About
This site was first made by Bill Bartlett (wnbartlett@gmail.com) in 2014 in memory of my father, John Bartlett, and now updated in 2022 in memory of my mother, Philippa Bartlett, who died in 2022.
Background
My parents, John and Philippa Bartlett, bought Brunswick School, Ashurst Wood, near East Grinstead, Sussex in 1965. Dad was 37 and Mum 35 and they sold their house in Balcombe and borrowing money from my grandfather, Harold Gardner of the catering company John Gardner and Sons and then Gardner Merchants, to finance the rest of purchase price which I think was in the region of £58,000.
My father had been travelling up and down to London for nearly ten years and was keen for a change of career from being the company secretary of the Kenya Coffee Company (now Kenco). So as one does, he and my mother bought the school and the grounds and building of Dutton Homestall and the home of Brunswick School from the Shelfords. At that time it had just 40 boys and, like many prep schools in the south, was on the verge of closing down for good.
My father realised the Churchill connection could be an important one for the success of the school so he did his research. However, it wasn't until 1975 that he had the good fortune to receive the nationwide publicity for his remarks about Churchill not being a dunce at Brunswick. With the opportune gift of the books from the Imperial Library, and some encouragement from Lady Churchill, he was able to achieve considerable exposure and enhance the school's position as one of the leading Sussex Prep schools at that time, which I think it probably was, certainly on the sporting side.
The Bartlett family left the school in 1981 under difficult circumstances which made pages in the tabloid news. However, the building remained under John and Philippa Bartlett's ownership with a school trust continuing to pay a quarterly rent to them, until it got into financial difficulties again and had to close in 2009. My parents had been advised to make the school a trust early on to ensure it was taxed at charitable rates and this helped in the uncertain and difficult times but it also meant that it had to stay a school and they could not sell the building they owned even if they wanted to do so.
So with some relief in 2009 my father and mother, now some time divorced but still joint owners, were finally able to sell the Dutton Homestall property. My father as an active landlord went along to the school from time to time to look at the state of the property. There were rent reviews and at these he always tried to increase them as he never felt they were as much as they could be! If I recall correctly the rents remained in the region of £50,000 a year for some time. That sounds a large amount but having to split that 50/50 with my mother, and having no real pension, actually meant that his dreams of travelling the world and early retirement were limited. However, he lived a comfortable but modest retirement in Milford on Sea and in his early years from Stoke he continued teaching at Hordle House, now closed, close to his new home. Sadly, by the time the sale had gone through, Dad had suffered a severe stroke during a hip operation and his last few years were sad ones in a nursing home in Lymington where he was fed through a tube. Ironic because food was one of his main delights and he was a proud member of the Innholders Company, indeed Master there for a year, and loved his trips to London to take part in city livery dinners etc.
Before the sale of Dutton Homestall most of its contents, including the scholarship boards, furniture from three schools, records etc were auctioned. The money made from the auction was used to upkeep the building and grounds for over two years before it was eventually sold. So sadly for my father, he never got to enjoy the sale proceeds and much of it went on his nursing home fees in Lymington.
The Churchill books, Letters from Land and Sea (two volumes) from the Stoke House boys in WW1, and the Brunswick accounts ledger remain with members of the family.
Taken from my Blog "Take a Breath then speak" but written by my mother
The Homestall and Dutton Hall
Roughly between the ancient township of East Grinstead and the Ashdown Forest in northern Sussex, lies a broad green valley of about 600 acres. This was part of a large forest where deer, wild boar and other game would have been hunted by John of Gaunt, who used “The Homestall” built in 1350 as one of his hunting Boxes.
By 1903 this simple farmhouse had become derelict but it was restored and enlarged by a Mr. H Partridge and the grounds were landscaped and included a tennis lawn, a summerhouse, a terrace walk and a kitchen garden.
