----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Willcocks" <martinwill2@comcast.net> To: <ENG-HAM-PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 6:11 AM Subject: [PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT] Portsmouth Education in 1906-16 > Hi All: > > Can anyone tell me more about the following educational organizations in > Portsmouth, please? > > My father I know went to Portsmouth Grammar School between February 1894 > and about 1898. This school is of course still in existence. We visited > Portsmouth in 1991 and in 1997, and I have located it on the Web. > I have just received the military records of my uncle, Percy Squire > WILLCOCKS. Among the information he gave in his application for officer > cadet training, he stated that he was educated at Portsmouth Boys > Secondary School, and Portsmouth Municipal College. Assuming he entered > secondary school 10-11 years after his birth on 12 Feb 1896, this would > mean he started there about 1906. I would guess at a five year period > there, followed by a spell at the college, probably 1911-1914. > > As he was trained as a chemist and druggist and qualified on 9 Jul 1919, > he must have had some period of apprenticeship to an established chemist. > His older brother Edmund qualified as a chemist and druggist on 8 Oct > 1908. At that time, his residence was given as 142 High St., Walthamstow, > Essex. It is also clear from the record that Percy was at the same > address when he was recruited by the Army. He was placed in A1 condition > by the Recruiting Medical Board in Dec 1916 at Leytonstone, Essex. (this > address is close to Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone.) He enlisted, > according to the record, on 22 Jan 1917. This address was used throughout > his career in the Army, and he was promoted to 2nd. Lieut. after seeing > action at the Battle of Arras, on 28 Mar 1918. He gave the same address > when he qualified as a chemist, but there is one other address on his > military record, 8 Burlington Rd., Portsmouth. > > He also mentioned as references Dr. G. J. Parks, c/o Boys Secondary > School, Portsmouth, and Rev. P.. Clayton, c/o St. Mary's Vicarage, > Portsea, Portsmouth. This was part of an application he signed and dated > 3 Feb 1918. > > Questions: > 1. Is the Boys Secondary School a different entity from Portsmouth > Grammar School? Where is it located, if still in existence, or where was > it located in 1906-1911? Are any school records available? I would > expect his reference was probably head of that school; between what years > was he there (possibly he was head in 1918 still)? > > 2. When was the Rev. Clayton the incumbent at St. Mary's Portsea? > > 3. Is there a baptism record for Percy at St. Mary's Portsea, shortly > after 12 Feb 1896? > > 4. Who was living at 8 Burlington Rd., Portsmouth, in October 1918? His > father, Edmund Squire Willcocks, died in 1908, and Edmund's widow, Alice > Ann Willcocks, may still have lived in the area, and would have been about > 57. > > 5. Is the Municipal College still in existence? Where is (or was) it > located? Would this be likely to have provided an > upper school education in chemistry in the 1911-1914 period? And are > there any records of students there for those years that could be searched > for Percy? > > As always, in this research, there are more questions raised by about > every answer! > > Percy was the only uncle my brother and I ever met. Louis Horace > Willcocks seems to be a complete mystery, though we are aware that he > married, and may have one son. > Any help on these topics (Portsmouth related) would be appreciated. > > TIA and regards, > Martin Willcocks > Taylorsville, UT, USA. > > > > > ==== ENG-HAM-PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT Mailing List ==== > Family historian love graveyards they are the sort of places they like to > visit to meet up with old relatives > > ============================== > Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. > Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx > > >Hello Martin, I went to two of the establishments you mention so I might be able to help. a) the Portsmouth Grammar School is an old established foundation and you appear to know of it, b) I believe it was the 1906 Eductaion Act that set up secondary education and from which we get the Portsmouth Northern Secondary School and the Portsmouth Southern Secondary School. The latter came first and was located in Victoria Road South as someone has said. To the best of my knowledge the boys were eventually in Albert Road and the girls just near Fratton Bridge. The Northern started off in the St. Mary's Institute and then moved to a purpose built school in Mayfield Road, North End. It is now a comprehensive. I went there in 1941 but the school had been evacuated to Winchester. In 1944 a further education act promoted the 2 secondary schools to grammar schools so there were, at one time, three in Portsmouth. c) Portsmouth Municipal College was set up late in the 19thC, I believe, to provide tertiary education. I believe it then became a cCollege of Technology and then a Polytechnic and eventually formed the basis for the University of Portsmouth.in combination eith the teacher's training college at Milton. I may be wrong with some of this but don't think I'm that far wrong. Regards Ken Grubb Cheltenham Glos.