Aberdare Boys’ Grammar School

Official School Photographs

An early photograph of girls’ department of the school

This is probably one of the earliest photographs that we have of the school staff and children.
It has been kindly donated to us by Mrs Margaret Garrett who lives in the Gadlys.

It is possible to date the photograph reasonably accurately as early 1897 because, only then, were there six members of staff, including the Head Master, as is indicated in this photograph. Additionally, there were 67 girls enrolled in the spring term of 1897 of which 62 appear in the photograph. By the spring of 1899, the number of girls was 88, much larger than the number shown here.

The adults in the photograph are Mr. W. Jenkyn Thomas (Head Master, wearing the mortar board), Mr. W. Charlton Cox¹, Mr. J. Wallis Dodgson² (holding a straw boater, senior assistant master and senior science master) and Mr. Evan Williams³ (second master). The women are Miss Florence White (senior mistress) on the left and Miss Jennie Griffiths, on the right with the striped top (assistant mistress). Both of these women transferred to the Girls Intermediate School when it opened, and they can be seen in the 1914 photograph in the golden jubilee booklet of the Girls’ Intermediate School here. This photograph comes from the 50th anniversary publication of the Girls’ School. This together with other details about that school can be found in the history section of that site.

These staff were very early appointments; the head master was appointed on 18th August, 1896 and four members of staff a few weeks later in September, the fifth in the following January. The initial four posts were keenly sought after, there being 125 applications.

The location of the photograph has puzzled us, but we think it was taken in the lower playground; the door, shown behind the group, opening on to the corridor leading to rooms 2 & 3. The building on the farthest left would be the Head Master’s house, later that of the caretaker. However, the space behind the pupils on the left of the photograph was probably later occupied by one of the several additions that were built in the first twenty years of the school’s existence. From about 1901, this particular additional building housed the staircase that led up to the staff room on the first floor, and the steps that led down to a lower floor that housed a shower room and dining hall.

Many thanks to Margaret Garrett for this photograph. Margaret’s aunt Gwen is in the photo. She is 7th in from the right side of the middle row behind the master with hood and gown.

1. Mr Cox was appointed in January 1897 and was later to become the longest serving Headmaster of the school.
2. Mr J. Wallis Dodgson (1869-1950) left at Christmas 1903 to take up an appointment as a lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Reading, a post which he held until his retirement in 1934, though he returned to lecturing there during the Second World War. He was also the Warden of St. David’s Hall when it was set up in 1920. There is further information about Mr Dodgson on the Reading University site in the archive section.
3. Mr Evan Williams left in July 1904 to become Headmaster of the Aberdare Higher Standard School, (later to become the Gadlys Central School, and currently, 2011, the site of the Lower School of the Girls’ Comprehensive.)