St Pauls Church and School Extracted from 'Faces of London' by H Clunn (1970 rev. ed).
From Tower Hamlets, Local History Librarian:-
St Paul's C. of E. Primary School was opened officially in 1870. It was called St. Paul's Church of England School for Seamen and was attached to St. Paul's Church in Dock Street, Whitechapel, itself a Church for sailors and their families. The building of the school was the plan of the Rev. Dan Greatorex, who pioneered many social reforms in the East End of London until his enforced retirement in 1897, when he had become partly paralysed by a stroke. Part of the cost of the school was raised from subscriptions. The school was built on the site of a Danish church in Wellclose Square, serving the needs of the Danish merchants who traded in timber for the rebuilding of London, after the Fire of London in 1666. The church which had become in effect redundant, was, according to the Rev. Dan Greatorex, in too great disrepair to be converted and so it was demolished, all graves having been duly removed from the crypt.
The school was opened on 30th June 1870 by the Prince and Princess of Wales. Four years later, an Infant Nursery was opened in a new house next to the school, and on this occasion the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh attended the opening, with a grand flower show and exhibition of caged birds. The school initially was divided into three separate schools, Infants, boys and girls. Until 1897, the Vicar was Manager of the schools. One of the first intake of pupils was Margaret Doyle. She became a pupil teacher and later Head Mistress of the Infants School. Margaret Doyle resigned in 1897, when the Rev. Dan Greatorex also resigned his ministry. In August 1897 they were married at Dover, there they lived in Castle Street. The Rev. Dan Greatorex died in 1901. The school still has a collection of large photo albums from 1860's onwards, showing scenes from Vicar's worldwide travels. Hugh Sinclair 1994.
