Putney High School
A Brief History
From its beginnings in 1893 the school has grown from a population of 54 to 860 - from five scattered houses until the final acquisition of the Putney Hill site in 1918 - under the auspices of eleven headmistresses - this is the history of Putney High School.
Putney was the thirty-fifth school of the Girls’ Public Day School Company, as the GDST was then called. The Company provided a school only when it was asked for by people living in the locality and Mary Gurney, a local resident and a great pioneer of women’s education supported the application.
The school opened in Burlington House in the Upper Richmond Road, named the East Putney High School.
As the popularity of the school grew, additional premises were acquired: first Albert House on the opposite side of Upper Richmond Road, and then 18 Carlton Road. Lessons were held only in the mornings as girls were considered too delicate to withstand the rigours of a full scholastic day.
Numbers continued to rise and larger premises were sought on Putney Hill. In 1906 The Homefield was bought and opened in 1910 as the Junior Department. Cromwell Lodge, next door at 35 Putney Hill, was bought and an assembly hall, covered walkway and laboratories were added between the two houses. The old stable on the site was converted into an art studio, thanks to a gift from the Old Girls' Association. In 1915 the whole school moved from Carlton Road onto the new site.
When Lytton House, which adjoined the grounds of The Homefield, fell vacant in 1918, it was bought and became the permanent home of the Junior Department.
The whole school has remained united on one site to this day.
