1941: On this day, 814 20-year-old city girls responded to their call-up papers - although some forgot their registration card! Many of the girls had come with their mothers, while others had their boyfriends for company. Some are described as arriving 'with an army escort on either side'. Quite a few perambulators are also recorded as being parked outside the building. (Gray, David, Peterborough at War 1939-1945, David Gray, 2011)
Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.
Laurel Court House for girls was founded by Margaret Gibson and Annette Van Dissel, at first in premises on London Road in 1869, before moving to Laurel Court in the Cathedral Precincts. The school prepared pupils for university examinations and specialised in Music, French and German.
Miss Gibson had a forceful personality but she had eccentric tendencies. She eventually went blind but remained in charge of her school.
Nurse Edith Cavell (executed by German firing squad on 12 October 1915) was a student teacher at the school before taking up nursing. In recognition of Miss Gibson’s almost 60 years as the school principal and of her services to the education of girls she was made an Honorary Freedman of the City of Peterborough in1926, the first woman to receive this honour. She died in 1928 aged 91.