In 1915 Lord Tommy Dewar, of whiskey fame, bought “The Homestall”, with Shovelstrode Farm, so that in his spare time he could bred race horses, greyhounds, Sealyham terriers and chickens. He added a stud farm and kennels to the estate and with further success in whiskey marketing worldwide he was created Baronet of Homestall Manor in the Parish of East Grinstead in the county of East Sussex in 1917, and raised to a peerage as Baron Dewar. When he died a childless bachelor in 1930 the barony became extinct but the estate, the animals and a million pounds was inherited by his nephew Mr. John A. Dewar who, not surprisingly, also gained the nickname Lucky! His luck certainly continued for the horses, dogs and poultry proved their worth and the stud farm gained much respect. His gelding Cameronian won both the 2,000 guineas and the historic 1931 Derby in front of King George V on his 66th birthday. Later Dewar's horses and dogs won more: Tudor Minstrel won the 2,000 guineas in 1947 and his Greyhound Dutton Swordfish won the Waterloo cup in 1944, his Sealyham terrier Homestall Dellah won at Crufts and his Sussex light cock was the supreme 1933 Dairy show champion.
John married Kathleen in1932 and they lived the high life in London whilst using The Homestall as a weekend retreat. Kathleen however wanted a larger country house for entertaining and to bring out Barbara, her step-daughter, as a débutante. While browsing some old books she came across “The Duttons of Dutton” published in 1901. This showed photographs of the ancestral home of the Dutton Family built near Runcorn in Cheshire between 1539 and 1542 . It was an important example of domestic woodwork at the time of Henry V111 although the great hall itself had been converted into a two floored farm house with many small rooms inside it. Kathleen recognised that Dutton Hall had been built at the same time as The Homestall so she purchased it and transported it section by section to Sussex.
The Domesday book recorded a parish called Duntune, “the farm on the hill” that was in three parts. The largest manor on it was owned by a French Monsieur called Odard, who had been part of William 1's invading army. He was probably given the house and land of what is now called Dutton in recognition of his services. His son Hugh inherited the land and the name of Dutton so that by1356 a Dutton was one of 4 Cheshire squires who fought in the 100 Years War with the Black Prince. Probably at the same time that his brother, John of Gaunt, was hunting from The Homestall in the Ashdown Forest.
In 1415 Sir Thomas Dutton, with ten men at arms and thirty mounted archers, fought at the battle of Agincourt. He and his two sons were killed 35 years later fighting in the Wars of the Roses. In 1554, after 7 years of illegitimate heirs and litigation, the inheritance was eventually settled in favour of one of the most colourful characters in the annuls of the Duttons, Sir Piers Dutton. At this time Henry V111 became supreme head of the English Church and he began the suppression of the Monasteries and the confiscation of their assets. Henry appointed Sir Piers Dutton to be commissioner for assessing and disposing of monastic properties in Cheshire and he was instrumental in suppressing riots at Norton Priory and imprisoning the ring leaders. So effective was he in these duties that he received a knighthood in 1527 and a personal commendation from the King himself. In 1539 he commenced building his own new house which took 7 years to build. The hall was half timbered in the style of most of the Cheshire Tudor houses of the day and he chose a site just below his old house overlooking the Weaver valley. The Dutton estate became the largest in the county and Dutton Hall one of the finest Tudor mansions in the North of England built in the form of a quadrangle surrounded on three sides by a moat. The house had an impressive porch around which was inscribed: “Sir Piers Dutton knight of Dutton and my lady Julian his wife made this hall and building in the year of our Lord 1542 who thanketh God of all.” Inside the outer door was a deeply carved oak door which was reputed to have been the great door of Norton Abbey. Around the cornice of the great hall an account commemorates the building of the house and states that Sir Piers was heir to all the Dutton lands.
All paintings were illuminated at night by an ingenious system of concealed focussed beams which dispersed light evenly over the canvas without lighting the frame. To the existing garden they added a partly walled garden, swimming pool, tennis and croquet lawns.
