by peopleshistreh in WWI

INTRODUCING OUR CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECT

Since the start of 2014, we have carried out preliminary research regarding those soldiers who served in the local regiment (then known as the Sherwood Foresters) and were either sentenced to death or sentenced on mutiny charges by courts martial during World War One.

We have so far identified 103 Foresters, two thirds convicted for their alleged involvement in mutinies, the others sentenced to death for various offences. Eight soldiers were executed by firing squad.

Over the course of the last century some of the stories of these people have been looked into, with researchers’ attentions focussing on those eight who were shot at dawn by their fellow soldiers. As the respective publications are usually looking into all executions of British troops, there are significant opportunities to further investigate the lives and deaths of these eight Foresters. With regards to the thirty soldiers condemned to death whose sentences were later commuted, very little information has been published so far.

Research concerning those convicted for mutiny had to literally start from scratch. This is even more surprising given that one of the events in question appears to be by far the largest (recorded) mutiny in the British Army during the first three years of the war, only being surpassed in spring 1918. However, it appears that only one of the numerous publications regarding the subject even mentions these events (occurring in Egypt in June 1917), providing but the most basic information.

As it is safe to assume that the stories of these 103 Foresters will play no role in the official commemorations due to be held over the next four years, it is up to us to research, contextualise and tell their stories.

Trying to avoid the usual clichés

Already all forms of media are being filled with tales of brave heroines and heroes doing their bit, pulling together in the face of unprecedented adversity, despair and suffering. This narrative seems to form the basis of almost all mainstream commemorations and debates, including both sides of the rather pitiful Gove vs. Baldrick spat. However, whilst attempting to avoid (or even undermine) such classic forms of heroine/hero worship, we also do not want to fall into the trap of telling equally glorified tales of radical heroines/heroes ending the war by mass dissent and mutiny, falling just ever so slightly short of achieving revolution.

Instead it appears as striking as disturbing that, despite WWI’s unprecedented horrors, the war machines of the respective great powers just kept on going. The collapse of the Russian Empire marks a notable (and events in Germany in winter 1918-19 a very much debatable) exception. It seems that the British Army was particularly successful in avoiding any serious breakdown of discipline (however many blunders lead to one bloodbath after another), at least before hostilities ended in most theatres of war in November 1918 (and even then unrest arguably proved to be quite manageable). Arguments that this was essentially due to the troops overseas as well as the vast majority of the population at home giving their (albeit ever more reluctant) consent to the war seem plausible, however depressing that angle may be.

Our research into the stories of the 103 Foresters who disobeyed their officers (out of very diverse motivations and in very diverse forms) is therefore looking into exceptional events, not unique, but very rare. For instance out of every 100,000 British soldiers stationed overseas during WWI, 99,999.7 troops did not mutiny[1].

We would however argue that this makes the stories of those 103 Foresters not less important and fascinating, indeed quite the opposite. Staying with the example of the mutineers[2], their acts of disobedience did (consciously or not) undermine the war effort. As such they were a rare glimpse of sanity in a world that was expressing the in-built insanity of its social and economic system in the most murderous ways yet conceived.

We will furthermore try to avoid a persistent misconception that has shaped many debates regarding military law and its enforcement in general and the executions of deserters and ‘cowardly’ soldiers in particular, namely attacking the army’s actions as being unjust.

It quickly became very clear that military law and its enforcement had nothing to do with ‘justice’. Instead, the ‘… object of military law is to maintain discipline among the troops …’[3].

Ignoring this is a fundamental flaw in a number of works, notably the prominent book Shot at Dawn[4], in which the actions of the army are approached as injustices that must be unveiled and corrected. This misses the point that the actions of the army during WWI were motivated by a perverted but coherent logic aiming to keep the war machine going, whatever the cost.[5] Furthermore, the overall picture of how mass consent to four years of organised mass murder was maintained is far more complex than mere oppression.

Although our analytical and methodological framework for studying the cases of the 103 Foresters is still very much work in progress, a number of assumptions and ideas are already shaping our work:

Regarding military law and its enforcement 

Enforcing military law was one important tool in a mix of measures utilised in order to maintain military discipline, i.e. to uphold the troops’ obedience to their officers.

