Edward Alderton
1935-1938
B.A. History
Born in September 1916 in the pit village of Wheatley Hill, Durham, Edward was the youngest of the fifteen children of Frederick Alderton, a coal miner, and his wife Hannah Hall.As a young boy, Edward attended the local council school but, when he moved to secondary education, he was given a place at the local grammar school, attending first Henry Smith Secondary School in Hartlepool and then, from its opening in 1930, Wellfield A.J. Dawson Grammar School in Wingate.
In spite of difficulties in his personal life (his mother died when he was eleven and during his teenage years his father spent time in prison), Edward did well at school, achieving academically and also taking an active part in the wider school life, including playing Rugby and Cricket and sitting on the committee of the school’s scientific and literary societies. During Edward’s application to St Anselm Hall the strength of his references was such that the normal interview was waived and he was offered a place.
Edward came into hall in October 1935, with support from several grants. He was initially given a £35 grant by the Durham County Education department and, on account of his desire to go into teaching, an additional grant of £35 was given by the Board of Education. Early evidence of Edward’s financial difficulties, however, are evident from a letter sent to the Warden shortly before he entered the hall, enquiring about the cost of a second-hand gown.
In 1936 Edward, his Durham County Education department grant having expired, successfully applied for a new grant from Sherburn Hospital, a charity organisation in his native Durham. He did so with the help of his former Headteacher and of the Warden, Rev. South, who wrote to the charity governors that ‘I should like to recommend him strongly on general grounds… [he] has done very well in Hall, and his conduct has been excellent at all times...’
Edward’s contribution to hall life, included being a member of the hall rugby team and taking part in several hall plays. In the 1935-36 play, Who Goes Next, he played ‘German Sentry’ and in the 1936-37 play, the Terror, he received a promotion to the named role of ‘Bennet.’ Edward may well have also been in the 1937-38 hall play ‘The Case of the Frightened lady’ but sadly a cast list has not survived.In addition to his contribution to hall sport, Edward was also given half-colours in University Cricket in the summer of 1937.
In November 1936, Edward faced further family challenges when he was forced to suddenly leave the hall to attend his father who had fallen seriously ill. Although his father recovered, the crisis meant there was a delay in paying his hall fees the following summer (1937.) Edward apparently managed to pay off his fees at that point but by summer 1938 further issues had arisen, his father being on short time at the mine and, at the same time, the family home- a tied colliery house- being demolished as a part of slum clearance. Edward left the hall in the summer of 1938 with a debt of £72 and subsequently struggled to find work.
Edward, along with fellow student Arthur Lowe, caused a further commotion on leaving hall, when the pair, having run out of room in their own bags, decided to ‘borrow’ two suitcases. Not recognising the initials as those of another student, they assumed the suitcases were not anyone’s property. Unfortunately, it soon transpired that the suitcases in fact belonged to Matron and several angry letters appeared from the Warden demanding their return.
Edward had returned to education by September 1939, but on the outbreak of the Second World War suspended his studies to join the RAF. Edward was assigned to 102 Squadron, Bomber Command. In the spring of 1941, he married June Soulsby.
Whilst on an operation to Hanover on the night of 14th August 1941, Edward’s aircraft was shot down over the Terwispel in the Netherlands. All five crew members survived but were taken as Prisoner of War. Edward would later recall of the experience that he was met by a German whom he had known at University and that ‘everything was done in a very smooth manner.’
Edward was initially held at Stalag III E, at Kirchain (near Berlin) before being transferred to the newly opened Stalag Luft III at Sagan (modern day Poland) in May 1942. It was here that Edward and several of his campmates in Stalag III decided to establish a branch of what became known as the ‘Barbed Wire University,’ a red cross initiative to educate PoW’s and, where possible, to allow them to complete qualifications prior to their return to England. The school at Stalag III, which at one time included more than half the camp, allowed students to study for at least 90 subjects, including Maths, Portuguese and the Hotel Trade. There was even a special class for the illiterate.
The school moved with Edward to the newly opened Stalag Luft 6 in Heydkrug (now Lithuania) in June 1943. It moved again in July 1944 as the advance of the Russian’s forced an evacuation of the camp. While the exact route of Edward’s journey is not recorded, it is likely that he was taken by train across Europe, eventually ending up in Thorn (Stalag 357) in Poland. A few weeks later a further evacuation sent Edward on a 500-mile journey to Fallingbostel, in north-west Germany.
