The Huxley Connection
Prior's Field opened on 23 January 1902 with six pupils and a seven-and-a-half-year-old boy named Aldous Huxley, the son of the headmistress. Julia Huxley founded the school because she believed girls deserved the same intellectual freedom as boys – a radical position in Edwardian England. She bought a five-acre plot on the outskirts of Godalming, commissioned the architect C.F.A. Voysey to design the main building, and opened a school where curiosity, not conformity, was the guiding principle.
Julia's pedigree was formidable. She was the granddaughter of Dr Thomas Arnold, the reforming headmaster of Rugby School, and the niece of the poet Matthew Arnold. Her husband Leonard Huxley was an assistant master at Charterhouse and the son of Thomas Henry Huxley, the eminent biologist who championed Darwin's theory of evolution. Their children included Julian Huxley, the zoologist who became the first Director-General of UNESCO, and Aldous Huxley, who wrote Brave New World.
A Progressive Tradition
Julia Huxley took girls out of the classroom and into galleries, concerts, theatres, and museums. She encouraged freedom of thought and a love of books and solitude. The school attracted the attention of the intellectual elite – Arthur Conan Doyle, Professor Gilbert Murray, and Alexander Siemens all sent their daughters to Prior's Field. When Julia died in 1908, aged just 46, she left behind a thriving school and a philosophy of education that was decades ahead of its time.
The School Today
Prior's Field now occupies 42 acres near Godalming, a mix of Voysey's original Arts and Crafts buildings and modern additions. Around 350 girls attend, with a small number of boarders. The school remains a member of the Girls' Schools Association and continues to emphasise creative and performing arts alongside strong academic results. The Huxley connection is not just historical decoration – the school's ethos of intellectual curiosity, independent thinking, and joy in learning is a direct inheritance from its founder. Enid Bagnold, who later wrote National Velvet, was a pupil in the school's early years.
