Broughton High School for Girls was opened on Bury New Road in early 1904. The previous year the need for more good schools, especially for girls, was highlighted by the following press comment: "Manchester can hardly be said to be ringed round with good day schools for girls". However, the local newspaper announced in the December that changes were "about to take place in the provision of secondary education for girls in North Manchester". Miss E. M. Clarke, who had been the head of Manchester High School for Girls for 11 years, resigned from her post there. Local parents were anxious that she should remain involved in education in the neighbourhood and a limited company was formed for the promotion of the "Broughton and Crumpsall High School for Girls". The Bury New Road property, Bella Vista, was taken and it was thought the new school would open in the middle of January 1904^[1].

Miss Clarke became the school's first headmistress and it was presumed that several of her staff would transfer with her. Edith Mary Clarke was born in Worsley in 1859. Her first teaching post was in Bristol though she later returned to Lancashire. In 1911 she was living at the 22 roomed Bella Vista with three members of staff, one of whom taught French^[2].

When it opened the school fees were expected to be the same as those charged at Manchester High School^[1]. By the summer term of 1905 the school reportedly had 180 scholars^[3]. An advertisement in 1911 stated that the fees were then £2 7s. to £4 12s. per term^[4].

At the beginning of 1914 Broughton High was a "Public Secondary School of the highest class"^[6]. At the last speech day before the First World War it was announced that an old girls' Association had been formed; they had set up a fund to be used as a scholarship for those parents who could not afford to pay the full fee^[7].

In late 1914 the school collected £1-14-0 for the Belgian Refugees in Holland Fund^[8]. They also contributed £10 towards Serbia (their 2nd contribution). This was to send by the London Unit to Serbia and was to care for the British wounded and to relieve distress caused by the war^[9]. Miss Clarke was still the school's head in 1916 but it is not clear when she retired.

Miss Dorothy G Coward was the principal in 1922, although she retired when she married in 1929^[10].

In my mother's time at Broughton High the younger girls were educated at Broom Lane Preparatory School, which was over the road from the main school in a house called 'The Stables'. The web mistress' mother was a pupil at both Broom Lane and Broughton High for seven years and matriculated in 1932. She loved this school, despite the large amounts of homework she was given (nothing has changed for pupils in that respect). As a reminder of what was at home her school friend Lily posted this card to her in the summer of 1931 whilst she was on a family holiday to Llandudno.

My late mother was very fortunate to attend Broughton High and to be so well educated; her father had died in 1919 whilst serving in the Army so the education of both her and her sister was paid for by the Linen Trade. This was because of the post he would have held in the trade if he'd have survived the War.

References:

^[1] "Manchester Evening News", 21 December 1903. A New High School for Girls in Manchester.

^[2] 1911 census, on FindMyPast. She was educated at Moody Hall School in Congleton, Cheshire (1871 census) along with her 15 year old sister, Emily Pattie Clarke. In 1881 she was in living at Clifton, Bristol, and was employed as a teacher. She was in Didsbury in 1891 and at Westbank in Broughton, where her occupation was recorded as High School Headmistress.

^[3] "Manchester Evening News", 23 June 1905. Broughton and Crumpsall High School.

^[4] "Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser", 11 February 1911.

^[5] "Kelly's Directory", 1911 (Educational Directory). With grateful thanks to Frank Rutherford. He notes that Mrs Bridge, whose maiden name was Enid Stuart Jones, was awarded the certificate of merit with honours from the Guildhall School of Music in London. She played regularly at the Ancoats Brotherhood meetings, often with her husband John and others, between 1885 and 1924. These meetings consisted of talks as well as music and were intended to educate the working classes. Her husband became leader of the Halle Orchestra in 1925.

^[6] "Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser", 1 January 1914.

^[7] "Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser", 30 July 1914.

^[8] "International Woman Suffrage News", 1 December 1914.

^[9] "Common Cause", 21 May 1915.

^[10] The earliest reference found to date for her being at the school was in the "Shields Daily News", 10 June 1922. Her retirement was announced in the "Morecambe Guardian", 5 October 1929.