In the 1870s there were many
small schools for girls in
Portsmouth and Southsea. They
were private schools for young
ladies, whose advertisements
stressed accomplishments rather
than academic achievement.
Eminent men in the city, many of
whom had daughters, had heard of
the Girls' Public Day School
Company, which stated that it
would open a school in any
district where 400 shares had
been subscribed for. Prominent
among these men were Mr W
Edmonds, a member of a local
firm of accountants, and Canon
Grant, Vicar of Portsmouth. They
negotiated with the GPDSC,
raised 560 shares, and
looked around for a suitable
house to start a High School
in. What they found was
Marlborough House, a large
semidetached villa in
Osborne Road, which then had
a view over Southsea Common
to the sea.
In late 1881 Miss Alice Ledger
was appointed as Head Mistress,
and the school began to take
shape. It was not quite ready by
the beginning of the Spring
Term, but opened at half-term,
on February 21st. There were 32
pupils to begin with, and this
very soon grew to 100, when the
adjoining house, Burlington
House, was added.
|