Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Prep A. 19th July 1942. Summer Term.

5th Row: Maison, Padfield, Baldwin, Platfoot, Silk, Green, Melstrom, Meyrick, Crowder.

4th Row: Wilson, Maling, Bull, Jeans, Ashmead, Bullen, Carter, Johns, Fyfe, Bull, Wrigley, Bartlet, Cox.

3rd Row: Groves, Taylor, Bignold, Huggins, Bates, Hicks, Stevenson, Higgins, Rambling, Cannon, Arman, Bell, Betts.

2nd Row: Hulm, Delight, MacDonald, Gunton, Matron, Mr.Jones, Mr.Pink, Mrs.Bays, Bailey, Jannson, Macausland, Standring.

Front Row: Morris, Allan, Maule-Cole, King, Clark, Crane, Collard, Ford, Scally.

Monitors are underlined

In case this is of interest to any historians or those with family connections, here's the house photo of Prep A in 1913 (which includes my girlfriend's grandfather Graeme Service.

https://imgbox.com/h0gJgevc
https://imgbox.com/EXAFoIhN

The "Silk" mentioned here in the top row will doubtless be Dennis Silk who went on to be a cricketer for Somerset and also headmaster at Radley College. You may have seen him in that TV documentary where they followed various pupils from Radley and caught up with then years later.

Padfield joined the Merchant Navy, but later became a prolific and respected author on naval history. He died in 2022.
Pink (a.k.a. Pinker) was head of Prep B in my early years - i.e., 1948-49. He had the unpleasant practice of walking up behind a boy in class, placing his hands on the boy's shoulders and then running his fore fingers hard back and forth over the victim's clavicles. I recall from personal experience that it was very painful. I have never heard of this being done anywhere or by anyone else and why he did it I have no idea. One of life's minor mysteries.
Another of life's minor mysteries is that in the Prep we did not play cricket but something called stoolball. I have never heard of it being played elsewhere, and it was singularly unexciting, so I have no idea why we played it.
David

Stoolball is a local game to Sussex

Stoolball was played by younger members of the Prep houses until they could prove their proficiency in actually hitting a ball in flight in which case they were promoted to playing cricket. I've never heard of it being played anywhere else either. But then many things about the English public school system have been problematic to me.