The Hall at Lockers Park School, Hemel Hempstead

The Hall at Lockers Park School

Yet another view of this interesting school, published by P. A. Buchanan in the 1930s

Watford District, Schoolboy's Shield Football Team, 1905-6

Football

Football Team, Watford, 1905/6(Deacon)

Can anyone help identify any of the boys in this Watford team, many of which will later have served in the First World Was - and some may have died.

XMAS Challenge 2: Schoolchildren at Watford? circa 1910

click for larger image

Xmas 2014 Challenge

Watford Field School Football Team 1905/6

Football

Schools

I recently acquired this printed post card showing the Watford Field School Football Team taken by Harry Robert Cull, photographer, of St Albans Road, Watford, and published by the Acme Tone Engraving Co. Ltd., Watford, photo engravers & printers. The men at the back are probably teachers in the school and perhaps the one in the centre is the headmaster Walter John Toppin.

The date would suggest that many of the pupils later fought in the First World War. It would be wonderful if some of them could be identified. It would also be interesting to know if the school has a record of former pupils who gave their lives in the conflict.

Some newly acquired post cards

I have added a varied batch of new Hertfordshire views(all with higher resolution images) as follows:

Military

A View of Batchwood Camp, St Albans, taken by L. L. Christmas in September 1915. It  shows the North Staffordshire Lines, and was in the St Albans area at about the same time as Briton's Camp (location unknown) was in existence.

I have created a page for four early 20th century pictures of New Birklands School, St Albans, two of the exterior, one of the dining room, and one of the garden. Three were taken by a London firm of photographers, Elliott & Fry, who had photographic works in Barnet. The other was taken by Montiville Evans, of St Albans. I have added details of the schoolthen just called Birklands, in the late 20th century, but have not yet researched it foundation.

Marsworth is on the Grand Union Canal on the birder with Hertfordshire, and close to Tring, so of interest despite being in Buckinghamshire. About a dozen post cards (possibly mostly amateur snapshots from about 1905) appeared recently on ebay and I purchased a number - some of which are good enough to justify high resolution scanning. As it is always a pity when a contemporary collection like this gets dispersed I have also included reduced sized thumbs to record those I did not win. 

Also included in the update were two pictures of Chorleywood, a picture of Radlett parish church before the wider nave was added, and a picture of  Nether Hall, at Widford.

A Church Procession at Hitchin in 1911

In the days before the National Health Service town hospitals, such as the one at Hitchin, regularly held event to raise money, often having a procession through the town once a year.

St Michael's College Band Marching in the Hospital Procession 1911

Schools

Hitchin

St Michael's College was a Roman Catholic School which opened in 1903 and closed in 1968. It was built on a site adjacent to the Church of Our Lady Immaculate & St Andrew. The following card showing the church interior was published by Lofthouse, Crosbie & Co which specialized in producing sets of school photographs. 

See Hitchin Hospital 1929 for details of another fund-raising event.

The Church of Our Lady Immaculate & St Andrew

Callowland Boys School, Watford and its first headmaster

Class 3, Callowland Boys School, Leavesden Road, Watford, 1920

Schools

Watford

There must be a number of people now living in Watford who will have known some of the boys in this picture - so can anyone help to put a few names to faces (Higher resolution picture available on main web site.) The card has the words "Percy Cupid, born October 1907" written on the back but no boy is marked on the picture - and I could find no obvious Percy Cupid in the 1911 census.

Click here for short biographies of  Edwin Ashby, headmaster of the Boys School, and Annie Mary Gardner, headmistress of the Girls School further down Leavesden Road.

"Spot the Difference" - Ooops

When I posted the following I felt that I had to find an excuse to make no further postings over Christmas, in part to allow me to enjoy Christmas and in part because I was hoping to have some unrushed time to get used to a new computer. What I hadn't realised was that I was also heading towards an attack of the "dreaded lurgy" to be followed a couple of days later by my wife. It would seem that the lurgy was already gnawing at my mind when I posted this "Christmas Competition" and it was only when Peter sent an excellent high resolution photograph of the of Water End Girls and Infants School in North Mymms  taken around 1900 that I realised that the "significant differences" I has spotted were not real. 

