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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”..

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.

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Plaque which hangs in the modern college

On the death of Thomas Collins in 1830, Woodhouse passed to his great niece Margaret Collins Jennings. According to the National Archives ACC/0395/ 21 - 31 Aug. 1830, there was a marriage settlement between Margaret Collins Jennings of Finchley and William Lambert Esq. of Monmouth which included Wood Houses in Finchley and much other property. They were married on 23rd September 1830. William Lambert was a J.P. for Middlesex. Sometime between 1841 and 1860 the separate house was pulled down. From the census returns, in 1841 William Lambert (aged 40) and his wife Margaret (aged 35) were living at Wood Houses (one house occupied and 2 uninhabited) – his occupation was given as independent. The house and estate was then sold to G W Wright-Ingle whose family came from St Ives in Huntingdonshire. Wright-Ingle reconstructed and enlarged the house in 1889 employing the architect E W Robb of St Ives. The down pipes are still marked 1889 in 2012. From the plans the lobby and the front and back rooms of the west end of the house were not rebuilt. G W Wright Ingle’s wife had a daughter at Woodhouse on 27th September 1891 according to the London Standard dated 1st October 1891.

In 1910 the house came into the possession of the Busvine family according to Percy Reboul (1994). 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.

A blue plaque commemorating Thomas Collins hangs on a wall outside the present college office.

School Timeline

The school was opened as The Woodhouse School in 1922 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

Motto and Houses

Some reminders of the former grammar school remain today. The old school coat of arms with the motto 'Cheerfulness with Industry' is still displayed above the stage in the college hall. 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]

The Whitaker Years - 1969 to 1982

Under the leadership of Dennis Whittaker (1918-2011) from 1969 to 1982, Woodhouse went from strength to strength. Mr Whittaker also oversaw its successful transition from a grammar school to a Sixth Form College.

Notable Alumni

Some peple went there.

External Links

Som links.