† Sergeant Victor Knowle Hobbs was in the RAF. He died 26 November 1940, and his grave is to be found at Mountain Ash (Maesyrarian) Cemetery.

† Flying Officer Absalom Samuel Williams was a member of the RAF Volunteer Reserve, 10 Sqdn. He died 21 June 1942, and is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 68.

All the boys in the list above started school in the autumn of 1924 except for W.R. Parrish and R.F.J. Barlow who arrived in the spring term of 1924.

Notes

T.J. Barling, M.M. Davies, D.H. Samuel and T.A. Williams have entries in the Former Pupils section of this website.

George Maclaren Humphreys was brought up in Godreaman.  He gained a physics degree in 1926 and Diploma in Education a year later, both at UCW Aberystwyth.  However, he didn’t become a teacher but chose a career in the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment. He climbed the career ladder and became an associate fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1942.   He was closely involved in setting up the Empire Test Pilots’ School formed in 1944.  He was awarded an MBE in the Birthday Honours List for 1951.  At that time the official citation read: George MACLAREN HUMPHREYS, Esq., A.F.R.Ae.S., Senior Experimental Officer, Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment, Ministry of Supply, Boscombe Down.

Joseph Elfyn Thomas Jones was known by his contemporaries and throughout his life as JET Jones. He was from Llanwonno Rd, Cwmaman and became a pharmacist, ending up as manager of the Co-op Pharmacy in Cardiff Road, Aberdare, on the opposite side of the road from the main building. He was a deacon in Moreia-Aman Congregational Chapel in Cwmaman and died in 1994.

David Walter Morris was the son of W.D. Morris, Hosier and Outfitter of 39 Commercial St. There is a substantial article written by Walter about the shops of the town centre in the Miscellaneous Section of this website. After becoming a student teacher he went to University College, Southampton then taught firstly in Surrey, and then Sussex. He finished his career as a Head of a Primary School in Pulborough, West Sussex. Walter was the nephew of the long-serving history master Aubrey Roberts. Walter died in Devon in 2003.

William Kenneth Pugh lived in Gwynfa, Cwmbach; he went to UCW Aberystwyth in 1931, graduating in Chemistry and Agricultural Chemistry in 1934. Before the war he was employed by George Hadfield & Co, the fertiliser manufacturer, and worked in Liverpool. Then, in 1941, he joined the army and eventually became a Staff Sergeant in the REME specialising in radio communications. In 1945 he married Muriel Doreen Eliott from Caldicot and went back to work for Hadfields, settled in Hawarden in Flintshire, and was based at their office in Chester. He became the Chief Technical Advisor for the company, which was eventually taken over by Fisons in the 1960s. He died in May 1995. William’s elder brother Arthur Ronald Pugh, (ABCS 1920–28), after graduating from Aberystwyth in Economics and Political Science, in 1931, entered teaching where, after war service in the RAF, he eventually finished his career as Headmaster at the Knoll Secondary School in Neath.

Anelyf Wyn Rees lived at 28 Cemetery Road in Trecynon. After school he studied at UCW Aberystwyth where he gained a First Class degree in Economics (1934), moving to Geneva in Switzerland for his Masters; following this he went to Minnesota where he taught at Carlton University in Duluth. He served in the Special Operations Executive during WW2, 1939–45. (His wartime file at the National Archives in Kew became publicly available relatively recently, in 2004). He was granted the honorary rank of Captain in the British Army in March 1951. He lectured in South Africa, initially at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg and then in Durban. He then taught in the USA for four years before emigrating in 1961 to Waterloo, Ontario, Canada where he was the founding Principal of Renison College, Waterloo. He also held the position of professor in the history department of the University of Waterloo. He died suddenly in July 1971 at the age of 58 while still in office.

Gwyn Ivor Thomas produced an MA thesis (Birmingham) on the History of Aberdare. A copy of this is held in the Aberdare Library. He later became Director of Education for Carmarthenshire. He died in 1983.

Absalom Williams, from Belle Vue, Trecynon, went to Bangor Normal College. Absie Williams, as he was known, was the captain of the school rugby team playing wing forward. He became a teacher before enlisting in the forces. Absie was shot down and lost over the North Sea during a bombing raid in the second World War.

Parental Occupations
Accountant, Architect, Bandmaster, Blacksmiths 2, Blacksmith, Brewery Manager, Car Cleaner, Checkweigher, Chemist, Coal Miners 22, Collier (deceased) 5, Colliery Banksman, Colliery Fireman, Colliery Haulier, Colliery Manager, Colliery Overman, Colliery Under-Manager, Commercial Traveller, Co-operative Soc Manager, Coppersmith (GWR), County Court Bailiff, Electrical Engine Driver, Electrician, Engine Fitter, Engineman (Colliery), Farm Bailiff, Fish Frier, Fitter, Fruiterer, Gas Works Stoker (deceased), Groom, Hosier & Outfitter, Mason, Newsagent, Park Keeper, Railway Goods Foreman, Railwayman, Schoolmaster, UDC Labourer (formerly miner), Unemployed, Unitarian Minister, Wagon Inspector, None disclosed 1.

Of the 69 entries, thirty-five boys had fathers who worked, or had worked, in the coalmining industry, most as colliers. Many of these boys left school to become clerks, several to local businesses, about six to teacher training colleges, and eight went to university.

Back to previous page