The building was erected at the start of WW1. The boys from the Dover County School transferred from Ladywell during October 1916. They outgrew the place and moved to the new school at Astor Avenue in 1931. Lillian Kay's book states that "after refurbishment and with an extra storey the Dover County School for Girls moved into the Frith Road premises in 1935".
There is a full history of the construction of the Frith Road school on the following website:
http://dovergrammar.co.uk/archives/old-pharos/ruffell-1905.html
I have cherry-picked various fascinating items from the above as follows:
The Pharos dated July 1912 noted that two magazines appeared representing the Boys' and Girls' Schools separately. The Pharos records the decision by K.E.C. to spend £5,000 on the purchase of the new site for the Boys' School. This site was, of course, in Frith Road.
In 1913 the county voted money for the new school buildings and for playing fields off Chalky Lane to be used by both the boys' and girls' schools. Plans for the Frith Road buildings were approved.
The Pharos commented on the increased number of aeroplanes; new developments in the harbour; and there is even an article on troubles in the Balkans between Turks and Bulgarians that could be a cause of war. Headmaster spoke to the school about the death of Scott and his companions in Antarctica.
The school in 1914 seemed to have little or no premonition of the holocaust to come. Empire Day was celebrated; members of staff got married; the Lord Warden promised to give the prizes; the school was divided into four houses for internal sports; the new playing fields were being levelled and were expected to be ready for use in the autumn. The Old Pharosians formalised their association after a dinner at Dover's Grand Hotel.
By December, 1914, the school knew that history was "in the making: the school must be one of the nearest English schools to the seat of war, so near that we are within sound of the guns."
Astonishingly, in spite of the war, builders moved on to the Frith Road site and Mr. Leney, Chairman of Governors, gave finance for a gymnasium. The donor requested that an armoury should be provided for the proposed Cadet Unit. The scout troop disbanded to yield place to military training.
An Old Boys' gathering planned for 30th December was abandoned "owing to the large number of Old Boys who are in the army and navy". French and Belgian refugees invaded East Kent. The first Old Pharosian casualties were named.
Letters from the Front tell of trenches with water sometimes up to a man's waist. "As fast as the trenches are dug the water comes in. However, we are standing it well," assured the writer of a letter dated 29th December, 1914.
Forces of land, sea and air surrounded the town. Lists were published of Old Pharosians in the forces. On 3rd December, 1914, the first death of a serving Old Pharosian was recorded.
The new school playing fields and the Danes ground were taken over by the army; the gymnasium could not be built until after the war; and some of the school's engineering machinery was taken away for making munitions. Boys made periscopes which went to the trenches and a letter of thanks came from a colonel in France.
Some boys made bandages and otherhospital materials. Six more Old Boys were killed-in action, four of them officers. Some were "invalided Out", particularly for damage due to gas. At least one Military Cross was gained.
In October, 1916, the school entered the Frith Road buildings. It must have seemed like arriving in the promised land after years of wandering and uncertainty. An appreciative youth described how the concrete floors of Ladywell had been replaced by Frith Road's resplendent floors of polished wood. Some of the rooms were made dark by enveloping sandbag protection.
Because of the war there was no formal opening of the new buildings. The Annual Prize Distribution was cancelled but parents were invited to an "At Home" early in December. Alas, it had to be abandoned for reasons of war-time economy. Boys helped to dig up the playing fields to grow vegetables, some of the produce going to the hospital.
As male teachers were called away lady teachers took their places. One French boy in the school learned that his father had died fighting in the French army "pour la défense de la France et de l'humanité". In school a weekly collection was made for Dover prisoners of war.
More lady teachers arrived so that young boys were cared for and bigger boys could take their examinations. House matches were played when possible and at other times boys and teachers worked on the land. Everything was liable to interruption when the siren sounded the alarm for air raids.
Mr. Darby, geographer, was engaged in meteorological work in France; Mr. Baxter went to Cranwell; Mr. Tunnell had been in the thick of things at the front but was recalled to be trained for a commission. He returned to France and, alas, the following entry, like so many others, appears in The Pharos: Killed in Action. Tunnell, Oliver. 2nd Lieutenant Northumberland Fusiliers. 24th October 1918. There is, of course, in the present school a window bearing the names of those Old Pharosians who lost their lives in the 1914-18 war.
