Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

He was a master at CH Horsham from 1953 or 54 until 1969. When he arrived, there was already a master known as Peter Jones (Meilor B Jones, Staff 1941-69), so to reduce confusion he added his middle name.

The author of this obituary is Michael Schmidt (Thornton B 1965-66).

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/ ... s-obituary

Every time I try to post on the CH site more and more annoying ads seem to drift upwards, often from someone called PDF, inhibiting my attempts to post. Could the moderators who arrange these things convey to them that not one of their flaming ads has yet enticed me to buy the produce they are advertising? Many moons ago I worked in an advertising agency and the rule was that if your advertising is being placed in a medium which has proved to be entirely unreceptive to your dubious products then you'd best try and find somewhere else. Eton or Harrow perhaps.

Anyway, when I was in Prep B in the early 50s, One Austin (Austen?) Jones arrived in Prep A and was henceforth known as Austin Jones because the senior housemaster of Prep A was already one MH Jones (although it might have been MB).They were known as Jonah Senior and Jonah Junior. Does this help?

rockfreak wrote: Sat Mar 14, 2026 8:12 pm Anyway, when I was in Prep B in the early 50s, One Austin (Austen?) Jones arrived in Prep A and was henceforth known as Austin Jones because the senior housemaster of Prep A was already one MH Jones (although it might have been MB).They were known as Jonah Senior and Jonah Junior. Does this help?

Thanks, David, yes it does. Merlin H "Jonah" Jones (Horsham Staff 1930-68) was senior housemaster of Prep A (a position I believe he long combined with being Head of the Prep) and subsequently first housemaster of Leigh Hunt A. Having two members of staff in the same boarding house, both of them called Mr Jones, was obviously not going to be a runner, any more than having two members of Common Room both called Peter Jones!

Oddly enough, I too thought the name was Austen, not Austin, but I've traced three references to him in copies of The Blue from 1966-67 (i.e. still in the era of accuracy) and they all spell it Austin. For the record, he himself was school editor of the magazine from 1961 to 1965.

The editorial in the current edition of PN Review is a much expanded version of this obituary. It can be found here:

https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/155213/page/3

Merlin! What a wonderful name. Perhaps he was considered something of a wizard by his parents. Do you think that a law should be introduced whereby parents should explain, on the birth certificate, why they have chosen this particular name for their child?

Anyway, MH (Jonah) Jones taught me for English and Geography and I remember him as a strict but essentially fair sort of chap.