CHULMLEIGH - MISS TUKE'S SCHOOL 1881

By 1881, only the youngest of John Tuke's children, his daughter Clara,  remained in East Street, her mother having died  and her brothers and sisters married and moved away. Clara had clearly worked hard at building up her school and could now afford to employ an assistant. Although this is the list of boarders, there would have been day pupils attending the school as education for girls became more and more fashionable and desirable.

John Walling Brooks' school for boys continued to thrive and it would seem that Clara Tuke educated the sisters of some of those boys from time to time. The Walling Brooks family made the decision to reopen their original boys' school - Rock Hill House -  as a school for girls and by 1891, this was well-established with Florence Brooks (25) and her sister Amelia (29) acting as joint Principals. The opening of this school coincided with Clara Tuke's decision to leave Chulmleigh in order to expand her school.

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The Old School House in East Street, Chulmleigh

©Richard J. Brine