Gumley House Convent School

Gumley House Convent School traces its history to a parochial charity school, the first of its kind in Isleworth, founded by Sisters of the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ).{{cite book|editor-last=Reynolds|editor-first=Susan|title=A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22285|year=1962|pages=133–7|publisher=Courtesy of British History Online|access-date=2018-10-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224092559/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22285|archive-date=2013-12-24|url-status=live}} The Sisters had arrived from France and bought Gumley House in 1841. The Catholic Directory, Ecclesiastical Register, and Almanac described the school as offering a "continental education". French was primarily spoken as the Sisters were from France but Italian, German and English were also taught.{{cite book|title=The Catholic Directory, Ecclesiastical Register, and Almanac|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_-sNAAAAQAAJ|page=207|publisher=Burns & Lambert|year=1858}}

The convent originally had two sections: a boarding school for upper class girls and a charity school for younger poor children of the local parish. These nuns also played a role in the founding or development of other Catholic schools in Isleworth and the present-day borough.{{cite web|title=The Isleworth Catholic community|url=http://www.stbridgets.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110&Itemid=98|publisher=stbridgets.org.uk|access-date=2012-11-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325043827/http://www.stbridgets.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110&Itemid=98|archive-date=2012-03-25|url-status=live}} Due to the pressing need for a secondary school, St Mary's High School for older girls was opened in 1890. In 1922 it became St Mary's College, the first Catholic school in Middlesex to be recognised by the Board of Education. When Poles Convent (merged with St Edmund's College, Ware during the 1970s) in Hertfordshire was founded the following year, boarders from Gumley House and St Mary's High moved there. Pupils and staff at Gumley House were evacuated during World War II and returned after the war ended.

The post-war period was a time of rapid change and development. Gumley House became a grammar school in 1959 and then solely a secondary school when its primary section moved out in the late sixties. The primary school became part of the current St Mary's Catholic Primary School. From 1968 boarders were no longer accepted. During the 1970s, new buildings were added and the campus expanded. It turned comprehensive in 1976 after the tripartite system was abolished.{{Cite web |url=https://www.fcjsisters.org/app/uploads/2018/10/The-History-of-Gumley-House.pdf |title=FCJ Sisters - The History of Gumley House, Isleworth, London |access-date=2012-11-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819223803/http://www.fcjsisters.org/ep/resources/about/hist_brit/gumley%20house.pdf |archive-date=2012-08-19 |url-status=live }} The school is under the trusteeship of the order and the headteachers have been Sisters up until 2012.

The original house was built by John Gumley, cabinet maker by appointment to Kings George I and George II. The name Gumley is thought to have originated from a French word (Gommele, or Gautchmondley). After Gumley's death in 1728, the house passed to his second son John as decreed in his will. John Gumley Senior's eldest daughter Anna Maria and her husband William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath lived at the house for a period, during which it played host to famous figures of the time including poet Alexander Pope, writer and politician Joseph Addison and future Prime Minister William Pitt ("the Elder"). After the death of their mother, the house's ownership eventually went to Anna Maria's younger sister Laetitia, wife of the general Lord Lake. It changed hands a number of times before it was bought by Marie-Madeleine d'Houët, founder of the FCJ. The house is now a Grade II* listed building.{{Cite web |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-438721-gumley-house-gumley-house-convent-greate |title=British Listed Buildings - Gumley House |access-date=2012-11-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513144330/http://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-438721-gumley-house-gumley-house-convent-greate |archive-date=2013-05-13 |url-status=live }}

Gumley House has a strong academic record for a comprehensive school and is among the top performing state schools in the borough. It was awarded the Special Recognition Award by the SSAT in recognition of pupils' achievement in the 2011 GCSEs.{{cite news|title=Gumley recommended by SSAT for GCSE results|url=http://www.gumley.hounslow.sch.uk/news/?pid=6&nid=2&storyid=208|publisher=gumley.hounslow.sch.uk|date=16 September 2012|access-date=2012-11-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304044902/http://www.gumley.hounslow.sch.uk/news/?pid=6&nid=2&storyid=208|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=live}}

• Princess Marguerite Adélaïde of Orléans (1846-1893) - daughter of Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours
• Ellen Willmott (1858-1934) - horticulturist{{cite book|title=Miss Willmott of Warley Place: Her Life and Her Gardens|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jsqVOHPeIGIC|publisher=Faber and Faber|location=London|date=2012|isbn=9780571280810}}
• Polly Neate (b. 1966) - chief executive of the homelessness charity Shelter
• Ellie Beaven (b. 1980) - actress

{{Reflist|2}}

• [http://www.gumleyhouse.com School Website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140821180710/http://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/schools/100540/gumley-house-rc-convent-school-fcj Profile] on the Good Schools Guide
• [https://www.fcjsisters.org/who-we-are/where-we-are/europe/europe-history/ FCJ Sisters in Britain and the Channel Isles]

{{Schools and colleges in Hounslow}}

{{Diocese of Westminster}}

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Category:Academies in the London Borough of Hounslow

Category:Educational institutions established in 1841

Category:Girls' schools in London

Category:Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Hounslow

Category:Grade II* listed educational buildings

Category:Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Westminster

Category:1841 establishments in England

Category:Secondary schools in the London Borough of Hounslow

Category:Isleworth