Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

I am appalled by the loss of the Votum and sinister rumblings about disposing of the Uniform.
I shall be, forever, proud of having attended the Best School in the World, it is a privilege which I shall carry to my dying Day (Not long now ?)
Is CH, (I must be careful not to call it Housey, I have been upbraided by senior Ex- Hertfords !) -- Is CH becoming a new COMPREHENSIVE HABILIMENT ? (Look it up) and also see what WB Yeats had to say in his poem "The Coat" (look it up)
Perhaps somebody will explain to me the purpose of destroying Traditions for the sake of Fashion.
Is there need for a Society of Ancient Blues Who can remember the CHARGE.
OK so at my age , there is a certain Rose Tinted view, bu I believe that some things are Sacred !

Ba B 1940-1946

I'm with you on this one, Neill.

However - We might be considered 'Old-Fogeys' by the YOBS !!

Hertford never wore this fabulous ensemble, which I always thought was amazing. However, enthusiasts of the disposal of the tradition should be aware that I've never mentioned the school to anyone who, even when not knowing the name, didn't know the uniform. No-one ever knew anything about the girl's school at Hertford. Hertford was not and will never be so recognisable as the boys and now b/g of Horsham, almost entirely due to the uniform.

Discard it at your peril.

My understanding is that a few years ago, there was a move to stop using the uniform, but it was rejected by the students.
I get the impression that a lot of proposed change is externally generated and internally rejected.
Wonder what the HM has on his agenda.

If you read Bishop Pearce's Annals of Christ's Hospital, written just before the move to London, you'll see that he says in his last chapter, looking forward, something like (I quote from memory): Of course the uniform won't survive the move to the country.

In reply to the Hertford Lady "gma" The reason I was reprimanded by some very senior "Girls" for proposing the toast of "Housey", was that Hertford had no "Houses" but "Wards" and therefore the correct toast was "CH" at Founder's Dinners.
Anybody got any other views ?

BaB 1940 to 1946

I gather from this forum that at some stage the Wards became Houses, though still retaining their very imaginative numbers, not names. The whole enterprise seems to have been run down before the merger, and must have been an even more depressing place.

Wards became Houses in my time, fairly early I think. Without looking it up in Half to Remember I couldn't tell you the year.

While I was at school, I used to think of Housey as being Horsham, Hertford being CH and the whole Foundation as Christ's Hospital.

neil the notorious (sic) says:

In reply to the Hertford Lady "gma" The reason I was reprimanded by some very senior "Girls" for proposing the toast of "Housey", was that Hertford had no "Houses" but "Wards" and therefore the correct toast was "CH" at Founder's Dinners.
Anybody got any other views ?

I regret to say that your "very senior "Girls"" were misinformed. The organisation at Newgate Street was in Wards (I-XVI) and only changed to Houses in June 1902 on the move to Horsham. But the nickname "Housie" predates that move by many years, so was more probably a corruption of "Hospital" rathern than indicative of an organisation by houses. Remember also that Christ's Hospital has been referred to as "this House" for many years, which may also be the source of the affectionate term "Housie."

As to the numbering of the wards at Hertford mentioned by midget that may have seemd unimaginative but the origins of that system are lost in history.

It is worth remembering that until 1902 the boys' prep school was also at Hertford and the vast majority of boys passed through it and regarded the Hertford site (ie, both boys and girls) as an integral part of Christ's Hospital. The original plan (1896) for the move was that the girls as well as the boys would move to Horsham and it was only when the proposed location on Sharpenhurst proved incapable of bearing the weight of such a huge site that the present location was chosen and the move of the girls postponed.

If you look at La Touche's "Christ's Hospital from a Boy's Point of View", you will find that the first chapter is titled "Hertford" and the first words of that chapter are "Old Housey".
On the other hand, 13 pages later, when he was transferred to London, the Beadle welcomed him to "Old Housey" (as though he hadn't been there already).
So from this source, I am none the wiser as to whether Hertford was ever called Housey. But the name was clearly traditional by the 1870s.

Clearly "Housey" has nothing to do with "house" in the sense of boarding-house. All public schools have those. There was also a tradition of calling CH "The House", as on the War Memorial: "Sons of this House".

@Katharine: so early? I seem to remember hearing about this change while I was at Cambridge, ie 63-66. It was I gather made by DR without any consultation whatever.

The bit about the uniform I mentioned in a post above is in fact quoted on page 204 of the Christ's Hospital Book, in an extract entitled "Housey Dress in the 1960s". The retrofit title is ironic (as the piece was written ca. 1900) and is meant to point to the dangers of forecasting, the uniform being alive and well in 1953 when the CH Book was published.

I thought it was from the "Royal and Ancient House of Christ's Hospital" in which case (as with a church) it is the people not the building and applies to both male and female establishments.

michael scuffil wrote:@Katharine: so early? I seem to remember hearing about this change while I was at Cambridge, ie 63-66. It was I gather made by DR without any consultation whatever.

I won't argue about dates - I know the change was in my time, but it really made very little difference, we called ourselves Sixes before and after the event. Letters sent to me were first addressed to Ward 6, Christ's Hospital, but later to 6, Christ's Hospital. It took everyone, especially many of the parents some time to adjust.

englishangel wrote:I thought it was from the "Royal and Ancient House of Christ's Hospital" in which case (as with a church) it is the people not the building and applies to both male and female establishments.

I know, we at Hertford always thought of Horsham as being "Housey", but as you can surmise from many thoughts on here we didn't feel part of it so didn't think of ourselves as Housey.

Rumours about a change in the uniform are false. As far as I am concerned this is not under debate at all. I think that they are thinking about restoring the Blazer as an integral part of the summer dress for boys though.

Thank you all for the infomative "Posts" on "Housey" for which I am grateful.
I shall. therefore, continue , where applicable, to propose the Toast ---- "HOUSEY ! "
although resisting "Senior Girls" can be dangerous --- if not Terminal !