I will post a full and corrected report in the New Year (I now need the break more than ever) but having said I would make a generous donation to sites charity collecting box for the Herts Mind Network I have now made such a donation. I am also posting a request for information relating to the First World War, which started 100 years ago next August, and to encourage you to help I will be making a further donation.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This picture of a school was taken in the late 1870s by a photographer, G. A. Nichols, who gave a Hitchin address on the back of the carte de visite.

It was posted on the web site some time ago when I asked about its identity. A few days ago my attention was drawn to a post card, published in about 1905, by a St Albans photographer. At a quick glance the two pictures appear to be the same school.

But are they?

Have a look at the larger images on the main web site and let me know what differences there are - and in each case indicate whether they are simply changes that could have happened between about 1875 and 1900 - or whether the differences indicate that the pictures are of two different schools.

For those of you who know parts of Hertfordshire well, or who have old pictures of Victorian schools in the county there are some additional questions - about the possible identity of the school(s).

More Information

Enjoy yourself over Christmas helping with some genuine research.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Due to the need for a break, a long list of social activities, and some time devoted to getting used to Windows 8, this will be the last post on this Newsletter until the first week in January, when a report on the results of the competition will be posted. There may be a similar delay in responding to any queries.

An Unknown School Group, circa 1915, almost certainly at Harpenden

Harpenden

St Albans

This photograph of a school group, identified on the back as Miss Cooper's class, was taken by the St Albans photographer, L. L. Christmas, in 1915 or later. Could the Miss Cooper be the Miss Gertrude Cooper, assistant mistress, living in Harpenden in 1911 - and if so which school is it? Because of the date there may be visitors to this site whose parents (or grandparents, or even great grandparents) are pictured here. Can you help identify the school and any of the pupils? At least 40 other copies were produced - some mounted and some as post cards - so perhaps you own one of them!!!  Perhaps you have a similar photograph taken in the same school room.

Click here for a larger image and a list of possible schools.

Coombrook House School, Hemel Hempstead

Help Desk

Hemel Hempstead

My mother went to Oakley Lodge School, run by Miss Emily Brocklehurst, in 1916, and by 1922 it had become Coombrook House School, and continued until about 1960. I have just had a query from someone who was there in the 1950s who wants to know more about the school at that time. As this site does not normally deal with matters less than about 100 years ago I was unable to help, beyond suggesting she tries to make contacts with other pupils through sites such as Friends Reunited and Our Dacorum (part of the Hertfordshire Memories network).

Can you identify any of the pupils in this 1922 picture?

I would be interested to hear from anyone who knows about the early days of the school - and if you can provide information on its final years I will certainly pass the information on.

More High Resolution Post Card Images

Post Cards

Over the last few weeks I have been adding additional post cards to the web site and updating information about others.

• I have collected some more data on cards by the school photographer Percy Buchanan, including a card of Queenswood School which may well have been taken by him circa 1904 when he was working for the Photo Tourists Association.

Ickleford

• A Frith post card of Ickleford posted in 1939 has a number suggesting it was taken in 1902 - but the image is the same as one published circa 1906 by Blum & Degan - suggesting some business arrangement between the firms. - But what?
• I have posted an attractive view of Watford High Street, by Hartmann, published circa 1903.
• I have posted two additional "Children" cards by the Misses M & A Austin of St Albans



High Leigh House

• I have posted a view of the North Front of High Leigh House, Hoddesdon, (no publisher identified) with an interesting frank mark advertising the use of telephones.

• The post card of Ludgrove School, Handley Common  is now known to have been in circulation in 1910 - so cannot be later.
• I have recorded that the post card of Aston village with two girls was also issued in a tinted form.

Click here to see all recent post card images.

Another Buchanan Card helps in dating school photographs.

Old Post Cards

Percy A Buchanan was a photographer who went around schools and similar institutions, from about 1907 until the 1930s, typically providing the schools with a set of perhaps a dozen different post cards. I have been collecting information on the Hertfordshire Schools he photographed with a view to more precise dating based on changes in the company name and address and the negative numbers on some of the cards.

Games Pavilion, St Mary's Convent, Bishops Stortford

Jane has kindly provided me with a card showing the Games Pavilion, St Mary's Convent, Bishops Stortford which was posted in 1935. While it has no negative numbers the back suggests that it was printed after the move to printing in France (believed to be after Belgium was invaded in 1914) and the use of "Ltd" but before the use of a Thornton Heath address rather than a Croydon address. While a firm date cannot be given the photograph was probably taken around the time of the First World War.

