Beltane School was an independent school in Wimbledon, London and later Melksham, Wiltshire, founded in 1934 and closed in 1941.[1] Beltane was one of the Schools in Exile founded by teachers and educators who had been forced to leave Germany for political reasons or because of their Jewish ancestry.[2]
The school's founders were socialists[3] and the education, using the Montessori method, was regarded as innovative[2] and iconoclastic[1] compared to the English school system of the time.
History
editBeltane was founded by German educationalists Ilsa and Ernst Bulova[1] with English progressives Joan[4] and Andrew Tomlinson. The school was named for the traditional May Day festival[3].
The school initially comprised 30 German and Austrian emigrant children with an equal number of English children[2]. Many of the German students had previously been taught by the Bulovas in Berlin.
By 1937 there were 23 teachers and 200 students. At this point, Beltane was primarily a day school, but offered places for 60 boarding students[2].
With the outbreak of World War II, the school moved to Wiltshire and became a boarding school.[5]
Notable staff and alumni
edit- Ernst and Ilsa Bulova[1] went on to found Buck's Rock Performing and Creative Arts Camp with support of relatives from the Bulova watch company
- Ulrich K. Goldsmith worked as a language teacher for Latin, German and English from 1934 onwards. He was interned as an enemy alien in June 1940 and deported to Canada a month later[2]
- Arthur Wragg, pacifist and illustrator, taught at Beltane from 1941 onwards[6]
- Harry Blamires[7] worked at Beltane, after being forced to leave his job at Nottingham College because he was a conscientious objector
- Denis Grant King,[8] another conscientious objector, taught history, geology, archaeology and woodwork
- Barbara Steele[9] was a student at Beltane and then at King Alfred School, London
- Hilary Kilmarnock[10] attended for a year after leaving Bedales School due to bullying
- Charlotte Mayer,[11] a sculptor whose work was influenced by her unhappy time at the school
- William Bennett (flautist)[12] began to play the flute as a student at Beltane
- Ann Dally,[13] author and psychiatrist, was a student at Beltane
- Edmund Rubbra[3], composer, taught music at Beltane
- Raoul Bott,[14] mathematician, was sent to Beltane in 1939 from Bratislava, where his education had been disrupted by the war
Beltane School internment camp
editAfter the school moved to Wiltshire, the original site in Wimbledon was used as an interment camp for German detainees, also referred to as "Beltane School".[15] The camp held both Nazis and holocaust survivors together,[16] which was the subject of questions in Parliament[17]
Further reading
edit- Tomlinson, Joan (1977). On a May Morning. Richmond: Hickey Press Ltd. ISBN 978-0-900644-02-3.
References
edit- ^ a b c d Baumel, Judith Tydor- (2012). Never look back: the Jewish refugee children in Great Britain, 1938-1945. Shofar supplements in Jewish studies. West Lafayette, Ind: Purdue University Press. ISBN 978-1-55753-612-9.
- ^ a b c d e Feidel-Mertz, Hildegard (1990). Pädagogik im Exil nach 1933: Erziehung zum Überleben ; Bilder und Texte einer Ausstellung. Kasseler Semesterbücher Studia Cassellana (1. Aufl ed.). Frankfurt am Main: Dipa-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7638-0520-4.
- ^ a b c Cradduck, Lucinda (2019-01-14). Spirituality in the Music of Edmund Rubbra (phd thesis). The Open University.
- ^ Rée, Harry (May 1979). "Book Reviews". Research in Education. 21 (1): 100–102. doi:10.1177/003452377902100109. ISSN 0034-5237.
- ^ Tomlinson, Joan (1977). On a May morning. Richmond: Hickey Press Ltd. ISBN 978-0-900644-02-3.
- ^ "Arthur WRAGG | Cornwall Artists Index". cornwallartists.org. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
- ^ University College Record (PDF). University College Oxford. October 2018.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Phillips, Laura. Collecting the 'Minoans' in 20th – 21st century (PhD thesis). Bristol University.
- ^ "Barbara Steele". prod.tcm.com. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
- ^ Leader, Zachary (2010-07-08). "Hilly Kilmarnock obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
- ^ Flynn, Tom (2013). Charlotte Mayer: in essence. Gallery Pangolin. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Gallery Pangolin. ISBN 978-0-9570417-2-1.
- ^ Emerson, June (2022-05-17). "William Bennett obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
- ^ "Dr Ann Dally". www.thetimes.com. 2024-08-27. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
- ^ "Wolf Prize In Mathematics, Volume 2 | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
- ^ "Camp 020R at Huntercombe | Coldspur". coldspur.com. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
- ^ Jacobs, Gerald (30 October 2003). "Obituary: Nicholas Hammer". The Independent.
- ^ "Personal Cases". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 419. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons. 21 February 1946. col. 277.