The Royal Visit of King George V and Queen Mary, 1918
“In the afternoon, The King and Queen visited Bedford School, where His Majesty reviewed contingents of The Junior Division of The Officer’s Training Corps belonging to Bedford School and Bedford Modern School. The Head Masters and the Staff had the honour of being presented to The King and Queen.”
The Memorial Hall
The Memorial Hall was opened in 1926, and was, fittingly, the first building to be put up after the First World War. It was a gift from the Old Boys of the school, in memory of the Old Bedfordians who gave their lives in the War.
“The building, which is placed to the west of the School and connected to the main School by a covered walkway, contains, besides the Memorial Hall on the first floor, the School Library below. The Hall, which is approached by an oak staircase, has panels bearing the names of the fallen and decorated with School arms and colours. The memorial character of the building is completed by a statue of S. George, by Herbert Palliser, which stands in a niche on the exterior north wall. The Library is beautifully equipped, the bookcases and all the furniture being of oak specially designed, and all the gifts of Old Boys and well-wishers of the School.”
This building was built and completed under the Headmastership of Mr. Reginald Carter.
The New Outdoor Swimming Pool of 1930
In 1930, at the beginning of a decade of improvements to the school estate, a new outdoor swimming pool was opened.
“The bath itself is a fine stretch of water, 100 feet long and 40 feet wide, a third as big again as an ordinary London swimming bath, with the shallow end, on the north, and at the south the deep end, with the latest modern equipment in diving-stage and spring-boards. The banks are paved in special concrete with a non-slip surface, pleasantly broken by broad stretches of turf. Should the turf become wet, the moisture is not allowed to run into the bath and perhaps make it muddy, but is drained off into a special channel. Standing at the north end, by the pretty cascade (which acts as an aerator), we have at our feet the shallow end; along the wall on our right are the dressing-boxes, with their brightly painted doors; in front of these the grass-plots; at the far end are the diving-stage and spring boards; along our left behind other grass-plots are inviting seats set along the wall to catch the western sun. In the middle of this east wall is the main entrance to the baths, flanked on either side by broad stretches of grass; at its southern end is the new Tuckshop, now adorned with a pretty gabled red-tiled roof; at the northern end the house for the filter plant, similarly roofed. The red brick and red tiles of the Bath enclosure, matching those of the War Memorial, will stand out pleasantly against the restful green of the turf.”
John E King, Head Master from 1903 to 1920, and the School Chapel
In April 1903, the long and distinguished reign of the ‘Old Chief’, Phillpotts, ended and John Edward King, Old Cliftonian and Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, became Head Master. He was only at the school for seven years but in that time he “…greatly extended the School Field, improved and reorganised the Boarding Houses, and raised the numbers o f the Corps, which he commanded in person, from 90 to
200. But his crowning achievement was the building of the School Chapel. Since the days of Fanshawe the School had had its special service in St. Paul’s Church; but they could no longer be accommodated there, and King determined that they should have a Chapel of their own. He launched an appeal, and in 1908 saw his work crowned and his ideal of the School expressed in the School Chapel.
Read more about the history of the Chapel here.
Mr W Davison – From Chapel Pendants to Ice Cream!
Mr W Davison was an Instructor in Engineering and worked in the Workshops from 1909 to 1935; he was responsible for many school projects including the building of the Glebe Road gates, the Great Hall balustrade and the Chapel pendants. One of his most popular projects was the Ammonia Refrigerator which supplied the school with ice cream (The Ousel, Vol. 39 No. 682)
A 1930 article on the Workshops describes the Ammonia Refrigeration Machine:
“In 1925 the tough parts, castings, forgings, etc. were purchased for this refrigeration plant. Since then the plant has been machined, erected, and placed in efficient working order in the School Workshops, without outside assistance, and it now supplies the school with ice and ice cream”. (Summer, 1930 Class Lists and Records)
Glebe Road Gates, built in 1934
“The photograph shows the centre pair of Iron Gates which, 9 feet high and 15 feet wide, stand at the Glebe Road entrance. The entire work, which extended over a period of a year and a half and engaged every form in the School, was carried out under the guidance of Mr. Davison in the Workshops. The iron work is finished in black and gold, and the design is due to Mr. O. P. Milne (O.B.)” (The Ousel, 1935, Vol 39, No 680)
“The school received a gift of more than three hundredweights of wrought iron bars from A. Corker, Esq., Midland Iron Company Ltd., Rotheram” (The Ousel 1934 Vol.38, No. 672)
Burnaby Road Gates: Was Your Tea Really Worth It?
