Linden House in Old High Street (the tall building on the left of this postcard) is now known as the Priory. It was originally a private house. From at least 1850 to 1854, when it was owned by George Baker Ballachey of Bury Knowle House, it was occupied by William Butler (a magistrate and alderman and brother-in-law of the Mrs Butler who ran a girls’ school in the Manor House in the 1840s).

In 1858 William Richard Hurst, formerly of Cowley Diocesan School, opened a private school for boys at Linden House. Initially he called it Headington Academy, and the following advertisement appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 11 December that year:

HEADINGTON ACADEMY
Conducted by Mr. W. R. HURST, for 13 years Assistant Master at Cowley School.
IT is the primary object of this School to impart a sound Commercial Education, at the same time every subject will be introduced that is considered essential to a correct and liberal course of Instruction.
   In the domestic arrangements every effort will be made to secure the comfort, health, and happiness of the Pupils, and such care and attention will be bestowed upon them as must, it is trusted, obtain the general confidence of parents.
   The premises are pleasantly and healthily situated, and replete with all the advantages necessary for a school.
   The terms, inclusive of books, stationery, &c., will be—
For Boarders above 12 years of age, £27; under 12 years, £24. For Day Pupils, a limited number of which only can be taken, the terms will be — Inclusive, Six Guineas per Annum; not inclusive, Four Guineas per Annum.
   The above terms will include Instruction in the following subjects:— Reading, Writing (plain and ornamental), Arithmetic, Book-Keeping, Mensuration, Land and Timber Measuring, English Grammar and Composition, Ancient and Modern History, Geography, Political and Physical Drawing, Algebra, Mathematics, and the Latin and French languages.
   On the first admission of a pupil to the Latin or French Class an Entrance Fee of One Guinea will be charged.
   Each Pupil will be expected to bring with him two pairs of sheets, four towels, a knife, fork, and spoon, all of which will be returned upon the removal of the Pupil.— A Quarter's notice will be expected previous to the withdrawal of a Pupil.
   It is respectfully urged that all the clothes, &c., of the Pupils be marked with name in full.
   N.B. Headington is situated about 1¾ miles from Oxford, in one of the most healthy localities of the county, as is approachable from Oxford by pleasant walks and a good road.

Just a week later, on 18 December 1858, the name of the school was changed to Linden House Academy, and the advertisement shortened:

On 12 March 1859 Hurst announced that the school was full. but alterations in progress meant that he would have some vacancies at midsummer. Then on 25 June 1859 he duly advertised as follows:

LINDEN HOUSE SCHOOL, HEADINGTON
Conducted by W. R. HURST, formerly of Cowley Diocesan School.
The extensive additions made to this Establishment, with a view to the increased comfort and accommodation of the pupil, enable its Proprietor to announce several vacancies for the ensuing term.

This extension allowed numbers to rise to 50, as this advertisement that appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal for 24 December 1859 shows:

Despite the above asseveration that he would limit the school to 50 pupils, Jackson’s Oxford Journal for 23 February 1861 reports that there were 70 boys at the school, of whom 45 had joined its Cadet Rifle Corps. The 1861 census shows only 21 boarders at the school (with the rest of the pupils presumably at home for the Easter holidays): these were aged between 9 and 17, and most came from Oxford and the surrounding area. Hurst (32) lived on the premises with his wife, two assistant masters named Sherlock Cranwell and John Leach, and three servants.

The three school terms began in January, late April, and late July, and the date was always advertised in Jackson's Oxford Journal.

On 16 July 1864 Hurst advertised that in the ensuing term he planned to move the school to extensive premises at Littlemore, and on 13 August 1864 he advertised his Headington premises to let:

HEADINGTON. TO be LET, at Michaelmas next,—LINDEN HOUSE, containing ten rooms, and having attached to it flower and kitchen garden, lawn and shrubbery, stable, coach-house, and paddock (one acre in extent.)
   Also at the same time, the BUILDINGS occupied as a School House.
   Application, in the first instance, by letter only, to be made to Mr. W. R. Hurst, Linden House, Headington.

