Wonderful Years

Hi Victor , I attended the Royal masonic for one year as a fee payer in 1975 Lathom house . I can honestly say this was the unhappiest time in my life I was constantly bullied by older pupils and staff for my duration . I think it was probly as I stood out as a fee payer this took place . I approached one of my demons on a well known chat page who denied the whole thing . But as they say what goes round .

I had the great misfortune to attend this school from 1961-1968. The masters at both the Junior and the Senior schools, were on the whole, very poor educators, who were basically only concerned with those boys who were potential Oxbridge candidates. The rest of us were left to sink or swim when it came to academic attainment. Many of the boys had lost either one or both parents, but no attempt was made by the Masonic authorities to cater for our emotional or other needs. The problem with the two schools was that they were still stuck in the mindset of the heyday of the British Empire, when the two schools were basically concerned with the production of administrators and soldiers to service our far-flung dominions, and were not prepared to embrace the changes brought about by the fast-changing 1960's, particularly in the field of education. I believe that the correct term for such a regime was that of the development of "muscular Christianity." I came from a small village in West Wales, which often resulted in being called "a Welsh peasant," which I found rather distressing, but was a source of great amusement for the other boys and some of the masters. In fact, many of the boys tended to look down on anyone from the Celtic fringes, which was my first introduction to any form of discrimination. The masters in the Junior School were often not very pleasant, and I shudder with horror at the thought of masters such as "Dickie" Hamlyn, Mr. King and the Rev. Stowe. However, I do recall that my house-master in C House was a very kindly man called Alfred Reid. As the head of house in the Senior School was allowed to impose punishments on recalcitrant younger boys, if he did not like you in any way, then you would suffer more than your fair share of beatings. I was in Connaught House in the Senior School, and during the fifth form I was subject to the unpleasantness of a head boy by the name of Roberts, as well as another prefect called Williams, who went out of their way to find excuses for punishing me. It was a wonder that I was able to obtain enough O levels to proceed to the sixth form. The house-master was a person called Tom Clinton, whom I found rather ineffectual and was in the habit of treating any form of unpleasantness against me as something of a joke. He was assisted by an incompetent individual called Geoff Hunter, who attempted to teach us classics and sometimes had to be roused from bed in order to start morning classes! There were some good teachers, such as a Mr. Harmsworth, who finally got me through Latin O Level, as well as the Geography teacher Mr Dilley and an English master Mr. Burley. The rest were far more concerned with sporting activities and the cadet corps, and as I was interested in neither, it meant that I was largely sidelined by them. On reflection, I should never have been subject to the regime of that school, a point my mother belatedly realised. My complaint against the Masonic authorities is that they did not do more to oversee the scholastic development of the institution and appeared to adopt a rather insouciant approach towards this matter. As a result, I never made any long-lasting friendships at the Masonic School and I therefore welcome this opportunity to discuss this matter with former fellow inmates!

I was in J Ston from 1958 - 1963, then Connaught from 1963 - 1968.
If you were a reasonable student and good at sports, you could survive.
Otherwise it was a miserable time .....

I was a fellow 'inmate' from 61-69, so completed a full sentence with no remission. I didn't realize it at the time but I was totally anti establishment then and still am.

Several names mentioned have aroused distant memories. I entered these magnificent portals at the age of 9 years and 25 days, in form 1, of course, and floated off into oblivion at the age of !7 and a half. I was frequently one of Dickie Hamlyn's 'wallflowers' and was frequently beaten by 'Pate' for poor results in the 'fortnightly' orders. I was in E house in J Ston and then Derby, across the road in 1965. Our housemasters were King, Good and Stowe in J Ston. In the senior school : Higgins, dear old 'Ben' the artist and some hairy biology teacher, whose name escapes me.

The hairy Biology dude was called David Hodges if my memory serves me well, which it often doesn’t.

I was incarcarated from 1969 to 1977. We all knew Ben Renoir was 'the other side of the tracks' but never felt threatened by him unlike Tony King who would beat boys with his wooden-backed clothes brush for the slightest reason; one evening he said to me "I want to see you later", when I reported to him he beat me with no explanation - no wonder he was known as 'Sadi' (as in sadist). He also insisted on us standing - stark naked - in front of him after we showered so he could 'check we were clean'. Or what about Brice Good? One gym class I still recall over 50 years on; exercises along the lines of 'O'Grady says' but in this case get it wrong and he hit us with a hockey stick.
Like others have remarked, these were the unhappiest days of my life. There are so many instances of mistreatment (and what can only be described as abuse) that I get really angry that the perpetrators have got away with it, when I try and talk to people about it is generally dismissed as 'it happened so long ago, get over it'.
The only upside is my experiences gave me the strength of character to stand up to bullies - my working life history is littered with managers who tried to 'dispose' of me; as one person remarked, when I fell out with a manager it was the manager who left the company! :-)
With hindsight, some masters did their best. Alfie Reid had a dreadful war (he worked on the death railway in Burma - he once admitted that he had chain marks on his back) and when I look back it makes me feel ashamed that we took advantage of his deafness. George Burley was also the target of what in hindsight were nasty comments but at that age we didn't know any better, however I now realsie he was a gentle soul between us and Lt. Col. Kaye.

'E' House became Sullivan. Housemaster was Tony King, with Brice Good as deputy.

I can testify to all those experiences aired above. I arrived at J-ston in Sept 1959. I was just 10yrs old. I was 3 foot tall, useless at any sport and a D streamer so the future was bleak. The bullying and beatings were very real. The three years in 'H' house were soon over and I looked forward to going over the road to ston. I remember the morning I got the letter telling me I was to be in Leas House. My heart sank. Leas house had a somewhat dubious reputation. It's only fame, in my opinion, was when Stuart Hampson, now Sir Stuart Hampson was head boy and was actually quite a nice easy going chap who clamped down on the bullying. As a third former in the C stream life was shear hell exactly as others have commented on above. I ran away...got caught in Harrow and returned to ston by the police. Life did improve as one moved up the food chain and became a senior in the 5th form. I left in 1965 with one GCE O level. Strangely perhaps but my experience at ston set me up for a good life. I finally qualified as a Chartered Surveyor, travelled the world and had a thoroughly good time and enjoyable job and ended up as a university lecturer. I firmly believe all that was due to the 6yrs at ston. I developed a sixth sense for danger. Didn't need to be in any teams and accountable to no one. No reputation to lose no parents to please. I could go and do as I pleased and did just that.

Sullivan 1967-70
Babbister was also a house master who replaced Knight if I remember rightly. Knight was a real bastard. What he did to one boy in front of the whole house I will never forget. King with the scary eyebrows. Good, the quiet one but equally scary.
Derby 1970-74
The biology teacher was Hodge.

As a co-inmate of Sullivan at a similar time as Hugh Pett (I have a very vague memory of the name - I was a year or so below him) I can vouch for his comment about Knight.
I don't know if it was the same event as he mentions but I remember (as if it were yesterday, even though it is nearly 55 years ago) that in January 1969 Knight made a boy (I do remember his name but won't repeat it) drop his trousers and pants in front of the whole house then bend over a table; Knight then proceeded to spank him on his bare buttocks.
Makes me wonder how many other of the 40 or so boys who witnessed this have equally vivid memories of it...