The ways in which discipline was enforced were shaped by Edwardian class-relations and constituted acts of top-down class struggle.

Although perceived to be a serious danger to military discipline, individual as well as collective acts of disobedience, however inspiring and courageous many may turn out to have been, were at no point a real threat to the British war machine. The chances to end the slaughter that may have occasionally existed (the Christmas/New Year truces of 1914-15, or the French Army mutinies of 1917 might arguably be described thus), were not acted upon.

Regarding WWI in general 

Although we do not agree with their conclusions, many conservative historians, politicians etc. do have a point regarding the German Empire being a particularly nasty regime, even given the standards of the time. It was a society striving to enlarge its global power and dominating Europe. Germans had systematically perpetrated the first genocide of the century against the Herero and Namaqua people, while the Kaiser’s infamous ‘Hun speech’ (followed by brutal atrocities in China), or the long list of war crimes committed by German troops during their advance in Belgium and France (let alone on the Eastern Front) were all too real, foreshadowing many of the horrors to be committed by Germans in the following decades. Although the German soldiers of 1914 were not yet the race warriors of 1939, the foundations of German fascism had already been laid.

WWI can be seen as a total failure for (almost) everyone involved. The ruling classes of the Allied nations failed to construct a stable post-war settlement, which in turn contributed to the near-destruction of bourgeois liberalism during the fascist onslaught of the 1930s and 1940s. The British ruling classes in particular failed in their attempt to safeguard their Empire. The working classes and the labour movement not only failed in averting the war, without their active support it would never have been possible to drag it out for more than four years. Much blame must be put to the various Social Democratic parties and unions, which, although long having abandoned any revolutionary intent, showed their true colours in 1914 (and in Germany openly collaborated with proto-fascist paramilitaries in order to smash the revolution of 1918-19). But regardless how much blame the SPD and their international counterparts deserve, WWI marked a collective failure of the working classes who readily took up arms to slaughter each other.

The words of George Bernhard Shaw, commenting on the British Army in the early stages of the war, sum up the tragedy of WWI like nothing else we have yet encountered:

‘No doubt the heroic remedy for this tragic misunderstanding is that both armies should shoot their officers and go home to gather in their harvests in the villages and make a revolution in the towns; and though this is not at present a practicable solution, it must be frankly mentioned, because it … is always a possibility … when [an army’s] eyes are opening to the fact that in murdering its neighbours it is biting off its nose to vex its face, besides riveting the intolerable yoke of Militarism … more tightly than ever on its own neck. But there is no chance … of our soldiers yielding to such an ecstasy of common sense. They have enlisted voluntarily; they are not defeated nor likely to be; their communications are intact and their meals reasonably punctual; they are as pugnacious as their officers; and in fighting Prussia they are fighting a more deliberate, conscious, tyrannical, personally insolent, and dangerous Militarism than their own.’[6]

Tackling this project

The main focus of this research project will simply be on telling and contextualising the stories of 103 people who soldiered with the Sherwood Foresters, putting these individuals and an account of their experiences at the centre of a gradually built up narrative.

At least, we strive to establish the following information about each of the soldiers (as always drawing on as much primary evidence as possible and generating numerous footnotes!):

•full name, date and place of birth, regimental/soldier number, unit(s), etc.;

•their profession;

•names and professions of parents (and possibly siblings);

•date when they signed up/were drafted;

•finding out whether other close family members became soldiers/casualties;

•outlining their army experiences (e.g. drawing on the history of their respective units);

•the circumstances of their respective cases and their aftermath.

