The 1940s saw many changes at Cheltenham Ladies’ College as the impact of WWII took hold across Gloucestershire. War was declared during the summer holiday on 3rd September 1939, leaving the Principal, Miss Popham, very little time to organise alternative accommodation for over a 1,000 pupils and staff before the War Office requisitioned the College buildings.
The only buildings that the Government left for College to use were the Principal’s residence and the swimming baths. In order to continue the girls’ education, the swimming baths were temporarily boarded over to become ‘Lower Hall’, housing many classes at once. Miss Popham’s study was situated in the towel cupboard and the changing cubicles became places for private study. More classrooms were created by establishing a circle of eight wooden huts on the playing field and the sports pavilions were converted into laboratories. Buildings were also rented by the College. Lillishall, Brockhampton Manor and Cowley Manor, along with other smaller properties, were rented and used as boarding houses.
Cheltenham had some frightening air raids during the Second World War, with pupils sheltering in a tunnel that ran between West Wing and the Princess Hall. Bayshill Lawn House on Parabola Road, fortunately unoccupied, was the only house at College to receive a direct hit - in December 1940. The building had to be completely demolished.
Former pupils volunteered for the Auxiliary Territorial Service, Women’s Royal Naval Service and Women’s Royal Air Force Service, or worked as cooks, drivers, clerks or nurses in France. Many also found employment in Government departments and places such as Bletchley Park.
The Archives Department explored College life during World War Two through the letters and drawings of Patricia Eardley, a boarder at Cowley Manor. Read more below:
The war profoundly impacted English society, men and women were conscripted; men into military service, women for roles in the armed forces and civil defence.
Cheltenham escaped heavy bombing but war significantly impacted College life. Air raid drills became commonplace, blackout rules were enforced and food rationing implemented, imposing hardship yet fostering a sense of shared purpose and resilience.
College adapted to wartime realities, introducing first aid, home nursing, food preservation and cultivation, equipping girls with practical survival skills, including gas mask rehearsals! Girls were participated in fundraising for war charities and knitted garments for troops.
In 1941, Miss Popham was Principal during one of the coldest winters of the 20th century. Severe weather added another layer of hardship to the challenges with disruption to food and travel.
‘At the outbreak of war Miss Truesdale, Housemistress of St. Helen’s, had gone with 90 girls to Cowley Manor and had charge of this isolated house throughout the war. In 1945 she returned with a big Cowley contingent to St Hilda’s and securely anchored them there’.
(A History of The Cheltenham Ladies’ College by A.K. Clarke p124)
Cowley Manor provided a safe haven from air attack. The gardens are said to have inspired Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’.
Margaret Patricia Eardley, known as Patricia, was born on 9th October 1926 in Sutton Coldfield. She boarded at Cowley Manor, and in 1945 returned to St Hilda’s where she became House Prefect. Her record card states that she was ‘very reliable, good standards, quiet manner, public-spirited and capable’.
When Patricia arrived at College the conversation might be similar to today; there are nicknames for Staff (Miss Popham was ‘Popeye’) and girls, she writes about the girls in the dorm, food, weather, the ‘cocoa queue’ and, she describes, with detailed timings, routines of College life.
She references outbreaks of Scarlet Fever, colds, coughs, mass gargles to prevent the spread of infection, and using the embrocation ‘Zambuk’, which is still available today!
Throughout her letters there are drawings to illustrate the descriptions:
The postal service was extremely important; Patricia appreciated the letters from her parents, and parcels of clothing, stamps and sweets! The sweets were ‘contraband’; hidden in socks so they were not discovered, otherwise they had to be handed in!
Patricia appears quite forthright: ‘Now, attend Mamma. Miss McConnell has my new tunic and blazer at Cowley, but I can’t have them until you send 16 coupons, so do send them quickly, I am dying for my new tunic.’
Phrases in the letters can be heard when walking down the Marble Corridor today: ‘I’m dreading the exams’, ‘I’m longing for the hols’ and, ‘I’m so tired I could sleep for a week’!
Being transported back to the 1940s through Patricia’s letters has been a privilege, giving a fascinating insight into her life at CLC. So much has changed yet fundamentally the values of College remains largely the same.
Miss Black, College Archives Volunteer
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