Hurst continued to use the name Linden House for his larger school in Littlemore.

On 29 April 1865 a forthcoming auction of the new part of the school, which was three storeys high and backed on to the Croft, was advertised in Jackson's Oxford Journal:

TO SCHOOLMASTERS AND OTHERS.
A SUBSTANTIAL NEWLY-BUILT
Twelve-Roomed DWELLING HOUSE,
Lately occupied by, and built expressly for, a considerable part
of Mr. Hurst's BOARDING SCHOOL,
FREEHOLD, TITHE-FREE, AND LAND-TAX REDEEMED,
Situate in the centre of the Village of Headington,
A DWELLING HOUSE and PREMISES, containing, on the ground floor, passage entrance lobby, and small front parlour on the right; a school room, 23ft. by 27ft., and class room, 24ft. by 14ft., both about 9ft. high on the left. On the first floor, a front room, 23ft. by 13ft. 6in., and 3 other rooms. On the second floor, 2 large rooms, each 23ft. by 18ft., and two other rooms, a capital water closet, with large water tank, lined with lead, all very complete; a cellar in the basement, wash-house, with force pump and well of excellent water, yard, and other conveniences; the whole possessing a frontage to the street of 42ft., and extending a depth of 59ft., with back entrance thereto from the Crofts.
   These Premises were built within the last six years, and fitted up in the most substantial manner expressly for Dormitories, School, and Class Rooms, with every regard to ventilation and convenience for the accommodation of 40 Pupils, or, at a very trifling expense, they may be converted into two comfortable Dwelling Houses.

The new part of the school was evidently converted into three comfortable dwelling houses rather than two, and they were advertised thus on 19 October 1867:

All those FREEHOLD PREMISES, built within the last few years, and fitted up in the most substantial manner for school and class rooms, and recently converted into three comfortable dwelling-houses, each containing parlour, kitchen, scullery, and four bed rooms, yard, with back entrance thereto from the Croft, pump and well of excellent water, and other conveniences, in the occupation of Messrs. Parrott, Louch, and Taylor.

In an article on the history of the British Workman building in Old High Street, the Headington Parish Magazine of February 1881 stated that the Revd John Robinson in 1864 “was negotiating for some rooms in the High Street, since turned into three cottages, but which had then been used as a Boys’ School and Class Rooms”, but he did not get them.

It seems likely that Linden House was bought by the Revd John William Augustus Taylor, founder of the much more prestigious Rookery School, because from 1868 to 1874 it was occupied by one of its masters, Henry Franklin, described in the 1871 census as “Teacher (Preparatory School for Harrow, Eton, &c.)”, and his wife and seven children. (Franklin had been the Master of Headington National School until the end of 1867, living in the school house on the London Road.)

The ethos of Linden House School is outlined in the obituary of William Hurst that appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 22 October 1887:

DEATH OF MR. W. R. HURST. — We regret to record the death of Mr. W. R. Hurst, who died suddenly on Monday at his residence, 26 Warnborough-road, in this City, where he had lately retired. For about 30 years Mr. Hurst kept a middle-class school, first at Headington and then at Littlemore, in both places with unbroken success, many leading Oxford citizens having been under his care. As an educator, Mr. Hurst was in advance of his time, setting a great value on everything connected with health and comfort, trusting in love alone, giving the example of gentle, cheerful, and untiring patience. Himself a man of many acquirements, and an accomplished mechanic, he strove to train his pupils in the use of their eyes and hands, and a great number of them owe him a thorough preparation for practical life, and all must have benefited by the influence of a singularly pure, simple, and refined mind. Mr. Hurst’s loss will be deeply felt at Littlemore, where he had done much good, made many friends, and whither he had contemplated returning.