When he was liberated from Fallingbostel in April 1945, one of Edward’s main concerns was his students. In his PoW liberation questionnaire he noted that his role as Education Officer in three large camps and that many of his men ‘require references from me to help in Post-war rehabilitation.’ He was also concerned with locating his examination scripts, given to a Major Platts, which he wished to prepare for transfer to the Education Books Section at Oxford.
Within a year of the liberation, more than 60 of Edward’s Barbed Wire University students were studying at Universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, with Edward providing references and even sponsoring some candidates.His own copy of the Barbed Wire University prospectus, produced during his time at Stalag 6, remained one of his most prized possessions for the rest of his life.
After the war, Edward lived with June in Durham, however further tragedy followed in 1947 when their only son, Paul, died in infancy, an event that Edward never truly recovered from. Edward was able to complete his studies at Oxford and he then worked for UNESCO in Switzerland and Germany, before moving to Bexley Heath, Kent, in 1950, where he was the first principal of the Adult Education Centre. By the time of his death in 1993, over 200 courses had been run, educating 3,000 students.
In addition to his work at the education centre, Edward was also a strong advocate for Unions and in 1978 was National president of NALGO (The National and Local Government Officers' Association, now a part of Unison.) He is said to have particularly influenced the union’s educational provisions, encouraging many of its members to higher education. He was described on his death as ‘a powerful performer, held in high esteem. A well-educated, well-spoken man who was a great raconteur and communicator.’
Edward retired from his role at the Education Centre in the early 1980s, but remained living in his cottage near the centre. Edward died of a heart attack in 1993, an event which occurred as he attended the last NALGO conference in Brighton. He was 76 years old.Today his legacy lives on in Bexley Heath, in the Edward Alderton Theatre, originally founded at the Education Centre in 1951 and established as a separate entity in 1974.
James Russell Andress
c.1924-1927
BSc, MA
JCR President 1925-26
James Russell Andress was born in Crewe in 1905, along with his twin brother, William. A younger brother, Richard, was born in 1913. The three boys were the sons of Richard Andress, a pharmacist who ran his own shop, and his wife Ethel Russell, who in the 1920s was a local councilor. In 1916, both James and William secured scholarships to Crewe County Secondary School. James was then able to secure a further scholarship for the University of Manchester, where he obtained a BSc and then an M.A. It is probable that James was a resident of St. Anselm Hall throughout his studies, with his main contribution to hall life being his position as JCR president in the 1925-26 academic year. He was also involved in hall plays and in the 1926 hall play, J.B. Fagan’s ‘The Wheel’, played the part of Getsul.
After leaving Manchester, James gained a studentship at Oxford where he took his theological and ordination examinations. He was ordained as a priest in the Church of England in 1929 and made assistant curate of Paddock, a district of Huddersfield, Yorkshire. After two years at Paddock, James was accepted by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, a prominent Church of England missionary society originally established in the 18th century, and was sent as a missionary to India, where the Society had been working since 1820. It was to Kolhapur, in the Bombay (Mumbai) Diocese that James was appointed and it was here that he spent the rest of his ministry. James died in 1983 at Addington House, a Church of England property in The Bahamas, which at that time was the home of the Bishop of Nassau, the Rev. Michael Hartley Eldon.
Thomas Samuel Atkinson
Entered Hall 1928
B.A. History
Born on 6th July 1909 in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, Thomas Samuel Atkinson was the eldest child of Thomas Samuel Atkinson and Mary Jane Worth. Thomas and his two younger siblings- Joshua and Millicent- grew up in Barrow-in-Furness where Thomas senior worked as a mechanic for Vickers, a local shipbuilding company whose achievements included building Britian’s first military aircraft in 1908 and building the majority of the submarines used in the First World War. There is no evidence that Thomas senior took part in the First World War, a fact which can probable be attributed to the status of shipbuilding as a reserved occupation during the war.
