HISTORY OF OUR SCHOOL

The Architectural Designs for the school

As the images below show the was deigned in 1906 and was orignally going to be called Dawes Road Secondary School for Girls.

Fulham County School: A Baptism of Fire (The First World War)

Fulham County Grammar School was barely 6 years old at the outbreak of the First World War. Thankfully, the civilian population were, largely, physically, untouched and so the school remained open throughout. Nevertheless, the impact of the war was still felt in this corner of West London. Through 1915-1918 the school raised money for a number of different hospitals, including Chelsea Hospital, that were treating the wounded of the war. As well this, the school raised money for the Red Cross to support prisoners of war. As the war dragged on and the German U Boat campaign intensified, the school joined the ‘League of Food Patriots’. This was a commitment to reduce consumption of ‘extras’ such as bread and sugar. Regular fundraising weeks were also held, most notably ‘Tank Week’ in which funds were raised to pay for the newly invented tanks for the Western Front. Allotments were built in the school grounds and the vegetables grown made the school self sufficient and able to feed the pupils.

The Armistice of 1918 was greeted with much excitement as the whole school was gathered into the hall and told the news by Ms Tucker. In her letter to the students she speaks of ‘that wonderful moment when peace succeeded war, the thoughts of all turned to the vision of a new world where the angels’ message long ago of ‘peace on earth, good will amongst men’ should really at last come true’. The Armistice also coincided with King George V visiting Fulham with the procession routed down Munster Road and past the school. However, such elation was short lived. By the January of 1919 the Spanish Flu had torn through the school with over 200 students and 8 staff falling ill in that month alone. Furthermore, in 1919, the true financial and human cost of the war was being felt as the school turned its fundraising activities to cots for hospitals as well as the building of homes for veterans of the Great War (presumably what is now Sir Oswald Stoll Mansions next to Chelsea Football Club). The school also took part in the very first Remembrance Day in 1919. Once again, pupils were called down to the assembly hall where they observed the 2-minute silence, sang a hymn and said prayers.

Fulham County School and The Coming of the Storm: 1930s

It is impossible to read these magazines without the acute awareness of the horrors that were to face the school and the world in the coming years. For the most part, school life continues in the blissful ignorance of the coming of World War Two. However, there are some references to the menace that is lurking in the background as we shall see.

For Fulham County Grammar School, the 1930s starts with a loss of their own. Ms Tucker, the founding Head Mistress of the school finally retired and was succeeded by Ms Callender. The letters to ‘the girls’ however, still remained caring and affectionate and always started with ‘My Dear Girls…’. Following her retirement, Ms Tucker writes a letter in the magazine to describe what her new surroundings are like in West Sussex and what she is doing with her retirement.

The Letters from Ms Callender to the girls in the early 1930s (1931 and 1932) talk of ‘difficult times’ as the Great Depression hits the country. There is a lot of concern about ‘old girls’ not being able to find work. By 1932, this has extended to worries that the current pupils will not be able to find work when they leave and the anxiety this is causing. There are also worries about the nation’s finances and how the country is going to pay its way.

By 1933 there is no mention of the impact of the Great Depression so one can assume the situation was improving by this stage. However, the situation was not improving for one of the school’s governors, Mrs. Arnold, was leaving the school one day when she was run over and had to be taken to hospital! Thankfully she was okay!

There is a lovely line in the magazine from Ms Callender in 1934 that talks about how unique a Fulham County pupil is:

‘A short time ago somebody who was talking to me about our school said that it was obvious directly you came across a Fulham County Secondary School girl that she was trying to live up to a standard. She implied that you could pick out our members by this very thing. I thought that was a most encouraging remark. In these days when we live amongst crowds it is not always obvious that we each need our standard like a beacon light ahead of us to show us the path. If it is true that Fulham girls are to be distinguished by their struggling after an ideal the future is full of promise.’

In 1936 it appears that the Head Mistress, Ms Callender, was the one to have an accident this time. It is unclear what happened but appears to be serious as she talks about having a lengthy time off school stating ‘she has full use of her arm’ and that ‘only by close inspection would anybody guess that it is not quite like the other one. It is marvellous what modern treatment can do’. At the same time, in Europe, the Nazis are introducing increasingly anti-Semitic policies in Germany and re-arming the country. Nevertheless, Fulham County School continues with summer fetes, prize givings and school clubs unaware of what is to come.

