One of the private schools in Rushden in the early 1900s was Prospect House School, run by Miss Clara A. Payne. It was situated at the top of Higham Road on the brow of the hill between Rushden and Higham Ferrers, and was formerly the home of Alderman Thomas Sanders who was mayor of Higham Ferrers in 1896 and 1902. He died in February 1905.
Higham Road, Rushden.
Prospect House was on the brow of the hill
Alderman Thomas Sanders
Clara Payne was born in 1880 in Witney, Oxfordshire, the daughter of William and Harriet Payne. William was a Railway Agent and Coal Merchant employing several men and boys. Before coming to Rushden she had been the headmistress of a High School in Lowestoft.
The Prospect House, High School for Girls, opened in January 1912 with about 22 pupils. Some were boarders, with day pupils coming mostly from Rushden and Higham Ferrers. Miss Payne was assisted by Miss Hutchings, London Matriculation and Inter.-B.A., and Miss Esmé Hutchings. The pianoforte lessons were taken by Mr. A. Clarke, A.R.C.O.; and lessons in drawing, painting etc., were given by Miss Nellie Abbott, of Northampton, on Thursday afternoons, when outside pupils were received. Private pupils also received lessons in Greek, Latin, French, and German. The school had accommodation for over 100 pupils, including about a dozen boarders.
During 1916 and 1917 the school was attended by Maud Lilian Knight, daughter of Joseph Knight, a boot manufacturer in Rushden, and an invoice for the Christmas Term 1916 shows the cost to be £3 19s 2d. The two terms ending Easter 1917 and July 1917 each cost £3 18s 7d.
An invoice from the school to J. Knight Esq.,
Rose Mount, Irchester Road, Rushden
Marjorie Addison also attended the school. She was born in Rushden in 1903, the daughter of Harry and Minnie Addison. Harry was the manager of a Co-op grocery store. In Rushden Museum we have two books from the school which have Marjorie’s name in them.
The Prospect House School closed at the end of 1917, and Miss Payne moved her school to Campbell House in Wood Street, Higham Ferrers. A branch of the school was to be opened in the Vestry Hall in Rushden in January 1918.