The Ernest Bailey Grammar School

In 1924, Mr Ernest H. Bailey, who was born in 1870 and had made a fortune from owning Flour Mills in Lumsdale Valley, Matlock, England, founded The Bailey School. It was based in a building originally built as Bank House Hydro, or Wyvern House Hydro, and bought by Bailey who changed the name to Bank House. Bailey was a true philanthropist, and a quote from “The Derbyshire Village Book” about his own home sums up his character and his attitude to children’s education: “One day he moved out of his home and 34 boys moved in. Over almost 40 years, 450 of 'Bailey's Boys', waifs and strays, were fed, clothed and educated, many eventually finding work in his mills. The house carried on as a children's home; nursery nurses came to train there and were a familiar sight with their huge prams and tiny charges.” At his new school, prior to 1944 the pupils were a mixture of those whose parents paid fees and those who had won a scholarship. After this time entry was by passing the newly instigated 11-plus exam at the age of ten or eleven years old, the school name officially changing to The Ernest Bailey Grammar School in 1957. By modern standards the school premises were tiny, and with there being no sports grounds, the pupils had to travel to Cromford Meadows for PE. Despite this though, Bailey’s school was very successful, and had a very good reputation locally for both academic and sports achievement. Even after the school was closed, the name lives on with Matlock rugby and hockey clubs forming out of ex-pupils, both being named the “Old Baileans”, and money left as an endowment by Bailey, called “The Ernest Bailey foundation”, is still used to “support the advancement, and the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of, the arts among the pupils and staff of Highfields school”. The Bank House building, on closure of the school, became the Derbyshire County Records Office, and the old gymnasium has been converted for storage, holding several miles of shelved records