Olive Willis
Encyclopedia
Olive Margaret Willis was an English
educationist and headmistress. She founded Downe House School and was its head for nearly forty years, from 1907 to 1946.
, London
, a daughter of John Armine Willis (1839–1916), a school inspector who later became Chief Inspector of Schools for the west of England, and of Janet Willis, who was a daughter of James Coutts Crawford. There were five children in the family, four daughters and a son, and Willis was the second girl. John Armine Willis had been educated at Cambridge
, where he was an officer of the Cambridge University Rifle Volunteers, and he liked to take his children on climbing holidays in Switzerland
. Willis later remembered that they had "suffered from a surfeit of beautiful things on an empty stomach".
Olive Willis was a rebellious child. In 1891, she was sent as a boarder to the new Wimbledon House in Brighton
, which while she was there became Roedean School
, and was there for four years. From 1898 to 1901, she was at Somerville College, Oxford
, where she read History
, gaining a third class in her Finals.
, the Willises attended a Theistic
church founded by the Rev. Charles Voysey
in Swallow Street, near Piccadilly
. At Roedean, Willis objected to the lack of religious teaching, was attracted to Anglo-Catholicism
, and at the age of seventeen was confirmed at the High Anglican St Cuthbert's, Earls Court
, remaining a life-long Anglican.
, Caversham
, then in 1902 returned to her own old school, Roedean, where she remained for two years. After that, she became a supply teacher, teaching in a wide range of schools, including the Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
, which was then in Acton
, and a school in Chesterfield
.
In 1907, with her friend Alice Carver as a non-teaching partner, Willis founded a new girls' boarding school
called Downe House. They raised £
1,500 to rent and equip Down House
in the village of Downe
, near Orpington
, Kent
, a house which had previously been the home of Charles Darwin
. The school began with one girl and five mistresses. Its aim was to achieve educational excellence in a framework which was relaxed but structured. Three more girls were added to the school by the Spring of 1908, and by 1910 there were thirty-six girls, of whom all but four were boarders. Willis herself taught English, Latin
, Scripture, and history, while Carver was matron and kept house. Carver withdrew from their partnership in 1912, and Willis ran the school alone until 1919, when she took on a new partner called Lilian Heather, who had been at the school since 1907 as a part-time teacher of Science and Mathematics.
The school became popular with literary and academic parents. In 1913, Punch
magazine's annual cricket
match was played at Downe
, with E. V. Lucas
, a school parent, captaining one team and J. M. Barrie
the other, his team including A. A. Milne
. The school produced authors of its own. One of Willis's early pupils was the Anglo-Irish
girl Elizabeth Bowen
(1899–1973), who became a significant novelist, and Audrey Richards
(1899–1984), later a social anthropologist, was her exact contemporary. Other pupils included the sculptress Betty Rea
(1904–1965), writers Aletha Hayter
(1911–2006) and Priscilla Napier
(1908–1998), the poet Anne Ridler
(1912–2001), the philosopher Mary Scrutton, the archaeologist Aileen Fox
(1907–2005), and the musician Evelyn Rothwell
(1911–2008). The composer Robin Milford
taught at the school, while Myra Hess
gave piano recitals and played with the school orchestra.
In December 1921, with the help of an uncle and with a loan from two parents of girls at the school, Willis bought The Cloisters, Cold Ash, Berkshire
, with sixty acre
s, for £11,976. The Cloisters had been designed by the architect James MacLaren Ross
and was built during the First World War for a religious order called 'The School of Silence', but the order had been unable to keep up the payments on its mortgage
. Willis was able to move her school there just four months after the purchase, in April 1922. For the Summer term of 1922, the school had eighty-three girls, and by 1925 there were 118. Downe House had arrived as a leading girls' school.
