After 18 months of bureaucratic wrangling with the educational authorities, Herbert Strutt was finally given the go-ahead to provide a school for the town in March 1907, for which designs were drawn up by Hunter and Woodhouse. The site he chose for the new school was opposite the town‘s workhouse, Babington House.
Designs were drawn up by Hunter and Woodhouse to complement Babington House
By the spring of 1909 the work was complete, and the school, named after its creator, was officially opened on May 7th. The Duke of Devonshire carried out the opening ceremony.
The original headmaster was Mr W W Tunnicliffe, appointed in February 1909 and served in that post until his retirement in 1936.
Some of the original staff. Headmaster Mr W W Tunnicliffe (centre),Mrs B M Davenport, Miss E M Barker, Miss N Symons, Mr H G Wright, Mr J W Raistrick, Mr H B Snow and Mr S E House.
Mr House prepares a slide projector for a geography lesson.
The bust of George Herbert Strutt, presented to the founder of the school in January 1910. Local people donated money towards the bust, which Mr Strutt decided should remain at the school. The sculptor created the bust using photographs of the generous benefactor.
George Herbert Strutt
The weather station, being studied by boys from the school.
Home economics
School football team – 1910/11.
Class circa 1930
First prep form – February 1936.
Herbert Strutt School after the iron railings were removed from the boundary wall for the war effort in the 1940’s.
In August of that year, the school hosted boys evacuated from Westcliff High School, sharing the school with local children – Westcliff in the mornings and Belper students in the afternoon.
Herbert Strutt School became a primary school following a shake-up in education brought in by the Government in 1971. It remained a primary school until its closure in February 2007, when children moved to a new school, taking the Herbert Strutt name with them. In 2009, the building changed hands and became the charitable, volunteer run social enterprise we know as Strutts Community and Business centre.