Given the relatively large number of 103 individuals, it never appeared practicable to research and publish an appropriate account before August 2014. Therefore we approached this from the outset as a long term project. We are currently aiming to take the centenaries of key events of the 103 individual cases (usually the trial dates) to be our deadlines by which principal research regarding these cases should be completed and some information can be published:

Date Cases

Feb-15 1 death sentence (commuted)

Jul-15 3 death sentences (commuted)

Oct-15 1 death sentence (commuted)

Nov-15 1 death sentence (commuted)

Dec-15 1 tried and convicted for mutiny

Feb-16 2 death sentences (commuted)

Jul-16 4 death sentences (two executions)

Aug-16 2 death sentences (one execution)

Nov-16 3 death sentences (one execution)

Dec-16 2 death sentences (commuted)

Feb-17 1 death sentence (commuted)

Mar-17 1 death sentence (one execution)

Apr-17 1 death sentence (commuted)

Jun-17 64 tried and convicted for mutiny; two death sentences (unrelated cases/commuted)

Jul-17 3 death sentences (commuted)

Oct-17 3 death sentences (one execution)

Nov-17 1 death sentence (commuted)

Dec-17 1 death sentence (commuted)

Jan-18 1 death sentence (commuted)

Apr-18 1 death sentence (one execution)

May-18 2 death sentences (commuted)

Jun-18 1 death sentence (commuted)

Jul-18 1 death sentence (one execution)

Sep-18 1 death sentence (commuted)

total number of cases = 104 as one soldier was given two death sentences

As we get closer to September 2018 (the last death sentence in our sample was handed out on the 19th September 1918), the findings of all our research efforts will hopefully be brought together in a final, by that time possibly quite substantial, publication. In the years leading up to 2018, there are of course plenty of opportunities for events to be held, shorter or longer leaflets and/or pamphlets to be published, etc., providing alternatives and/or contributions to the official calendar of commemorations.

As this project is still in its early stages, please allow us some time before we will be organising events and starting to publish more materials. Until then please keep an eye on this blog for (highly irregular) news and updates and contact us with comments, ideas, criticism etc.

 

[1]   Own calculations, based on the number of troops prosecuted on mutiny charges, see e.g.: The War Office (1922): Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War; London. Even if it is assumed that there were a number of occasions when troops engaged in (organised) acts of mass disobedience that were not reported/prosecuted as mutinies, this figure exemplifies the high level of compliance amongst the rank and file of the British Army.

 

[2]   Given the information available at present, the following statement is not applicable to at least one of those soldiers sentenced to death, as his (commuted) death sentence was handed out at a court martial held following an act of (possibly sexual) violence against a French or Belgian civilian.

 

[3]   The War Office (1907): Manual of Military Law; London; p.6.

 

[4]   Putkowski, Julian; Sykes, Julian (1992): Shot at Dawn – Executions in World War One under the Authority of the British Army Act; Pen and Sword; Barnsley.

 

[5]   Choosing such an approach will hopefully allow us to hold up two fingers to the army and the social system in which it operated on a broader basis than mere moral outrage.

 

[6]   Shaw, George Bernard: ‘Common Sense about the War’; in: The New York Times (1915): Current History – A monthly magazine – The European War – From the Beginning to March, 1915; Volume 1.

This is a rare chance to learn more about the unique open field farming system from the village History Group’s display, the range of speakers and the tractor and trailer tours round the village and open fields.

There will also be a wide range of heritage crafts and activities on display with opportunities to purchase samples of their wares.

Full information is at www.laxtonheritage.org.uk
including how discounted advance tickets may be purchased. Closing date for postal purchases 22^nd June.

Laxton History Group members offer you a warm welcome and hope to see you there.

Timetable for Heritage Weekend

Saturday 28^th June 2014

10.30am – Event opens

11.15am – First tractor & trailer ride leaves

11.30am – Guided walk to motte & bailey castle

11.45am – First Barn Lecture – Steve Horne – ‘Thynghowe – A major discovery near Edwinstowe’

12.30pm – Rattlejag Morris dance

1.15pm – Second Barn Lecture – Laxton History Group HLF Project

2.30pm – Rattlejag Morris dance

2.30pm – Guided walk to motte & bailey castle

3.30pm – Third Barn Lecture – Alistair Miller – ‘Laxton’s Court Leet’

3.30pm – Last tractor & trailer ride

4.30pm – Close

Sunday 29^th June 2014

10.30am – Event opens

11.15am – First tractor & trailer ride leaves

11.30am – Guided walk to motte & bailey castle

11.45am – First Barn Lecture – Laxton History Group HLF Project

1.00pm – Second Barn Lecture – Bryony Robins – ‘Newark Civil War Museum’

