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Bloomsbury Project

Bloomsbury Institutions

Educational

Jewish High School for Girls and Day Training College for Teachers

Also known as High Class School for Girls/Jewish High School for Girls/Jewish High School for Girls and Training School for Teachers/Jewish Middle Class School/West Metropolitan Jewish School/West Metropolitan Jewish School for Middle Class Pupils

History

It was said to have been founded in 1845 (Charities Digest, 1890) by Isabel Goldsmid as a private school offering a good quality liberal education (The Times, 11 July 1884)

However, its origins were actually as a boys’ school; it was opened as the West Metropolitan Jewish School for boys in Little Queen Street on 7 March 1845, with a girls’ department opening in 1846 (Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959)

Its name changed briefly to the West Metropolitan Jewish School for Middle Class Pupils, then in 1878 to the Jewish Middle Class School (Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959)

In 1883 it became the Jewish High School for Girls, although in Dickens’s Dictionary of London (1888) it still appears (under the entry for Jews) as “High Class School for Girls”

It was supported from the beginning by the rich and philanthropic local Jewish families of Goldsmid and Mocatta; Francis Goldsmid was a founder, and in 1873 Jacob Mocatta “gave the pupils of the school a treat to the Crystal Palace in celebration of the marriage of his daughter, Miss Marian Mocatta, to Mr H. G. Lousada” (Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959)

It was also closely associated with the West London Synagogue of British Jews in Burton Street

Its original Treasurer and Hon. Secretary was Jacob Elkin, its Headmaster Mr Brooke, and its Governess (Headmistress) Mrs Gill (Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959)

In 1873 Mr Brooke was succeeded as Headmaster by an orthodox Jew, David Isaacs, but in 1880 the boys’ department closed (Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959)

It trained women as teachers from 1877 (Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959)

Its system of education has been described as variously Pestalozzian (teaching with objects) and run according to the Birkbeck system (with financial contributions from the pupils themselves) (Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959)

Its purpose-built premises in Red Lion Square were apparently set to become a “model Jewish school”, with a museum containing objects and paintings, and a well-equipped laboratory (John Mills, The British Jews, 1853; quoted in Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959)

Its Headmistress in 1884 was still Mrs Gill, its President Sir Saul Samuel, and its Hon. Secretary Arthur L. Josephs (The Times, 4 July 1884)

Its Headmistress in 1888 was Miss Alice M. Levy; its Hon. Secretary and President remained the same as in 1884 (The Times, 11 October 1888)

Alice Levy had previously been pupil teacher at the school (Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959)

Its President in 1895 was Isabel Goldsmid and its Vice-President F. D. Mocatta

Its attendance declined to less than half of its capacity of 200 in the 1890s, following the proliferation of Jewish schools elsewhere, and the diminution in Jewish families living in the Bloomsbury area; it finally closed in 1897 (Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959)

The purpose-built premises in Red Lion Square no longer exist; they were occupied by art printers Underwood & Underwood by 1900, sold for £7000 in 1907 (The Times, 30 March 1907), and later replaced by New Mercury House

What was reforming about it?

It was aimed at the middle classes trying to better themselves, rather than as a charity at the poorest local people

According to Rabbi Cassell, it became by accident the first Jewish school in London to accept Christian pupils, when some of Mr Brooke’s pupils followed him from his previous school (Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959)

It remained resolutely non-denominational and sought to overcome religious differences in education (The Times, 11 July 1884)

Where in Bloomsbury

Founded in Little Queen Street in 1845, the boys’ school soon moved to 256 High Holborn, and the girls’ department moved from 12 Little Queen Street to Lamb’s Conduit Street in 1852 (Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959)

In 1853 both departments were united at 26 Red Lion Square on a 21-year lease; a new Infants’ department was also able to be opened here, the first in west London (Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959)

It moved to Chenies Street in 1881 after a generous benefaction from Isabel Goldsmid for the new building, which cost in excess of £8000 (Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959); it remained there until its closure in 1897

Website of current institution

It no longer exists

Books about it

Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19 (1955–1959)

Archives

According to Rabbi Cassell, “no Minutes or other documents apart from a prospectus are extant” (Curtis E. Cassell, ‘The West Metropolitan Jewish School 1845–1897’, Transactions and Miscellanies of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 19, 1955–1959)

This page last modified 13 April, 2011 by Deborah Colville

 

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