A parlour boarder is an archaic term for a privileged category of pupil at a boarding school. Parlour boarders are described by a modern historian as paying more than the other pupils, in return for which they got a room of their own. [1] A parlour was a small reception room, from the French "parler", implying a place for quiet conversation; "board" means meals, as in the expression room and board. The term is mostly historic in British English.
In 18th and 19th century England, there were a profusion of small schools, always single-sex, with the number of pupils ranging from fewer than a dozen to a few score, on a much more domestic scale than the so-called public schools such as Eton and Harrow. Many of these small schools were operated on a family basis, often by a married couple (for boys), or by sisters or female friends (for girls). They would accept day pupils, common boarders, and parlour boarders.
Elizabeth Lachlan was at school in London when its owner, a Miss Shepherd, impulsively decided to move her school from Percy Street to France during the Peace of Amiens in 1802. She set out on this venture with "thirty to forty girls of respectable families, and ten or twelve ladies as parlour boarders". [2]
Thomas Reynolds (1771–1836), the Irish informer, son of a wealthy textile manufacturer, was sent at eight years old as a parlour boarder to the school of Rev. Archibald Crawford at Chiswick, then a village on the outskirts of London.
The Indian diplomat Venkata Siddharthacharry was largely educated in England, and entitled a chapter of his memoir "Parlour Boarder". He defines it as a situation that allows access "to both the family dining room and the family drawing room", "a great privilege naturally, paid for sumptuously". One much-valued benefit was the fire, which was lit from mid-autumn "right up to the end of spring", in contrast to the frigid dormitories. [4]
The Jesuit school named after Francis de Sales in Nagpur, India, even in the mid 20th century:
One Anglo-Indian family sent the light-skinned son as a parlour boarder, while his darker brothers were merely ordinary boarders. [6] (See Discrimination based on skin color or "colorism".)
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now extend across many countries, their functioning, codes of conduct and ethos vary greatly. Children in boarding schools study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers or administrators. Some boarding schools also have day students who attend the institution during the day and return home in the evenings.
The Leys School is a co-educational private school in Cambridge, England. It is a boarding and day school for about 574 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and the head is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
Millfield is a public school located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935.
Bloxham School, also called All Saints' School, is a private co-educational day and boarding school of the British public school tradition, located in the village of Bloxham, three miles (5 km) from the town of Banbury in Oxfordshire, England. The present school was founded in 1860 by Philip Reginald Egerton and has since become a member of the Woodard Corporation. The current headmaster is Paul Sanderson, who took over from Mark Allbrook in 2013. The school has approximately 515 pupils.
Ackworth School is an independent day and boarding school located in the village of High Ackworth, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England. The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and SHMIS. The Head is Anton Maree, who took over at the beginning of the 2014–2015 academic year. The Senior Deputy Head is Nancy Newlands-Melvin and the Deputy Head is Jeffrey Swales.
Ardingly College is a fee-charging boarding and day school in the English public school tradition located near Ardingly, West Sussex, England. The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and of the Woodard Corporation of independent schools and as such has a strong Anglo-Catholic tradition. It was originally a boarding school for boys, and became fully co-educational in 1982.
St Joseph's Boys' High School is a private Catholic primary and senior secondary school located on Museum Road in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Founded by the MEP in 1858, the school caters to boys only from kindergarten to Grade 10 and is co-educational in Grades 11 and 12.
The New Beacon Preparatory School is an independent all-boys preparatory school, located at Sevenoaks in the English county of Kent. It admits both day students and boarders aged between 4 and 13. The school also now offers a co-educational nursery for children 3 years of age and over. The school was founded in 1863, and has been on the current site since 1900. It had 62 students in 1913, and had grown to 400 students by 2008.
St Martin's Ampleforth (SMA) was a private school and the preparatory school for Ampleforth College, which closed in July 2020. Until 2018 it was at Gilling Castle, North Yorkshire, England, on the southern side of a valley opposite the College on the northern side, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough.
St Mary's School was a private Roman Catholic day and boarding school for girls, founded in 1945 in a rural setting near Shaftesbury, England. The school had a sixth form and was a member of the Girls' Schools Association. After operating at a loss for some time, the school closed in July 2020.
Cothill House is a day and boarding boys' independent school for preparatory pupils in Cothill, Oxfordshire, which houses around 220 boys from the ages 8–13.
St Joseph's College is a co-educational private school for day and boarding pupils between the ages of 2 and 19 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. With usually 550-600 pupils on the roll, the College is located in South West Ipswich, surrounded by a 60-acre campus, which includes administrative offices in the Georgian Birkfield House, a nursery and Prep School, the College Chapel, and teaching and sports facilities. Also in the grounds are the College's two boarding houses, Goldrood and The Mews.
Old Swinford Hospital is a secondary boarding school in Oldswinford, Stourbridge, West Midlands, England that has been in continuous operation since the 17th century. It is one of 36 state boarding schools in England, meaning school fees are funded by the LEA and pupils only pay boarding fees. Girls are admitted into the sixth form as day pupils. Girls will be admitted from year 7 onwards in 2021.
Adcote School is a non-selective independent day and boarding school for girls, located in the village of Little Ness, 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The school was founded in 1907, and is set in a Grade I listed country house built in 1879 for Rebecca Darby, the widow of Alfred Darby I (1807–52) and a great niece of Abraham Darby. The Darbys were the iron-master family who built Ironbridge. The school has a Junior School that takes girls aged 7 to 11, a Senior School for girls aged 11 to 16 and a Sixth Form taking girls from 16 to 19.
The Kensington Proprietary Grammar School, colloquially referred to as the Kensington School, was an educational establishment founded in 1830 that is perhaps best remembered for being one of the founders of the Football Association in 1863.
St. Aubyns School was a boys' preparatory school in Rottingdean, East Sussex, England, which in its final years became co-educational and taught children of both sexes between the ages of three and thirteen. The school was founded in 1895, taking over the premises of another school which had been founded in the 18th century by Dr Thomas Hooker, the local Vicar who was also reputedly a lookout for the local smugglers.
Nantwich Grammar School, later known as Nantwich and Acton Grammar School, is a former grammar school for girls and boys in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. It now forms part of the mixed comprehensive school, Malbank School and Sixth Form College.
Reading Abbey Girls' School, also known as Reading Ladies’ Boarding School, was an educational establishment in Reading, Berkshire open from at least 1755 until 1794. Many of its pupils went on to make a mark on English culture and society, particularly as writers. Most famous is Jane Austen, who used the school as a model of "a real, honest, old-fashioned Boarding-school".
Yeovil Grammar School was a grammar school in Yeovil, Somerset, which was founded or refounded about 1860 and closed in 1906 when its only headmaster, Henry Monk, retired.
parlour boarder.