2.15pm – Third Barn Lecture – Jenni Dobson – ‘Getting Started on Family History Research’

2.30pm – Guided walk to motte & bailey castle

3.00pm – Last tractor & trailer ride

3.30pm – Fourth Barn Lecture – John Beckett – ‘Why was Laxton Never Enclosed’

4.00pm – ++  RAFFLE DRAW   & Spotting Competition draw ++

4.30pm – Close

FONA (the Friends of Nottinghamshire Archives) have launched their new website www.fona.org.uk

Following a successful Open meeting held in September 2011 and three meetings of the steering group, the  official  launch  of  the  Friends  of  Nottinghamshire  Archives  took  place  at  Nottinghamshire  Archives  on Saturday  24 March 2012.

The Friends has been created to act as a body with its own distinct identity and purpose – it does not seek to replicate the existing Archives Users Group (which is a representative and deliberative body that is consulted about the day-to-day operation of the Archives service), nor as another historical society of talks and walks. Membership will not only demonstrate tangible support for the archives service but help to accrue funds which the organisation will be able to commit to specific purchases which will enhance the collections and services which Nottinghamshire Archives offer. FONA will also act alongside the Users Group and other bodies as advocates for the Archives.

For more information visit the website www.fona.org.uk

The Nottinghamshire Great War Roll of Honour is a permanent tribute to local men and women who died during the First World War. Until now, no list of Nottinghamshire’s Great War dead has ever been compiled and many communities did not keep written records of 1914-18 losses. This project aims to correct historic injustices by finally paying homage to the fallen and creating a unique, centralised archive for researchers, historians and the general public.

The project has involved collaboration between eight groups of volunteer information gatherers, led by Dr David Nunn, and Nottinghamshire County Council which has funded the initiative and provided technical expertise.

The Roll of Honour is work still in progress. Currently online is an account of Nottinghamshire fatalities based on raw material gleaned from more than six hundred memorials constructed during the conflict’s immediate aftermath in village and town centres, chapels, churches, churchyards, parish halls, factories and other work places, schools and sports clubs.

War memorials contain only rudimentary information and, for various reasons, some Great War dead were omitted from memorials altogether. Therefore the next stage of the project will see individual stories expanded and brought to life through the addition of biographical detail, narrative, photographs and newspaper extracts as well as entries from diaries and letters.

Names at present unrecorded or missing will be added and in due course public contributions to Phase Two, likely to get underway in November, will be requested.

The Roll of Honour project is linked to Trent to Trenches – a series of events being organised across the county in 2014 to commemorate Nottinghamshire’s contribution to the Great War.

Access the The Nottinghamshire Great War Roll of Honour via the link below.

[Roll of Honour Link]

To mark the 100 year centenary of The Great War, Nottinghamshire County Council has established the Community Commemoration Fund.

Financial grants of up to £300 are available to local communities to help reflect on what the war meant for their local area and how the lives of people were changed forever.

More information and application forms are available from the Trent-to-Trenches website via the link below.

[Commemoration Fund Link]

“It seems like historians are everywhere you look on television these days. But although not every academic has the makings of a Starkey, Schama or Snow, it transpires there are interesting opportunities to explore closer to home. I’ve recently dipped my toe into the TV presenting pool, by filming a ten-minute feature about  Nottingham’s Lace Market for the pilot programme of a new television series, ‘Notts Now and Then’. It’s to be aired at 5pm on Wed 28 May on the new local channel Notts TV. The station launches on Freeview Channel 8 the previous day.

Tickets are still available on a free bus tour exploring Nottingham’s history on a Nottingham City Transport double-decker.

Robert Howard, from Nottinghamshire Local History Association, will lead the trip on a number 35 bus from Bulwell to Nottingham Central Library.

Mr Howard, 70, said: “The 35 takes us through Nottingham history from the outside in. Without the likes of Bulwell, Bilborough, Strelley, Wollaton, Lenton and its other Domesday settlements, Nottingham today might be no more than a small town with a ruined castle.”