The new Dutton Homestall was to host extravagant parties entertaining many celebrities and movie stars. On one occasion a maid found Rita Hayworth and Prince Ali Khan in the bath together before they were married. However, the carefree world of the rich was shattered with World War 2 and there was a new role for the Dewars as major benefactors of the nearby Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead. Here Barbara Dewar worked for the famous pioneering plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe and Dutton Homestall became "Dutton-Hall Convalescent Hospital" and a temporary home for those who had suffered terrible burns and facial disfigurements in the Battle of Britain. McIndoe recognised that the secret to recovery was as much in the mind as in the body and getting them out of the hospital as soon as he could would aid their recovery. One such pilot whose recovery was helped by being at Dutton Hall Convalescent Hospital was Richard Hillary who started to write his book “The Last Enemy” there before embarking on his tour of America to encourage the US to join the war.
In 1958 this beautiful house, surrounded by its garden but now missing most of the Dewar's estate, was bought as the site for Brunswick School. Gardening sheds became classrooms and paddocks and fields became football and cricket pitches. The luxurious furniture and treasures were replaced by dormitory beds and desks, but the pupils had history all around them and were proud to have had Winston Churchill as one of their old boys when the school started in Brunswick Square in Hove, Sussex. Subsequently it had moved to Haywards Heath under Mervyn Goldman, and then was evacuated to Michelstow, Cornwall during the war, and finally to rest at Dutton Homestall under a new Headmaster/owner Gordon Shelford. In 1965 John and Philippa Bartlett bought the building and inherited a failing school of 45 pupils and 2 new boys. Not a very viable prospect but help was at hand with the amalgamation of two Seaford schools in similar situations: Stoke House and Kingsmead. Stoke Brunswick thrived under Arthur Pyper and John Bartlett, but Arthur Pyper retired due to ill health and the Bartletts left in 1981. A governing body was to steer Stoke Brunswick through the following years up until 2009, at which time the school closed falling victim to the credit crunch and Dutton Homestall started again to look for a new owner.
Posted 23rd February 2011 by Bill bartlett
The following story of Philippa Bartlett's life is taken from the introduction to her limited-edition self-published book: "Poems, Paintings and Places"
I was born to Harold and Joan Gardner in 1930 in Hove, Sussex. I have very fond memories of my childhood because at the start of World War II I was evacuated to my uncle’s farm in Worcestershire, where he was a tenant farmer on Lord Seymour‘s estate, Ragley Hall. My cousins and I spent many happy hours riding our ponies and exploring the countryside around Wood Bevington and hardly noticed the war was going on at all.
After the war my parents bought the Manor House at Aldingbourne near Chichester, where they made a beautiful home for my younger sister Carol and myself to enjoy during our teenage years. It had a swimming pool, tennis court and even a Bowling Green where my dad invited the locals to play once a week.
In 1951 I married John Bartlett and we started our life together in London and then moved to Lindfield in Sussex. Sadly we lost our first baby, Stephen, to meningitis when he was just 11 months old. From Lindfield we moved to The Old House, Balcombe Forest, where four of our next six children were born.
I was content being a mother but John had always wanted to become a teacher and in 1964 we found ourselves buying a beautiful building with a struggling boys’ prep school near East Grinstead called Brunswick. It had been started by two old ladies in Brunswick Square, Hove and was famously where, as a small boy, Winston Churchill had been a pupil. Moving to Hayward’s Heath during the war it finally found a home in Ashurst Wood where the school occupied the house and grounds of what had been Lord and Lady Dewar’s country residence.
To start with the school only had a few boys and was not financially viable so we threw ourselves into the enterprise of making it a success. This involved amalgamating another failing school in Seaford and so we soon became Stoke House and Brunswick. Over the next 21 years we built up the school until it was one of the best of its kind in Sussex. This involved taking in girls, starting a pre-prep and amalgamating (again) with Kingsmead School, Seaford.
The children (Susie Clare Billy Tom Peter and Daniel) grew up in this beautiful place and Daniel attended the school from pre-prep to aged 13. At first I was a very raw Headmaster’s wife but we were blessed with a wonderful Spanish couple, Carmen who was the cook and her husband, Manuel, a jack of all trades, who did most of the ground and maintenance. Mrs Renton, who was partial to a Sherry or three, assisted me with staffing and over the years we had several other Spanish couples, matrons and several cleaners including Gina who cleaned our part of the house and has remained a dear friend.
