The Genesis of Herschel’s Legacy 1922-1929

The legacy of Herschel Girls School began in 1922, with South Africa in an age of white supremacy, and the early stages of revolution. The country was also pre-apartheid and post-WWI, which presented its own problems and advances. The war sparked the beginnings of gender equality and women empowerment. The school began in an era of social, political and economic change, which would prove to influence its staff, students and surrounding community.



Today, Herschel is located within the southern suburb of Claremont, which was originally a farm named Veldhuyzen (i.e. Feldhausen). This was a segment of the major Dutch Colonists’ estate, which was seized by the British in 1814 and subdivided in 1822. Feldhausen was sold to Mr. Valentinus Alexis Schonnberg, an incompetent farmer who soon fell into great debt through the gambling away of large sums of his money. In order to relieve some of his debt, Mr. V. A. Schonnberg rented out his farm to a Sir John Frederick William Herschel and his family, after whom our school was named, for GBP 3000 in 1834.

Within a few months of their arrival, the Herschel family had already made an offer to buy the land. By the 27th of February 1834, it was put under their name for the price of GBP 3000. Schonnberg’s sole condition was to remain on his small portion of the land, which was named after his noble neighbour as a token of his appreciation. In the event of Mr Schonnberg’s death, 5 years later, Feldhausen was auctioned off by his son, Mr V.A. Schonnberg Jr., in the liquidation of his father’s estate to discharge his remaining debts.

The five bedroomed, single-story house, as   well as the long and narrow plot that Herschel lay upon, was sold to a Captain Thomas Harris. After Harris’ death his second wife, Caroline Rose, who had previously run a school with her mother, was left with the land and saw no other way to make ends meet but by converting Herschel into a seminary for young ladies. In order for Herschel to become a practical venue for a school it had to be enlarged and consequently the single-story home became double-story and it now consisted of five rooms on the upper level and eleven rooms on the lower. The plot would fall under the ownership of several successive owners one of whom would renovate it back into a private home while another, a certain green-thumbed  Mrs. Rutherfoord who clearly took notice of her neighbours, the Ardernes, when taking it upon herself to enhance the gardens.



Herschel began its restoration into a seminary on 14 July 1921, when the English Church School’s Association acquired the land, thanks to a generous donation from the Hon. J.W. Jagger. This change of ownership promped the first blueprints of Herschel Girl’s School as it is known today. There had been  pressure to open the school as quickly as possible, as many young girls had been turned away by other school’s in Cape Town, such as St. Cyprian’s,  due to a surplus of applicants in the post-WWI housing boom. Herschel Girl’s school was officially open on the 16th of February 1922.

Miss Morley Armitage Ralph was appointed as headmistress, after having headed the Diocesan School for Girls in Grahamstown. She was a middle-aged woman of who did not have a tertiary education qualification, as many women hadnt at the time, giving women’s current role in society. Miss Ralph’s ethos for the school evidently mirrored her generation’s morality.  Her vision for the students’ education was to receive a “good all-round education.” She wanted the Herschel girls to excel academically, but also placed great emphasis on cultural enrichment ( i.e. music, literature, art and drama). Herschel’s roots of social responsibility and spirituality stem from its first Headmistress, who encouraged religion as a medium in which “to find expression in thought for others”. Miss Ralph initiated a Social Responsibility Club, which dedicated itself to aiding their community through variouis charitable projects. Religion and moral values were closely related when it came to the white colonialist children that would have attended Herschel.

Miss Ralph’s “view on life” was reflected in the syllabus and the activities she planned for the students. Miss Ralph, the headmistress and Miss Stafford, the boarding house matron, had corresponding values which insisted on fresh air and the ideal to “Educate without compromise, the world is theirs to challenge”. Her passion for the outdoors resulted with the introduction of the sleeping balconies for the many boarders. She believed that to have the beds unsheltered would result in a constant supply of fresh air and therefore lessen the spreading of contagious diseases. This quote substantiates the effectiveness of the sleeping balconies in the trial stages of construction; “in health we have been singularly blessed, two cases of measles and one of chicken pox being the only infectious illness in the house since we opened”. The boarders bravely bared the wet winters and the howling south-easter winds when the sleeping balconies were constructed. 

Figure 5

The great economic depression of 1929 had a great international influence,  bruising  state economies and crippling the global community. This directly affected Herschel, and although Miss Ralph wanted to continue the expansion of the school she struggled to gain financial support from parents or the council. This caused numbers at Herschel Girls School to drop, and pressured the council to keep the school’s economic affairs afloat. The financial constraints of this time did immensely affect the school during the early stages but with the guidance of the devoted headmistress, Herschel Girls’ School was not just able to continue its existence during the global depression but also expand its assets.

Due to the positive change in perception about women’s’ abilities, the subjects offered at Herschel covered a broad spectrum for possible employment of the new “working woman”. Typing was offered at standard and higher grade which would be the equivalent of information technology. The girls were encouraged to take on more than the required subjects and soon pottery, botany and speech work became favourites in the timetable. Subsequently, the first Herschel magazine, “D’s Deeds” which was compiled by the students and organised by the English teacher, Miss van der Heijst was published by 1927.

