Stubbington House School

History

Donald Leinster-Mackay, an academic researcher into the history of education, has said that "No school had stronger ties with the Royal Navy in the nineteenth century than Stubbington House." The school was founded in 1841 by the Reverend William Foster, who had been born around 1802 and was an alumnus of Trinity College, Cambridge. He had married Laura, a daughter of Rear-Admiral John Hayes, and it is probable that this accounts for the connection with the navy that the school developed. Another factor affecting its primary purpose was the introduction in 1838 of an entrance examination for the Royal Navy: although initially an undemanding test for most, this decision encouraged the development of specialised educational establishments, of which Stubbington House was a very early example. In addition, Hampshire has a historically close connection to the navy, and the closure of the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth in 1837, together with the deployment of HMS Britannia as a cadet training ship proved to be timely.

The original building was "a square Queen Anne house with a mid Georgian façade of 5 bays and 3 storeys in grey brick with red dressing and an open pedimented porch". It was situated in around 50 acres (20 ha) of parkland, of which half was used by the school. The building had been constructed around 1715, supposedly with proceeds from contracts to supply the army and navy. In due course, it was extended to meet the demands of the school as the number of pupils increased. The site eventually included two separate sanatoria facilities, as well as a gymnasium and various other structures.

Beginning with 10 pupils, the school had around 40 a few years later, and 21 in 1871. William Foster died while away from home at Leamington in 1866. He was succeeded by one of his sons, Montagu Henry Foster, and by 1883 the school roll had increased to around 130 pupils. This increase is in part attributable to the efforts of Montagu's brother, the Reverend Courtenay Foster, who opened a department to train boys for entry to the army via Woolwich and Sandhurst, for which aim the boys stayed at the school for a longer time. Charlotte Mitchell, a senior lecturer in English Literature, has analysed surviving bank statements of Charlotte Mary Yonge, the writer. Mitchell has speculated that payments made by Yonge to a Mr Foster may relate to school fees for one of her nephews, Maurice Yonge, who was at Stubbington House when the 1881 census was taken. There were payments in 1880 of £59 12s. 8d. and £59 11s. 9d., followed in 1881 by payments of £61 13s. 5d. and £60 2s. 1d. Finally, in 1882, there was a payment of £66 0s. 2d.

Montagu Foster was involved in legal action on at least two occasions during his headmastership. In 1883 he lost an action brought by a former master that related to constructive dismissal, during the proceedings of which several witnesses commented on the lack of discipline at the school. Subsequently, in 1897, The British Medical Journal reported that he had successfully sued a parent in relation to monies owing for out-of-term care of a pupil who had fallen ill. He also found his school among a handful that were subjected to criticism by the Association of Preparatory School Headmasters, who, in 1901, were successful in persuading the Admiralty that the official recognition of this small number as naval entrance examination centres gave an unfair advantage.

The school uniform around this period was "... an Eton type jacket with long sleeves and a waistcoat. [The] trousers were black and grey striped—long or short according to age. Caps bearing the MHF (Montagu Henry Foster) school badge were worn. In winter bowlers were worn for church with boaters in the summer."

Montagu died in April 1913, leaving an estate that was valued at £163,140. According to Alumni Cantabrigienses, his son, Montagu Richard William Foster (1870–1935), had taken over as headmaster in 1903 and continued in that role until 1928, the same year that he received a knighthood. However, Leinster-Mackay says that the change of office took place at the time of Montagu's death in 1913.

Montagu junior had been born and educated at the school, and subsequently he had taken his degree at Trinity College, Cambridge. He had taken over running the army department upon the early death of his uncle, Courtenay, but closed it in 1913 and thus reduced the school roll by around 50 pupils. Changes in government policy, which came about primarily because of the escalating naval rivalry between Britain and Germany, also affected the school population. A reduction in numbers came with the closure of the Britannia cadet training facility, causing pupils to leave at an earlier age for the Royal Naval College at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. The outcome of these changes was that there were 77 pupils in 1913.

The Foster family line of ownership and headmastership continued with Hugh Richard Montagu Foster, who took over from his father in 1928. In 1930, the school was advertising that it had 130 pupils, and Hugh continued in charge until near to his own death in July 1959. Hugh's obituarist in The Times noted that this was the end of the male line, although there were plans to continue the school, and that The school was pre-eminent in passing boys into the Royal Navy, and, in the days when Hugh Foster's grandfather ruled there, it could claim as former pupils perhaps 30 or 40 per cent of the successful candidates for the Senior Service, apart from those boys who went into the Army and, in later years, the Royal Air Force.

The arrangement of the business was adjusted in 1958 with the creation of a charitable trust but the Foster family remained as owners until 1963, paying a headmaster to run the school. A combination of death duties demanded from the family and also the high cost of maintaining the buildings caused the school to move to Ascot in 1962. There it merged with the long-established Earleywood School before subsequently closing on 7 July 1997. A limited company, Stubbington House Earleywood Limited, had been formed in 1963.

