EHL25. Commemorative Stone 'Roborough School.' Currently: E F International Language Centre, Roborough House, 1 Upper Avenue. what3words location: laws.glitz.than

 

Dr John Surtees states on Page 11 of the ELHS Journal Issue 117 (Autumn 2000) that ‘the Princess Alice Hospital had attempted to buy the school in 1910 when it was Clifton House School, and finally bought it from Barclays Bank in 1947.  After use by the Army during the 1939-45 war, a tedious amount of refitting was needed before it could be opened as a physiotherapy unit (ground floor) with nurse’s residencies above.  Over the years it has housed the physiotherapy and occupational therapy departments, part of the Nurse’s Home, the VD clinic, a psycho-geriatric day hospital, and is now the base for the payroll staff.’ 
 
Although the above article states it was called Clifton House School in 1910, the commemorative stone itself seems to imply it was already called Roborough School in 1904.  Today (2024) it is the E F International Language Centre.

From the National Archive (Ref: amsmm/AMS6757) ‘Clifton House School was first established in Chalgrove, Oxfordshire in 1836, probably by Jesse Crake, a Calvinistic Baptist, and moved to Courtiers in Clifton Hampden, also in Oxfordshire. It is described as a commercial school in the 1851 census, which gives Jesse's age as 41, (born in Kingston, Oxfordshire).  Clifton House School moved to Montague House, South Terrace, in Eastbourne in 1869, after a severe outbreak of fever which necessitated a move to a healthier location.  Most of the Eastbourne premises, which were in Seaside Road/South Street, were freehold, although part was held under a 99-year lease of 29 September 1868 granted by Carew Davies Gilbert. In the 1871 census the headmaster was Jesse's son Ebenezer, then known as Edward Ebenezer (aged 28).  A prospectus, 1877-1878 (AMS 6757/1/2/1) refers to new buildings comprising a dining hall, school room, sanatorium, dormitories and lavatory; a gymnasium was built in 1878 (AMS 6757/1/1/3 p208).  Edward Ebenezer Crake became a deacon in 1878 and was ordained as a priest in 1879.  In 1887 he became rector of Jevington and sold the school and grounds in the following year.  A school of the same name continued in existence, but was located at Clifton House, 1 Upper Avenue and was first run by James Winder. It is recorded that he wrote to Carew Davies Gilbert in 1896 requesting a reduction in the price of the freehold.  The school was later called Roborough School [presumably in 1904 as per the inscription on the stone]. Edward Ebenezer Crake died in 1915.’