A young Thomas junior attended Victoria Elementary School from 1914 to 1920 before becoming a student at Barrow Municipal Secondary School, one of the local fee paying schools. In providing references to support Thomas’ application to St. Anselm, his headteacher. F. R. Barnes wrote that ‘He is a youth of high character & of good intellectual power. Of sociable disposition I am sure he would take kindly to Hall life… ‘ A second reference, written by John Childs, the second master, described how ‘I have a very opinion of Mr. Atkinson… I found him to be in possession of intellectual powers of a very high order, and am fully convinced that he is able to read an Honour School…’
Thomas was also a keen sportsman, playing Football, Cricket and Tennis for his house whilst at school. John Childs went on in his reference to describe how ‘In athletics… he secured a good standing among the pupils of his time, and was always ready and willing to do what he could on the School Playing Field…’
On his application to University, Thomas received two scholarships to support him through his three years. These were a Town University Scholarship and a Gunson Exhibition Scholarship. The latter of these was a £50 per year fund, given to two candidates from poor northern backgrounds each year, in order to fund their higher education. It had been established in the 1890s by Mrs. Jackson Mitchell, in memory of her brother, the Rev, Gunson, a fellow and tutor at Christ’s College, Cambridge.
Thomas came up to the University in 1927 and was a honours student in History, after which he wished to obtain a teaching diploma. It is unclear where Thomas resided during his first year, however his first contact with the hall was in April 1928, towards the end of his first year, when he wrote from to the Warden from the Men’s Union enquiring about a hall prospectus. There was some doubt about whether Thomas would be allocated a space, as in this period priority was given to men who had been confirmed in the Church of England, something which Thomas was not. Thomas was, however, offered a place. As his hall file has survived, it is assumed that Thomas did take up his place in hall, however any further details have not survived.
The details of Thomas’ later life are also somewhat limited. It is believed that he did become a teacher and in 1939 he was a resident of Blackpool. Thomas died in Sussex in 2004.
Sidney Denham Austerberry
1927-1929
Matriculation
Sidney Denham Austerberry was born in Hanley, Staffordshire (now a part of Stoke-on-Trent) in 1908 and was the eldest of three siblings born to Harry Austerberry and his wife Minnie Lockett. Harry was by trade a journalist and newspaper proprietor with a particular reputation in sporting circles. At the time of the 1911 census- when Sidney was two years old- the family were prosperous enough to live in a six-bed house and to employ a live in servant.
In 1914, however, life changed forever when Harry died suddenly of heart failure, brought on by flu and pneumonia, leaving his wife with three children under the age of six. Thereafter the families fortunes declined and by 1921 they were supplementing their income by taking in boarders. As a young boy Sidney attended Wellington Road Council School but he was able to complete his secondary education at Hanley High School thanks to a Scholarship.
On leaving school in 1924, Sindey found work as a Clerk, but continued to teach himself at night, sometimes beginning his studies at 8 or 9PM. At some point in this period, he came under the influence of the Rev. Mazzini Tron, the vicar of St. Luke’s, Hanley, who led a number of young men from the parish into ordination. In August 1927 the Rev. Tron wrote to the Warden of St. Anselm Hall to ask for advice and help about his young prodigy. Sidney had taken the northern matriculation exam in June 1927, but had failed the Greek portion, an event attributed to the fact that on the morning on his exam his manager had given him a months notice, saying that ‘he had no use for a lad who was not going to stick to his job.’ The Rev. Tron requested that Sidney be admitted to St. Anselm whilst being coached to retake the northern matriculation with a view to his entering Mirfield theological college. He felt that the boy was ‘a good lad in every sense of the word, and clever, and I have every confidence that he will do well…’
Although St. Anselm Hall, by 1927, did not generally take matriculation students, the Rev. Dewar, trusting the Rev. Tron’s judgement, agreed to make an exception for Sidney. As his mother could not afford his fees or maintenance, a sponsor was found to cover the costs. Mr. Joseph Smith Hargreaves, of Heywood, Lancashire, was a local businessman and councillor, whose services would earn him the Freedom of the Borough of Rochdale in 1936. He agreed to provide Sidney with £400- rising to £500 with interest- to fund his studies for the ministry.
During his time in hall Sidney failed the matriculation exam four times and by January 1929 he had had a breakdown, as a result of which he was sent to a nerve specialist at the North Stafford Royal Infirmary. The specialist determined that Sidney was ‘suffering from a rather severe grade of Psychasthenia, associated with various fears, doubts, and lapses of memory… etc.,’ as a result of which he was suffering from Fuege and waking up in various parts of Manchester with no memory of how he got there.
By late February 1929 it was clear to both the Rev. Armytage and the Rev. Tron that it was not sustainable for the boy to remain at St. Anselm and in early March it was agreed that Austerberry should come down (i.e. leave university) for at least six months, during which time he would remain under the supervision of the Rev. Tron.