As men came home for demobilisation they called at school in khaki or navy uniforms, the schoolmasters hoping soon to return to their academic gowns that were worn in class until after the Second World War.
On Monday, 11th November, 1918, the school heard the siren sound at 11.00 a.m. to mark the end of the war. The school ceased work and went into town and the seafront for general festivities. Flags hung from the houses, church bells pealed across the town and the night sky was lit by fireworks saved for the celebration. Corporation workmen removed sandbags from the school buildings as peace on earth was proclaimed. Of the 224 Old Pharosians who had served, 31 had given their lives.
The school continued to grow in numbers and the headmaster wrote, "These arrangements, however, are to be regarded as a solution only for the next four or five years, at the end of which a larger scheme will doubtless have matured." Perhaps in the headmaster's mind there was already a perception of the limitations at Priory Hill, an awareness of noise of increased traffic in Frith Road and the disadvantage of remote playing fields. He could foresee the coming expansion of population and higher education.
Accommodation problems were painfully reactivated when the landlords of St. Hilda's gave notice that they wanted the building. Accordingly the Junior School transferred to Ladywell with Mr. George Devenish Thomas in charge.
In October, 1921, Mr. and Mrs. Whitehouse held an "At Home" mainly for parents. Mr. Whitehouse referred to difficulties caused by the continued occupation by the army of the school playing field; and by the separation of the Junior School in Ladywell, now under Mr. Langley. The headmaster hoped that the K.E.C. would "see their way clear to procuring land for new buildings before long".
In 1922 there were several indications of further post-war revival. The playing field and the town's swimming bath came back into use. A Parents' Association was formed; and a Town Hall prizegiving gave the head the opportunity to report that school numbers had already outgrown the accommodation provided in 1916 at Frith Road.
By the end of 1923 the difficulties of a growing school split in separate buildings caused Mr. Whitehouse to persuade the Kent Education Committee, where he had much influence, to agree to move the school yet again to available space on Astor Avenue. On 6th March, 1924, the whole school assembled on what is now the Lower Field to watch Canon Elnor, Chairman of the Governors, cut the first sod.
The Dover County School for Boys was to move as one body to a new site with a new building accompanied by its own playing fields. The Frith Road premises would be left to the Girls' School who were still in the small building in Maison Dieu Road: and Ladywell could be left for the sole use of the Technical College.
At the Astor Avenue site Mr. Hugh Leney, so long a generous benefactor, gave an additional field known for all time as "Leney's" and he again gave money for the gymnasium. Plans drawn for the new buildings showed, in the headmaster's words, that the school would "suitably match the historic Castle on the other side of the valley".
When Mr. Whitehouse dined in Cambridge with his former scholars he was able to tell them of the new school buildings and fields. Levelling had been completed and some estimates have been made that this work cost about one third of the total. Lower and upper fields were grassed and prepared for use. Indeed, cricket was played at Astor Avenue from 1929 and soccer from 1930.
A school bazaar in the Town Hall raised a further £355 to add to an existing sum of £600 for the organ. Very few state schools enjoy such a privileged possession. The contract for building the school went to Claysons of Lyminge and they began building in 1929.
Impatience for the new buildings was increased by acute discomfort and unease at Ladywell where furniture of appropriate size for junior boys was inappropriate for mature evening students.
Our history has brought us to the autumn term of 1931, described in a Pharos editorial as "the most important term in the history of the school".
Term started in September and on the first Saturday Canon Elnor and the Headmaster held an "At Home" for parents to be shown round the buildings by their sons. School life proceeded, Speech Day came and went and on Wednesday, 9th December, came the day of days when Prince George, Duke of Kent, came to declare the school ceremonially open. Boys and masters processed from Town Hall to St. Mary's Church where the Bishop of Dover preached on tradition and the future. Everyone returned to school and the cadet corps formed a guard of honour and sounded a royal salute. Lunch was taken in the dining hall in the company of many distinguished visitors. After lunch the Duke addressed the assembled school in the Great Hall. Hugh Newman made a speech of welcome on behalf of the school.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
