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Introducing our actors…
A necessary act of discretion before the drama resumes.If you’ve made it through Inez de Vries’s infamous detention essay, you already know Saint Clare’s isn’t just any girls’ school—and Inez is not just any girl. Before we move into the staffroom files tomorrow (starting with a crisply worded concern from Mr. Green—whose tone might benefit from a small glass of sherry and a nap), I thought it worth pausing to formally introduce the cast.
I’ve always loved these sorts of pages—the dramatis personae tucked at the start of vintage novels, the ones that told you, with great precision and a glint of menace, that “Colonel Arbuthnot has a revolver, a past, and a scheduled appearance on page 243.” Agatha Christie did it especially well, and so did school stories of the mid-century: characters arranged like chess pieces before the game begins (or after it’s already started and someone’s flipped the board).
Saint Clare’s is no different. Everyone wears the same uniform—but no two girls wear it the same way. And the staff? Well. Let’s just say the prefects aren’t the only ones taking notes.
Here, then, is your guide to the players: the faculty, the form mistresses, the prefects, and the girls—sharp, slippery, loyal, watchful. You may already suspect their alliances. Tomorrow, you’ll see them in motion.
Welcome to the cast. Curtain’s up soon.
Who’s Who
Inez de Vries – Upper Fourth. Third-generation Saint Clare with something to prove. The school is in her blood, as is winning. Brilliant and controlled, but still fourteen. A strategist in a gym-slip, she sometimes mistakes precision for permission. Doesn’t always notice the bruises — except when they serve her.
Miss Anne Kelley – English mistress. Precise, pragmatic, and difficult to fool. A Saint Clare’s alumna, once limited to literature but decoded more complex texts during the war. Returned with quiet honours and sharper eyes. Some of the staff still think it’s 1925; she does not. The girls, she sees—and remembers.
Mr. Bertram James Johnson – Latin master, first term. A Peterhouse man (via a minor public school), known as “Bertie” despite his best efforts. Fluent in Virgil but unversed in Chalet School. Earnest, well-meaning, and an innocent romantic. Already out of his depth—and his initials, B.J., are proving unhelpful.
Mr. George Green – Geography master. A former grammar school boy with a chip on each shoulder and a fondness for passive-aggressive remarks about “modern attitudes.” When challenged he flushes to such a vivid shade that two generations of Saint Clare girls instinctively grasped the term “gammon-faced.”
Matron Patricia Rowntree – Infirmary matron since before the first war. Blunt, unsentimental, she possesses unerring instinct for malingering. Remedies include a thermometer and cod liver oil—neither are ever optional. Triggers “nanny” memories in upper-class men like the headmaster: equal parts awe and intimidation.
Headmaster Lewis – Headmaster more than a decade. Formerly of a boys’ public school, he’s been at Saint Clare’s since the aftermath of the first war when his doctors recommended a quieter life. Now gently bewildered by the girls’ world he oversees. Thoughtful, diplomatic, and quite aware he’s outnumbered—the headmaster is not often outclassed.
Miss Elaine Clark – History mistress, granted an Oxford degree. Never married, never inclined to. A blue-stocking of the old school, she demands much of “her girls.” Regards the male staff with suspicion (earned), while the girls NS female faculty have her fierce loyalty. Her presence inspires admiration, terror, and occasional mutiny fantasies.
Sally Hartley – Head Girl and almost eighteen. Calm, respected, and all-seeing. Never flustered, rarely angry. Destined to be Head Girl since she first stepped through Saint Clare’s gates aged seven. Attractive, athletic, and an excellent student by graft not genius. Her uniform is immaculate; dirt wouldn’t dare. Never shirks a duty and wields silence like a blade.
Georgina (Georgie) Fairfax – Senior Prefect. A natural second-in-command, able to wield her authority with the quiet self-belief of someone who knows exactly who her great-great-grandmother was—and that the good woman did her duty at any cost. Loyal to Sally, coolly polite to everyone else. Records and updates Saint Clare prefect history weekly.
Veronica “Ronnie” Justine Elwood – Upper V. Small for her age and younger than her years, sleeps with a secret rabbit toy she knows is too baby-ish but can’t give up her Mr. Buns. Eager to please, too easily influenced, and longs to belong. Keen, capable, has desperate pash for Sally the headgirl, but is increasingly under Inez’s gravitational pull.
Lady Gwendoline Justine Honor de Vries née Randolph – Inez’s mother. A society woman to her fingertips: born well, married better, and never an outsider in any social group. Her letters arrive scented, word-perfect, and precisely timed. A dangerous player with perfect manners yet capable of the lethal cut.
Clarissa Elizabeth Charrington – The new girl, just arrived for Saint Clare’s Summer Term. Daughter of an Old Girl and a prominent MP, she’s been placed in the Lower Fourth—and, having already authored a private codebook in sweets, is surprisingly fluent in metaphor and mischief. She reads Jane Eyre, The Beano, and Tacitus under the covers by torchlight. Is she Inez’s friend or foe? Or something stranger and more dangerous: a mirror?
| Post Title | Date Posted |
| Teaser – “Inez of the Upper Fourth” – a Saint Clare Summer Saga | 21 July 2025 |
| Saint Clare School Justifications or A Few Explanations for the Inconsistencies That Are Absolutely Not My Fault) | 22 July 2025 |
| Waiting for Inez – It’s your own time you’re wasting… | 23 July 2025 |
| Start HERE: Inez’s Detention Essay | 24 July 2025 |
| Inez of the Upper IV – Cast of Characters | 25 July 2025 |
| The Real Motto of Saint Clare’s School for Girls | 27 July 2025 |
| The Staffroom Files Part 1: Inez of the Upper Fourth | 29 July 2025 |
| Notations from Matron’s Logbook: Inez of the Upper 4th | 30 July 2025 |
| Staff Meeting Transcript – Inez of the Upper IV | 2 August 2025 |
| Inez’s Diary, 19 June 1955 | 3 August 2025 |
| Clarissa’s Letters Home or The Jelly Baby Files | 11 August 2025 |
| The Elwood Files – Inez of the Upper IV | 17 August 2025 |
Your turn.
What do you see between the lines?
Use the comments to ask questions, imagine what’s missing, and connect the dots. Inez might be listening.
I do love a good dramatis personae.
I note that, as described, your male characters all sound a bit dissipated, dim or daunted. Perhaps as it might be in this space. One will live in hope that at least one of them manages to get up on his hind legs sooner or later.
[Writing as Mija here]
I’m glad you noticed that. One way this story, told via archival documents, breaks with my prior Saint Clare stories is that I’ve generally had female leadership (administrators and teachers) for period post World War I. I did this mostly because I wanted to hold as truly as I could to the detention play I did at the Fall 2024 Oasis, where I had a one-on-one meeting with “headmaster” Stephen Lewis, and the extended group school detention play I did at TASSP this past June.
Male teachers at girls schools were generally seen as somehow not able to make the cut at the more prestigious boys schools, especially following WW1. Britain lost so many of men across class backgrounds in the First World War that there was a shortage of men available to teach even at boys’ schools. So trying to figure out why these men are at Saint Clare lead me having them fall under your three Ds.