Although the Rev. Armytage felt that Sidney would never be suitable for ministry, the Rev. Tron disagreed and arranged for Austerberry to return to Manchester as a student of Egerton Hall, a theological college located in Oxford Place. Sidney was eventually ordained as a deacon in 1931 and appointed curate of St. Giles, in central Newcastle. Made priest in 1932, Sidney remained at St. Giles, for seven years, at one point becoming temporary curate-in-charge for a several month period when the church was between vicars. During this time- in 1934- Sidney married Jeannie Naylor, in a service conducted by the Vicar at St. Giles’ during his early years in the parish, the Rev. J. L. Baggott. Sidney and Jeannie had four children together, two boys and two girls.
Sidney and Jeannie left St. Giles following his appointment to St. Alkmand’s, Shrewsbury, in 1938. On his departure, he was presented with a check from the congregation and an electric clock from the choir while Jeannie received a table lamp from the fellowship of marriage and a cake stand from the Brownies. In his farewell speech Mr. Ashley Mynott (Vice-Chairman of Parochial Church Council) spoke of ‘his friendliness, his pluck (he had carried on his duties wholeheartedly when suffering under serious physical disabilities), and his conscientiousness’
In 1939, Sidney was given the additional appointment of chaplain of Little Berwick, in the nearby parish of Berwick. During his time in Shrewsbury, he also became a prominent member of the Rotary Club and was the president 1950-51. In 1951, Sidney was given the living of Brewood and Bishops Wood, on the Shropshire/Staffordshire boarder. Repairs to the church during his time there included £1000 raised to restore the fabric and £300 to repair the church bells.
In addition to his appointed to Brewood, Sidney was later made secretary to the Lichfield Diocesan Conference and in 1958 he was appointed Rural Dean of Penkridge. In 1959, Sideny was made Archdeacon of Salop (Shropshire.) Sidney’s final appointment was to St. Andrew’s, Great Ness, Shropshire.
Sidney retired in 1979, and in retirement lived in the Shrewsbury suburb of Sutton Park before moving to Hillcrest nursing home in the final months of his life. He died in 1996, at the age of 57, and was buried at Great Ness following a funeral service at St. Giles’.
John Swinburn Aynsley
1929-1932
B.A. History
John Swinburn Aynsely was born in Stanley, Durham, in 1910. He was the eldest of the two sons of John Swinburn Aynsely and Una May Smith, his younger brother being the journalist Cecil Aynsely. John Swinburn Aynsely senior worked for the Grocery firm Walter Willson and at the time of his son’s births was the manager of the South Moor branch. During the First World War, he served with the East Yorkshire Regiment in France, including at Etaples and Marne.
After John senior’s demobilisation he settled with his family in Penrith, Cumberland, where he was manager of the Penrith branch of Walter Willson. Turning down an offer of a post with Walter Willson in Darlington 1920, he found a new job as manager for J&J Graham, a long established grocery and bakery in Penrith. The family had a strong Christian faith, attending Christ Church, Penrith, where John senior was a long-standing Church Warden.
Both sons attended first the local primary school and, later, Queen Elizabeth Grammar school. John junior evidently did well at school. When providing a reference to support his application to Slems, Richard Hargraves, a senior master, wrote that ‘[he] is highly thought of both by staff & scholars.’ Although not brilliant academically, he was ‘most conscientious & a very hard worker.’ In addition to his school work, John was a Prefect, a House Captain and a member of the 1st XI Cricket. He was a patrol leader in the boy scouts and took part in the school literary and debating society.
John came up to the University of Manchester in 1929 to study for an Honours degree in History. At the time of application St Anselm Hall in March 1929, he was already planning to enter the church. He was doing so with the support of Canon Gardener, of Scotby, near Carlisle, who was particularly anxious for John to reside at St. Anselm as ‘He has never been far from home and I am anxious to send him to a place where he will be under discipline and meet others.’
Further letters written around the same time reveal that John would be unable to complete his University studies without financial support. He was a hall scholarship candidate, however, there is no evidence that he was awarded a scholarship. John’s file, however, does reveal that he was financially supported by the Diocese of Carlisle, being awarded a £20 grant in April 1931.
