The large nineteenth century house on the hillside overlooking Farncombe was used as an hydropathic establishment, then became a boy's school and lastly was used as a guest house / hotel. It had a coach house, stables and outbuildings and the grounds covered several acres.

Documents relating to the Marshall family show that the "earliest evidence of title to the premises refers to a lease and release between James Arnold, butcher, and Mary Chandler, widow, of 15-16 Aug 1828. Murray Marshall appears to have purchased the property in 1862"^[1] and in 1867 an advertisement announced that Hill-side was being used as an Hydropathic Establishment "for the treatment of acute and chronic diseases ... the locality is salubrious and beautiful, the situation being one of the finest in the Surrey Hills. App[ly] to Mr. Habberly MR Clpt[?]"^[2]. By 1871 the Thompson family were living at Hillside, so the experiment with hydropathy was over^[3].

In March the following year the Rev Edward S. Dodd, M.A. (Cantab), who had been an assistant master at Cheam School, advertised for pupils under 15 years of age; the terms were from 80 guineas. Hillside was described as being "in a healthy part of Surrey"^[4]. Eliza Marshall subsequently acquired a further strip of land adjoining the Hillside site in 1873 from Thomas Strudwick of Unstead Farm and in 1874 she conveyed the premises to her tenant, the Rev. Dodd^[1]. Arthur Mapletoft Curteis was running an academy at Hillside in 1878^[5], with 38 boarders there in 1881^[6] when he advertised for a House Master at his preparatory school for little boys. "No very young men need apply : Naval Officers on the retired list preferred"^[7]. However, it wasn't until 1883 that Dodd leased the premises to Mr. Curteis, with a clause permitting use as a school "for young gentlemen"^[1]. There were 35 boarders attending the school in 1891^[8].

Aldous Huxley and his cousin Gervas went as boarders to Hillside in 1903[?], which was by then run by Mr Gidley Robinson^[9]. Val Gielgud, elder brother of Sir John Gielgud, was boarding in 1911^[10] and "in January 1912, following in his brothers' footsteps, he [John] was [also] sent as a boarder to Hillside"^[11]. By then the headmaster was James Douglas; his brother Sholto was also on the staff^[12]. For such a small school, it produced a surprising number of distinguished people.

Richard Melville Beaumont transferred to Hillside from Riber School, Matlock in 1919. He wrote that in Rev. Dodd's time it had been known as Doddites. He described Mr. Douglas as a good cricketer, and "the school was well equipped for cricket and also had a field nearby ("Marking Horn") which had been released from wartime food production, and where soccer could be played. The School house itself was an extraordinary puzzle. There was an ordinary house ... with a drive entrance from a quiet road going up the hill from Farncombe. Several additions had been made to it further up the hill, with one or two classrooms, of a temporary nature, in different directions. There were several staircases. ... there was a good carpentry shop run by a patient and kindly carpenter called Inwood. ... The senior master was a Mr. Taylor, a good naturalist and most knowledgeable about butterflies and moths - the breeding of which (in jam jars) was not discouraged. ... There were twenty garden plots marked out ... shared amongst those of us who were interested". Many of the boys went on to Charterhouse^[13].

The boys were playing football, supervised by a master. There is a cricket net on the far left, behind the goal posts. The view is across the top of Frith Hill. Two large houses can be seen behind the fencing and hedge. The property behind the goalpost was called Bernina. On its right is the Manor House, then a 27 room house. It had been built by the Charterhouse Master Charles Hampton Weekes, later of Woodmancourt, but by 1911 was the residence of Frederick Arthur Crisp and his family. It is still standing (2022), has been converted into flats and the name of the property has been slightly changed.

The photographer would have turned round slightly to his right to take the photo for this second card. As it was winter, the ground was marked out for football. The chimneys (centre) belong to Hillside School, built on Farncombe Hill just below its sports field. Two of the Charterhouse outhouses, "Robinites" and "Irvingites", "were across the cricket field ... and they had to be protected by high wire fences, from cricket balls hit for six"[13].