A Crinoline from Hertford in the 1860s

Lady in Crinoline

Photographer

This carte de visite of a lady wearing a crinoline helps me to build up a picture of the early photographs of Arthur Elsden, a "photographist" of Hertford who set up business in 1857. 

The crinoline was at the peak of fashion in about 1860, and the photographer details on the back are comparatively simple and do not mention that Arthur Elsden had been "Patronised by H.R.H. the Price of Wales" - wording which appear of a card from a collection of CDV of schoolboys from Haileybury College which are unlikely to be later than 1871.

Hertford

This raises an interesting future task - to try and find out when Arthur took a photograph of the Prince of Wales - as any photographs mentioning this must be later. Perhaps the Prince of Wales visited Hertford circa 1870?

Rosary Priory, Caldecote Towers, Aldenham

Schools

A Classroom, Rosary Priory, circa 1830

Caldecote Towers was a strange looking building built in the 1870s. In the late 1920's it became a school, called Rosary Priory, and I have added pictures of the dining room and a classroom. (Large images available on main page). I have also taken the opportunity to add a press cutting relating to the building being auctioned in 1878.

Hope House at Cheshunt - A home for rescued women

When Doreen's father was baptised in Cheshunt in 1915 the address given was Hope House and a boarding out certificate Doreen had obtained from Barnardo's refers to Charles Frederick Harris and his mother having been housed in a rescue home in Cheshunt. 

I was able to say that Hope House had been opened in 1914 (or shortly before) by the St Albans & Chelmsford Diocesan Union for Preventative, Rescue & Penitentiary Work. My full answer includes a modern picture, the location of the records of the St Albans Diocesan Board for Social Responsibility, and a copy of the very interesting boarding out certificate - showing what useful information such documents can provide.

Charles was brought up in Cheshunt and Doreen also provided this picture of the children in Class III of Dewhurst School in 1926. [So far no one has identified the earlier class photographs of boys from this school in about 1910.] 

St Rohan's School, Hadley Wood - Buchanan PC

I have added details of St Ronan's School, Hadley Wood - The view of the School is yet another post card by P. A. Buchanan.

I have also added details of another Buchanan post card, of Christ's Hospital, Hertford. Thank to Anthony for the information.

Another Class at Dewhurst School, Cheshunt

 Another picture of Pupils at Dewhurst School, Cheshunt, from about 1910. In this one the board is labeled "Dewhurst School 3" and on re-examination the one posted earlier is "Dewhurst School 4". Presumably there were 2 other groups photographed at the same time. Unfortunately so far no-one has been able to identify any of the pupils or date that card.

Dewhurst School, Cheshunt - Can you name anyone here?

Dewhurst School, Cheshunt,  was founded in 1640, and this photograph is much later - probably about 1910. Can anyone identify any of the boys or suggest a more precise date. The main page includes a short history of the school and a larger image to help identification..

A Class at Dewhurst School, Cheshunt

Some minor photographer/post card updates

I have discovered that John Barnard, Photographer of St Albans, had a studio in the borough as early as 1878. 

I have added a small example of a panoramic school view by Percy Buchanan, who has taken many pictures of Hertfordshire schools (and I am interested in knowing any others he has photographed).

I have added some more negative number information for Edward Bedwell (Bedford Series post cards). While Edward lived in Bedfordshire he published a lot of Hertfordshire post cards circa 1903-4.

Dating Buchanan's School Photographs of Hertfordshire

Yesterday I blogged about Lockers Park School, Hemel Hempstead, and included a photograph of the dining room by Percy A Buchanan. Anthony has helpfully drawn my attention to the fact the Percy married a daughter of Carl Wilhelm Stackemann in 1902.

St George's School, Harpenden
posted 1910

Carl Wilhelm Stackemann was a photographer who specialized in school photography (see the excellent Sussex Photohistory web site). He employed a team of photographers to go round the country photographing schools (are there any examples from Hertfordshire?) and Percy may well have worked in this capacity. However in in 1907 Carl went  bankrupt and sold the business. The earliest school card published by Percy that I have been able to trace dates from 1908 - so it is likely that he set up on his own company following the bankruptcy. More information about this - and updates to help date Hertfordshire school photographs he took can be seen on the Percy A Buchanan page. Any information you can provide to make this page even more helpful will be welcome.