Thomas Eastman senior founded Eastman's Royal Naval Academy in 1851. When he died in 1860 he was succeeded by one of the teaching staff George Spickernell, who a year later married Eastman's widow Sarah. Spickernell relinquished the post in 1885, but the school continued up until about 1940.
Eastman’s Royal Naval Academy
1855-1859 Eastern Parade, Thomas Eastman
1863 Eastern Parade, George Spickernell
1891 28 South Parade, Graham Collier
1898-1905 28 South Parade, H Caldecot
1911-1923 28 South Parade, Thomas Gilderdale & Donald Mercer
Eastman’s Preparatory School
1923-1928 28 South Parade, Thomas Gilderdale & Donald Mercer
1934 28 South Parade, Donald Mercer
1936 28 South Parade, E Singleton & T Drought
1938 28 South Parade, E & A Shuttleworth / T Drought
Thomas Eastman's school went into decline so that by Easter 1914 numbers were down to 20
It was four floors high with a huge assembly hall on the ground floor. In the middle was a large pot-bellied stove. There was also a very large kitchen with coal-fired ranges and a conservatory to the rear.
A large oak staircase ran from the top to bottom of the building and what looked like bedrooms going off of the floors with cast iron fireplaces in them. The building was largely flat roofed which the last flight of stairs led up to. On the roof were lots of tall yellow chimney pots.
It was on the corner of Burgoyne Roadl. Today it had been knocked down and replaced by an office block, Fastnet House
Fastent House is in the background