Chapter V: Catholic Education in Chester

Dee House Convent School, 1854-1976.

Early days and education for girls

The earliest recorded Catholic school in Chester is the one which was attached to the Collegiate Church of St. John the Baptist. This is not surprising, for St. John's was one of the most important churches in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia. It aspired to the status of a cathedral at a time when it was customary for a bishop to have a number of boys in his household, who were being trained for the sacred ministry. We do not know where the school attached to St. John's was situated, but it would probably have been in the complex of buildings which once surrounded the church. Lucian, the monk of St. Werburgh's Abbey, who wrote the first Guide Book of Chester in 1195 was a pupil there. He would have studied the Latin language, the Scriptures, some of the early Fathers of the Church and some classical writers, according to the normal tradition of such schools.

In the later Middle Ages, it was customary for the great Benedictine monasteries to establish and support schools, quite separate from the monastic school within the cloister which was meant for future monks. By the late fourteenth century, there was such a school attached to St. Werburgh's, for in 1368 the Bishop of Lichfield, in whose diocese Chester then lay, licensed a Master John de Whiteley, Clerk, to have "the care and rule of a grammar school in the town of Chester".1 This school continued down to the time of the Reformation, for at the dissolution of St. Werburgh's a John Birchley was given a pension of £6 as "teacher of the children". It functioned during the interim period from the ending of the abbey till the opening of the new King's School in 1544, since at Christmas 1541, the children received their usual allowances.

It is possible to see what the old medieval school was like from the statutes of the new cathedral school. It had a Master "learned in Greek and Latin", who received a stipend of between £13 and £20, and an usher, or undermaster, "learned in Latin". After 1544, these were appointed by the Dean and Chapter of the cathedral instead of the abbot, as in former times. They were to give free instruction to all the children who came to them. In addition there were a number of foundation scholars, "poor friendless boys", between the ages of nine and fifteen, who had to come knowing the rudiments of Latin. During the four or five years they were expected to remain at the school, they received board and lodging, and a free education in Latin.

Until recent years, the King's School was housed within what had been the monastic precinct, and this again points to its origins. There is no evidence that it was ever in the Almonry, which was the normal place for such a monastic school - hence the name "almonry school", the title they were often given. But in the seventeenth century, by which time the school was using the old monks' refectory, the chapel of St. Nicholas in the south transept of the cathedral was marked as "anciently called the school there".

In addition to the almonry school, the larger monasteries often had a "Song School", where boys younger than those in the almonry school were taught to read and write, and to sing the Plainchant of the Mass. The sixteenth century choir school of the cathedral must go back to the medieval song school of the abbey. There were then eight choristers. Where they assembled, and possibly had their lessons is called on the seventeenth century plan "the singing school porch".

Whether any of the chantry priests in the other Chester churches taught any children in their spare time, it is impossible to say. Children were often taught in this way in medieval England. They would learn the alphabet, the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Creed, and possibly some of the chant of the liturgy, and in this way would be able to serve the priest's Mass. Such a practice, however, might not have been very popular in Chester, because it might have been considered a rival to the already established song school of the abbey.

Wall paintings, stained glass windows, statues of Our Lady and the saints were all means used by medieval priests, to instruct their people in the truths of the Faith. Religious plays familiarised people with the stories of the Bible. This is particularly true in Chester, where the Mystery Plays, composed by a monk of St. Werburgh's, continued to be performed year by year. lt was only in the reign of Elizabeth that they were forbidden as "popish impostures".

During penal times, Catholics were forbidden to instruct their children in their Faith, and Protestant relatives were supposed to take the children and teach them. Catholics who could afford to do it, sent their children abroad, and since Chester was still an important port, a few Catholic boys from the city and surrounding area may have managed to escape, without being detected. For the rest, whatever instruction they received would have been given at home and when a priest could do so.

lt is only when one reaches the beginning of the nineteenth century that the picture of education for Catholic children in Chester begins to emerge more clearly. The earliest school to be recorded is a private one for girls, which was run by a young Catholic lady, named Clare Corral. She advertised her school in the Catholic Directory for 1820 and 1822, but she died the following year, at the age of forty. We do not know how many pupils Miss Corral obtained for her school, but the advertisement is worth quoting in full, both for its intrinsic interest and because it is so early. lt reads:

Miss Corral respectfully informs her friends and the Catholic public, that she has opened a school for the education of young ladies, No. 21 Crane Street, in an airy part of the city. The healthy situation of this city has long caused it to be selected for academies of youth; the moderate terms, too, it is hoped, will recommend this as a preparatory school for the children of more opulent parents, and for those of the middle class of life it is trusted it will be deemed sufficient. Young ladies admitted from five to twelve years of age. The following are the terms. For board and education, in reading, writing and arithmetic, plain and ornamental needlework, 18 guineas per annum, washing included. The children will be taught grammar, geography, sacred and profane history; one pound will be charged for the use of paper, school books etc. Entrance one guinea. Dancing and drawing form separate charges, and are taught on the usual terms. Vacations at Midsummer and Christmas one month each; no additional charge for those who stay at school. Payment half yearly in advance. Miss Corral begs leave to assure those parents who are pleased to favour her with the care and tuition of their children that they may fully rely upon the strictest care being paid to their morals, health and education.

