User:MaggieGeb/Mary Datchelor Girls School

'Mary Datchelor Girls' School 'London Grammar school 1877 to 1981 ...

The name of the school came from the Datchelor family who lived in London and attended the Church of St Andrew Undershaft in St Mary Axe. Mary was one of three daughters of Matthias Datchelor and money in her name was used to found a girls' school. So in 1876 £4,000 of the total £20,000 earmarked for the project was used to purchase 15 and 17 Grove Lane Camberwell. Ninety seven applications for the headship were received and 24-year-old Miss Caroline Rigg was appointed. In January 1877 the school opened with 30 pupils.

From 1877 to 1891 the Governors were appointed by the Charity Commission. Some were churchwardens of St Andrew Undershaft, and others had connections to Lime Street Ward. In the first four years numbers rose from 30 to 324 and outgrew the premises. By 1879 the Governors realised that new buildings were required and by 1881 the core of the school building was in place in Camberwell Grove. A kindergarten was added to the school taking girls under 8 and boys under seven who had sisters inthe school. Miss Rigg also added a teacher training college as part of the establishment.

In the 1880s the school magazine started; the Dorcas Society got underway and an Old Girls Association formed. By 1891 there were 450 Datchelor pupils but in the following decade numbers started to decline with competition form nearby schools. The Governors too were struggling. Man of them were now elderly and their funds were much reduced because of the new building. The Trustees searched for new governors and the Clothworkers' Company took over the school in 1894. There was an extension to the building providing another classroom, a room above latterly used by the Secretarial Sixth, and a laboratory at the top of the new building, which later became the Geography room. New stained glass windows were added to the Great Hall. In 1909 the Governing Body was reorganised so that the Clothworkers held the majority with 9 posts, the London County Council had five, University of London had one and Camberwell Borough council claimed one. The Chairman was from the Clothworkers' Company. Memories of girls attending the school in the first thirty years are to be found in 'The Story of the Mary Datchelor School'.

School fees were paid by all pupils until the early 1900s. By 1914 there were 207 fee payers and 267 LCC scholarship pupils. The LCC scholars increased in numbers until 1945 with the abolition of all school fees. Miss Rigg remained headmistress until 1917 to be succeeded by Miss M Dorothy Brock, an experienced teacher from King Edwards School, Birmingham. Music had always been a strong subject at Mary Datchelor and on Miss Rigg's departure a fund was launched to provide an organ for the school hall.