CLYDE HOUSE
(NOW CALLED NORWICH HOUSE)
Meanwhile, on the Hill, until Clyde House had been built and opened (18th July 1888), there were now at least a dozen boys in Durham House who needed to be educated. The opening ceremony was performed by Mr Arthur Young, the founder’s brother. Events had forced the Founder’s hand; he would not allow his boys to be bullied and beaten by the village schoolmaster, or to have the Rector coming to make complaints about them. It was to prove an epochal decision. From 1887 onwards the Homes would also be a school, and the next House to be built, Clyde [Norwich] House, was designed to include a School Room, and its first Superintendent, Thomas Barker Benfield, was a qualified teacher. But for the preceding eighteen months the boys were presumably taught by Mr and Mrs Hamerton in their own Home; after all, they already also had four children of their own.
Thomas Barker Benfield and his wife Mary were appointed in charge of Clyde House in 1888; he was aged 42 and came from Cambridge. For several years he had been working at Nutfield, near Redhill, in Surrey. He was chosen specifically because he was an elementary schoolteacher, and was to take charge of the formal teaching on the Hill. Clyde House, now called Norwich House, had been equipped with a classroom, although it is hard to imagine that it was large enough to contain all the seventy to eighty boys on the Hill before the opening of Top School in 1891; perhaps classrooms became available there before the school was formally opened. Tom Benfield had five children in 1891, of whom the three eldest, Alfred (20), Philip (17) and Harry (14) were all listed as teachers. Four years later (1895) Harry Benfield was one of the first party to emigrate to Canada, and shortly afterwards took over the running of the farm, and Charlie Benfield is listed as a member of the Canadian Old Boys’ Association in 1936, so the Benfield family’s commitment to the Hill continued into the next generation. Tom Benfield’s wife, Mary Elizabeth Benfield, died on 23rd December 1893, leaving him with four sons. It seems probable that at this point he decided to resign as Superintendent, and in future to concentrate on his work as Headmaster. The Benfields’ successors as House parents were William and Margaret Valentine. The Valentines were also Londoners. He was aged 52 and, as a tailor by trade, was able to instruct those senior boys who wished to become tailors themselves. In 1891 there were thirty-five boys in Clyde House, aged from 7 to 14 years; in 1901 this had fallen to thirty-one boys, aged from 7 to 15.
Walter Harvey Woolliams, aged nineteen, came in daily from his parents’ home at Manor Farm, Adlestrop, to take charge of the Lower School. The only qualified (certificated) teacher was Charles Burch, nicknamed ‘Pro`, who took charge of the small group of older boys accommodated in Kingham Field Farmhouse. It was a large house for such a small group. At first this was known as ‘Plymouth House`, but was re-named ‘Stratford House` when the new Plymouth House was opened in January 1893. Mr Burch, at fifty the oldest man in the Homes, was married with five children. By 1891 he was assisted by Arthur Roper who, aged twenty-two, had the title ‘Labour Master`, and by his brother, Herbert, aged seventeen, who was also an assistant teacher. At that time, Charles Burch’s eldest son, Arthur, was aged only eleven and was not yet employed as a teacher. Charles Burch taught drawing and singing, which went under the official titles of Science and Art.
Lloyd Siverthorn wrote a great article about his time in Clyde House during the early 60's - you can read it by clicking here
