| Description | Conveyance and Mortgage of the Mostyn Arms Hotel, Parkgate 4 Dec 1853.
School registers of admissions and leavers 1863-1882 (including members of staff), 1900-1994. Registers of joiners and leavers 1939-1966 and 1977-2001. Index to chapel name plates 1871-1930. Staff salaries register 1892-1927.
School leaflets, reports and magazines including the Griffin 1895 and 1899, the Mostonian 1900-1901, 1931-1939 (with gaps) and Mostynian 1999-2002, the M.H.H. leaflet 1916, a circular letter from Mr Grenfell 1919, The Sandpiper 1920-1922; The Prattler 1922, All Our Own 1969, term reports 1929 and 1930 and "Images of Mostyn House School" 1996-1997.
Publications including: prospectuses 1889-1992, "Some opinions of Public School Masters, Parents and others, of Mostyn House School, Parkgate Cheshire 1899-1902" (1902), "150 Years of Mostyn House School" by G W Place (2004), histories of the chapel of St Nicholas Mostyn House and its heraldry 1985, 1996 and 1997.
Photographs of: pupils, staff, sports teams, interiors,school play and building of the outdoor swimming pool 20th century; photograph of former pupil Claude Crosland Taylor as Mayor of Chester 1926-1927; whole school photographs 1920s to 1980s, 2000s; photographs of the school choir c1966 and c1983; photograph of school grounds n.d. [20th century].
WWI related items: Old Boys, postcard showing Divo Julio ambulance; prize lists and leaflet in aid of British Prisoners' Fund 1916-1917; "School Rules and Things to Remember" (1920).
Educational publicatons of A G Grenfell including: "Custodibus Custos" (1921), "The Star and Stripe System of Reward and Punishment in schools" (1924) with star and strip teachers' books and examples of forms from the 1890s, "Unconventional Prayers for Boys" (1924), "English Dates in Dreadful Doggerel" (n.d.), "Little Hints for Little Bodies" (1925), "The Grenfell Spelling Book (1934) and "Sloping Script" (n.d.).
News cuttings, photographs and letter from A G Grenfell to parents regarding the accidental drowning of John Percival Wilde 1905. "Loyal Devoir", 33 rpm LP recording of the choir and bells of Mostyn House School 1982;
Registers of marriages Mostyn House Chapel 1921-2011.
Bonham's catalogue for the sale of Contents - Mostyn House School 1854-2010 (2010)
Acc 9414 School lists 1861-1972 (incomplete); admin records (account sheet 1962; wages books 1915-1928); record books of sports (swimming, cricket, soccer) 1919-1970; roll of honour (WWI and II) commemoration and special services; photographs (full school 1937-1968) sports, Old Boys; Historical notes on War Memorial and Chapel windows' school albums 1959-1969 Obituary material for AMD Grenfell; miscellaneous (laundry book 1916, record of Public School Trips 1952-1961) |
| Administrative History | For history of Mostyn House School see G W Place "150 Years of Mostyn House School" (2004). The school was opened in Tarvin in 1854 by Edward Price. When Esther Briscoe of the Mostyn Arms Hotel in Parkgate died in 1855, Price transferred his school from Tarvin to the hotel buildings in the summer. After seven years Price moved on but the school continued, run by his wife's nephew Algernon Sydney Grenfell. In 1890 his son, Algernon George Grenfell took over as head teacher. A G Grenfell was the brother of the medical missionary Wilfred Grenfell of Labrador and during his time in charge the school was greatly extended and modernised. A G Grenfell was well known as an aducationalist and pioneered the teaching of sloping script and the stars and stripes system of reward and punishment. He retired in 1933 when his son A M D Grenfell (Darryl) became head.. When his son A D J Grenfell (Julian) took over in 1964, Mostyn House was a thriving boys' preparatory school but as the demand for boarding in the North West fell away and because of the recession of the 1980s, the school became coeducational. In the 1990s it was extended to accommodate nursery, preparatory and sixth form pupils as well. Julian's daughter Suzanna Grenfell (Suzi) became head in 2002 but falling pupil rolls eventually forced the school to close in 2010.
Marriages could be performed in Mostyn House Chapel by Authorised persons |