My Mother and Aryeh House School, Brighton

Visiting with my mother this past weekend, I came across a paper from her boarding school with its letterhead and decided to see what I could find on the Internet about it--the Aryeh House School. [I thought I had not known the name, but she did have it in her draft memoires.] So I actually have come across a fair amount and have decided, rather than my usual Internet Wandering/Wondering fashion of recounting my path as I took it, I am going to compile a "complete" Internet catalog of what I find and present it in chronological order. Some of the comments actually came in response to something my mother asked on a Brighton & Hove website.

Caption: Erected in 1903, this building was always used as a school. From 1903 until 1936 it was known as Belvedere Preparatory School. From then until its demolition it was a Jewish school, called Aryeh House. An estate of Regency style houses will be built on this and the neighbouring site. The two photographs above were taken from the east side of the Upper Drive.


PreWar
The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization L. T. S. Littman

Although I was born in London, my formative years were spent in Brighton where, between the ages of seven and thirteen, I was a pupil in one of those Anglo-Jewish boarding schools, formed on the model of existing preparatory schools, which educate middle-class children for the public schools. It delighted in the name of Aryeh House School, and was situated at the eastern end of Regency Brighton, in Sussex Square. Its curriculum was based on that followed by hundreds of preparatory schools up and down the country. Apart from the inefficiency of its teaching, the only way it differed from most of them was that instead of morning prayers being held according to the Anglican rite in chapel or hall, we had morning and evening prayers in the largest classroom, in Hebrew, according to the Minhag of the Singer's Prayer Book. Our playing fields were on the Downs at the back of Kemp Town. It was on their slopes that we played football and cricket, and between Brighton Racecourse and Roedean that we were taken on long rambling walks or learned to ride. One of my abiding memories is of trooping down those hills in football shorts and jerseys on the way back to school with the rest of the two opposing teams into which we had been divided, with frozen hands and feet. Another is the sight of the Channel below us, with, as often as not, the sun like a great ball of fire sinking into it while the sky glowed in a sea of red and gold. One other difference was that Saturday, not Sunday, was our Sabbath, and on that morning we dressed up in our best, wearing blue caps with white badges in winter, and straw boaters with blue ribands in summer. Having been marshalled into crocodile lines, we were led off by two of our Form Masters, along the Marine Parade towards the Pavilion, and from there-along one of those little lanes which must have been familiar to the Prince Regent, to Sheridan, to Fox, to Creevey, and to a host of others a century and a quarter before, who had lived, intrigued and been entertained in an ambiance which, had they been able to see it in the 1930s, would have been instantly recognized by them. We trooped into the synagogue in Middle Lane, into an atmosphere aglow with warmth, light and colour and filled with gorgeous sound.

The synagogue had been built in the 1870s and was superbly finished with high-Victorian ironwork, brass and mahogany. Its Cantor was the Reverend Brill and it always seemed to me to be packed. No doubt between sixty and eighty pupils from our school helped in that respect. The staff of the school was non-Jewish, save the Principal (who owned it) and his family who lived there with him, and one master who, in addition to his other duties, taught us Hebrew and took prayers. The Jewish instruction was somewhat limited, but within limits was probably quite thorough. We could read and write Hebrew, without understanding too much of it. Emphatically we did not speak it. We all knew some of the Bible, particularly Genesis, with the aid of which we had been taught Hebrew. We were familiar with the Jewish year and its round of festivals, and were subconsciously saturated with Jewish thought through the daily round of prayer. I do not suppose, however, that the Talmud, Jewish philosophy or Jewish mysticism meant anything to us, and though we all knew of Jewish colonization in Palestine, I do not recall any of us being urged to settle there. Latterly we heard of Nazis in Germany, and a sprinkling of German boys, older than us, whom we regarded a little superciliously as foreigners, began to arrive.

This school enabled me to grow up quite unselfconsciously English and Jewish, without being aware of anything incompatible between them. One was my country and the other my religion. Naturally I was aware that most English people were not Jews, but there seemed nothing incongruous in Judaism being practised daily in Regency Brighton, and on the edge of the Sussex Downs. I do not know when the Victorian epoch, in its impact on people, really came to an end. But, on looking back, I think that to have been brought up in a little preparatory school in Regency Brighton in the 1930s was to have been brought up almost within that epoch, which came to an end for me in 1939 with the outbreak of War. After the excitement of digging trenches in days punctuated by Air Raid Alarms, I found myself, at thirteen, packed off for a six-weeks visit to relations in New York. It was a ruse of my parents, and to my dismay it lasted four years.

By Alex Jaye (originally Jacobs) (27/09/2011)

I was a student at Aryeh House in the year approx 1934 1938. The school was firstly situated in Sussex Square Kemp Town. Then eventually moved to the top of the Upper Drive. The religious teacher was a Mr. Potash and the sports master a Mr. Davies. I had an article in the 9th May edition of the London Daily Mail which was quite fruitful but I would very much like to contact some of my fellow students such as Mostyn Gilbert, Ivor Rosen, Phillip Rosen, or any others. I have many memories which I will gladly share. My family and I now live in Melbourne Australia. My e-mail address is alexj@melbpc.org.au. 

