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Aberdare Boys’ Grammar SchoolSchool Photographs |
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R.V. Hoggins’ Class, 1939
from School records via Mark Jefferies
Ronald Victor Hoggins and his class; sitting next to him, with the mortar board, is the headmaster W. Rees Williams who was about to retire.
R.V. Hoggins, (1899–1943), was a staff member at ABGS 1920–43, and died in 1943 at the age of 44. He was appointed to teach Economics and Commerce to all levels, the latter subject included Shorthand, Book-keeping and Typewriting.
He was brought up in Dudley and attended schools there. He came to Aberdare after lecturing in Wolverhampton Technical School, and teaching at Woodrough’s School, Birmingham. He held advanced qualifications in all the disciplines he was appointed to teach — qualifications awarded by various professional bodies such as the Institute of Commerce, and from Pitmans. He also held a Commercial Teachers Diploma, (Institute of Commerce, 1919). Whilst at Aberdare he developed a connection with Birmingham University and many Aberdare sixth form pupils went there to study Commerce or Economics. These included three boys who all became professors - namely Ray Thomas, Tom Kelly and David Marsh.
His two sons, Bryan and Dennis, attended the school, as well as his grandson, Andy, who left in 1978. Sadly, Mr Hoggins’ son Dennis died as a result of a mid-air collision during an RAF training session. The accident occurred in November 1942 just eleven days after Dennis’s twentieth birthday. Six months later his father R.V. Hoggins died. The family lived in Broniestyn Terrace near the school.