{{Short description|Private boarding school in Essex, England}} {{Notability|1=Organizations|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox school | established = 1932 | name = Downham School | image = File:Down Hall Country House Hotel from the rear gardens - geograph.org.uk - 451750.jpg | location = Hatfield Heath, Essex, England | type = Private boarding school | closed = {{circa|1967}} | gender = Girls | lower_age = | upper_age = }} '''Downham School''' was a private boarding school for girls based at Down Hall, a Victorian country house near Hatfield Heath, Essex.
The school was established in 1932. Eleanor Louisa Houison-Craufurd was the first principal from 1932 to 1950. The school had a reputation for focusing less on education and more on preparing well-born young ladies for advantageous marriages.<ref name="Hart">{{cite news |last1=Hart |first1=Sybilla |title=The history of Down Hall near Bishop's Stortford in Essex |url=https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/magazines/essex/24267265.history-hall-near-bishops-stortford-essex/ |access-date=13 April 2026 |work=Essex Life |date=27 July 2024}}</ref><ref name="History">{{cite web |title=History of Down Hall |url=https://www.downhall.co.uk/uploads/documents/GeneralDocuments/History_of_Down_Hall_-_updated.pdf |publisher=Down Hall |access-date=5 February 2023}}</ref> In her 2007 memoir, alumna Clarissa Eden described the school as "a fashionable boarding school ... orientated to horses".<ref name="Eden">{{cite book |title=A Memoir: From Churchill to Eden |date=2007 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |location=London |isbn=978-0-297-85193-6 |page=11}}</ref> Down Hall was sold in the 1960s and the school closed circa 1967, the house becoming a conference centre.<ref name="Exton">{{cite news |last1=Exton |first1=Colin |title=Exploring the history of Down Hall Hotel & Spa |url=https://absolutely-essex.co.uk/exploring-the-history-of-down-hall-hotel-spa/ |access-date=5 February 2023 |work=Absolutely Essex |date=25 May 2021}}</ref>
==Notable former pupils== * Jennifer Forwood, 11th Baroness Arlington (born 1939), peeress * Clarissa Eden, Countess of Avon (1920–2021),<ref name="Hart"/><ref name="History"/><ref name="Eden"/><ref name="Exton"/> spouse of the prime minister of the United Kingdom * Lady Caroline Blackwood (1931–1996),<ref name="Hart"/> writer * Lady Martha Bruce (1921–2023), prison governor * Elizabeth Carnegy, Baroness Carnegy of Lour (1925–2010), academic and activist * Anne Tennant, Baroness Glenconner (born 1932), peeress and socialite * Pamela Harriman (1920–1997),<ref name="Hart"/><ref name="History"/><ref name="Exton"/> Ambassador of the United States to France * Lady Elizabeth Shakerley (1941–2020), party planner * Frances Shand Kydd (1936–2004),<ref name="Hart"/><ref name="History"/><ref name="Exton"/> mother of Diana, Princess of Wales
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Schools in Essex}}
Category:Defunct girls' schools in the United Kingdom Category:Defunct schools in Essex Category:Girls' schools in Essex Category:Educational institutions established in 1932 Category:1932 establishments in England Category:1960s disestablishments in England