The late 70's were a traumatic time in my life as John and I were divorced and we were all forced to leave the school even though we still owned it. By then it was a trust overseen by Governors who ironically were mostly our friends.
It was then that I decided to move to Cornwall. We had already bought a small bungalow in New Polzeath and so my life suddenly changed so that now, in my 50's, I was my own person at last. I made many new friends, joined the WI, the local art group and became a member of St Endellion church. I was an art pupil of the late Carole Vincent and began to paint seriously and with renewed energy.
Over the years I have extended my home many times so that it can accommodate visiting children, their friends, grandchildren and now my great grandchildren.
I’ve been lucky enough to have gone on many painting holidays over the years. Always to beautiful places and often travelling with a good friend, Sue Snagg.
Now in my 90's I continue to live at home and had a retrospective exhibition of my paintings to illustrate some of my life in September 2021.
The following is the address I gave at my father's funeral:
John Bartlett Born 26th June 1928 Died 8th June 2014 (Aged 85, 11 months and clocking up about 753,432 hours)
Dad was born, like Pat his younger sister, in the Derby Mental Hospital. It was run by his father, George, who was the medical superintendent of the hospital at the time and explains, among other things, Dad's life-long support for Derby County football club!
The family moved to Bognor Regis where Dr George Bartlett set-up a surgery from Brownie, the family home, and from where Kath, my grandmother, would later become an ambulance driver during the war. George died in 1954 but I remember going on the stony beach at Bognor and walking with my grandmother in the early 60's to the children's theatre near the pier (closed in the 70's).
Despite the war Dad spent a very happy childhood in Sussex. He played a lot of sport, enjoyed cycling long distances on empty South Downs roads and at 12 went to Chichester High School. At 17 he got his high school certificate in English, French, History and Latin (just before the war in Europe ended) and he played rugby, football and cricket to a very high schoolboy level. His Chichester rugby team with the likes of Douglas Bunn enjoying reunions until very recently.
I guess Dad was of the lucky generation who just missed the fighting. He had post-war opportunities to play cricket for depleted Sussex teams and, greatly encouraged by his father, at just 18 he played first class cricket for Sussex. He bowled slow left arm spin and put his big hands to good use in the field and as a competent tail-end batsman. At 18 he also went up to Lincoln College Oxford to study law, but only to leave a year later to do his National Service. In those two years he played cricket for the Army and the Combined Services and ended up as 2nd in command of a Junior Leaders Boys Company, which may have given him ideas of teaching.
However, teaching was to come later in his life and at 20 he returned to Oxford to play cricket for both the University and Sussex, (including games against India and Yorkshire which always impressed me) and continue his degree. He never told us much about his lectures at Oxford but he did finally achieve a 3rd class degree in Law and met my mother, Philippa Gardner. Photos of them show that they were a very good looking couple, seemed to go to a lot of parties, shows and hung-out with a pretty cool Oxford crowd. One of Dad's lecturers used to use the "you know best" line on him in tutorials and this would be something he used on his six children quite a few times as we grew up. That and “just try your best”.
He was a very good father and all of us will have loved him for the interest and encouragement that he always gave and the weekly Sunday letter he sent without fail in his small, slightly indecipherable, blue ink handwriting. Not as interesting as Mum’s letters but for us boys sent-off to boarding schools (Bradfield and Radley) a bit of a life-line to home.
Our usual family holidays in the 60’s and 70’s were to Cornwall, often with an overnight stop at the Chidgeys farmhouse near Dulverton in Somerset where Dad especially loved the home cooked food and absence of electricity. Dad loved to travel throughout his life and we had other more exotic family holidays to a then undiscovered Ibiza (twice), Corfu and even a skiing trip to Andermatt in our campervan where we were snowed in before being able to pick-up baby Peter on the way home (he had been dropped off with one of our au-pairs in Switzerland enroute). There were even earlier trips to Le Touquet in France by plane, with our car being driven up a ramp into the front of the plane and us all being strapped in the back of the plane like paratroopers!
