Boarders at Pencarwick School in 1851

BOARDERS AT PENCARWICK SCHOOL IN 1851

When it finally closed its doors in 1908, Pencarwick (Preparatory) School was said to have been operating for a century. It is difficult to believe that that is strictly true since Exmouth in 1808 would have been a very different place from the genteel resort it became later in the 19th century. The building of Louisa Terrace was not begun until 1829 and no other address seems to have been linked with the school and this fact, together with the list of headmasters below, suggests: that the school's life span was closer to 80 years.

HEADMASTERS OF PENCARWICK SCHOOL

Rev. C. Glascott to 1834

Rev. F. Wickham to 1846

Rev. J. Penrose to 1871

Rev. C. R. Carr to 1894

Rev. J. H. H. Copleston to 1908 (closure)

The number of boys in the school at any one time was consistently between 40 and 50 and a brief glance at the list below reveals the sons of the leading families, not only of Devon but of the whole of the South West. The majority of pupils leaving Pencarwick at 14 went on to Public School or to the Royal Navy for officer training.

The headmaster at the time of the 1851 census was Rev. John Penrose who lived in the school with his wife and three young children.

SURNAME	FORENAME	AGE	PLACE OF BIRTH	CENSUS
ADAIR	Allan Shafto	14	Bradford, Somerset	1851
BULTEEL	Thomas	13	Plymstock	1851
TORDIFFE	Stafford	13	Ilfracombe	1851
HEYWORTH	George Frederick	13	Bacup, Lancs.	1851
DAWN	William	13	Bath, Somerset	1851
HEBERDEN	William	12	Broadhembury	1851
WERE	Thomas Kennet	12	Sidmouth	1851
CHAMPERNOWNE	Arthur	12	Dartington	1851
BELFIELD	Algernon	12	Fulham, Middlesex	1851
WILLIAMS	Michael	12	Tregullon, Cornwall	1851
FOSTER	William	12	Lanlivery, Cornwall	1851
ATHERLEY	Mark	12	Stoodleigh	1851
CARPENTER	John	12	Tavistock	1851
SMITH	Richard	12	Uffculme	1851
DE GRICE	Charles	12	Madern, Cornwall	1851
COLE	William	12	Exeter	1851
ADAIR	Henry	12	Bradford, Somerset	1851
JARDINE	Charles	12	Applegarth, Dunfries	1851
DU BOULAY	Henry	11	Lawhitton, Cornwall	1851
SMITH	George	11	Uffculme	1851
HODGE	De Burgo	11	Pennycross	1851
SHELSON	Daniel	11	Launceston, Cornwall	1851
BRUNE	Ernest	11	London	1851
EWART	Charles	11	Nermuch (BS)	1851
FOSTER	Thomas	11	Lanlivery, Cornwall	1851
TOOGOOD	Frederick	11	Torquay	1851
PHILPOTTS	James	11	Hallow, Worcestershire	1851
HEBERDEN	Henry	11	Broadhembury	1851
BULLER	Redvers	11	Crediton	1851
SHORT	Francis	10	Kenn	1851
MALLOCK	Charles	10	Cockington	1851
FURNEAUX	Alan	10	St. Germans, Cornwall	1851
BOLITHO	Richard	10	Penzance	1851
PAUL	Robert	10	Kenwyn	1851
MARTIN	Charles	10	Staverton	1851
HOLROYD	George	9	Calcutta (BS)	1851
TOOGOOD	Seymour	9	Torquay	1851
COPLESTON	John	9	Lamyat, Somerset	1851
BULLER	Ernest	9	Crediton	1851

In every listing of pupils who passed through this school can be found boys who made their way to the top of the tree in their chosen professions, be it the Navy, the Army, politics, banking, law, medicine, the church or the academic world. In addition, early all of them would serve as leaders in their local communities as well. The list above contains a VC who became a General (Buller), John Copleston who became a great cricketer and returned to the school as its headmaster in 1894, Arthur Champernowne who inherited Dartington Hall and the surrounding estates, Charles Mallock who inherited Cockington Court and its estate as well as a host of other names representing the most ancient families of the South West.

The school gave its pupils an excellent academic grounding but it's almost as though it had another function - to bring together the boys who, as grown men, would become leaders in their chosen fields, forging bonds they could draw on for support in later life. Many leading families sent their children to Pencarwick for generations.