South Tidworth C.E. Aided School, Tidworth

Mrs Matilda Assheton Smith prevailed upon her husband to build a joint school for the two Tidworths at the hamlet of Hampshire Cross. This handsome brick built school opened in 1856/7 at the bottom of Perham, now Station, Road junction with Pennings Road. The report of 1859 speaks of ‘building and teacher’s houses excellent, and so picturesque and characteristic to be quite a feature in the landscape’. There was good flooring, light, ventilation and furniture and of the 70 pupils, taught by a master, it was remarked that an unusually large number were girls. Matilda Assheton Smith died in 1859 and at her wish her sister, Harriet, gave £2,000 to the school for its future maintenance. This was a very large sum at the time and some of it may have provided clothes for the children as an observer in 1860 wrote of the schoolgirls in their red cloaks.

Unfortunately the surviving school log books only date from 1892 but they do give us a picture of school life at the end of the Victorian period. The schoolroom was 37 feet long, 18 feet wide and 24 feet high at the ridge of the roof. Often during the Harvest Holidays it was thoroughly cleaned and whitewashed. In June 1893 the old slate fence that had enclosed the playground was pulled down and an iron one erected. This was probably the one that survived until the school closed. The HMI report for the 1893 mentioned that the school clock did not work and we find that in December of that year a new clock has been added to the school furniture. In September 1895 the windows were repaired and the fencing and outside toilet doors were painted. New desks were added to the gallery and a rearrangement of school classes made. In January 1897 it was noted that the children showed much sympathy for the sufferers of the Indian Famine and contributed 15 shillings (75p) to the relief fund. The coming of the military tended to interfere with schoolwork and 1899 we find, ‘During the month of July the constant passing and repassing of troops and military bands tended very much to unduly excite the children and so interfere with the work in the school.’ In December of that year some repairs were made to the gallery and harmonium.

The school had a certified master and an assistant teacher. During the 1890s most of the ladies filling this post seemed to suffer from ill health and did not stay long at the school. After the sister, Sarah Beale, of John Beale the master left in August 1894 there were five assistant mistresses and one temporary one between then and September 1900. This rapid changeover, coupled with absences for ill health must have had an effect on the children’s learning but this is not apparent from the HMI reports. It was in May 1893 that there was a poor report that indicated that Sarah Beale’s teaching needed to be improved. It also said, ‘I am much disappointed to find that instead of improving, as I expected, the school has rather fallen back. The elementary work is poor especially the arithmetic and spelling, and geography is not properly taught. Singing is fairly good in the upper divisions. The infants are backward and seem to have had little systematic instruction. Some new desks are wanted’. The report from an unannounced visit in October found ‘I am glad to find the school in proper order and the work going on steadily. If this is kept up I have no doubt the school will recover itself by next year.’

This was borne out by the 1894 report. ‘The school has improved. The work is done in better style and the children take pains. Arithmetic is faulty but the rest of the elementary work is fairly good and the composition is above average. The elder children know their geography well, the younger ones do not. The girls’ needlework is fair. The infants have made some progress but still need better teaching. Order is satisfactory.’ There was much illness during the next year but the 1895 report says that results are satisfactory under the circumstances. In 1896 the mixed [older] school was ‘pleasantly conducted and the children are attentive. Their work is generally better than last year and is generally fair.’ The infants ‘though not very forward are nicely managed and seem likely to improve.’ Reports continue to improve and in 1898 the inspector comments that the staff should be strengthened to comply with government requirements. In 1899 ‘The children are orderly and take cheerful interest in their lessons. Their knowledge and intelligence are good, better perhaps than their accuracy. The infants are getting on fairy well.’

Average attendance for the 1890s seems to have varied between 60 and 70 children. They learned the elementary subjects of reading, writing and arithmetic. The latter included vulgar fractions, decimal fractions, bills and proportions, multiplication, long division, reduction in length, measure and time, and measurement. Composition, spelling and learning poetry were included in the former. Scripture and singing were also taught to all ages and the older children also studied history, geography and drawing while the girls also learned needlework. All ages did physical education, known as drill. All ages also had object lessons, when they studied all aspects of an object. Items studied by Tidworth children included, a lion, an elephant, a blacksmith, coinage, a railway station, sources of food, soap and cleanliness, the mariner’s compass and the post office, including stamps and postal orders.

Annual holidays were very similar to those of a century later. There were two weeks Christmas holidays, two weeks for Easter and five weeks (six in 1895). Harvest holiday in the summer. Various half-day holidays were also given and the school closed when its room was needed for meetings and entertainments held there. School also closed for village fetes, fairs and other local events while in June 1897 it was closed for the celebration of Queen Victoria’s long reign and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Andover. There were also some seasonal absences of older children, such as for haymaking (June), gleaning (late September) and beating for pheasant shoots (older boys only).

Illness was both common and severe during the 1890s. In January 1894 there was an outbreak of scarlet fever and the school had to be closed and fumigated but there was another outbreak in December. In 1894 the villages also suffered from diphtheria in November and the school was fumigated with sulphur twice. The toilets were thoroughly cleaned out, the school building and its furniture were thoroughly washed and scrubbed with disinfectant and they also took the opportunity to paint the school fence. The school remained closed from 7th to 27th November and there were 2 deaths. In March 1895 the school again closed because of diphtheria and did not re-open until 22nd April. There was a minor outbreak of measles in May 1893 and a much more serious one in March 1896 when there was an extended Easter holiday as a result. A case of typhoid fever occurred in 1895; there was an outbreak of scarletina in 1896 and in 1901 one pupil died of consumption.

There are various other interesting events and happenings during this period. In December 1893 the lead on the roof was raised during a severe gale and the school had to be closed during heavy rain which found its way through the roof. In October 1892 the school received many new items, including maps of Europe and England, geographical pictures and readers, and ordinary readers. In January 1893 the school was connected with the Post Office Savings Bank and over 36 children became depositors, with special stamps being stuck on cards to represent their savings. On Trafalgar Day in October 1896 a lesson on the life and career of Nelson was substituted for ordinary lessons between 2.45 p.m. and 4.00 p.m. Interest was taken in the progress of the Boer War and in January 1900 the older girls were knitting socks for the soldiers in South Africa while on May 31st there was a half-day holiday to celebrate the fall of Pretoria. Also in January the children attended a tea and entertainment at Tedworth House, while on May 24th the school closed for the Queen’s birthday and most children were spectators at the celebrations of the troops camped nearby. In July the boys of the school played a cricket match against the boys of Shipton Bellinger and won.

The school was taken over by Hampshire County Council around 1905 and continued as a Church of England aided school. In 1980 the school was amalgamated with the larger Hampshire County School, formerly the Garrison School, and the children moved to that school in Bazaar Road. The old school at Hampshire Cross was demolished in 1985 amid protests.