Edmund Stow Thompson

He was born in Maida Vale, London in 1846 and obtained an MA from Trinity College, Dublin. He became a member of Merchant Taylors in May 1865. He married his wife, Mary Eyre, in 1879 - she was the daughter of Edmund Eyre, Surgeon-General of the Madras Army. Shortly after he set up a private school (Pelham House) in Folkestone where he was headmaster. It is not known if the building was previously named Pelham House or if he chose the name for its family connections. His brother, Augustus Clayton, later joined him on the teaching staff having returned from living in Australia.

Edmund later became a JP and a freemason, attached to the Radnor Masonic Lodge and was a member of the Constitutional Club in London. He later lived at Woodstock Cottage, Baldwins Hill, East Grinstead.

As well as living in Folkestone, Edmund also had a house in West Kensington. By 1931 he was living in Goldington Road, Bedford and later lived at Woodstock Cottage, Baldwins Hill, East Grinstead. He died in Fluery, Bandol France on 7th February 1941. He had been visiting France with his daughter Charlotte when war broke out.

Pelham House later became Folkestone Art School but was demolished to make way for an office block and car park