1939 Central British School staff & students

David
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1939 Central British School staff & students

3rd row, left to right:

# Name Identified by:
3ag Douglas Franklin Joan Izard
3an Mr Crozier (teacher) Joan Izard
3ao Mr McLelland (he taught sciences post war) Joan Izard
3ap Mr Mulcahy (taught maths & became Headmaster, postwar) Joan Izard
3aq George Stainburn Wilby ? (taught maths) Stephen Davies
3as Mr Upsdell ? (Headmaster) Joan Izard
3bc Mrs Hill (taught maths post war, and I think became Headmistress) Joan Izard
3bm Pat Loseby Joan Izard

6th row, left to right:

# Name Identified by:
6bk Elena Laihovetsky Geoff Wellstead 

Photo courtesy of Joan Izard (nee Franklin). She writes:

This photo was passed on to me by my brother's wife following his death.  It shows the new Central British School in 1939. I feel it is of interest and have been wondering what to do with it.

My brother Douglas Franklin is in the 3rd row from the front, 7th boy from left ((3ag)). I also recognise Pat Loseby in white shirt on the extreme right ((3bm)).

If you recognise anyone else, please let us know in the comments below. I'd also be interested to hear whether they stayed in Hong Kong and went in to Stanley Camp, or were evacuated to Australia in 1940.

Many thanks to Joan for sharing this photo. 

Regards, David

Date picture taken
1939
Tags
group photo
Central British School
school photo
Gallery
1930s Hong Kong
Shows person / people
George Edgar Skynner UPSDELL [c.1887-????]
Shows place(s)
Central British School / King George V School / KGV School [1936- ]

Comments

Joan Izard writes:

What a shame my brother Douglas never showed this to me during his lifetime, I’m sure he could have named all the teachers.  One post-war teacher at CBS/KGV was Mr Willby (much feared) but I can’t recognise him.

Those that I do recognise are:

Mr Crozier, 2nd left of teachers (small man)

Mr McLelland 3rd left (he taught sciences post war)

Mr Mulcahy 4th left (taught Maths & became Headmaster, postwar)

Mr Upsdell is probably the name of the Headmaster seated in the middle

Extreme right (and last) of all the teachers is Mrs Hill, who taught Maths post war (and I think became Headmistress).

I've added them in to the list above.

Regards, David

I have just been looking at this photo, and recognised Mrs Hill (3bc) as she taught us maths in 1954-56. She was obviously a lot older then, a very severe, grey-haired, no-nonsense lady.  She was an excellent teacher, but insisted on calling 'columns' 'cullums' which amused and irritated some of us more irreverent pupils! Happy days... 

David - My aunt, Elena Laihovetsky, is at 6bk. She was evacuated to Australia in 1940, where she later met and married a Canadian airman Charles Schwenger. She moved to Toronto Canada after the war. Her daughter has asked if there is some way she can obtain a copy of the pic. Regards - Geoff Wellstead 

Dear David and Joan,

I teach History at KGV. Joan states above that she's not sure what to do with the photo - well, we now have a 'Heritage Room' at KGV for students, alumni and visitors to wander into: it would look great hanging on the wall there.

Paul 

 

I am markedly doubtful, but 3aq may, perhaps, be my Uncle George (the seemingly much-feared-post-war George Stainburn Wilby (1905-1966) - one 'l'), who had arrived in HK from Nigeria in 1936. He first taught at Queen's College, but in 1939 (on an unknown date) he had been transferred to the Central British School, where he taught maths, as he had at Queen's College. (He had graduated from University College, Oxford, with a degree in maths in 1926.)

The only photos I have of Uncle George are:

a. a couple of very grainy and ill-reproduced newsprint photos from the HK Sunday Herald in 1940, one of him with the members of the 5th Hong Kong (St John's Cathedral) Scout Troop, which he'd founded in 1938 and of which he was the Scoutmaster. (It was disbanded in July 1940 because all the members had been evacuated from HK.) The pre-war images make it very hard to recognize anyone!

b. i. a postwar, 1947 photo of the staff of the Central British School (kindly sent to me by Tony Banham - Uncle George was a Lt in the HKVDC and in the Battle of HK was 2 i/c of No.3 (Aberdeen) Battery on Ap Lei Chau, and subsequently a POW).

ii. a lo res family photo taken during a visit in c.1961, after George had been ordained (he'd taken early retirement from HK in 1950 in order to enter the C of E priesthood) and early in his last living as Vicar of Powerstock-with-West Milton and North Poorton in Dorset.

Both the postwar photos show a markedly aged man, so are hard to compare with the blown up image from the 1939 photo (when George would have been 34). Family lore has his early death (he was 61) to have been a consequence of his privations as a POW, though there appears to be no record at all, oral or otherwise, of the cause of death.

There are some comparators (ears, jawline, nose, moustache...) that can be just about squeezed to suggest similarities...but then there's the stark contrast between the young, dark-haired male in the 1939 photo and the weary, grey-haired man of post-war...

StephenD