As his own children came onto the scene in the 50's Dad was working at the Kenya Coffee Company, where he was a director and the company secretary for ten years. During that time all I know is that he drank a lot of coffee as his morning assignment was to test the coffee at around ten of the company's London outlets.
Not, I think, all happy memories with a first child dying from meningitis and a lot of commuting to catering assignments that he probably didn't really like all that much. But he did have many friends, a rapidly growing family and played a lot of sport. In London he was playing hockey for a number of clubs including the Travellers and cricket in the summer for good clubs including the Free Foresters and the MCC.
Dad was 30 when I was born but by that time he and Phil had already had Stephen, Susie and Clare; with Tom, Peter and Daniel still to come. I remember him coming home with croissants to the Old House Balcombe Forest, where I was born, and his cuddly Norwegian jumper. By this time too he had played on the famous MCC cricket tour of Canada and also played hockey for some other London clubs like Hampstead before coming down to help establish East Grinstead Hockey Club at Saint Hill. The friends he made there came with a whole team of children who would become great family friends and included Lemans, Buckleys and Blunts. They were certainly happy times for us children in what might look like, from today, as in a rather depressed post-war Britain with power cuts and all sorts of strikes.
Dad's busy life driving up and down from Balcombe to London did make him want to change careers and an opportunity came in 1965 to do something pretty radical. There can't be many people who get to buy their own school and become the Headmaster but that is what Dad did. He had wanted to do something like that for a while as I remember visiting rundown old schools on inspection visits and being impressed by rambling grounds attached to unloved buildings and dirty swimming pools with dead rats in them. I'm not sure how many he took the family to look at but at a fireworks party at Brunswick School the staff there persuaded him to take over and buy the rapidly failing Brunswick School at Dutton Homestall. It’s one of the great houses of Sussex and with a story that runs for more than a few centuries. So, with borrowed money, which seems small in today's terms, he and my mother bought the whole place and we moved ten miles across Sussex to live in a wing of the wonderfully oak beamed building and its slightly out of control grounds and gardens.
Dad’s skill was in building-up the school by working with other people and after a year he arranged to share the headship with Arthur Pyper, who bought boys and equipment from his failing Stoke House in Seaford. They also bought in Kingsmead School and its remaining boys. Dad focused on running the sports, marketing and looking after the property while Arthur oversaw the academic side of things. By the time the Pypers retired, eight years later, Dad and Mum were running a very successful school together and their viable business had been made into a Trust.
In his mid fifties Dad’s life took on a new direction as he was forced out of Stoke Brunswick, got divorced and then married Carol. He inherited 3 step-children who will have different memories of Dad as he started a new life with them down in Hampshire. It couldn’t have been easy and no doubt was not helped when his new step-son, Richard, was expelled from Ardingly (for bravely going into the girls' side of the sixth form house). For Mark (12) too it must have been tricky inheriting his Stoke Brunswick headmaster as a step-father; and (ironically) me a few years later, his step-brother, as his tutor at Ardingly.
Dad was certainly very ambitious for us all to do well in life and especially at sport, and this went for his 18 grandchildren too. Coco, my daughter, remembers him coming to watch her first county hockey game for Somerset and getting caught on a barbed wire fence trying to take a shortcut to the pitch. But that was Dad, always a supporter and always interested... especially if there was hockey or cricket involved. He did later take a keener interest in sailing, living near the Solent and Mark being so good at it, but his first love was always cricket and he kept up his MCC and Sussex Martlets Cricket Club memberships all his life. In his 80's Dad was presented with a special Sussex CCC numbered cap and was proud to be, in his 80’s, the oldest surviving Sussex amateur.
Looking back now, Dad’s life was well balanced with about 30 years spent with Phil in London and Sussex and then his last 30 years with Carol down in Hampshire.