As a headmistress, Willis had an imposing presence, but a balanced personality, and she inspired respect in her girls. She wanted her school to be a place where "life should be normal", with some freedom and a natural pace. In education, Willis believed that girls should not try to be like boys, and she aimed at a serious attitude towards education, preparing some of her pupils for university life. She could be difficult to work with and knew little of housekeeping, but many of her staff, like her business partner Lilian Heather, were devoted to her. One employee, the eccentric Maria Nickel, was her chauffeur, handyman, architect and engineer, and slept in her bathroom.
, London SW3
. She kept up with old pupils and continued her interests in the Bermondsey
Time and Talents Settlement and in the Girl Guides movement
.
After living nearly twenty years in retirement, Willis died at her London home on 11 March 1964, in her 87th year, of a perforated duodenal ulcer. She was cremated
, and her ashes were buried in a memorial garden at Downe House. Her estate at death amounted to
£16,510.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
educationist and headmistress. She founded Downe House School and was its head for nearly forty years, from 1907 to 1946.
Early life
Willis was born in 1877 at 65 Thistle Grove, KensingtonKensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, a daughter of John Armine Willis (1839–1916), a school inspector who later became Chief Inspector of Schools for the west of England, and of Janet Willis, who was a daughter of James Coutts Crawford. There were five children in the family, four daughters and a son, and Willis was the second girl. John Armine Willis had been educated at Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, where he was an officer of the Cambridge University Rifle Volunteers, and he liked to take his children on climbing holidays in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Willis later remembered that they had "suffered from a surfeit of beautiful things on an empty stomach".
Olive Willis was a rebellious child. In 1891, she was sent as a boarder to the new Wimbledon House in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
, which while she was there became Roedean School
Roedean School
-Roedeanians in fiction:* Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward * Dawn Drummond-Clayton * Emily James...
, and was there for four years. From 1898 to 1901, she was at Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and was one of the first women's colleges to be founded there...
, where she read History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, gaining a third class in her Finals.
Religion
Although baptized in the Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, the Willises attended a Theistic
Theism
Theism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that at least one deity exists.In a more specific sense, theism refers to a doctrine concerning the nature of a monotheistic God and God's relationship to the universe....
church founded by the Rev. Charles Voysey
Charles Voysey (theist)
Charles Voysey was an English Anglican priest who was condemned by the Privy Council for heresy and went on to found the Theist Church....
in Swallow Street, near Piccadilly
Piccadilly
Piccadilly is a major street in central London, running from Hyde Park Corner in the west to Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is completely within the city of Westminster. The street is part of the A4 road, London's second most important western artery. St...
. At Roedean, Willis objected to the lack of religious teaching, was attracted to Anglo-Catholicism
Anglo-Catholicism
The terms Anglo-Catholic and Anglo-Catholicism describe people, beliefs and practices within Anglicanism that affirm the Catholic, rather than Protestant, heritage and identity of the Anglican churches....
, and at the age of seventeen was confirmed at the High Anglican St Cuthbert's, Earls Court
Earls Court
Earls Court is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It is an inner-city district centred on Earl's Court Road and surrounding streets, located 3.1 miles west south-west of Charing Cross. It borders the sub-districts of South Kensington to the East, West...
, remaining a life-long Anglican.
Career
After Oxford, Willis taught history for one year at Queen Anne's SchoolQueen Anne's School
Queen Anne's School in Caversham, Berkshire is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18, situated just north of the River Thames and Reading town centre and occupying a campus.There are around 330 pupils. Nearly half are boarders...
, Caversham
Caversham, Berkshire
Caversham is a suburb and former village in the unitary authority of Reading, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, within the royal county of Berkshire, on the opposite bank from the rest of Reading...
, then in 1902 returned to her own old school, Roedean, where she remained for two years. After that, she became a supply teacher, teaching in a wide range of schools, including the Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls
Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls is an academically high-achieving British independent school in Elstree, near Borehamwood, in the county of Hertfordshire. It is often known as "Habs" or "Habs girls", to distinguish it from the neighbouring Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School...
