Aberdare Boys’ Grammar School
School History
from School Records
| Name | Entry Form | Age | Address |
| Alistair Taylor Mackintosh Wilson Richard Noel James John Gwynno James Gwilym Thomas Jones Humphreys Joseph Edwin Aniss Henry Wilson Davies Kenneth John Davies Merlin Davies Ronald James Davies Francis James Edgecombe John Frederick Elston Vivian Evans Clarence George Gardener David John Griffiths George Edward Groves Alfred Henry Howes Sidney Eric George Hunt William Dennis Hull Henry Anthony James Frederick Llewellyn Jenkins Ebenezer Jones John Lewis Jones † Spencer Robinson Jones Vernon Jones Thomas John Brinley Linton William Mervyn Lloyd Donald Mackintosh Byron Moore David George Parry William Arthur Morris Rees William David Rhydderch Merlyn Richards Oliver James Spratling Geoffrey Henstone Sturdy Reginald George Simmons Edward Leslie Thomas John William Williams Thomas John Williams David George Badham Islwyn Cole Daniel Davies David Daniel Davies Gordon Davies Francis Donnelly Morgan Edwards † Stanley Herbert Evans Alwyn Forey David James Forward Joseph Herbert Grinnell Graham Jayne Oakwell Jenkins David Kenneth Jones David Thomas Jones Meurig Jones Melville Austin Lewis Edwin Joseph Morgan David Windsor Clive Morgan Timothy David Parry Benjamin James Phillips Emlyn Powell Leslie Smith Alun Beddoe Stephens Howard Sweet William Owen Thomas Glanffrwd John Williams Mansel Williams John Henry Winter John Trevor Jones Stuart Evans |
III Classical Vb – – IVA 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1A 1B 1A 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 1B 3B |
12.6 16.7 14 14.1 12.4 12.3 13.1 12.3 12.7 12.4 12.7 12.2 11.5 12.9 11.8 11.6 12.9 12.1 12.3 12.5 12.1 12.8 12.5 12.4 12.1 12.1 11.5 11.1 11 12.3 11.8 11.7 12.7 13.1 12.3 12.6 12.4 11.4 11.8 13.1 12.4 11.4 12.2 12.2 12.1 11.9 12.8 11.5 12.4 13.1 12.5 12.3 12.2 12.6 12.7 12.4 12.1 12.8 13 13.1 12.2 13 12.2 12.8 11.9 12.4 12.7 13.1 14 |
Bonaccord, Harriet St, Trecynon The Vicarage, Aberaman The Vicarage, Aberaman 5, Plasdraw Rd, Aberdare 19, Graig Tce, Abercwmboi 204, Brynmair Rd, Godreaman 2, Gadlys Gardens, Aberdare 34, Ynysllwyd St, Aberdare 19, Rose Row, Cwmbach 131, Fforchaman Rd, Cwmaman Seaton Carew, Abernant Rd, Aberdare 10, Commerce Place, Aberdare 58, Wind St, Aberdare 9, Belmont Tce, Aberaman 2, Engineers' Row, Abernant 3, Foundry View, Aberdare 23, Glanrhyd St, Aberdare 32, Wind St, Aberdare The Vicarage, Aberaman Brynfa, Abernant Rd, Aberdare Royal Oak Inn, Cwmbach 29, Bell St, Trecynon 14, Bridge St, Robertstown 50, Broniestyn Tce, Aberdare 63, Cwmaman Rd, Godreaman 3, Merthyr Rd, Llwydcoed 19, Stuart St, Aberdare 10, Windsor Tce, Abernant 7, Little Wind St, Aberdare 10, Colliers Row, Abernant Nant-ffyn, Brynawel, Aberdare 1, John St, Aberdare 10A, Margaret St, Trecynon Central Free Library, Aberdare 4, Graig Place, Aberdare 25, Dean St, Aberdare 1, Bell St, Trecynon 9, Windsor Tce, Abernant Ivy Cottage, Abernant 46, Belle View, Trecynon 4, Morgan Row, Cwmbach 8, Waterloo St, Cwmbach 3, Tudor Place, Aberaman 55, Gloucester St, Aberdare 3, Tower Rd, Hirwaun 22, Clarence Tce, Aberaman 18, Penbryn St, Gadlys 3A, Mount Pleasant, Trecynon 99, Brook St, Aberaman 22, Tudor Tce, Aberdare 11, Bond St, Aberdare 4, Bryn Tce, Cwmdare Cottage Homes, Aberdare 9, Sion Place, Cwmbach Miners Arms, Llwydcoed 28, Albert St, Aberdare Abernant y groes Farm, Cwmbach 112, Brook St, Aberaman 15, Philip Row, Cwmbach 291, Cardiff Rd, Aberaman 57, Ynysllwyd St, Aberdare 12, Elm Grove, Aberdare 6, Llettyshenkin Cotts, Cwmbach 60, Bwllfa Rd, Cwmdare 12, Greenfield Tce, Cwmbach 23, Blaenant-y-Groes Rd, Cwmbach 5, Elm Grove, Hirwaun 22, Clive St, Trecynon Railway Bar, Commercial St, Aberdare |
†War Casualties
Sgt John Lewis Jones died aged 27 on 4th Feb 1941 when his Bristol Blenheim Mk IV bomber ditched off Ramsgate, Kent, following battle damage from a Messerschmitt Bf 109 near Brest during a raid on Cherbourg. The pilot and another sergeant also died. He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey.
Sgt (Obs) Morgan Edwards died in an accident on 17th
May 1943, aged 28. He was in the Meteorological Department of the R.A.F. He is buried
in Bryn-y-Gaer Cemetery, near Hirwaun.
