Historical information

Campden Ladies College was located at 16 Windsor Crescent from 1887-1898 and then at 44 Windsor Crescent from 1899-1901 under the direction of Mrs Philippa James and one of her daughters, also Philippa. Philippa Bridges was born in Pentonville, Middlesex in 1820. She was engaged to John Frederic James before she left England and they were married soon after he arrived in Melbourne in 1853. He was the second registrar at the University of Melbourne (1856-1864) and died suddenly in 1864.
The couple had 4 daughters (3 surviving - Mary, Philippa and Elizabeth) and one son, John Frederic Chase James, who lived at 'St Helena', Norfolk Road, Surrey Hills. Their 2nd daughter, Philippa Sophia assisted in the school; she pre-deceased her mother and died at 'Campden' on 18 March 1900.
Mrs James' obituary in the Box Hill Reporter on 5 May 1911 states that she opened an earlier school called Grantown House in Nicholson Street, Fitzroy opposite the Exhibition Building after her husband's death. Grantown House is extant and has a National Estate Register Listing. The citation for it states that Mrs Philippa James leased it from owner William Ross and operated a ladies school from here from 1872 until 1878. She had other schools, both before her marriage and one in Balaclava named 'Westbourne'.
One of the students (unidentified) in the photo is Edith Dorothy Dunn, who became an early talented photographer.

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