Catalogue description Rottingdean Preparatory School

Endorsed on the flyleaf is 'E F Prior 2nd chamber long jump Lent 1902'. Edward Foss Prior was born in the second quarter of 1888 at Cambridge (Cambridge 3b 507) and his brother Herman Brooke Prior was born at the same place in the third quarter of 1886 (Cambridge 3b 503). They were the sons of the Rev Charles Herman Prior (1850-1899), sometime fellow and tutor of Pembroke College Cambridge, and his wife Margaret, the daughter of Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, 1890-1901. In 1891 both were living with their aunt Catherine A Prior at Harrow, Middlesex (RG 12/1039 folio 17v) and by 1901 they were pupils at Rottingdean Preparatory School (RG 13/919 folio 76). Herman left at Easter 1900 for Harrow while Edward was still there in December 1901 having just won a scholarship to Eton College. After Eton Edward attended University College Oxford and was subsequently a master at Eton. While serving as a captain in the 8th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade he was killed in action on 15 September 1916 and buried in the Bernafay Wood British Cemetery, Montauban.

Document purchased on 30 October 2006 (ACC 9544)

The volume listed below was purchased from Stalagluft Books and Ephemera in Newcastle upon Tyne.

The school magazine for July 1899 states it to be the completion of the seventh year of issue, which would mean that the school was established in about September 1892. It was founded on Lewes Road, Rottingdean by George Mason (1861-1946+), the son of the Rev John Mason Mason (1820-1899) of Langley Mills, Northumberland, who was born at Wreay, Cumberland in 1861. He was educated at Wolverhampton Gramar School and Rossall, before he was admitted to Trinity Hall Cambridge in 1880 where he was awarded a BA in 1884 and an MA in 1888. He was assistant master at Rossall, 1884-1887, headmaster of Rottingdean Preparatory School, 1887-1910, JP for Sussex in 1922 and of Burley, Hampshire in 1946. His elder brother, Thomas Henry Mason (1854-1906+), was born on 7 May 1854 at Jarrow. Thomas was educated at Rugby and was admitted to Pembroke College Cambridge on 18 January 1875, where he was awarded a BA in 1878 and an MA in 1881. He was joint headmaster of Rottingdean Preparatory School with George in 1906. The school does not appear in the 1887 trade directory but does in 1895 (T H and G Mason, preparatory school), 1899 (T H and G Mason, preparatory school), 1909 (G Mason, preparatory school), 1912-1913 (Harry Sholto Searle Parker MA and Edward Hind BA, Rottingdean Prep School), 1915 (Harry Sholto Searle Parker MA and Edward Hind BA, Rottingdean Preparatory School) and 1927 (Edward Fairbrother Shepherd MA and John Edgar Maxwell-Hyslop BA). The buildings are shown on the 1898 and 1910 editions of the Ordance Survey 25-inch sheet as 'The School' and as 'Preparatory School' on the 1930 and 1938 editions. There were seven forms containing a total of some 60 pupils. The school buildings have been demolished and housing built on the site, although the school's war memorial and playing fields have survived. The school's motto was 'Veritas vis virtutis' (truth is the strength of virtue).