The bus leaves Bulwell Bus station at 11am on Saturday May 24 and the trip will last around two hours.

Robert added: “My ambition is to see the 35 officially recognised as Nottingham’s first ‘heritage bus route’.”

TravelRight, which, promotes walking, is running the event. To book tickets, contact TravelRight on 0115 883 3732, or visit the website www.travelright.org.uk.

Nottingham Post – Tuesday 20 May 2014

Written by Dr Robert Tansey this booklet is a handy guide to the abbey and priory remains that can be visited in Nottinghamshire. Also included is an overview of early monastic life throughout England. It should be of interest to Nottinghamshire Heritage Site Shops, Museums, Libraries and local History and Archaeological Groups. Further books in this series are in the process of preparation; they include County Guides to Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire.

It contains the following interesting information that will enlighten those visitors to such sites who have little knowledge of this aspect of our Christian Heritage:

• Early Monastic Life
• Christianity comes to Britain
• Monastic Institutions come to Britain
• Daily life in a Monastery
• Those Called to the Monastic Way of Life
• Monastic Institutions
• Religious Orders
• Notes of Local Interest
• Beauvale Priory
• Blyth Priory
• Felley Priory
• Lenton Priory
• Mattersey priory
• Newstead Abbey
• Rufford Abbey
• Thurgarton Priory
• Worksop Priory
• Other Religious Houses 

This Guide contains directions of how to get to these sites and details of on-site facilities and contact telephone numbers where applicable. 

Published by Bookworm 1 Spa Lane, Retford, Nottinghamshire, DN22 6EA

Telephone 01777 869224       sales@bookwormretford.co.uk

Wholesale Price £4.00 per copy from Bookworm: Average Retail price £5.95-6.95

Copies can be obtained via Amazon.

Author Contact: drrobert.tansey@talktalk.net

Newark Archaeological and Local History Society is  proposing to arrange a trip to York and Jorvik on Wednesday July 2nd and would like to invite members of other organisations to join with them on this outing.

The cost of coach travel only is £12 per person.

The cost of admission to Jorvik Viking Centre is £6 per person

The trip would leave Newark, from London Road opposite the Beaumond Gardens bowling green at 9-30am to arrive at York by 11-00 and leave at 4-30. York has many cafes and restaurants in the city centre offering a wide choice for the visitor.

If you wish to be included in the Jorvik visit, please indicate on the attached booking form.

York has many other attractions:

• The National Railway Museum. (Free)
• York Minster (£9.00)
• Castle Museum (£7.00)
• Yorkshire museum (£7.00)
• The Treasurers House (National Trust)
• River trips
• Sightseeing bus
• Walk round the mediaeval city walls.
• or just indulge in some retail therapy.

Booking Form

 

Newark Archaeological and Local History Society is planning further plaques for Newark. Started in 1973 and part-funded by Town Tours and Slide/Tape Presentations that are done  for groups, Thomas Earp will be the next one, later this year.  The plaque will be on the ‘White House’ in Millgate, and will be a combined venture between NALHS and Millgate Conservation Society.  This will be the 19th plaque the Society has been responsible for in Newark.

Thomas Magnus, with typical Tudor confidence, founded the free school he gave to Newark on the ideas relevant to his time. He did not have the doubts that became common later when education was given importance not so much as a blessing for the individual, but a way of moulding society into a work force, or a means of class distinction.

By the time Thomas Earp was born in 1830 the Industrial Revolution required labourers who had received some education and funds were made available nationally for school building, although most children left school before they were eleven years old. Ability to read was the main object of elementary education, but some taxpayers feared this might give them access to seditious pamphlets or publications against Christianity. Many argued that further or secondary education could be dangerous for the poor, teaching them to despise laborious occupations. Even such subjects as writing and arithmetic were questioned.

Fortunate towns like Newark that already had a free Grammar School faced difficulties because the church based education provided was too narrow for new requirements. Enlightened headmasters and governors realised the need for change, but funding obtained from endowments was falling because of the decline in agriculture. As the population and industry grew, so did the need for such subjects as geography, history, science, mathematics, modern languages, drawing, and bookkeeping, while still retaining Latin. How to accommodate them in the dated buildings they had, find qualified teachers or the money to pay them and boys willing and able to absorb such a curriculum was a problem facing the school and its Governors.