By 1931, however, a further question had arisen regarding John's theological training, which would need to be completed at a specialist theological college. In the words of the Warden, in a letter written in June 1931, ‘As you know theological colleges are very often booked up for nearly a year ahead; I do not suppose that Aynsely’s people can afford to keep him at home till there is a vacancy…’ Another letter from June 1931, this one written by John’s parish priest, the Rev. Barker, discussed the effect of the delay on John ‘…I know very well all this worry and suspense is having its effect on A’ s work. He is taking it very much to heart, and his parents are distracted. Imagine what I time I have every Sunday! His father is my Ch[urch] Warden…’
A suggestion, however, from Canon Gardener, that John spend some time in secular work before entering theological training was turned down by the Warden who, besides feeling that the boy should go into training ‘while he is still in the habit of working with examination’, was concerned that, in the depression of the early 1930s, it would not be possible for him to find a suitable job.
John eventually completed his theological training at Lichfield Theological College and was ordained at Rose Castle, the residence of the Bishops of Carlisle, in December 1934. On ordination, he was appointed curate of St. Michael’s, Dalston, Carlisle. In 1937, he received a new appointment as curate of St. George’s, Barrow-in-Furness.
In 1940, John was married to Margaret Crossdale, a Chemists Dispenser from Barrow. A week after his marriage he was instituted and inducted to Crossby Garrett and St. Luke’s Soulby, Cumrbia. Although these were two separate parishes, they were traditionally held dually under one vicar. John and Margaret had two children, a son and daughter. Further appointments followed in the Cumberland area, including at Dearham, Preston Patrick and Arnside. John died in Windemere, in the Lake District, in 1987.
Mervyn Wilfrid Archdall
Summer Term 1936
Mervyn Wilfired Archdall was the eldest of the four children of Rev. Henry Kingsley Archdall and Laura Madden. He born in November 1913 in Cambridge, where his father was a fellow & lecturer at Corpus Christi College. In June 1915, the family relocated to Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia, after his father was appointed rector of Christchurch, Newcastle, a position which from 1916 was joined with an additional role as fellow of the Australian College of Theology. From 1919, Henry was headmaster and chaplain of Armidale School, New South Wales and Canon of St. Peter’s Cathedral, Armidale. It was at Armidale that Mervyn was educated from 1921 to 1926.
In 1926, the family relocated to New Zealand, where Henry became headmaster and chaplain of the newly rebuilt Kings College, Auckland. Mervyn was enrolled as a student there from 1926 to 1931, after which he began his medical studies at Otago University, Dunedin. During his three years there he was a resident of the Selwyn College, which like St Anselm had a Church of England foundation.
When Henry took the new position of chaplain to Wellington College, Berkshire, in 1935, the whole family relocated to England. Henry and Laura arrived first, followed by Mervyn in March 1936. On his arrival, Mervyn determined to continue his medical studies at the University of Manchester. It was his father’s wish that he be admitted to a Church of England Hall and St. Anselm was recommended to him. Due to an unexpected withdrawal from the hall, a place was available from the summer term of 1936.
Mervyn’s student file, however, reveals the families financial struggles. In the words of his father ‘Education of the best kind is v[ery] expensive in England, as compared with the Dominions.’ In addition to supporting Mervyn, his parents were supporting his brother Warwick, who was a student at Corpus Christi, Oxford, and hoping to go into the church, as well as his younger siblings Maynard and Laura who were both still in school. Compounding this, Mervyn was ineligible for any hall scholarships, and the bursary fund, which may have been able to support him, was running low at the time.
As a result of their financial difficulties Mervyn’s parents found it impossible to keep him at St Anselm after the summer term of 1936. Mervyn want to achieve his M.B. in 1939 and subsequently completed his MRPC (Membership of the Royal College of Physicians) in Edinburgh. Completing his studies in Edinburgh in June 1939, Mervyn served with the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps) during the Second World War. The War took a particularly hard toll on the family as both of Mervyn’s brothers were killed, Warwick in France in 1944 and Maynard in Burma in 1945.
After the war, Mervyn made his way back to New Zealand, securing his fare on the Port Alma, which sailed from London on 6th May 1948, by signing on as the ships surgeon for the voyage. On his return to Auckland, Mervyn found employment at Green Lane Hospital where he was a physician specialising in gerontology. In 1950, he married Peg Brown with whom he had two daughters. Mervyn died in 2012, at the age of 98.