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Woodhouse Grammar School was a school in Finchley.
History
The Woodhouses
The first mention of buildings on the site of Woodhouse Grammar School is in 1655, in the probate of the will of Allen Bent of Friern Barnet. The will, dated 15th January 1655, refers to three tenements “called the “Woodhouses” that are now in the several occupations of William Moore, William Amery and Abraham Wager”.[1].
In 1743 James Patterson, a turner, of the Parish of St George the Martyr in Middlesex came into possession of “all those two messuages called or known as the Woodhouses with one ground room under the said messuages” (Middlesex County Record Office). These two tenements came into the possession of Thomas Collins through his wife on the death of her father James Patterson in 1765 “ James Patterson bequeaths his tenements in Finchley to his daughter Henrietta Collins, wife of Thomas Collins” according to the Gentleman’s Magazine 2nd November 1827. They had married on 19th November 1761. The third tenement was in the possession of John Bateman, a wine merchant, who in The List of Finchley Freeholders lives at “Woodhouses”. In his will, proved in 1776, he orders his executors to sell his house and gardens as soon as possible; and it was sold in 1778 to John Johnson who in 1784 transferred it to Thomas Collins; this is described as “one of the messuages one of the Woodhouses”. Thomas Collins became possessor of all three Woodhouses.
By 1754 one or perhaps a number of them was called Wood House as seen on Rocque’s Map of Middlesex. A mansion was built there between 1784 and 1798 according to Barnet Local History Library (Acc. 6140/1) becoming the centre of an estate created at inclosure of Finchley Common. At the inclosure in 1816, the Marquis of Buckingham and Sir William Curtiss, major local landlords, were allocated 45 acres and 39 acres respectively. Thomas Collins bought both their allocations.
Middlesex County Council agreed to buy the house in 1915 but only “when peace was restored” which unfortunately meant that the building suffered some neglect before becoming a school in 1922.[2][3]
A blue plaque commemorating Thomas Collins hangs on a wall outside the present college office.
Timeline
The school was opened as The Woodhouse School in 1822 by Middlesex County Council, becoming Woodhouse Grammar School following the 1944 Education Act. It remained as a fully state-funded grammar school until it closed in 1978 and re-opened as a state sixth form college (Woodhouse College).
The change was triggered by the introduction of the 1976 Education Act, which effectively killed off grammar schools in favour of non-selective comprehensives. The local M.P., Margaret Thatcher, was Education Secretary in the Conservative government from 1970 to 1974 and a vocal supporter of grammar schools during a time of rising support for a change to non-selection at age 11.
However, when the Labour government was elected in 1974 and passed the 1976 Education Act, the writing was on the wall for Woodhouse.
As the newly-elected Leader of the Opposition, Mrs Thatcher continued to oppose the move to comprehensives and rejected plans for Woodhouse to merge with the local secondary modern school and create the "Friern Barnet & Woodhouse Comprehensive School". Her opposition ensured that the school retained it's selective status, albeit as a sixth-form college.
The School
The school coat of arms with the motto 'Cheerfulness with Industry' is still displayed above the stage in the college hall. A pink chestnut tree was planted behind the main school building to mark the coronation of King George VI in 1937. This tree had been presented by the Third Reich authorities to a member of the British team who attended the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and subsequently became known as 'the Hitler tree'.[need quotation to verify] During the Second World War, the school continued to function but the basement was used by the ARP service. The names of the forty seven former pupils who died during the Second World War are recorded in a hand illuminated Roll of Honour which hangs at the foot of the main staircase near the front entrance to the college. The Roll of Honour also records the names of the four houses of the old grammar school - Gordon, Livingstone, Nightingale and Scott.[1]
Notable Alumni
Some peple went there.
References
- ^ Prerogative Court Of Canterbury – Berkeley Quire Number 91, Transcription by C O Banks/Wills
- ^ Hendon & District Archaeological Society |http://www.hadas.org.uk/woodhouse---home-of-thomas-collins
- ^ Reboul, Percy. 1994. By Word and Deed: A Chronicle of Woodhouse School 1922 – 1949. Finchley, London/ Friends of Woodhouse College
External Links
Som links.