, which was then in Acton
Acton, London
Acton is a district of west London, England, located in the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross.At the time of the 2001 census, Acton, comprising the wards of East Acton, Acton Central, South Acton and Southfield, had a population of 53,689 people...
, and a school in Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Chesterfield is a market town and a borough of Derbyshire, England. It lies north of Derby, on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper. Its population is 70,260 , making it Derbyshire's largest town...
.
In 1907, with her friend Alice Carver as a non-teaching partner, Willis founded a new girls' boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
called Downe House. They raised £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
1,500 to rent and equip Down House
Down House
Down House is the former home of the English naturalist Charles Darwin and his family. It was in this house and garden that Darwin worked on his theories of evolution by natural selection which he had conceived in London before moving to Downe....
in the village of Downe
Downe
Downe is a village in the London Borough of Bromley in London, UK.Downe is south west of Orpington and south east of Charing Cross. Downe lies in a wooded valley, and much of the centre of the village is unchanged; the former village school now acts as the village hall.-Darwin:Charles Darwin...
, near Orpington
Orpington
Orpington is a suburban town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bromley. It forms the southeastern edge of London's urban sprawl and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, a house which had previously been the home of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
. The school began with one girl and five mistresses. Its aim was to achieve educational excellence in a framework which was relaxed but structured. Three more girls were added to the school by the Spring of 1908, and by 1910 there were thirty-six girls, of whom all but four were boarders. Willis herself taught English, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Scripture, and history, while Carver was matron and kept house. Carver withdrew from their partnership in 1912, and Willis ran the school alone until 1919, when she took on a new partner called Lilian Heather, who had been at the school since 1907 as a part-time teacher of Science and Mathematics.
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
magazine's annual cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
match was played at Downe
Downe
Downe is a village in the London Borough of Bromley in London, UK.Downe is south west of Orpington and south east of Charing Cross. Downe lies in a wooded valley, and much of the centre of the village is unchanged; the former village school now acts as the village hall.-Darwin:Charles Darwin...
, with E. V. Lucas
E. V. Lucas
Edward Verrall Lucas was a versatile and popular English writer. His nearly 100 books demonstrate great facility with style, and are generally acknowledged as humorous by contemporary readers and critics. Some of his essays about the sport cricket are still considered among the best instructional...
, a school parent, captaining one team and J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
the other, his team including A. A. Milne
A. A. Milne
Alan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.-Biography:A. A...
. The school produced authors of its own. One of Willis's early pupils was the Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...
girl Elizabeth Bowen
Elizabeth Bowen
Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen, CBE was an Irish novelist and short story writer.-Life:Elizabeth Bowen was born on 7 June 1899 at 15 Herbert Place in Dublin, Ireland and was baptized in the nearby St Stephen's Church on Upper Mount Street...
(1899–1973), who became a significant novelist, and Audrey Richards
Audrey Richards
Audrey Isabel Richards , was a pioneering British woman social anthropologist who worked mainly in sub-Saharan Africa.Audrey was the second of four girls born to a well-connected family in London, England...
(1899–1984), later a social anthropologist, was her exact contemporary. Other pupils included the sculptress Betty Rea
Betty Rea
Elizabeth Marion Rea was an English sculptor and educationalist.- Biography :Betty Rea was born in London in 1904. Her father was Dr...
(1904–1965), writers Aletha Hayter
Aletha Hayter
Alethea Catharine Hayter OBE, FRSL was an English author and British Council Representative.-Family and early life:...
(1911–2006) and Priscilla Napier
Priscilla Napier
Priscilla Napier was an English author, specializing in biography.-Early life:Born at Oxford in 1908, Hayter was the daughter of Sir William Hayter, an adviser to the Egyptian government, and his wife, Alethea Slessor, daughter of a Hampshire rector...
(1908–1998), the poet Anne Ridler
Anne Ridler
Anne Barbara Ridler OBE was a British poet, and Faber and Faber editor, selecting the Faber A Little Book of Modern Verse with T. S. Eliot . Her Collected Poems were published in 1994...
