Panmure Schools
1859 - 1869

The very first school on the eastern bank of the Buffalo River was the Panmure Mission School, founded in April 1859 by Reverend Rudolph von Hube, a German speaking Church of England missionary. The school was adjacent to his Grace Chapel, and was opened in April 1860. Financial difficulties, however, would force the school to close its doors within only three years.

After that several more attempts were made to establish a centre for education on the Eastern Bank. In September 1863 a school was opened by a certain 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, but this establishment had folded by 1869.

See also: Read more on this subject Reverend Rodolph von Hube College Street School

A fourth and much more successful attempt at a school was undertaken in 1872 when the Lutheran Church stepped into the gap, to create a school which would eventually be known as the College Street School, with Pastor Muller as schoolmaster.

Dr Keith Tankard

Panmure Schools
1859 - 1869

The very first school on the eastern bank of the Buffalo River was the Panmure Mission School, founded in April 1859 by Reverend Rudolph von Hube. Von Hube was brought to Eastern Cape in 1858 by Bishop Cotterill in an effort to bolster the Church of England missions in British Kaffraria. Because he was German-speaking, he was stationed at Panmure so that he could preach to the recently arrived German immigrants, especially those who had settled at Panmure, Cambridge and Berlin.

In March 1859 von Hube opened his Grace Chapel. This was probably on the corner of what is today Fleet and Station Streets, with its graveyard behind the Lock Street Gaol. In April he established his mission school, presumably using the church building as a classroom. By July it had already 32 pupils.

From the start, however, von Hube was faced with financial difficulties. The government showed no interest in the school, other than a payment of a small annual grant, while the bishop of Grahamstown only started giving aid to the school in July 1861 (£30) but Von Hube's correspondence indicates that even this small amount was not to be relied upon. (As an indication of values, the Resident Magistrate at East London earned an annual salary of £100.) The school therefore lived under a cloud, with no assurance for its future. Indeed, von Hube protested that the King William's Town district claimed a large share of the government grant for schools in the German settlements, yet he doubted whether the Church subsidy to Panmure was enough even to support a catechist. Von Hube's school closed soon after he left Panmure in 1862.

In September 1863 another day school was opened by a certain 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. The Kaffrarian, East London's local newspaper, applauded this attempt. "The children have been so far thoroughly neglected," the editor wrote. "There has been no public school of late for them to attend, and the people are not sufficiently wealthy to support a private one .... If there is one place in Kaffraria that requires a school more than another, that place is Panmure." An application for government aid for this school met with success when a grant of £30 was authorised in April 1865. The diocese added another £50 toward the hire of a catechist. Despite these grants, however, funds were insufficient to erect a school building.

By 1869, this school had also failed. Indeed, the inspection report for that year was most disparaging. The chapel, the report stated, was "in bad order" and the furniture "defective". Although the teacher took "great pains" in his work, nevertheless "local differences" (presumably a mix of English and German children) prevented proper attendance. Furthermore, the managers of the school "took no interest in its success". As a result of this inspection and the poor report that was submitted, the grant to the school ceased as from 1 July 1869 and the school 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 create a school which would eventually be known as the College Street School. On this occasion the schoolmaster was Pastor Muller, with Miss Robson and Miss von Linsingen as his teaching assistents. Statistics soon revealed 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.

A new building would be constructed in 1880. Expansion, however, was such that the building had soon to be demolished, and yet another school was constructed in 1913.

Dr Keith Tankard