A few of the school buildings still remain in Stubbington, although most became derelict within a year of them being sold to Fareham Council, for £97,000, in 1962. The main school house was demolished in 1967. The site and the surviving buildings are now a community centre. There is a memorial to the family in the 12th-century Rowner Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, PO13 9SU.

Notable alumni

A to D

Harry Barron, army officer, Governor of Tasmania and Governor of Western Australia

Bryan Bertram Bellew, Irish peer

Lord Charles Beresford Baron Beresford, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet and Member of Parliament for Marylebone, Woolwich and Portsmouth

Dallas G. M. Bernard, baronet

Vivian Henry Gerald Bernard, admiral who took part in the Battle of Jutland

Richard Bevan, Royal Navy officer

Andrew Bickford, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station

Henry Blagrove, naval officer, killed in the destruction of HMS Royal Oak during the Second World War

Richard Boyle, 6th Earl of Shannon, peer and politician in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories

Harold Briggs, Member of Parliament for Manchester Blackley

Paul Bush, Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope Station

Houston Stewart Chamberlain, political philosopher, racialist, expert on Wagner and inspirer for National Socialist ideology

Neville Francis Fitzgerald Chamberlain, army officer, Inspector General of the Royal Irish Constabulary and inventor of snooker

Archibald Cochrane, (1874–1952), Rear-Admiral

Stanley Colville, Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth

E to K

Sydney Marow Eardley-Wilmot, rear-admiral and writer who was knighted in 1908; son of Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, 2nd Baronet

Bolton Eyres-Monsell, 1st Viscount Monsell, naval officer, Member of Parliament for Evesham, Chief Whip and First Lord of the Admiralty

George Eyston, British racing driver and land speed record holder

Tony Fasson, naval officer and George Cross winner

Eric Fellowes, 3rd Baron Ailwyn, naval officer and peer

Humphrey Osbaldston Brooke Firman, naval officer and Victoria Cross winner

Douglas Fisher, Admiral and Fourth Sea Lord

Maurice Swynfen Fitzmaurice, Director of Naval Intelligence, Commander-in-Chief, Africa Station and musician

Launcelot Fleming, naval chaplain, Bishop of Portsmouth, Bishop of Norwich and Dean of Windsor

Richard Foster, son of headmaster Montagu Henry Foster, Adjutant-General Royal Marines and later colonel of the East Surrey Regiment

Wilfred French, naval officer

Cyril Fuller, Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station, Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel

Herbert Arthur Stevenson Fyler, admiral

John Gaimes, submarine commander, died in HMS K5

Bryan Godfrey-Faussett, naval officer and courtier

L to R

Edward Vere Levinge, Lieutenant-Governor of Bihar and Orissa

Arthur Longmore, Inspector General of the RAF and seaplane pioneer

Hubert Lynes, Rear Admiral and a noted ornithologist who was a Fellow of several learned societies

Anthony Cecil Capel Miers, submariner and Victoria Cross winner

Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, Prince of Battenberg and grandson of Queen Victoria

Henry Gerard Laurence Oliphant, naval commander in the Battle of Dover Strait (1916)

William Nicholson, Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy

William Hacket Pain, army officer, Commissioner of the Royal Irish Constabulary and Member of Parliament for South Londonderry

William Christopher Pakenham, Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station and Bath King of Arms

George Patey, Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station

Lawrence Pattinson, AOC Flying Training Command

Frederick Peake, army officer known as Peake Pasha

Arthur Peters, naval officer

Tom Phillips, Commander-in-Chief, China Station, commander of Force Z, killed on HMS Prince of Wales

Robert Prendergast, naval officer

S to Z

Robert Falcon Scott, naval officer and Antarctic explorer

Hugh Sinclair, known as Quex, Director of British Naval Intelligence, head of SIS and GCHQ

Ewen Southby-Tailyour , Royal Marines Officer, Yachtsman and Author

Geoffrey Spicer-Simson, naval officer

Aubrey St Clair-Ford, baronet

John Miles Steel, AOC RAF Bomber Command and AOC RAF Home Command

Edward Neville Syfret, Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet and commander of Force H

John Ellis Talbot, British Conservative politician, Member of Parliament for Brierley Hill

Ernest Augustus Taylor, naval officer and Member of Parliament for Paddington South

Evelyn Thomson, naval officer

Ion Tower, naval officer

Beachcroft Towse, soldier, Victoria Cross winner, courtier and campaigner for the blind

Sir Humphrey de Trafford, 4th Baronet, army officer and race horse owner

Rudolph de Trafford, baronet, army officer and banker

Charles Vaughan-Lee, naval officer

Arthur Waistell, Commander-in-Chief, China Station, Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth