Description:Pupils and teachers of Lichfield Girls' High School in front of Yeomanry House, Lichfield.
In 1892 a committee led by Sophia Lonsdale opened Lichfield High School for Girls in Market Street. In 1896 the school moved to Yeomanry House in St John Street. In 1912 the school received an annual grant from Staffordshire County Council and in 1916 St John's School, another girls private school in Lichfield, merged with it to form a maintained secondary school. The school moved into the Friary building in 1921 and in 1926 was renamed the Friary School. Under the 1944 Education Act the school became a secondary grammar school for girls. The preparatory department was closed in 1948, making the Friary a single-sex school. A boarding house for around 30 girls was opened in Westgate House, Beacon Street, in 1953. In 1971 the school became a mixed comprehensive. The first stage of a large school in Eastern Avenue, named Friary Grange, was opened in 1973 and the older pupils were moved to it. Westgate House was closed in 1981 and the school stopped taking boarders. The Friary site was closed in 1987 and the Eastern Avenue school was renamed the Friary.