The Chestnuts 1921 - 2025

The Chestnuts 1921 - 2025

Post WWI

By 1921, The Chestnuts had three boarding teachers. Two resident domestic servants, aged 16 and 14, were the same age as many of the pupils. There were 23 boarders, ranging from 17 to 6 years old. Of these, two were born in St Ives, and five came from the surrounding area. None were from France. The aftermath of the First World War, shifts in women’s roles, and post-war tensions between Britain and France all contributed to a decline in the French enthusiasm for an English education.

In 1922, a garden fête was held at The Chestnuts in aid of Dr Barnardo’s Homes, with pupils performing scenes from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Wyton Hostel, a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients, benefited from the school’s generosity in 1924, receiving donations of money, a doll and cradle, toys, and clothing. In 1925, Hannah’s pupils performed a humorous sketch from Little Women while tea was served at a Women’s Institute meeting.

Hannah Pattrick and the Collegiate School at the Corn Exchange, 1920s.
(Source: Norris Museum)

Exams success continued in 1925, with 74 passes listed. Hannah was one of the founding members of the St Ives Women's Institute, which celebrated its 100 year anniversary in 2025.

At the prize giving ceremony in 1926, Pernel Strachey, the newly appointed head of Newnham College, Cambridge, handed out the prizes. One of Hannah's pupils had been awarded the annual Deakin Scholarship of £50 (today £2,500) for three years to attend Newnham College. The event was rounded off by a speech by the Mayor, and the pupils performing scenes from As You Like It.

Winding down

Hannah placed her last advert for the school in 1926. Aged 72, she had earned a rest. It's likely she stopped taking boarders, gradually reduced student numbers and drew her pupils from St Ives and the surrounding area.

Certainly by 1938, only the kindergarten was running for local young children. In that year, an advert appeared seeking a student teacher to help with little ones, part time. Applications went to Hannah. She might be 84, but Hannah could not live without the tiny bursts of joy that had accompanied most of her life, that of children's laughter ringing through The Chestnuts. 

The 1939 register shows Hannah, aged 85, as school principal retired. Vice-principal of the school was Mable Randell, a single woman aged 71. Also resident were Mable's sister, 68, and another lady, 60, both of private means, one schoolteacher aged 60 and a single domestic help.

Malcolm Stokes was evacuated from London to St Ives during the Second World War. He spent a year at Hannah's school, beginning in 1941. He later wrote about his time there. An excerpt is shown below, source Hunts Archives reference 6118/3 and 6118/4. To read Malcolm's full text and four school reports, click here.

I was taken by my parents for an interview and we went into a large square front room where amongst the old fashioned furniture were two spinning wheels with wool attached as they were in regular use. One of the ladies who interviewed us was Miss Randall. She generally wore blue clothes, unlike her sister, who did not teach. She always wore white even down to her woollen stockings and we always referred to her as 'white' Miss Randall.

The teacher wore pince-nez and between asking my father questions, she would turn to me with her head back so she could see through these spectacles half way down her nose and which had created a curious ball of raised skin which I could not help staring at. However, she smiled and nodded a great deal and was a most charming person.

The second teacher signing my report, Miss Lusher, was generally referred to as 'lasher' because of her sharp tongue. She was tall, thin and very imperious. The day started with a hymn as Miss Lusher played on a large harmonium, at the same time singing loudly and making the instrument louder or quieter by opening and closing her knees in her narrow skirt most proficiently while we sang ‘God is working his purpose out’.

At the Chestnuts there was an occasional ritual when the door from the house into the schoolroom was opened wide to reveal an elderly lady supported by a younger one. All teaching ceased and every one stood up in silence as the pair shuffled round the room and back to the door. When it shut behind them we all sat and lessons resumed. I can only suppose this was the owner of the school Miss Pattrick.

Even in advanced old age, Hannah remained a presence for the pupils. She died in 1943, a year after Malcolm left the school, aged 90. She is buried at Broad Leas Cemetery. The Peterborough Standard published the obituary shown below.

The school continues

Emily Lusher took over the running of the Kindergarten school after Hannah died. Emily had been at The Chestnuts for more than 20 years.

In 2011, Nora Longland wrote about her time at the school from 1947 for More Memories of St Ives. Little had changed, the principles of a dame school still evident.  Here is an extract.

I started at The Collegiate School for Girls (known locally as Miss Patrick's [sic]) in 1947. I knew I was to go to Miss Patrick's when I was old enough to ride my bike into town. So I started there in my uniform of gym-slip, white blouse and navy cardigan. We could also wear red cardigans or jumpers with navy skirts, which the older girls did. There was quite a lot of flexibility in the uniform because this was not long after the war and materials and clothes were still in short supply. We also had navy blazers, navy topcoats, navy hats and straw hats in the summer. I remember when I was 11 or 12 years old the hats changed to berets and the panamas disappeared.