By 1938 the mood at the school and, no doubt, across Europe has darkened. It is clear from her Christmas letter of 1938 that Ms Callender, Fulham County School and the country are preparing for war. She writes:

‘We have just passed through what must have been one of the crises of our history. We were within a few hours of being evacuated from London for the duration of what would undoubtedly have been the most terrible war. When I was a girl at school such a thing would have been unthinkable – all seemed so safe.’

The crisis that she is referring to is the Munich Crisis of 1938 in which Hitler invades western parts of Czechoslovakia. What follows is a meeting between Britain, France, Italy and Germany in which Britain and France appease Hitler in the hope that he will not invade any further countries.

This is the last letter and the last magazine as, a year later, the school closes and pupils evacuated out of Fulham to the countryside. The Second World War had begun.

Fulham County School In the Eye of The Storm (World War Two)

Whilst this is an epic period in world history it is less so for the school. This is for the simple reason that, for the majority of the Second World War, the school remained closed as children were evacuated from London to escape the bombing. The school itself was first evacuated to Thame and later to Banbury in Oxfordshire, presumably to serve the additional children in the area that had resulted from the evacuation of London. Fulham County School shared the site of Banbury County School until it was burnt down in 1940. After this, the school was set up in various church halls until it was re-homed in a Hotel. During the summer holidays of the war, the girls worked on local farms producing food for the country at a time when German U Boats were sinking millions of tonnes of supplies bound for Britain. There is little information about the school building itself during this period and it is unclear if the school was hit during the bombing of the Blitz. There is no information to suggest it was and when looking at the building, no bomb damage is apparent. However, by researching on ‘bombsight.org’ it is apparent that the school was lucky not to be hit as bombs fell as close as close as Purcell Crescent and at the end of Strode Road.

Due to the extensive bombing and the desperate need for additional fire crews, early in the war, the school was commandeered by the London Fire Brigade and became an Auxiliary Fire Brigade Station. As the war continued and the imminent threat to Britain and, more specifically, London receded, Fulham County School as well as few other West London Schools partially re-opened. Fulham County opened as the ‘West London Emergency School for Girls’. This was incredibly successful and by 1944, more pupils were attending West London Emergency School than the evacuated school in Banbury. This was not without its own dangers however. Whilst the Blitz had ended and the threat from aerial bombing had virtually disappeared in 1944, Hitler began sending his ‘vengeance’ weapons, flying bombs (The V1, also known as the doodlebug) and, later, the first use of rockets (The V2). As is probably to be expected, London was the main target and so pupils at Fulham County still had to be wary of attack. Indeed the ‘Doodle Bug Summer’ of 1944 ‘ was:

‘a very hard year in London and the girls who were taking the Higher School and General School certificate examinations had to work their papers in the air raid shelters.’

VE Day

VE (Victory in Europe Day) was a Public Holiday that went on for some time. As a result, the school was shut. Nevertheless, there were numerous reports in the school magazine of what the atmosphere in London was like:

‘At half-past two I went to my friend’s home ready for our intended excursion to Buckingham Palace. We waited to hear a little of Mr. Churchill’s speech and then we prepared for the fray. It was almost a battle too. The buses to Walham Green were packed, but we still noticed the spirit of festivity and the gay streets.’

Fulham County School in a brave new world (Post War)

Following World War Two, Fulham County School re-opened and returned to some form of normality. The school magazine also returned and with it our ability to chart the history of the school. As you may expect, in the 8 years between the last magazine in 1938 and the first, post-war, magazine in 1946 there had been a significant change in staff and it appears that Ms Callender has left as Head Mistress and been replaced by Mary Robson. In 1948 the magazine returns with sad news that the founding Head Mistress, Miss Tucker, has died at the age of 81. There are several tributes to her and her role in founding the school.

What is conspicuous by its absence is any further mention of the war or the role that staff, ex-pupils and the school itself played during it. Another surprise is how many visits there were to European countries so soon after the war with visits to France (which must have still been re-building after the destruction caused during the war) and Sweden. Astonishingly, there were accounts of holidays in Austria (which had been part of Germany during the war) and a letter from Germany describing the situation there:

‘There is a great deal of devastation and the large cities are more badly damaged than any that I have seen in England. In Berlin there are still large areas of rubble, which will take years to clear…The food situation is rather grim in the large towns…It is difficult to analyse the German people. A great deal is done to help them, but many seem to resent the fact that their country is still controlled’

