d reportedly once caught Dr. W.G. Grace in the field – an action which occasioned some displeasure from the Doctor!
Teaching: Nominally geography and current affairs. A stickler for accurate spelling.
Sports: Particularly keen on cricket and rugby, coaching teams and being mainly responsible for school sporting competitions and fixtures against other schools.
Personality: Great fun. His bark was definitely worse than his bite. On occasions when returning from away matches, he would stop the coach at a convenient hostelry (sometimes in Godstone) and treat the team to lemonade.
Evening prep: Lived in the Lodge and took charge of evening prep four nights a week.
Rev. Edward Wallace Green
[Photo if available]
A very tall, pipe-smoking clergyman with a rather tortuous sense of humour.
Responsibilities: In charge of spiritual affairs – daily prayers in the Chapel and two services on Sundays (evensong was dispensed with during summer term).
Teaching: Latin and Divinity.
Interests: A cleric’s detailed passion for steam engines, particularly those of the Southern Railway.
Unpopular innovation: Introduced the practice of staying in for an hour on Sunday afternoons to learn the weekly Collect by heart (for hearing later in the week). This earned “undying disapprobation” and was quietly dropped after a few weeks!
Robert Thompson
[Photo if available]
The music master, chapel organist, and occasional maths teacher.
Appearance: Slight, grizzled character of indeterminate age but very laid back and an accomplished pianist.
Teaching: In charge of singing, and his classes were immensely popular – a highlight of the weekly timetable.
Methods: Had painstakingly copied numerous song word sheets. On Friday evenings in the “big schoolroom,” with perhaps three classes combined, he taught boys everything from the Pomp and Circumstance Marches to the Mikado, which they sang with great gusto.
Storytelling: At the end of every singing lesson, he would read a five-minute extract from a story of one of the great operas.
Impact: A quiet, amiable man who did his best to instill an appreciation of music. Alumni remember him with gratitude, particularly those he introduced to the delights of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Special events: Organized trips on two occasions to see the East Grinstead Operatic Society’s performances of the Mikado and the Yeomen of the Guard. The boys knew most of the songs already, of course.
Miss Kitty Arbuthnot
[Photo if available]
A charming, elegant lady who taught English and predominantly history to all classes.
Teaching memories: One alumnus remembered his first term at age seven, being huddled with the rest of the class around a small gas fire while she read them Swallows and Amazons.
Impact: For boys keen on history, her lessons were something to look forward to.
Later life: Subsequently married Robin Gladstone and took up residence at Heatherlands but happily continued teaching on a regular basis – a testament to her dedication to the school.
Other Abbey Staff Remembered
Miss Warwick – A South African who always took charge of the youngest children
Miss Daphne Durand – Taught English. A talented illustrator whose artwork some alumni still possess. One former pupil recalled being praised by Miss de Cardi for reading the lesson in Chapel.
Miss Agnes de Cardi – Taught French. The sessions on irregular verbs were particularly arduous, as alumni recall!
Mr. Dunkley – A young master who shortly after Sports Day joined the RAF. Whether he survived the war is unknown.
Mr. Jellinek – Took music and singing. Described as “a somewhat unpredictable character.”
The Unseen Staff
Many who kept Clare House running daily remain unnamed in surviving records:
Matrons and nurses – Dealt with outbreaks of mumps, German measles, chickenpox. During epidemics, twenty or thirty boys might be sick simultaneously. The nursing staff was always competent, and remarkably, there were no fatalities.
Kitchen staff – The two sisters from Newcastle in the late 1930s. Wartime cooks who performed wonders with rationing, supplemented by kitchen garden produce. Staff who made jam and preserved fruits during long summer evenings of Double British Summertime, with some boys helping with crop picking and preparation.
Groundskeepers – Who maintained the cricket field, tennis lawns, gardens. After the war, the twenty-five Polish workers who cleared the field of Nissen huts and rubble.
Administrative staff – Handling accounts, correspondence, admissions, and countless details that kept a school functioning.
Their names may be lost, but their work was essential.
What Made Them Effective?
Modern educational theory might question their qualifications. Many lacked formal teaching certificates. Some were quite young, barely eighteen, waiting to be called up for war service. Others came from unrelated careers.
But they shared certain qualities:
Experience – Many had lived full lives before teaching, bringing real-world knowledge to the classroom
Enthusiasm – They believed in what they were teaching and why it mattered
Personality – They were memorable as individuals, not interchangeable professionals
High expectations – They expected boys to work hard and behave properly
Genuine care – They truly wanted their pupils to succeed
Consistency – Boys knew where they stood, what was expected, what the consequences would be
The impressive Common Entrance results year after year proved the point. These teachers might not fit modern criteria, but they produced educated, capable boys ready for the next stage.
An Invitation to Remember
Many teachers’ full stories are lost. We have names but not backgrounds, positions but not personalities, facts but not the human details that made them memorable to the boys they taught.
If you remember these teachers – their mannerisms, their favorite phrases, subjects they taught, how they handled discipline, moments of kindness or humor – please share those memories. They deserve to be remembered as individuals, not just names on a list.
Miss White conducting lessons in a private house while the school was still occupied
Mr. Thompson teaching Form 2
Mr. Scott in Form 3
George Storrs with his pipe
Clayton Palmer treating the cricket team to lemonade
Robert Thompson leading Friday evening singing
Miss Arbuthnot reading Swallows and Amazons to seven-year-olds
These were real people who shaped real lives. Help us tell their stories.