Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

At David's request I've joined these two topics together, creating a mix of both - might need some tidying up from individuals to make it make sense in a logical flow, but best I could do - it's not a simple thing to do!

J

I have just received a copy of The Charles Lamb Bulletin, with an article by Dr Francis Warner, now Residential Honorary Fellow at St Catherine´s College, Cambridge.
His article concerns his time at CH at the end of the war and includes a list of the CH language which he gleaned from Edmund Blunden, with whom he had shared Oxford college rooms when Blunden had been Professor of Poetry.

His list is

Crug - Bred (I´m sure it is a misprint and he meant bread)
Bodge - Paper, both writing and lavatory
Flab - butter
Kiff - tea or coffee
Housey - (Adj or noun) Christ´s Hospital ( I had always understood there was Housie and Housey, one adjective and one noun)
Skiff - to scrape leavings of your plate
Sicker - the infirmary
Spadge - to walk
Taffs - potatoes
Fotch - a blow across the head with the flat of the hand: the usual minor punishment by masters and boys alike
Gag - meat especially fat.

His thoughts are that as CH is no longer a sealed community, no doubt the private language has dropped into disuse.

I also discovered that he was one of the buglers, playing for Tea Parade, something I can´t remember. JR? )
As a trumpeter, on a Saturday night he would climb down the drain pipes at the lav end, change into civilian clothes and cycle into Horsham to play in a dance band at the Drill Hall, for which he got paid 7/6.

And to quote DBTS, "He moved in very exalted circles!"

He probably knew my great grandfather who as far as i can tell taught science for a while post war at CH and also was a musician. I have a photo of him standing by the lead water tank now in the garden quad but then in the cloisters by the old science block holding a silver bugle which i now own. He used to live at the end of new road southwater which can be reached via the footpath opposite the wapplegate track and apparently would look after certain favoured grecians bikes/coats whilst they popped into the Hen & Chick.

In a strange twist my Grandparents also until recently lived in New Road (different house) and upon my grandfather entering a residential home his bungalow has been sold and is being demolished to be replaced by a house being built for someone teaching in the maths department now.

jhopgood wrote: with an article by Dr Francis Warner, now Residential Honorary Fellow at St Catherine´s College, Cambridge.
His list is

Crug - Bred (I´m sure it is a misprint and he meant bread)
Bodge - Paper, both writing and lavatory
Flab - butter
Kiff - tea or coffee
Housey - (Adj or noun) Christ´s Hospital ( I had always understood there was Housie and Housey, one adjective and one noun)
Skiff - to scrape leavings of your plate
Sicker - the infirmary
Spadge - to walk
Taffs - potatoes
Fotch - a blow across the head with the flat of the hand: the usual minor punishment by masters and boys alike
Gag - meat especially fat.

The ones I don't remember are Bodge and Gag.
Spadging was a bit more specific in that at least two people were involved and each held the girdle of the other person. I only heard it in the Prep - up to summer 1953. The rest were school-wide but were becoming more and more rare as the years went by.
I don't remember the Housie spelling but such words were usually spoken anyway; written slang of all descriptions went down like lead balloons with English teachers.

Crab, flab and Muck was the slang name for the dining room trade of getting/clearing the bread jam/marmalade and butter for the tables thoughout the 80's and Kiff was still standard use for dining hall tea.

I believe from my younger brother that kiff lasted a bit past that a swell but cafeteria style meals finally finished off a lot of food related slang. Bokkers and Squits were legislated out at the same time as felt demeaning.

On an aside I remember up until about 1983 we still had crockery in dinging hall and regularly there would be a huge smash as a pile slid off a trolley. Then we switched to green melamine type plates and mugs. At the same time the water jugs changed form metal to plastic and I believe we switched from sharpenhurst water (complete with fresh water shrimpy things) to mains water that came in through a pipeline up to the side of Mr Silletts house by LHB. I also remember at least 1 Christmas where a flaming pudding was bag-piped around dining hall and up to the dais at Christmas lunch while everyone banged spoons on the tables (and some splatted kiff cans with serving spoons). There was also a couple of years where Mr Carrington nearly broke his gavel trying to restore order whilst various houses started up in spontaneous adulterated carols during xmas meals

I wonder what the reason for not using the Sharpenhurst reservoir is these days... I heard it was lead piping??

Suddenly realised that the Wagger-pagger has gone unrecorded, it was the large black wooden receptacle for rubbish that stood in front of the never-lit fireplace in the dayroom. Maybe Col B only. Think this was 1920s-30s slang which had survived.

Gosh.. I think I recall the words 'wagger pagger' (for the waste paper bin)in Hertford in the 1960's.

I don't remember this Dr Francis Warner as a Silver Bugler at the end of the War,
I was in 1945/6 --- which war ?

On another Topic, I wondered what had happened to the three Silver Bugles played at Tea Parade ---

Wurzle's Post may be the Solution !!!!

I also am at aloss as to the meaning of most of the 19th Century Slang --- I suppose very little survives now ---- perhaps a current Blue will enlighten us ?

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote:I don't remember this Dr Francis Warner as a Silver Bugler at the end of the War,
I was in 1945/6 --- which war ?

His article says that he played from 1949 - 54, with a co-trumpeter being John Ind.
Next Old Blue will have a photo of the "lad".

postwarblue wrote:Suddenly realised that the Wagger-pagger has gone unrecorded, it was the large black wooden receptacle for rubbish that stood in front of the never-lit fireplace in the dayroom. Maybe Col B only. Think this was 1920s-30s slang which had survived.

It was the same phenomenon that gave rise to "sagger-magger" for Sergeant Major (and specifically at CH for RSM Carter). Used at CH, certainly, but not specifically CH. I think the Prince of Wales (Edward VIII) was known as the "Pragger Wagger" while he was at Oxford.

jhopgood wrote:

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote:I don't remember this Dr Francis Warner as a Silver Bugler at the end of the War,
I was in 1945/6 --- which war ?

His article says that he played from 1949 - 54, with a co-trumpeter being John Ind.
Next Old Blue will have a photo of the "lad".

AHA ! --- all explained ---- The Malayan War/ Korean War !!

Sharpenhurst resevoir was stopped in mid 80's we had a bad case of freshwater shrimp things in it one hot summer (you could see pink things swimming in your glass in dining hall)

They switched to mains by opening a manhole next to Sillett's house (LHB housemaster) which had to be cleared of soil above it and then turned a huge valve so there was already a mains connection that was obviously rarely used.

I believe it was never switched back

Certainly it is now empty - up until a few years ago it was quite easy to access...

I went to the top of Sharpenhurst at some time in the 90s and found that the construction at the summit was fenced off. Which was a great pity, because you no longer have a magnificent panoramic view taking in Leith Hill to the north as well as Lancing College chapel and (what's left of) Chanctonbury Ring to the south.