Schools run by Rev. F. J. Faithfull (1812-54)

By G. Philip Marris

The Rev. F. J. Faithfull

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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