Fulham-Gilliatt School: A marriage of inconvenience

Ms Clarkson’s belief that Fulham County Grammar School was safe from the comprehensive system was a false sense of security. As the swinging sixties gave way to the 1970s comprehensive education was actively encouraged by the Labour government and the Secretary of State for Education, Anthony Crossland. The writing was on the wall for Fulham County School. The plan was to merge Fulham County School with another all girls’ school in Fulham, Gilliatt School. However, neither parents nor students appeared happy with this ‘marriage. In October 1970, it was reported in the West London Observer that girls from the 2 schools had clashed with one another whilst, at a local meeting to discuss the merger, parents had also clashed about the idea. The School magazine in 1970 did, however, lighten the mood with a 1970s take on Edward Lear’s ‘The Owl and the Pussy Cat’:

Nevertheless, the march of time was relentless and, in 1972, The then Head Mistress of Fulham County Grammar School, Ms Harrison wrote;

‘Now what of the future? We are already well into our last year as Fulham County School…Next September, when this school amalgamates with Gilliatt, the girls and staff of both schools will face a big step forward and one which will call for flexibility, patience, courtesy and, above all, good humour.’

Such good humour appeared to be in short supply as there were numerous reports of clashes between students and staff from both schools with radically different approaches to education. According to one report, it took years for the school to come together and Just as it did there was more change on the horizon.

Alice Gilliatt, a true Fulham Cross lady

Although there was much sorrow and even anger at the merger of the two schools, the new name of the school was befitting of its ethos of empowering girls through education; an ethos that remains at the core of Fulham Cross Girls’ School to this day. Alice Gilliatt was a leading suffragette in the early 20^th Century and, amongst other achievements, went on to become the first female mayor of Fulham. The Hammersmith Library records:

‘Alice moved to 6 Stevenage Road, Fulham in 1907. Alice remained at Stevenage Road until her death in 1957.

We know of some of Alice’s activity as a suffrage campaigner from The Suffragette, the weekly magazine of the Women’s Social and Political Union. Between October 1912 and the summer of 1914 she gave at least 55 talks around London, from Hampstead to Purley and West London to West Ham. These talks were usually out-of-doors such as the Hampstead Flagpole or on Wimbledon Common. She sometimes doubled up with someone from the Men’s Political Union (MPU) such as on the 29 June 1913 at Regent’s Park, where she spoke with Mr Duval of the MPU. Reports from branches of the WPSU all speak warmly of her talks: from the Wimbledon Park and South Wimbledon branch – “Miss Gilliatt and Miss Houghton addressed a large interested crowd in Broadway on Saturday.”

As mentioned earlier, Alice was one of the founding members of the Association of Women’s Pharmacists and served for many years on the committee of the Guild of Public Pharmacists. In an issue of the Chemist and Druggist dated 25 June 1911, is an article describing how over 40,000 women marched to the Royal Albert Hall the previous week. Included in the article were two photographs of the small section composed of women pharmacists including Alice Gilliatt wearing her suffragette sash and helping to carry a banner with the wording “Women Pharmacists Demand the Vote”.

This was not her only protest in 1911. There was a concerted campaign by women’s organisations to boycott the 1911 Census by staying away from their abode on the night of the census, refusing to provide information or defacing the form. Alice and her lodgers (all women) were not present to provide information to the enumerator so he did his best to provide some information.

The first London local elections that women could actively participate in were held in November 1919 and Alice was elected as a Labour councillor. As she was a pharmacist (and later Head Pharmacist at the Western Hospital) Alice was particularly interested in issues of health and was the first woman chair of the Public Health Committee. She also served on the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee. In 1922 Alice was defeated – a fate shared by all her Labour colleagues but was re-elected in 1934. It was upon Labour’s return to the power in 1934 that she was appointed the first woman mayor. During her year in office she became known as the “cycling mayor”, cycling to all her engagements regardless of the weather.

In 1941 she was appointed a magistrate of the County of London and two years later retired from the post of chief pharmacist at the Western Hospital, Fulham. Alice stepped down from the council in 1953.

Alice was made an Honorary Freeman of Fulham Borough in 1949.

At a dinner given in her honour in January 1935 the following was said by her fellow women pharmacists:

“Miss Gilliatt was one who took her stand for what she thought to be right and was always prepared to fight strenuously for it.”’

Ms Stella Lusted became the Headteacher of the new school and was responsible for over 1000 students across 3 sites, Munster Road, Hawkesmoor Street and Finlay Street.

‘Even at school it is often not the cleverest girls who do the best in the long run, but the steady independent workers, and the girls with strong character and warm hearts’

Ms Tucker, Head Mistress Fulham County Grammar School 1912