Chapter 8: Miss Hayhurst and Exmouth House School

Hastings Old Town seems to have been full of small educational establishments in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We have already seen how John and Jane Maynard ran a school at Exmouth House from 1878 to 1884, which was continued by their daughter, Mary Ann, for the rest of the 1880s, and there was also a school at West Hill House over a slightly longer period: indeed in Pike’s 1878 Directory it was described as ‘West Hill College’. As far as Exmouth House School is concerned, what might be described as its prehistory is as follows. Under 15 December 1928, the Hastings & St Leonards Observer reports on a concert and prize-giving, one of many entries recording such events about which more will be said below. However, this one was unusual in that it was described as marking the 25th anniversary of the school, thus taking us back to 1904, in other words well before Miss Hayhurst was in possession of Exmouth House. Here, the clue is provided by a further reference in The Hastings & St Leonards Observer, which records under 12 March 1910 that ‘pupils of the Misses Hayhursts’ school at “Homeland”, Priory Road, gave their annual concert at St Clement’s Church House’. This appears to be the only such reference, but ‘Homeland’ was evidently no. 139, in other words the Hayhurst parental home, and the school must have begun there (there are other references in these years to individual pupils who came from this address). Under 11 April 1914, on the other hand, a comparable concert at St Clement’s Church House, comprising various musical performances, recitations, etc., is described as being of Exmouth House School, where the establishment was evidently now located. Then, from 1916 onwards, the Observer has a succession of advertisements for the school (the earliest appears to date from 26 November that year):

Exmouth House School for girls and kindergarten, preparatory for boys. Sound general education at moderate fees. Course of Instruction comprises English Subjects, French (conversational), Physical Drill, Class Singing, Drawing, Painting, etc. Preparation for Oxford and Cambridge Locals, College of Preceptors, Needlework and Associated Board Exams.