College Street

An early East London school

The very first school on the eastern bank of the Buffalo River was the Panmure Mission School, founded in April 1859 by Reverend Rodolph von Hube. This was probably at his "Grace Chapel" on the corner of what is today Fleet and Station Streets, with its graveyard behind the Lock Street Gaol. The school, however, lived under a cloud. Lack of financial support meant that there was no assurance for its future. It therefore closed its doors soon after von Hube left Panmure in 1862.

In September 1863 another day school was opened by CG Roske, but this second attempt would fail after only a few months. In August 1864 there was a third attempt to establish a school, this time again under the auspices of the Church of England, with Reverend William Wallis as chairman of the school committee but, by 1869, this school had also failed and on 1 July 1869 it too closed its doors.

A fourth and much more successful attempt at a school was undertaken in 1872 when the Lutheran Church stepped into the gap, to found an educational institution which would eventually take on the name "College Street School". On this occasion the schoolmaster was Pastor Muller, with Miss Robson and Miss von Linsingen as his teaching assistents. Statistics reveal that this school soon had three times more pupils on the roll than at the Church of England School on the west bank. The school, moreover, employed two assistant teachers in addition to the school-master, who was the Lutheran pastor.

In contrast to the report on the earlier Church of England school, the inspection of March 1873 brought lavish praise for this institution. The chapel school-room was "fair-sized" and in good repair; the furniture was in good condition and the discipline "satisfactory". The inspector concluded that the school was well-conducted and the standard of work well above that of the ordinary 3rd Class Public Schools. As a result of this inspection, the government grant was raised from £30 to £75 per annum.

In 1873 East London established a municipality and in 1877 the Town Council undertook to sell a portion of its land in the Quigney so as to raise funds to build a new school. The premises was occupied in about 1880.

See also: Panmure Mission School Church of England School Reverend Rodolph von Hube

By 1913, however, expansion had been such that yet another building was required to accommodate the growing pupil population. The old building was therefore demolished and a new one erected in its place.

Dr Keith Tankard