(1912–2001), the philosopher Mary Scrutton, the archaeologist Aileen Fox
Aileen Fox
Aileen Fox, née Henderson was an English archaeologist.The daughter of a solicitor, she was educated at Downe House School in Kent and later at its new site in Berkshire, under the headship of Olive Willis, and went on to read English at Newnham College, Cambridge...
(1907–2005), and the musician Evelyn Rothwell
Evelyn Barbirolli
Evelyn, Lady Barbirolli OBE was an English oboist, and wife of the conductor Sir John Barbirolli.She was born Evelyn Rothwell, and was known professionally by that name until after she was widowed, when she became known as Evelyn Barbirolli...
(1911–2008). The composer Robin Milford
Robin Milford
Robin Milford was an English composer.- Biography :Milford was born in Oxford, son of Sir Humphrey Milford, publisher with Oxford University Press. He attended Rugby School from 1916 where his musical talent for the piano, flute and theory was recognised, and studied at the Royal College of Music...
taught at the school, while Myra Hess
Myra Hess
Dame Myra Hess DBE was a British pianist.She was born in London as Julia Myra Hess, but was best known by her middle name. At the age of five she began to study the piano and two years later entered the Guildhall School of Music, where she graduated as winner of the Gold Medal...
gave piano recitals and played with the school orchestra.
In December 1921, with the help of an uncle and with a loan from two parents of girls at the school, Willis bought The Cloisters, Cold Ash, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
, with sixty acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s, for £11,976. The Cloisters had been designed by the architect James MacLaren Ross
MacGibbon and Ross
David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross were Scottish architects. Their practice, MacGibbon and Ross was established in 1872 and continued until 1914...
and was built during the First World War for a religious order called 'The School of Silence', but the order had been unable to keep up the payments on its mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
. Willis was able to move her school there just four months after the purchase, in April 1922. For the Summer term of 1922, the school had eighty-three girls, and by 1925 there were 118. Downe House had arrived as a leading girls' school.
As a headmistress, Willis had an imposing presence, but a balanced personality, and she inspired respect in her girls. She wanted her school to be a place where "life should be normal", with some freedom and a natural pace. In education, Willis believed that girls should not try to be like boys, and she aimed at a serious attitude towards education, preparing some of her pupils for university life. She could be difficult to work with and knew little of housekeeping, but many of her staff, like her business partner Lilian Heather, were devoted to her. One employee, the eccentric Maria Nickel, was her chauffeur, handyman, architect and engineer, and slept in her bathroom.
Retirement
Heather died in 1943, and in 1944 Willis gave up the ownership of the school, which was transferred to a public body. She retired as headmistress in 1946, but intended to go on living at Hill House, which had been built for her in the school's grounds. This led to her chosen successor moving to another school, and Willis decided to divide her time between Hill House and a second home at 38, Tedworth Square, ChelseaChelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
, London SW3
SW postcode area
The SW postcode area, also known as the London SW postcode area, is a group of postcode districts covering part of southwest London, England. The area originates from the South Western and Battersea districts of the London post town.-Postal administration:The postcode area originated in 1857 as...
. She kept up with old pupils and continued her interests in the Bermondsey
Bermondsey
Bermondsey is an area in London on the south bank of the river Thames, and is part of the London Borough of Southwark. To the west lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe, and to the south, Walworth and Peckham.-Toponomy:...
Time and Talents Settlement and in the Girl Guides movement
Girlguiding UK
Girlguiding UK is the national Guiding organisation of the United Kingdom. Guiding began in the UK in 1910 after Robert Baden-Powell asked his sister Agnes to start a group especially for girls that would be run along similar lines to Scouting for Boys. The Guide Association was a founder member of...
.
After living nearly twenty years in retirement, Willis died at her London home on 11 March 1964, in her 87th year, of a perforated duodenal ulcer. She was cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
, and her ashes were buried in a memorial garden at Downe House. Her estate at death amounted to
£16,510.