"Daughters should be educated that they might be fit companions for their husbands and fit instructors for their children."
WHILE the above justification for girls’ education cited by the then Bishop of Durham may jar with modern women (and men) of today, in the latter years of the 19th Century it was a perfectly acceptable remark given that the daughters of gentile families spent most of their early lives being prepared for marriage and motherhood.
The Church Schools Company, formed by a group of churchmen and academics, recorded a request for a girls’ school in Durham in early 1883. It was an instantly popular proposal, thanks largely to the powerful advocacy of Bishop Joseph Lightfoot through his initial well-intentioned reasoning, above.
For the 11 long haired and long skirted young pioneers who gathered at the newly created High School for Girls in Durham the following year, education offered a road to female empowerment and learned growth. And, unlike the fears of one clergyman at the time, they soon found that teaching girls maths would not lead to their reproductive organs being harmed.
Gwen Casey, the archivist at the school today, which is now called Durham High School, said: “These were the kind of things they were saying at the time, and they set up the school in the face of a widespread assumption that it wasn’t worth educating girls.
“But from the letters and magazines they wrote, we know that the girls were ambitious and adventurous right from the start. When they left the high school, they would write back to pupils describing what university and life across the world was like. They were keen to inspire the next generation of young women and it’s something the Old Girls continue to do today.”
The first property for the high school was leased at 33 Claypath, in Durham City, and Miss Elizabeth Gray was appointed the inaugural headmistress.
The girls studied many subjects including reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, algebra, French, German, Latin, physical science, gymnastics, needlework, drawing, history and English Literature. Early photographs of the school reveal that there was no school uniform initially.
By the end of the first school year there were 57 scholars and a move to bigger premises at 3 South Bailey took place in 1886.
According to Miss Gray the school was now in “quiet, commodious and delightful classrooms with a charming outlook over the riverbanks” and it remained there until 1912.
During its time at South Bailey, a popular safety feature appeared at the school – a fire escape chute.
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An Old Girl later recalled: “One of the highlights was the fire drill. We assembled at the window of our classroom from where a large black tube of fireproof material stretched down to the lawn two storeys below. Into this tube we were pushed feet first and then we shot down in total darkness to land with a bump at the bottom.”
Despite the bumpy fire drill, the school continued to thrive, and its numbers increase, and a separate boarding house was opened to girls at 45 North Bailey in 1904.
Allowing women into universities, first in London in 1878, followed by Manchester in 1883 and Durham in 1895, gave pupils further incentives to succeed, although many universities did not award degrees to women until decades later, even if they’d studied successfully alongside male counterparts. Cambridge, for example, did not award women degrees until as late as 1948, even though female students had been accepted from 1869.
By the end of the century, the high school had almost 100 pupils with nine Old Girls at universities and two more graduating with Firsts in their BLitt degrees at Durham University.
Miss Stafford “Staffy” Smith was headmistress for 22 years and was a driving force behind the school’s success in the early 20th Century, overseeing its move to Leazes House. She was known for her love of fresh air and exercise and encouraged her young charges to walk around the school after each lesson while the classrooms were “aired”.
One Old Girl remembered: “Whenever we were a bit slow in answering questions, Staffy would fling the window open, even in the coldest weather, saying that we needed some fresh air.”
Another described her as “red haired and fiery tempered, but an excellent teacher”. Always, her Christian principles were at the heart of her teaching. “I trust no girls will leave this school without knowing what are the things that matter,” she said.
While the school instilled strong Christian values in its young charges, the spirit of adventure remained. One Old Girl recalled there being no central heating at Leazes House, only a large round iron stove in each room, heated by coke, around which was a fireguard.
Discipline was said to be “strict but not severe”.
“We had lots of fun putting pieces of rubber on top of the stove at the beginning of a lesson, which made a terrible smell. We were then in trouble!” said one Old Girl.
Science played an increasingly important role in the girls’ curriculum from the 1930s and girls could take a Higher School Certificate combining botany, chemistry and geography. One Old Girl went to Newcastle University to study science and was employed by ICI during the war years.
In 1935, the Headmistress’s Report noted that of the five girls who had taken chemistry that term, three intended to study medicine.
The two world wars proved to be pivotal times for women, including the girls at Durham High. Miss Smith noted the change in society’s attitudes towards girls’ education. The war, far from hindering progress, meant it was rapidly becoming a matter of course that girls should be trained for a profession, she said.
As part of the girls’ Second World War effort, they went to a farming camp at Greta Bridge to help with harvesting where they learnt to stook, stack and load barley, wheat and oats and drive a tractor.
One prominent Old Girl, actress Wendy Craig, boarded at the school during the Second World War.
She said: “When the warning siren went off all the boarders ran down to the basement and we huddled together in fear. The sound was terrifying and the building shook but thankfully stood firm.”
Ms Craig, best known for her role in the television sitcom Butterflies, had her acting debut at the school – performing in The Little Red Hen in the long wooden hut next to the main house (also home to the gymnasium, theatre and chapel). She also fostered a love of singing at the school.
“Our hymn book was called Songs of Praise,” she said years later. “We had good music teachers who were passionate about what they played; the accompaniment was always superb. The voices and the instruments fired up in me a great enthusiasm to the point when, one day during choir practice, the teacher said: ‘Wendy Craig, please stop singing so loudly. You are spoiling it for the others!’.”
The post war era brought with it changes, including unwelcome news in the shape of a ‘through road’ planned for Durham City, the route of which was intended to go through the school playing fields. When it was announced that the school may have to close, speculation about alternative sites began in earnest.
Miss Salter, who was headmistress between 1958 and 1978, steered the school through its crisis as she dealt with years of meetings, appeals, changes of plan and considerable disruption until finally, Durham University offered the school a new site – Farewell Hall – where it remains today.
Mr Daynes, the caretaker, organised a “superior system of packing and labelling” and on a dark morning in January 1968, everyone arrived at their new school.
Over the years new buildings were added. They included a new sports hall in 1975, which was opened by Old Girl Charmian Welsh, an Olympic diver, and a new art studio and computer room in 1983, the latter to make way for a new subject – computer studies.
In the 1990s, a new Sixth Form block was built and a new nursery, for pupils aged three onwards. As a new century dawned, there came more classrooms, facilities, science laboratories and the Wendy Craig Performing Arts Suite, which the actress opened in 2007.
During its 140 years, the uniform developed from full-length Victorian-wear to later beige tights with sage green uniforms, before the traditional bottle green colours were introduced, with hats, blazers and ties, and, later, yellow summer dresses.
The blossoming into yellow did not prevent the High School girls being known as “greengages” or “greenflies”.
Jumpers and cardigans tended to come from the Scotch Wool Shop in Durham and the rest of the uniform from Isaac Waltons, in Newcastle.
The school opened up a myriad of career opportunities for the women of County Durham, and, today, it has a strong network of Old Girls who continue to offer inspiration to the current generation of pupils. The Old Girls have enjoyed being part of the 140th celebrations, which have included a special lunch.
Adds Gwen: “People are fond of the school for a very good reason. The Old Girls care and when you join Durham High you become part of that family.
“The spirit of it all, the ambition, is still the same today and you don’t have to make millions or discover a cure for Alzheimer’s (although one Old Girl is doing research to cure Alzheimer’s) to be successful.
“The history fuels how the school is today. And thankfully, the world has come a long way from educating girls simply to be better wives and mothers.”
- Much of the content in this article has been based on information supplied in 125 Years of Durham High School for Girls: A Birthday Celebration, edited by Alison Utley
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