The suggestion that fees could be charged, if only for certain subjects, was not favoured by many. Education faced a local and a national upheaval, but a solution had to be found.

“Cometh the hour, cometh the man”. When Thomas Earp came to Newark to start work at Harvey’s Wine and Spirit Merchants and Maltsters in 1845, the railway system was opening up trade right across the country. In the very next year, the first Newark line from Nottingham to Lincoln brought great opportunities for the brewing trade and also to the sixteen-year-old Thomas Earp. He became a partner in Harvey’s, then of Richardson Earp and Slater and finally established Gilstrap and Earp.

At his adoption as Liberal candidate in 1873 the Newark Herald commented on his outstanding speaking ability, noting “the relationship between Mr Earp and the working classes from whom he is removed by only one generation.” The time when Employers and Labourers were fixed not only for a lifetime but also for generations into the sphere in which they had been born was coming to an end.

In 1870 a national system of schools was established so that every child had the opportunity of education and in 1891 education became compulsory. Great reforms were taking place when Thomas Earp entered Parliament in 1874 and he was well aware that coming generations needed to be educated to meet the changes. Town dwelling working class people were given the vote in 1887 and farm labourers were enfranchised in 1884. If employers and workers remained ignorant of each other’s contribution to society, dissension would threaten the prosperity promised by better transport and increased trade.

Despite the efforts made by Thomas Magnus to safeguard his bequest to the school, at various times in its history money had been taken for the use of the Parish Church and the town. In addition, efforts by the Government to give a modern education to the whole population did not conform to the old ideas of a traditional schooling providing a ruling class through the universities, and schools like Magnus had been founded for just that purpose. At a time when more money was needed to extend the curriculum and the buildings, less was available and a growing town needed sanitation and lighting, therefore the endowment funds were occasionally misappropriated. Thomas Earp was aware of this and also that despite the efforts of various headmasters to maintain standards at the school some boys were not receiving the best preparation for their future. Valuable potential for them and for the town was lost because the emphasis was still on the learned professions and those with more practical abilities were regarded as a lesser breed.

Some additions to the building were made in 1818, partly funded by the headmaster Mr Wittenoom who intended to use some of the accommodation for boarders. The fees they paid would go not to the school but to Mr Wittenoom. In 1820, there were ninety-two boarders, those under twelve paying £34 a year and those over that age £40. They paid an extra   a year to be taught subjects in which they were really interested. The Foundation or Free Scholars received only a classical education. This was of little use to boys who would earn their living mainly by manual labour, yet they were the very ones who could not afford the fees for extra subjects.

A science laboratory was helped into existence by the County Council in 1818
and in 1834 the Magnus Trustees built the English School, partly to conform to the new Government demands for the modernisation of education. For some reason, although free, the English School was not popular with the Newark tradesmen who preferred to send their sons to another school in the town called “The Classical and Commercial Academy” situated in Castlegate and charging fees of twenty-four to twenty-eight guineas a year for boarders, with day boys paying four guineas a year. It appears to have been very successful, at times having over a hundred pupils.

Meanwhile the Magnus, under the headmastership of Mr Wittenoom was suffering from falling numbers. After he left in 1829, Joseph Cooke was there until 1854 and was followed by Henry Plater who stated his belief as a schoolmaster that “scholastic work (as I interpret it) is in its measure spiritual work combined with sound mental training, and I believe, and have always taught, that all education, worthy of the name, must be based on, and in accord with, the doctrines and teaching of the Holy Catholic Church.” There was some anxiety in the town that Mr Plater had Roman Catholic leanings and would influence the school in this way. He certainly was a High Churchman when such an attitude was unpopular, but because of his great sense of duty Magnus began again to prosper as a school. In 1877 he offered a re-organisation scheme that gained some approval from Thomas Earp who was chairman of the committee formed to modernise the school, working with the Endowed Schools Commission and the people of Newark, together with the Trustees of the Endowment. However Mr Plater was firmly in favour of a First Grade School, something akin to Rugby, catering for boarders from outside the area, while Mr Earp wanted the school to modernise the curriculum and provide businessmen who would add to the prosperity of the town. In order to achieve his aims, Councillor Earp brought in fellow Liberals who gradually displaced Councillors and Trustees who supported Mr Plater’s ideals.