“Ever willing to tickle the palates of his hungry customers, the Catering Officer arranged to sample the products of a firm with whom the School has not previously traded. The new product, delicious steak and mushroom, was delivered on 15th June and was, it is understood, an instant success when served that evening. Alas! the lorry driver was also new to Bedford School and thought he could take a short cut to other customers after delivering to the Dining Halls. Our photograph gives an idea of what happened. The lorry was too high for the Burnaby Gates; it hit the horizontal wrought-iron work, buckled the gates and demolished the south pier.”
Phillpotts Memorial Gates
The Phillpotts Memorial Gates have survived the introduction of cars, accidental damage and even the School Fire of 1979!
“The New School Gates were erected by The Old Bedfordian Club to celebrate the Ninetieth Birthday of Mr J.S. Phillpotts, and opened by Sir Reginald Ward Poole on October 18th 1930. Phillpotts, known as the ‘Old Chief’, was Head Master of the School from 1875 to1903 and the driving force behind the school move from the town centre to De Parys Avenue. Phillpotts had hoped to attend the ceremony but sadly died just two days before.”
The gates were built as The Memorial Gate, called The Phillpotts Gates from 1930 onwards, and are now often called the Burnaby Gates.
Views of the Grammar School: The Alameda Gates
“These handsome gates stand at the St Peter’s Green entrance to the Grammar School grounds. They formerly belonged to the Duke of Bedford, and derive their name from the circumstance that for many years they stood at the entrance to an avenue at Ampthill known as ‘The Alameda’ – a name borrowed from a famous resort in Spain. The gates have been re-fashioned and re-constructed by the boys in the Grammar School workshops, the School motto and arms, and much of the ornamental work being additions. As such, the gates form a very fine example of the work that the boys and their instructors are capable of turning out. The building on the right is the Junior School, which is attended by boys of seven to ten years of age, who have become well qualified for a public school career.”
Image and text from Views of the Grammar School, 1905.
Views of the Grammar School, 1906
The Bedford Grammar School Souvenir is a book of black and white photographs, which was published in 1906. The front page shows Sir William Harper and the Headmaster at the time, John King, and the photos within are entitled: The Masters 1904; The Alameda Gates; A View of the School from the Cricket Field; The Large Hall looking West; The Physical Laboratory; The Chemical Laboratory; The ‘Fitting Shop’; The Gymnasium; The School Eight 1902; The School Cadet Corps, over 100 strong; and the 1904 Bisley Team.
Views of The Grammar School: the school cadet corps
“The Corps was started in 1886 under the command of Lieut. Glunicke and was attached to the 2nd Tower Hamlets R.E. (V.). In 1900, it was transferred to the 1st Bedfordshire Royal Engineers (V.). It is now under the command of Major King, the Head Master.”
Views of The Grammar School: the new ‘modern’ laboratories
The Chemical Laboratory
“The Lecture Room and Laboratory for teaching chemistry contains a lecture theatre to accommodate 120 students, and practice benches for 132, each boy having his own drawer and cupboard for apparatus. Fifty boys can work at the same time. This Laboratory, which was enlarged to its present dimensions in 1899, is fifty feet square, and of proportionate height. There is, of course, a complete set of chemical apparatus, and the instruction is in the hands of unusually well qualified staff.”
