St Matthew's School

St Matthew's Mixed School was behind St Matthew's Church at Millbrook in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. According to one Jersey Archive history of Millbrook, the school was 'attached' to the church - probably not physically, but it also seems unlikely that it would have been in the old redoubt building, which was built in 1817. In 1871 it was occupied by Chelsea Pensioner Benjamin Hudson and his wife Harriet. She was still living there in 1881 after Benjamin's death, and occupancy of the property then passed to her daughter Mary, wife of James Goldsmith, a Royal Artillery battery sergeant major. Mary continued to live in the redoubt after James' death and eventually bought the property from the Crown and divided it between her six children. Houses were built for them and the garage. St Matthew's Mixed School is mentioned in an almanac of 1888 and the headmaster was Charles de St Paer. He left to take charge of the new parish school in St Martin in 1900 and was replaced by Edward Carter. The school had no fewer than 160 pupils then but the number declined to 70 by 1907, when a number of parish schools had been opened. In 1912 the school closed; it then re-opened for under-tens with Miss Dolbel as headmistress, and closed completely in 1920. This photograph dates from 1887. The school should not be confused with St Matthieu's School, which was attached to St Matthieu's Roman Catholic Church