Christopher Imeson's School

Imeson would appear to have been established prior to 1809 as Hinton Bird notes that in that year the Rev J Kewley of Douglas Grammar School teamed up with the partnership of Laurence and Imeson who had opened their school that year in Mucklesgate. When Rev Joseph Qualtrough arrived to take over Douglas Grammar School Laurence departed, leaving Imeson very much as the assistant to Qualtrough. On Qualtrough's own departure in 1814 and the arrival of Robert Brown (father of T.E. Brown) Imeson moved to Fort Street.

In Pigot's 1823 directory for Douglas we can read:

Besides the national free school, in which are educated upwards of three-hundred children, private seminaries for the education of young ladies and gentlemen are numerous; the oldest of these is conducted by Mr. Christopher Imeson.

The school was entered as:
Imeson Christopher, classical commercial, and mathematical academy Bath-place

Imeson's school was not included in Pigot's 1837 directory though his Stanley Terrace address appears under lodging houses - however the quoted reminiscences of J Hutchinson of being a pupil under him must date from the late 1830's or early 1840's. In Quiggin's guide of 1836 Imeson was included under lodging houses at Stanley Terrace with his school in Bath place; the 1841 edition lists his Stanley terrace address under both Schoolmasters and Lodging Houses but by 1843 only under Lodging houses. The 70 year old Imeson is however probably wrongly indexed (as Jameson ?) in the 1841 census.

Imeson occupied the top house in Stanley Terrace, Broadway, with a schoolroom, entered from Stanley Place, built behind the house. Joanna Hutchinson, sister-in-law of William Wordsworth [see Dorothy Wordsworth's diaries] is reported to have occupied an apartment in Imeson's house [unless the assumption I read into D.W's diary that Joanna and Henry shared a house is wrong this must have been in the early 1840's after the death of her brother Henry in 1839 and accords with Joanna's known straitened circumstances; Joanna Hutchinson is not however to be found in the index to the 1841 census ] .

Imeson was still alive in 1846 as he sued for non-payment of rent.

Pupils included:

• T . E. Brown
• William Fine Moore (father of A.W.Moore)
• John Hutchinson (nephew of Joanna Hutchinson).

References:

Who's a naughty boy then ?[re John Hutchinson] IoM Vic Soc Newsletter #49 p9 Jan 1998

Hinton Bird The Island that led - The History of Manx Education vol 1 pp144 et seq 1994