Views of The Grammar School: the new ‘modern’ laboratories
The Physical Laboratory
“The beautiful apparatus in the glass cases shown in the view of the Physical Laboratory excites the admiration of every visitor. The room is of the same size as the Chemical Laboratory. It is fully equipped with air-pumps, spectroscopes, experimental electrical and other apparatus. The lecture theatre will accommodate 200 students, and there are also branches for practical work. There is a dark room under the gallery for fixing lenses, photographic purposes, and experiments with light. The wireless telegraphy apparatus is also in this room, and in another one on the premises Bontgen Bay demonstrations are given.”
The Incubator
In 1894 the age of admission to the school was lowered from eight to seven, and the Headmaster, JS Phillpotts, proposed a separate Preparatory School, which opened in a new building in 1899. It was immediately nicknamed The Incubator, and is still known today as The Inky. (A History of Bedford School by John Sargeaunt, 1925).
The Workshops
The early purchase of land in De Parys Avenue in the 1880s was used as the school playing fields and ‘on part of which had already been erected a monstrous range of “temporary “iron buildings divided into eight classrooms and a Drill Hall’. (A History of Bedford School, 1935). This 1995 Ousel article on The Workshops and Technology gives an insight into the history of the current Design Technology department.
Bedford School and Grounds, 1881 to 1921
This plan gives a clear timeline of the purchase and development of the new school buildings from the 1880s. The Headmaster, JS Phillpotts opened the process himself, negotiating for some years, before purchasing land in 1882, initially to provide a school playing field (A History of Bedford School, p157-159). The school continued to buy land, and notable purchases included St Peter’s Rectory, demolished for the development of the old Preparatory school, and the land needed to build the main school building, both acquired in 1887; The Chapel and The Old School House in 1906; The Moravian School in 1921. It is interesting to note that the Engineering and Electrical Departments were in a similar location to The Wells Building today, while the Chemistry and Physical Laboratories were in the Iron Building, erected before the main buildings.
Headmaster JS Phillpotts and the New School Buildings
J S Phillpotts, Headmaster from 1874 to 1903, was the first to be appointed by the school Governing Body, as all previous appointments had been made by New College, Oxford. He is recognised as one of the great Headmasters of the school, reforming the curriculum, introducing new subjects, expanding the school, increasing the numbers and ultimately engineering the move from St Paul’s Square to the current site on De Parys Avenue.
The early purchase of land in De Parys Avenue in the 1880s was used as the school playing fields ‘on part of which had already been erected a monstrous range of “temporary “iron buildings divided into eight classrooms and a Drill Hall’. (A History of Bedford School, 1935).
The Iron buildings housed the Chemical and Physics Laboratories and the Gymnasium and stood in front of the old workshops on what is now the Inky pitches. Erected in 1888, it was not demolished until 1932.
The details of the purchase and conversion of the Iron Building is described in detail in the book A History of Bedford School by F.R. Hockliffe, and this extract from the book gives a fascinating insight into the Head Master’s determination to expand and develop the school with the move to De Parys Avenue.
The Headmaster had the task of housing the additional recruits which were flocking in each term and it had to be solved in twenty-four hours. So far, Phillpotts had never failed to extemporise the accommodation needed, but now there were no more rooms to be found vacant in Bedford, large enough for the purpose, and he foresaw that he would be faced with an impasse every term for the next two or three years.
Fortunately, there had been an Italian Exhibition in London, and the building was for sale, so for £850 the Headmaster secured through Mr. Talbot the option of purchase of a wing of this erection. …More fortunately still, there was a project to use the existing building for another exhibition, so the Headmaster got a new building in place of the old. The structure was only a shell, to which had to be added foundations, sleeper walls, concrete under floors, drains and interior divisional walls, linings and ceilings, so that the total cost must have been over £1,200.
Phillpotts brought the plans before the Committee and proposed that the building should be erected on the newly purchased part of the Glebe land purchased on the 27th of August 1887 and that he should personally advance the money, and the Governors should repay him by ten annual instalments without any interest.
The Grammar School Committee approved of the plans and accepted the Headmaster’s offer of financing the project. The plans were passed by the Borough, and the erection proceeded. But the imagination of the members of the Committee had failed to realise the dimensions of the structure; the size of three Corn Exchanges, and bigger than any of the churches in Bedford.
