Schools run by Rev. F. J. Faithfull (1812-54)
By G. Philip Marris
The Rev. Francis Joseph Faithfull was Curate of Hatfield in 1812 and then Rector from 1819 until his death in 1854. He established three schools:
- The Vicarage (1812-19) where he taught a few boys.
- The Parsonage (1819-54) where he established a boarding school for 10-15 boys. The Parsonage later became Howe Dell School.
- A school for girls (1846), located at the end of Parsonage Drive, near where the railway crosses French Horn Lane.
The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury was sent as a child to the Parsonage school in 1836. Aged only 6 years old, the doleful victim later recalled “My existence there was an existence among devils.” The boys were woken at 6am, given no food until 10am, worked seven hours a day, were beaten with shaving straps, “and naturally learnt nothing.”
This page was added on 28/10/2014.
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