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Eastbourne’s Prep Schools
Part 3
St Cyprians and Cholmeley House
St Cyprians school (G & R Lavis).
St Cyprians site today
St Cyprians S t Cyprians was one of Eastbourne’s well known prep schools and was founded in 1899 by Lewis Vaughan Wilkes. It was initially located at 71 Carlisle Road but rapidly prospered so, as numbers increased, they looked for a larger site. They found this at 65 Summerdown Road and in 1906 they moved to the 8 acre site now complete with new purpose built classrooms, boarding house, gymnasium, chapel and swimming pool. Lewis Wilkes and his wife Cicely devoted their lives to providing a first-class education and the school enjoyed a strong academic reputation regularly winning scholarships to the top Public schools. Within another five years their numbers had risen to just under 70 boys. The Wilkes’ were a philanthropic couple who offered assisted places to families who could not afford the full fees. Amongst its notable alumni were Sir Cecil Beaton, Cyril Connolly, Henry Longhurst, Gavin Maxwell and George Orwell.
Two of the school structures still stand today, firstly the small swimming pool building which looks out over the College’s Memorial playing fields; today it is the Memorial ground Pavilion. The second is at 65 Summerdown Road which was formerly the Headmaster’s House. Now a private residence,
a blue plaque hangs at the front of the house,
commemorating some of the school’s famous alumni. Like many other prep schools of that era there was a plunge pool; this was a daily ordeal and clearly dreaded by the boys.
Memorial ground sign
George Orwell had been a pupil at St Cyprians (1911–1916) and hated the school. Brian Luard was also pupil there (in the 1930s) and recalls that there was a pole that was used to push boys into the water. In 1993 the BBC made a documentary about Orwell entitled ‘ The real room 101 ’ and Brian was interviewed as he was the nearest contemporary who
was still alive. A part of the original film, with Brian recounting his own experience of the plunge can still be viewed on Youtube. Go to https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQLzmsOnPMA Alternatively, search “Youtube the real Room Maj Gen Lord Cheylesmore presents the Imperial shield Feb 1918 (ESCC Library)
Cricket at St Cyprians (ESCC Library)
101 part 3” and it is the first listed. Brian can also be heard reading from the novel ‘1984’ a little later in the video. St Cyprians also featured prominently in shooting competitions and won the Imperial Challenge Shield in 1917. This had been inaugurated in 1911 and grew to become one of the
The plaques at the former St Cyprians Headmaster’s house
1918 Shooting team with the Empire shield (ESCC Library)
St Cyprians Lodge (The Orwell Society)
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