The pictures of the schoolchildren in these pictures are 90-100 years old, and it may prove difficult to recognise faces apart from family similarities or perhaps a copy of one or more of these photos might be in a family archive. The last two of the four class pictures do have a little more information. Any post-war Group photographs are held in the research sections of this archive – i.e. they are not available online.
Early 1900s
The earliest school photo found to date was taken in the first decade of the twentieth century, thought to be around 1908. Similar photographs have been seen from other village schools in the area, notably Long Lawford and Wolston, where the children were dressed similarly.
An idea of the families in the two villages at that time can be found on the 1901 Census Page for Church Lawford here and for King’s Newnham here.
Class of 1916
The next picture is from the second decade of the Twentieth century. This picture was displayed in an exhibition of village life, presented by the Sinfield family some years ago, as well as being part of their support for a presentation relating to the Great War. As a result of this, and some identification from villagers, we have the names as shown below.
To give an idea of ages of the children, Winnie Pincham was born in 1904, and Willie Farmer in 1905. The two Hall children are probably 7. George Hall (1903) and 13. Winifred Mary Hall (1905). The two girls numbered 14 and 15 with the same dresses might be Lucy May Batchelor and her twin Doris Kathleen (born in 1906) – or otherwise they may be in the front row.
Between The Wars
The first of two photographs available from the inter-war period comes from around 1930.
If anyone recognises children here it would be useful to make a note and help others. The photo was probably taken in 1930 or a year or so afterwards. Violet Mitchell, Pete Woodford and one of the Smith family from the top of Church Road have been identified. It is also likely that Ron Hence, John Hallam and Maurice Howell are on the picture, given their relative ages, as well as members of the Chambers, Cresswell, Dumbleton, Gibbs, Perry, Thorn, Whiteman and Wootton families.
Mid 1930s School Group
Another group of children from the school were recorded around 1935 in a photograph possibly taken on the Village Green. Some identification of those in the photograph was made in the following years, but it was not too clear which individual was being referred to. The names stated were shown in three columns under the photograph as follows
| David Heckford | Dick Woodward | Rose Cresswell |
| John Mitchell | Percy Bull (See Note 1) | Joan Earp |
| Murielle Simmonds | Beryl Simmonds | |
| Alec Gibbs | Gladys Chambers | |
| Eric Gurney | Elsie Mitchell | |
| David Howell | Sheila Hancox |
Note 1 – Percy Bull is the only name shown that doesn’t appear elsewhere in the archive records – and there didn’t seem to be a long standing family with that name in either of the villages around that time. There was however a farm hand listed as “J Bull” in Bretford in 1935, so it is possible Percy is his son – a Thomas Percy Bull was listed in Queens Head Road, Bretford in the 1950s.
Any help linking these names to the faces would be appreciated, as would details of any further names. An idea of the families that were present in the villages around that time can be found on the 1939 National Register page here.
A further set of school photographs, consisting of three class photographs from around 1959 have been found and are currently being reviewed. Anybody who thinks they might be able to assist in this identification are encouraged to contact site admin for more details – [email protected]