Even in those days Miss Patrick's school was old fashioned and by today's standard it was archaic. The teachers were elderly, wore long dresses, and it was said that Miss Randell wore a wig. The school was behind the house and there was only one large classroom with the older girls (13 plus) at one end, the young ones (7 to 11) in the middle and the in-betweens (11 to 13) at the other end.

There were only ever about 30 girls there at this time and we only went to school from 9.00 to 12.55. This strange finishing time was to allow us girls to get through the town before the factory workers came out for midday dinner.

We always had loads of homework to keep us busy in the afternoons. We only did basic subjects. We had Physical Training twice a week in the classroom. Above the schoolroom were the dormitories left from when the school took boarders, which it stopped doing during the war. We weren't supposed to go up there but I did once and it was still divided up into cubicles.

In 1954, aged 75, Emily advertised for a

RESIDENT Domestic Help, 30-40 wanted, two ladies, small morning school; good home and outings. Apply Miss Lusher, The Chestnuts, St. Ives.

By 1957, apartments were advertised, with bed and breakfast, other meals arranged if required. Schooling had finished at The Chestnuts. Emily Lusher died at Peterborough in 1966, aged 87.

The property was divided in the 1970s, the extension behind becoming 7a Church Street. The Chestnuts was Grade II listed in April 1972. There was a change of use to a guesthouse in 1976. Ownership passed to Wing Commander Robert (Bob) Prothero and his wife Helen Lewis in 1981. They lived at The Chestnuts until 1985.

Last flight of a Victor nuclear bomber

Bob Prothero had a long and varied career in the RAF. For a time, he piloted a Victor bomber, a 75 ton nuclear jet that operated from 1958 to 1968. After retirement, Bob remained involved with aviation, regularly demonstrating Teasin Tina, a Victor bomber converted to an aerial refuelling tanker before being bought by the Walton family.

In 2009, during a fast taxi demonstration of Teasin Tina, Bob intended to simulate a takeoff. This meant accelerating to 115mph before throttling down to stop at the runway's end. The aircraft hadn't left the ground in over a decade, sat on its landing gear for over 10 years, and wasn't certified as airworthy.

As the jet reached 100mpg, Bob instructed his co-pilot, a maintenance engineer, to throttle back. The co-pilot froze and failed to respond to repeated demands. In what Bob described as the most terrifying nine seconds of my life, he managed to wrestle the Victor back down safely, averting disaster by a matter of seconds.

Click the video below to view a 5 minute film with commentary from Bob of the alarming last flight of a Victor bomber. To view a 90 second film from another angle, which gives a better idea just how close Bob was to disaster and death, click here.

Teasin Tina is on display at Bruntingthorpe aerodrome. Bob Prothero died in 2023.

Private Secretary to Prime Ministers

In December 1986, Malcolm and Daphne Reid bought The Chestnuts. After Daphne's death in 2000, Malcolm married Carol Stephens in 2004.

A graduate of St John's College, Oxford, Malcolm joined the civil service and later served as a trade commissioner based in Canada before returning to the Board of Trade. Frequent trips to Moscow enabled him to spot Soviet agents tailing him.

His obituary in The Times noted his influential role as a private secretary at the heart of government.

Malcolm Reid was private secretary to two very different prime ministers: Sir Alec Douglas-Hume and Harold Wilson, writing elegant speeches for the former, and tidying up etiquette for the latter.

When Wilson, who owned a holiday home in the Isles of Scilly, arrived in No 10 in October 1964 there was a telegram from the Duke of Edinburgh reading "Delighted to see that resident of Duchy of Cornwall is new tenant at Downing Street." Wilson, unsure how to reply, scribbled instruction on it about "presenting humble duty." Reid advised in a discreet note : "It is not necessary to present your humble duty to the Duke of Edinburgh (but only to the Sovereign)."

In retirement, Malcolm enjoyed cruising the River Great Ouse around St Ives aboard his narrowboat Mandarin. He sold The Chestnuts in 2012 and passed away in 2020.

Current owners

Keith and Hattie Grimwade bought The Chestnuts in 2012. They have continued to care for the property, with repairs to the north gable, roof and chimneys and the renovation of many internal features.

North gable of The Chestnuts being repaired in 2013.

Over the years, the trickle of old girls revisiting their former school at The Chestnuts has diminished. The last was Helen Moate (formerly Helen Guy), who visited in 2013 at the age of 90. She recalled the girls daring each other to run through the forbidden front porch door and up the stairs into the dormitory without being caught by Miss Pattrick.

Helen Moate (90), the last of the old girls to visit The Chestnuts in 2013.

To read more instalments about this house, click The Chestnuts. To view stories of other interesting houses and their residents in St Ives in the style of David Olusoga's BBC television programme, click A House Through Time. To access more topics on the social history of St Ives, its resident and the surrounding area, click St Ives 100 Years Ago.