Two other pupils who would have been at the school at around the same time as Richard Beaumont were the brothers Michael Curtis Rawlence (b. 1910) and Anthony James Rawlence who was slightly younger. The two postcards of the sports field belonged to the elder brother. When they left Hillside the boys went on to Charterhouse and were boarders at "Weekites".

In 1947 James Douglas was living in Cheltenham and still teaching young boys. "J. Douglas, formerly headmaster for many years of Hillside Preparatory School Godalming, is prepared to take candidates for the common entrance into schools"^[14].

"The Revs Walter Edward Fagan Dodd and Charles Haffenden Dodd were the owners in 1936, when the house was leased to William Henry Barton, for use as a guest house"^[1]. A similar postcard shows that Hillside was also run as a guest house by the London Co-operative Society, Ltd.. At the outbreak of the Second World War a number of the "guests" were employees of the National Health Insurance Club^[15]. Hillside was demolished in the 1970s, replaced by the housing of Hillside Way.

Part of the grounds, looking down towards Farncombe. A gardener has his back to the photographer. Old Farncombe Hill, which is no longer the main route up the hill, can just be seen on the left behind the fencing. The house we can see is today just below where Farncombe Hill meets Twycross Road.

Please note that there was no connection between this school and the other, much later, Hillside Schoolthat used to be in Busbridge, which was partially transferred from Reigate to Godalming in 1940 and was located on The Drive.

References:

^[1] Surrey History Centre. Hillside House and School ... Bundle of Deeds (1837 - 1936). Ref: 1914/1. Walter Edward Fagan Dodd was the son of the school's founder.

^[2] "The Standard" (London), Wednesday, July 31, 1867.

^[3] 1871 census, Hill Side House, Godalming. William Henry Thompson was a gardener, born in Worcestershire.

^[4] "The Morning Post" (London), Saturday, March 23, 1872.

^[5] "Kelly's 1878 Directory", under Farncombe also under Commercial.

^[6] 1881 census, when the address was given as Binscombe, Hillside, Godalming. Arthur Mapletoft Curteis, M.A. Oxon, was educated at Harrow (1851 census) and was the son of a Solicitor (1841 census).

^[7] The advertisement appeared in the "Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle" etc (Portsmouth), Wednesday, March 30, 1881.

^[8] 1891 census. Hill Side, Hurtmore, Godalming.

^[9] 1901 census. George Gidley Robinson, the headmaster, was born in Howrah, India. He had taken over the school in 1891, but retired in 1905. He died at St. Leonard's in 1936 ("Hastings and St Leonards Observer", Saturday 29 August 1936).

^[10] 1911 census. The address was then Hillside School Hurtmore Road Godalming. J. Douglas, the headmaster, was a 41 year old bachelor at the time.

^[11] Croall Jonathan (2011) " John Gielgud: Matinee Idol to Movie Star", London, Methuen Drama. The biography describes the regime at Hillside as typical for the time, and Gervas Huxley later decribed it as a "strange, rough and often brutal world", with a lot of bullying.

^[12] James Douglas had played cricket for Surrey and "was a cousin of J.W.H.T. (Johnny Won't Hit Today) Douglas, then captain of Essex" (from ^[13] below). Sholto Douglas was educated at Dulwich College, had played cricket for Middlesex, served as a soldier in the Boer War in the Imperial Yeomanry, and was killed in action on 28 January 1916 whilst serving in the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment).

^[13] "Richard Melville Beaumont (1909-98) of Southwell in his own words", a private publication. Copyright the Estate of Richard Melville Beaumont. Selected extracts are published here, with kind permission. Richard left Hillside in the summer of 1920, having passed the Common Entrance for Rugby.

^[14] "Gloucestershire Echo", Thursday 2 January 1947.

^[15] Information from the 1939 Register, available on FindMyPast.