This type of private boarding school education for the middle classes was common enough in the eighteenth century. What is interesting is that it is now being offered to Catholics in Chester. Though Miss Corral was advertising in the Catholic Directory which had a national circulation, she could feel now that it was safe enough to set up such a school there, and probably obtain pupils there also. Though death, apparently, brought a swift and unexpected end to her venture, the seed she sowed was to germinate and grow in the years that lay ahead. Within two years, two more young women, the Misses Bromley of Liverpool were "respectfully informing their friends and the Catholic public that they had succeeded her, and were conducting a school for the education of young ladies at No. 19 White Friars". The elder of the two sisters had already run a similar school at Upper Pitt Street, Liverpool. The younger, Dorothy, has been already mentioned, for shortly afterwards she became the wife of John Tatlock. The Misses Bromley seem to have felt it necessary to raise their fees, at least for children over the age of ten, whose parents were asked to pay 21 guineas. Washing was now charged for separately at £2 12s. 0d. and writing cost £2 2s. 0d. Besides the dancing and drawing which were regarded as essentials in the education of young ladies of the period, music and French were now "taught by approved masters". The most significant sentence in the advertisement, however, is the one which reads, "Religious instruction will be given to the young ladies by the Reverend J. Briggs". John Briggs, therefore, found time in his busy life, to go across to No. 19 White Friars, and teach their religion to the small girls at the school there.

This school was also short-lived, or at least, it ceased to advertise in the Catholic Directory. Even if the custom of the day had allowed her to continue to run a school after her marriage, Dorothy Tatlock soon found herself too busily occupied with the rearing of her own children to have time to run a school.

Another attempt was made to open a private school, again with the assistance of Father Briggs, to whom this time prospective parents had to refer. This was the "Seminary for Young Ladies", opened by a Miss Ross and a Miss Bick in Bold Square, in 1827. Here again, the education considered by contemporaries to be suitable to a young lady was offered. The fees charged were the same as before, with the additional request that "each young lady is to be provided with one pair of sheets, four towels, knife, fork and silver spoon".

After 1828, we hear no more about a Catholic "Seminary for Young Ladies" in Chester, though one may have existed. Consequently, we cannot be sure, until the middle of the century, where better-off Catholics sent their daughters to be educated. After 1854, the problem was solved for them by the coming of the Faithful Companions of Jesus. The group of four nuns whom Father Carbery welcomed to Chester on 29th January, 1854, came from Birkenhead, where they had already established a girls' school, subsequently to become well-known in the Wirral as Holt Hill. They purchased from the Bishop of Shrewsbury the small Georgian mansion known as Dee House. It had been built by James Comberbach, a former Alderman and Mayor of Chester, who died in 1735, and it remained in his family until shortly before 1850 when an Anglican minister purchased it. The Faithful Companions of Jesus began their work by opening a small boarding school, but under their second superior, they quickly added to this a parish school and also a "select day school". Before long growing numbers, both in the community and among the children, obliged them to build, and on 2nd February, 1867, the foundation stone of a new wing, comprising chapel, study room and dormitory, was laid. The architect of this building was Edmund Kirby. The new chapel was solemnly opened on October 23rd, 1867, by Bishop Brown, in the presence of a large number of priests, and consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

In 1886, under Mother Aloysia Russell, the adjacent property, formerly belonging to a prominent Chester citizen, Meadows Frost, Esq., was purchased, and further extensions were made to the buildings. Meanwhile, the girls' day school continued to flourish and extend, though until 1917, the boarding school was administered as a separate entity. The school was first recognised by the Board of Education in 1921. The Faithful Companions of Jesus were obliged to give up their convent in Chester in 1925. During their stay, their school had been highly esteemed, and their educational work praised by the Inspectors who visited it. As far back as 1870, S. N. Stokes described it in his Report to the Committee of Council on Education as one of "several flourishing schools belonging to this teaching Order".2

In 1925, the convent and school were taken over by the Ursulines from Crewe, who have continued to work in Chester down to the present day. Thus it can be said that over the last one hundred and fifty years, the education of Catholic girls in Chester has been catered for.