Herschel Girls School was born within an era of exciting changes and developments. The young girls would have been susceptible to many positive and negative international and local influences when it came to entertainment, fashion, ethnicity, religion, morality and the independence of women. Even upon the eve of the great economic depression of 1929, the education provided by Herschel Girls’ School was one that strived for excellence in more than academics, and remained true to its ethos of morality and spirituality. These ideals were imbedded into the schools tradition, and maintained, from the beginning and beyond.

Authors: Xènia Greenhalgh, Nonto Mponda, Kim Parker

The Boarding House

Top Floor - the Boarding House Before

In 1922, on the first of February, seven girls first set foot in the Herschel boarding house. Although the number has fluctuated, sometimes to more than fifty, one thing all the girls can agree on is that their boarding sisters are like a real family – a home away from home.

A tradition that has disappeared and resurfaced over the years, which is an example of this sisterhood, is the practice in which matrics take on a grade eight ‘buddy’ to mentor. The ‘younger sister’ may have small tasks such as making tea, fetching and carrying or learning their ‘elder sister’s’ timetable so that she doesn’t have to, but

 fortunately there were no truly terrible tasks or initiations. Duties have always been a part of living in a large family, and in the boarding house each grade has always been assigned chores, such as tidying the dining room after break or answering the bell.

In the past, the boarders performed special plays and entered group pieces into the Herschel Eisteddfod. While boarders’ plays no longer take place, there is nothing but their own shyness keeping them from entering an Eisteddfod piece together. The boarders were also taken on occasional theatre outings.

In 1930, an open sleeping balcony which at the time was rather popular, was built as an extension to the Mary Jagger hall. One can only imagine that it was somewhat less appreciated by the girls who had to sleep on it until its removal in 1971.

The entire school was rather successful, but it nearly met its end in 1948, when two young girls from Mauritius remained in the boarding house for the holidays. They were playing in their dormitory and one of the little girl’s night gown caught fire on a lit candle. She subsequently died from her burns. However, the girl’s father came to investigate and was certain that the school was not accountable for his daughter’s death. This, however, was the birth of the ‘ghost’ legend that seems to accompany every boarding house. The ghost was named Emily, although it is unclear whether or not this was the child’s real name.

The boarding house has had many unofficial names, one of them, ‘Emily House,’ coming from the aforementioned child. It has only recently been given the name of ‘Arderne House,’ named after the Arderne Gardens right next to the school. It was named thus by Dr. Jane Bradshaw, a former boarder who spoke to the school about her experiences in the boarding house – such as being allowed to keep small pets, a tradition which is certainly no longer in place.

In 1991, another fire occurred in the grade eight dormitory, however, no one was injured and the boarders found it rather amusing that the grade eights had to sleep on the couches until their room could be made habitable again. Indeed, even the grade eights seemed to find the idea rather charming.

In 1994, the preparatory school boarding house closed. It is unclear whether this was due to lack of interest or another factor, but now boarding was only available to those from grade eight to grade twelve. It certainly reduced the numbers – in 1994 there were thirty six boarders, and in 1995 there were seven, the same amount that there was when the boarding house originally opened.

In 1999, the freedom for boarders to have outings in the evening was introduced, now commonly known as ‘out-nights,’ and allowed three nights a term, plus an extra one if your birthday falls in the term. The boarders also began to have ‘braais’ outside the pool in summer, which unfortunately no longer happens.

By 1999, formal ‘prep time’ for homework had shifted to the two hours that it is today. (There had been variants before, such three hours and one hour.) Times in the boarding house at the moment are as follows: waking up to a grade eleven ringing the bell at 6.45, and being ready for breakfast at 7.00. Some of the girls choose to wake up earlier to shower, study or even jog. Then, at 17.45 the bell is rung again for a compulsory meeting and roll-call before dinner; only those at extracurricular activities or on out-nights are excused. Prep then takes place from 18.30 to 20.30. The bedtimes vary, the earliest being for grade eights at 21.30, the latest being for matrics and grade elevens, who really don’t have a bedtime as long as they are quiet.

In 2002, the matrics took it into their hands to teach the entire boarding house how to swim… at 5 in the morning, of course. It was also the first year in which grade eights were forced to look after an egg for initiation, and a year in which matric raid was practiced – the matrics waking up the boarders very early and making them partake in rather gruelling tasks. Although the tradition has not died out, it has been tamed to restrict any injuries or hurt feelings.

In 2010, the last of the bathtubs in the boarding house were replaced with showers, and while these are infinitely more practical when you have twenty or so girls living in one place, some of them definitely missed the luxury.

The boarding house has seen many matrons – Mrs Du Preez, Mrs Normanton, Mrs Hindle and Mrs Scholtz to name a few – and just recently, later in 2012, Mrs Meyer – ‘Mates’ to the girls - retired as well, to be replaced by Mrs Cornish. A few of the lady wardens have been Mrs Boemke, Mrs Bester, Mrs Crutchley, and since 2006 Mrs Knott, fondly known by the boarders as ‘Mrs K.’

Although the faces come and go, the boarding house always creates a sense of family among the small portion of the entire student body who pass through it. It creates ties that bind for a lifetime, and even if they do not remain in contact, the friends that are made there truly will be friends forever.

Top Floor - the Boarding House Now