By Alex Jaye originally Jacobs (08/03/2010):

I would like to contact Mrs Adrianne Heisler who went to Aryeh House school in the Upper Drive, Hove. l went to that school from approx 1934 to 1940 and I have very many fond memories and stories relating to my time there. I was aged 10 to 14 and I am now 85 +. My e-mail address is alexj@melbpc.org.au Very best regards Alex Jaye.

German-Speaking Exiles in Ireland 1933-1945: (article on Ernst Scheyer):

Through their son, Heinz, who had won a scholarship to Trinity College, Dublin, to study medicine, the family's link to Ireland was established. Heinz had started in Trinity in September 1937 after one and a half years at a Jewish boarding school on the south coast of England, Aryeh House, where he had won the TCD scholarship.

By Hans Georg (later George Hans) Vulkan (06/12/2011):

I came to Hove as 9 year old refugee in 1939 and attended Aryeh House School. I knew no English but there was a special class for foreigners and I soon picked it up. I remember being on the school playing fields on the 3rd September listening to Chamberlain's declaration of war. My father and an adult cousin were also there helping to dig trenches for air raid shelters. The Headmaster's mother was very kind to the refugee boys and we were often invited to her flat and given apples. I remember taking part in the procession following the hearse when she died. I also remember Mr Davies who tried to teach me swimming by taking me some way out to sea and dropping me! Not very successful! I left the school in the summer of 1940 before it was evacuated and we moved to London in time for the Blitz! I would be very happy to be contacted by any contemporaries who are still around! george@vulkan.connectfree.co.uk

Robert ("Bob") May:

A month later, Robert traveled to Brighton, England, to attend a Jewish boarding school, Aryeh House. This was facilitated by the British Kindertransport, which allowed children under seventeen to enter Britain as long as they could obtain private funds to support themselves. Funding for Robert came from his Uncle Siegmund, who had previously escaped Germany to Holland. Robert recalls his relief when the train crossed the German border. In Brighton, Robert learned English and studied for his Bar Mitzvah, a milestone marked with no family.

1938 Mr. Walker + Aryeh House School + Whittingehame tennis teams
War Years in Wales
Eva Mayer a Czech (one of "Winton's Children transported to safety.
Neville Teller:

Just after the start of the Second World War in 1939, at the age of 8, he was sent to a preparatory boarding school in Hove, Aryeh House School. The school was evacuated to Wales in September 1940, and he spent most of the war years there, returning to London in June 1944.

Housed in Bronwydd Castle
Chris McBrien, 01/02/2004:

I spent many happy summer holidays at Brighton and Hove. My aunt and family lived at Wick Hall and a good friend at Embassy Court. There was also a school, Aryeh House, which I went to during the war when it was moved to Wales.

Post War
Rosemary King, 29/09/2003:

Does anyone remember my father, who was a teacher at the Brighton Jewish School in Hove, "Aryeh House"? He taught there around 1948 - 1949 after leaving his home in Ireland. His name was Kevin Kirby King, and had many fond memories of his time in Hove.He told us the other teachers at the Jewish school were very nice to him, told him about Masses across the street at a Catholic church.

Graham Redman, 11/05/2003:

I went to Aryeh House School when I was 3 years old in 1948 I left in 1953 when my twin brother contracted polio does anyone remember me/

By Adrianne Heisler nee Morris (18/11/2006):

I attended Aryeh House School in Brighton from 1945 to about 1949/50. The principal then was a Mr. Eliasoff and the head master was a Mr. O'Brien. Some of my friends were Louis Negan, Helen Rodin (maiden name). If anyone was at Aryeh House when I was there, I would love to hear from you.

By David Baruch (23/06/2011)

I attended Aryeh house 1948-1949. Does anyone rememeber me? Does anyone have any pictures of the time? I remember David Hassan, Carol Solomon, Ester Lipton the two Shirleys and few others. Anyone remembers them? Please email me with any information.

By Parvis Nourafchan (05/07/2011)

Mr David Baruch, I attended Aryeh House in the 50s. If you join "FriendsReunited.UK" on the internet you will find a list of Aryeh House students who have registered there, some from the years when you attended the school. We have had two reunions in recent years in Brighton. By the way, are you related to Simone and Brenda Baruch who attended Aryeh House in the 50s? They were my classmates.

By Parvis Nourafchan (05/07/2011)

I attended Aryeh House School from 1950 to 1956. Many of us have found each other through the internet and have organised two reunions in Brighton in the past several years. Another one is being scheduled for either 2012 or 2013. If you are interested in learning more about the reunion, please contact me. Otherwise, if you join Friends Reunited on the internet, you will find a list of registered Aryeh House students and the years they attended the school. Latty Manavi, are you related to Essi Manavi who attended Whittinghame School in the 1950s?

By Marylyn Dunford (02/06/2009):

I went to a Jewish boarding school called Ariah House in 1958-9 and have searched the internet without any luck. Any information or photos would be fantastic. Regards.

By Paul Maltby (18/06/2009):

I was also at Ariah House, from 1959 to 1960, and have been unable to learn anything about the school. I too would welcome any information or photos of the place.

London Gazette: 16 March 1967:

COMPANIES ACT, 1948
Notice is hereby given, pursuant to section 353 (5) of the Companies Act, 1948, that the names of the undermentioned Companies have been struck off the Register. Such Companies are accordingly dissolved as from the date of the publication of this notice.
...
Aryeh House School Limited