He was brought up in Hirwaun before entering The County School. Following his time at
ABCS, he went to U.C. Cardiff, where he graduated with a B.Sc.
– – – – –
All the boys in the list above started school in September 1926 except A.T.M. Wilson who arrived in January 1926. In addition to the Form 1 entries, a small number of boys entered into higher forms.
Notes
A T M Wilson, known as Alistair, was the son of Dr
J M Wilson who had come to South Wales from Aberdeen in 1907. ATMW was at the County
school for just two terms, but after his subsequent secondary education at another school
he went to Cambridge in 1931 to read medicine where he became absorbed in politics,
particularly with the Communist Party.
He transferred to a teachers’ training college in 1933 but did not teach subsequently.
Returning to Aberdare he helped at his father’s practice, but in 1938 he resumed his
medical studies at Cardiff and finally returned to Cambridge to finish his medical degrees,
qualifying in 1940.
In 1939 he married Olive Greening, whose brother Edwin fought in the Spanish Civil War
for the International Brigades. Alistair died in 1981.
ATMW was one of the three children of Dr J. M. Wilson, all of whom became GPs in Aberdare;
from eldest to youngest: John (Jack) S.M. Wilson, A.T.M. Wilson and Isabel Mary M. Wilson,
(all had ‘Macintosh’ included as one of their names).
Alistair won a seat on the Aberdare Urban District Council for the Communist Party in
1938 which he retained until 1950. He continued to contest local and parliamentary elections
as the Communist candidate until 1978. He was very active in many campaigns within the
Health Service, and in the wider community, he lectured on Marxism and Welsh History.
His sister Mary married Dr W. L. Codd (ABCS 1921–25), whose son Richard also attended
the school (1963–71).
ATMW’s son, Alistair M, attended the school too, (1955–60); he went to London University
and got a first in Astrophysics and then went to do a Ph.D. in Cambridge. Alistair was
then recruited by NASA and went to work in Houston. After several years there he came
back to UK and lived in Cambridge. Finally he moved to Perth, Australia with his American
wife. He was the author of the book The Infinite in the finite, ISBN 0198539509, OUP
Oxford (1995), a book about the development of mathematics based in its historical context.
Daniel Davies went to U.C. Cardiff.
David Daniel Davies was for many years Head of Biology at his old school; he was appointed in 1950 and retired from his post in 1979. After school he attended U.C. Cardiff where he graduated B.Sc. in Zoology, 1938, and M.Sc. Zoology 1939. He followed up with a Diploma in Education from the University of Liverpool 1940. After spending the war years in H.M. Forces he commenced teaching in 1945 at St Julian’s High School in Newport.
Henry Wilson Davies His family emigrated to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania after he had been at school for two years. In the USA he enrolled at the G. A. R. Memorial High School.
Ronald James Davies went to UCW Aberystwyth.
Morgan Edwards went to U.C. Cardiff.
Stanley Herbert Evans went to the Nautical School in Cardiff.
Clarence George Gardener went to U.C. Cardiff.
G.T.J. Humphreys was a son of Wesleyan Minister Rev E.J. Humphreys.
Henry Anthony James went to the University of Oxford. A son of Rev J.R. James of St Margaret’s Church, Aberaman, he followed in his father’s footsteps, and his two elder brothers, in becoming a Clerk in Holy Orders, (C. of E.).
Richard Noel James & John Gwynno James, also sons of Rev J.R. James of St Margaret’s Church, Aberaman, these boys went to Keble College Oxford and became Anglican priests. John Gwynno James has an entry in the Former Pupils section of this website.
Frederick Llewellyn Jenkins was one of the small number of boys from the school who progressed to St. David’s College, Lampeter – as it was then called.
John Trevor Jones went to UCW Aberystwyth.
Spencer Robinson Jones has an entry in the Former Pupils section of this website; it contains his biographical details.
Vernon Jones went to U.C. Cardiff.
William Mervyn Lloyd went to the University of Birmingham with a Commercial Exhibition.
William David Rhydderch went to UCW Aberystwyth.
Alun Beddoe Stephens was the son of a schoolmaster. The family emigrated to Canada after he had been at the school for two years.
Geoffrey Henstone Sturdy was the son of William Henstone Sturdy and his wife Edith, née Hunt. Geoffrey’s father died in 1925, less than a year before he transferred to the County School. Mr W.H. Henstone Sturdy, a Birmingham man, was appointed Town Chief Librarian in 1904 when the library was housed in its first home in the Church Club buildings in Seymour Street. In 1917 he organised the move of the library to its second location, on the first floor of a building at 37 & 38 High St High St on the corner of High St and Seymour St opposite St John’s Church. On the death of her husband, Graham’s mother Edith, (1880–1964), took over the post of chief librarian, and remained at the library until she retired in 1946. Geoffrey became a physicist specialising in radioactivity.
Howard Sweet (1914–91). We believe that Howard became a teacher of handicrafts possibly at the Gadlys School. Whilst teaching, he lived in Llwydcoed with his wife Gwendoline, née Lloyd.
Edward Leslie Thomas His family emigrated to Canada after he had been at the school for two years.
William Owen Thomas went to U.C. Cardiff.
Thomas John Williams (1915–99). proceeded to
U.C. Cardiff in 1932 after obtaining his Higher School Certificate. He was for a period
the organist at Bethel Chapel in Abernant.
Of the 64 Form 1 entries, thirty boys had fathers who worked in the mines, mainly as colliers. It is not surprising that several of these boys who left school in the late 1920s were marked as unemployed on leaving school. Others moved away to England, some worked locally as clerks, and one as a tram driver. Some were withdrawn from school because their families could not afford to keep them in full time education.