A Victorian Super Head, the Recluse of Folkestone and an Alderman with a Vision

Debby Jones, New Folkestone Society trustee, genealogist and writer gave a talk on 28 June at the Masonic Centre, Grace Hill, on the early history of Folkestone School for Girls and its first headmistress, Miss Ewart. The Freemasons kindly opened their building for us and supplied tea and cake.

Folkestone School for Girls began life in a makeshift classroom at the Masonic Hall in January 1905. Miss Ewart, who had already been instrumental in opening two girls’ schools in Wales, had studied Modern Languages and History at Manchester. For the first time, for a modest fee, an advanced education was available for girls in Folkestone (there were of course private schools, but these were out of reach for many.) Scholarships were available too.

Alderman Stephen Penfold, who was on the local Education Committee, could see that the school would very soon outgrow its premises.

Just as the school was opening, Folkestone newspapers were full of the story of a mysterious recluse, Captain George Wilson, who had died in the basement of a house in Alexandra Gardens. Captain Wilson only went out at night, when he would be wheeled along the Leas in his bathchair. The story went that he had been driven insane some years ago when he discovered that he was illegitimate. He was nonetheless a very wealthy man and had purchased around thirty houses in Folkestone. He was also a hoarder and crammed them all full of furniture and artefacts.

One of these houses was Pelham House, 2 Bouverie Road East, and Alderman Penfold secured a lease on it.

The girls and Miss Ewart moved there in 1906. They had a narrow escape in May 1917, when there was a Gotha air raid. Many were killed at Stokes’s greengrocers, in Tontine Street, but bombs fell around Bouverie Road East too. The school was closed when the bombs fell, and nobody was there.

Miss Ewart died aged forty-seven in May 1918.

At her funeral, it emerged that she had been quietly helping girls, using her own money, to go to university. It was decided to continue her good work and so the Ewart Memorial Fund was set up. It still flourishes today. Alderman Penfold, who had been knighted for his services to Belgian refugees, was one of the first subscribers. When the school moved again, in 1922, to Coolinge Lane, the building was named Penfold House in his honour.