ELSTONIAN ASSOCIATION COLLECTION

<span class="wrapper"><p>[For deeds of school see X204]</p> <p>Note: For photograph of cricket team, 1894, see Z845/1</p></span>

Recollections of life as a pupil at Elstow School, 1905 to 1908, by S.F.R.Hunt

Extracts from a letter from Mr.Sidney F.R. Hunt of Canada, a former pupil at Elstow School, to the County Archivist, dated 30 October 1983. Mr. Hunt, now aged 91, had previously written to enquire about the school, and knowing that he was one of the few ex-pupils still living the County Archivist asked him to provide a brief memoir about life at the school etc.

"... I found everything you sent interesting, especially the photo of the Rev. Farrar, surrounded by his assistants & all of whom I remember vividly & I might say with deep affection.

It was however rather like a voice from the grave & for a time, due possibly in part to my physical condition [he had been taken ill shortly after the arrival of our letter] it made me rather sad.

They were all gentlemen to their fingertips & from whom I received nothing but kindness & courtesy & understanding.

My interest in the school was suddenly re-awakened when there was some talk of sending my grandson over to England for a trial but for various reasons this has now fallen through but that was how I came to contact Mrs. Blundell - for some reason my letter took over a year to reach her!

Having previously attended the Royal Latin School in Buckingham which in spite of its somewhat grandiose name was a very dirty little school with a tyrannical headmaster it was with considerable trepidation that I arrived at the County School for the winter term in 1905, but I need not have worried.

With the other "new" boys I was turned over to a very kindly matron who conducted us to our respective dormitories & did everything to make us feel at home, & although I had left and said "goodbye" to my parents at St. Pancras a short time before I don't remember feeling the least bot "homesick".

The school at that time was divided into four "houses", Russell, Cowper, Bunyan and Howard. I was assigned to the latter with Mr.Horseman, Housemaster, for whom I soon developed a deep affection. I also received instruction from Mr.Clark, Mr.Dent, Mr.Prosser and Mr.Orr.

I'm afraid that I was not a brilliant student. Mathematics was my downfall but I loved history and geography. Being tall & strongly built I shone on the sports field & early on developed a love for cricket which has remained with me through my life. Mr.Orr was our sports master and under him I rapidly developed into an "all round" cricketer and in 1906 won a bat for having the best under 13 batting average.

I have somehow exercised the notion that if only someone had suggested I take up cricket as a profession my name would be much better known than it actually is. But professional cricketers in those days did not rank very high in the social scale. At the Sussex County Ground at Hove, the amateurs & professionals used different dressing rooms & the score cards were printed in such a way that there could be no mistake which was which!

However I can't imagine a more pleasant way of making a living

I was born & grew up in the small market town of Uckfield in Sussex. We had a lovely house on the outskirts known as "Hill View" which I believe has since been changed to "Hill Crest", where I spent a very happy childhood with my parents and three sisters.

Although I loved my parents dearly, I was as a child a bit afraid of my father who was a very tall man & inclined to be rather austere & not particularly communicative. Being a brilliant musician which I most certainly was not, we did not have too much in common except a mutual love of cricket. My father was a member of the Sussex County Club & we used to spend a lot of our time during the summer holidays at the County Ground at Hove.

Life at Elstow School

I am not able to say how my father came to select the County School for my future education after I left the Latin School but I believe there was a publication called the "Education Gazette" & I suppose the County School was advertised there.

I quickly settled down in my new surroundings & made friends with the two boys who slept next to me in one dormitory. One of these was a boy Hugh Mills whose home was in Long Melford, Suffolk. We used to visit each other during the holidays & it was this boy who later on became my brother-in-law.

Although I cannot claim to be an expert I cannot conceive a better laid out and designed school. With big airy classrooms & dormitories, a splendid reading room & library, spacious playing fields & gymnasium etc. it is difficult to see how an institution of this kind could be improved upon. I used to spend a lot of my spare time in the gym; this was presided over by an ex Sgt. Major of the Royal Engineers. His name was Penn whereupon he was quickly nicknamed "Nibbs".

I think I can safely say the general "tone" of the school was of a very high order. There was no telling of "dirty" stories, "smutty" photos, etc., nor was bullying, fagging or "hazing" permitted, and during my sojourn there I only witnessed one fight & this was quickly subdued by a prefect.

It grieves me to think that this splendid school is no more!

I read the names of those who fell in the 1st. Great War with a heavy heart, seven of whom I remember perfectly well. May their souls rest in peace!

Sidney F. R. Hunt

Note Mr. Hunt left the County School in 1908, proceeding to the College Mariette at Boulogne-sur-Mer. He left England when he was aged 17, and has resided in Canada ever since.