Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

I have just seen a photo of the plaque that is in the cloisters remembering CH Hertford



At first I thought the wording was rather twee, in particular the word dwelt. Then my friend whose daughter is Designer in Residence and appears to be an assistant in Coleridge told me that her daughter had been told that CH is keen now are about the pupils knowing CH as ‘home’ (daughter has to be in casual clothes when on house duty, as it’s their space) so does ‘dwelt’ make sense?

Katharine wrote: Tue Nov 25, 2025 4:00 pm I have just seen a photo of the plaque that is in the cloisters remembering CH Hertford



At first I thought the wording was rather twee, in particular the word dwelt. Then my friend whose daughter is Designer in Residence and appears to be an assistant in Coleridge told me that her daughter had been told that CH is keen now are about the pupils knowing CH as ‘home’ (daughter has to be in casual clothes when on house duty, as it’s their space) so does ‘dwelt’ make sense?

Given that 1682 was more than 340 years ago for a good chunk of that time 'dwelt' was probably the appropriate word given the original mission of the School. Many of the pupils may not have any known family or family home.

Well that only took 472 years.

The idea of being "reunited" took me me back to my days in Col B in the late 1950s. Katharine, I wonder if your brother and his friends in Thornton had the memorable album that we had - Songs for Swinging Sellers by Peter Sellers? One sketch featured a couple interviewing the rather seedy-sounding headmaster of a co-ed boarding school. "Tell me," says the father, "Do you segregate the sexes?" "Oh yes," replies the headmaster. "We prise them apart with a crowbar."

Home? No contest! Hard beds, ridiculous rules and regs, crap food, no love, and the chance of fiddling (or worse) teachers. But we were survivors! Or so they tell me.