Papers of Margaret Elsie Hughes (1898-1981), relating to Queenwood School, Eastbourne,...

Summary of contents

AMS6570/1/1-2 Photographs; 1914-1917

AMS6570/2/1-2 School magazines; 1914-1924

AMS6570/3/1-4 Papers relating to MEH's school career; 1914-1925

AMS6570/4/1 Biographical notes; 2000

AMS6570/5/1 Papers relating to Martita Hunt; 1915

AMS6570/6/1-2 Other records; Jan 1914 - Apr 1921

Principals of the school

Mrs Ogier Ward, 1862-1890

Mrs Lawrence, 1890-1899

Miss Chudleigh and Miss Johns, 1899-1920

Miss McCall and Mrs Trant, 1920

Mrs Trant and Miss Hulbert, 1920-1924

Mrs Trant, 1924-1936

Miss Burt, 1936-1942

Miss Burt and Miss Wynne Burt, 1940-1942

<p>For a copy of Dorothea Petrie Carew's history of the school, 1871-1942 entitled Many Years, Many Girls (1967) see ACC 6640/1; for correspondence between Hilda ('Sebastian') and her parents, Harry and Nellie Gosling, while at the school, 1912-1913 see ACC 5456</p>

Donated 4 Oct 2000 (ACC 8222), and 6 Nov 2001 (ACC 8445)

Introduction

Margaret Elsie Hughes (known as Margôt) was born on 26 Dec 1898, and was the only child of Bradley and Elsie Hughes, who lived in Kirby Muxloe, near Leicester. Bradley worked in the family's hosiery firm; his father-in-law, William Tyler, was also a hosier and amalgamated his firm with that of R Walker to create hosiery and knitwear

MEH's mother, Elsie, was drowned, aged 27, in 1902 while on a family holiday at Sheringham, Norfolk. HEH was also swept into the sea but was rescued. After her mother's death, she lived with her father and paternal grandmother in Leicester until her grandmother's death. Her father, an amateur artist, left the family firm and joined Ackermann, the art dealers in London, and was later sent to their New York and Chicago branches

MEH then lived with her maternal grandparents in Leicester and their family of five until they both died in 1906. She was then brought up by her two unmarried aunts, who moved to Kirby Muxloe. The eldest son of the family acted as her guardian. She was a weekly boarder at Kelland College, Leicester, from about the age of six. She was then educated at Queenwood School from 1914 to 1916

On leaving Queenwood, MEH returned to her aunt's home in Kirby Muxloe. She was a good amateur pianist, and was involved in local music-making, particularly as an accompanist. She worked as a volunteer on the wards of wounded First World War soldiers at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. In 1925 she married Herbert Owen Wilshere, a stockbroker in the family firm of Wilshere Baldwin and Co; they lived at Greenways, 7 Gillet Lane, Kirby Muxloe. Owen died in 1962; the couple had two sons and a daughter

Queenwood School had its origins in a boarding school for English girls opened in 1861 by Mrs Ogier Ward at 4 rue Bagatelle, Caen; in 1870 it moved to 2 rue Pierre Corneille, St Germain-en-Laye near Paris. However, due to the effects of the Franco-Prussian War, in July 1871 the school moved to temporary accommodation at Hyndford House, Bourne Street in Eastbourne. During the autumn of 1871 it moved into permanent premises at 23-24 Hyde Gardens, Eastbourne and in 1884 to larger premises in the nearby Wilmington Gardens; the school was then known as St Germains. In 1890 the school moved to 1-2 Stavely Road and was renamed Queenwood. Due to its success it moved to new premises in Darley Road in 1906 which were designed by Sir James Carmichael, whose daughter was a pupil at the school

In June 1940 the school was evacuated: two thirds of the girls returned to their own homes, while the remainder went to the former vicarage at Holt in Dorset. In September 1940 Queenwood moved to Malvern where they were housed in the Junior House of Ellerslie School. However, the school soon moved to the former Birklands School, Kent Road, Harrogate. Shortly afterwards the decision was taken to close the school due to the difficulties in carrying on a boarding school in wartime conditions and in an alien place

The premises in Eastbourne were sold to Eastbourne County Borough Council on 18 July 1949 and were used for the Eastbourne Training College for Women (EMA 57), which in 1976 became the Eastbourne College of Higher Education. It now forms part of the University of Brighton and houses the Queenwood Library

In 1925 Miss Grace Carola Lawrence, the eldest daughter of Mrs Lawrence, who had been the principal from 1890 until 1899, founded Queenwood School at Sydney in New South Wales, Australia