The number of boys in the school had risen to 126, seventy-five of whom were boarders. Mr Plater had bought property in Appletongate for a chemistry laboratory and workshops equipped with lathes, proof that he was prepared to modify his attitude to classical education, but the charity Commissioners in 1887 found that good though his Scheme was, the available finance was insufficient. Parents lost confidence in spite of all Mr Plater’s efforts, and when he retired in 1893 the Governing body took a look at the school premises, compared them with the new board School that had been built in Lovers Lane, and advertised for a new headmaster.

The whole premises were then spring-cleaned, seating forms replaced with individual desks and separate lockers, lobbies with pegs for the boys to hang their coats and hats. Dormitories for at least thirty boarders had been refurbished.

The new Headmaster, Mr Noakes, by the end of his first year had done much to bring the school into the life of the town. He wished that the school should be mainly for the benefit of Newark and the district. Consequently a first public prize-giving was held in the Town Hall and the roll had risen to seventy-eight boys.

In June 1895 the headmaster was requesting a gymnasium, a library and a more adequate playground as well as a playing field reasonably close to the school.

The first Founder’s day was held with Holy Communion at 8.00amand another service at 10.00amwith a sermon preached by an Old Magnusian the Rev. F W Greenwood from Liverpool. This was followed by a cricket match at 11.30, lunch at half past one with many long speeches and then tea at five-o-‘clock.
Improvements to the Old Magnus premises continued to be made and academic progress was very satisfactory between 1895 and 1902, but the Inspectors of the Board of Education condemned the old school in 1897 and directed that proper buildings should be provided as soon as may be. Since 1887 the income from the endowment had been insufficient and it had been impossible to save towards a new building, and if they broke into the capital it may prove impossible to maintain it, even with increased fees. Mr Earp, vice-chairman of the Governors, found and bought a site of six acres just off London Road, which he presented to the school. His generosity prompted the Governors to launch an appeal in the neighbourhood and among old boys for between £3,000 and £3,500. Gifts came from other sources and Councillor Earp gave a further four acres of land.

Dr Noakes, who had made such an impressive start as Headmaster announced his resignation. This was unfortunate because his popularity had greatly helped the school and now it was felt the impetus of the Appeal would be lost, especially as Dr Noakes publicly regretted that so much money had already been spent on the old building and that a new one might prove an expensive mistake. Councillor Earp however was determined to see a new school provided. As financial problems increased and progress almost ceased, he gave £2,000 and offered a loan of £3000. This failed to arouse interest and so he gave £5,000 outright.

The response of the public was still insufficient to convince the Board of Education and the County Council that there would be capital to cover all the outlay including equipment and increased expenditure on staff, especially as the Governors were contemplating selling £1,800 of Government Stock from the Endowment, so reducing income. There was serious concern that the new school might become insolvent and have to be closed down. Governors began to lose interest and failed to come to meetings. Councillor Earp felt that some bore lingering grudges because of his attitude to Mr Plater, who though as a headmaster had aroused much criticism, had represented the old order of things in Newark.

Consequently, Councillor Earp on learning that the Board of Education was contemplating providing a new school for only a hundred boys, threatened to withdraw everything he had given and promised. He went to see the President of the Board and obtained the sanction of a school for 150 boys, whereupon Mr Earp paid £290 for the revised architect’s fees. In all he is believed to have contributed more than £10,000 to the new building, but much more is owed to him for his commitment to a project he believed to be vital for Newark, and which was accomplished on May 22nd 1909.

Contributed by Jill Campbell

(This article, previously printed in a NALHS Newsletter, was written by the late Margaret Granger, who was passionate about the Old Magnus Buildings and its refurbishment)