10 st. george’s school
Miss Emily Diman:
Matriarch of the Hilltop
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SUMMER 2022
hen 12-year-old Edward M. Howland arrived in Newport with his aunt to attend John Diman’s new school, he stepped off the train from New Bedford, Massachusetts, onto a crowded platform and climbed into one of many taxicabs. They twisted through city avenues, eventually turning down a short, dark street that ended in an open field situated with two cottages. “The windows were ablaze with light,” Howland recalled in the Spring 1946 Bulletin. “Mr. and Miss Diman were at the front door to welcome us. There was an open fire, burning brightly.” From the first night at what would become St. George’s School, John Diman was never alone in founding his dream. Diman’s youngest sister, Emily Diman, joined him in his educational venture, serving as hostess and housemother at his school at the age of 25.
Miss Diman and her dog, Dandy c. 1905.
Miss Diman's Room, now serves as a conference room. >>
When Diman moved his school after its first year into the larger Swann Villa overlooking First Beach, Miss Diman traveled to Providence to care for the siblings’ ailing mother. Emily Diman visited Swann Villa occasionally, returning to the school fully in 1904 after St. George’s was already established at its new and permanent Middletown location overlooking Second Beach.
Miss Diman helped John Diman at St. George's School and lived on the Hilltop for the next 24 years. “The two perfectly complemented each other,” William Buell said of the brother-sister duo in the Fall 1970 edition of Newport History, published by the Newport Historical Society. The two stood side-by-side in front of King Hall to shake hands with each student every morning.
