St Anselm Hall Archive
Maurice Caiger
1912-c.1914
BA French (2nd class)
Born in Hulme in 1893, Maurice Caiger was the fifth of six children born to William Stephen Caiger and Katherine Langrish. He was born and raised in Hulme, where his father was the rector of St. Mark’s Church up until his death in 1914. Maurice is thought to entered St. Anselm’s Hostel in about 1912, achieving 1st class latin in the summer 1914 intermediate BA examinations and 2nd class modern history in the autumn 1914 intermediate BA examinations. Maurice eventually graduated from the University with a 2nd class honours degree in French and by 1916 was teaching at the East Anglican School in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Little else in known about his teaching career except that in 1927 he was made a teacher at Macclesfield Grammar School. At some point, Maurice also underwent theological training at Ripon College, near Oxford, however further details of this are currently unknown.
Maurice was ordained as a deacon by the Bishop of Rochester, in the latter’s private chapel, in October 1932 and licenced to Strood, Kent. In 1935 he was appointed as curate of Beccles, Suffolk, and by the outbreak of the Second World War he had been appointed to North Wotton, Norfolk. Maurice Cagier died in February 1945, at the age of 46.
Thomas Evans Campbell
Entered Hall 1928
Born in December 1910 in Nainital, India, in the foothills of the Himalayas, Thomas Campbell was of Anglo-India decent. His father, also called Thomas, had been born in Quetta, and his mother, Gwendoline, was born in the Indian hill station of Mussoorie. Thomas senior was an educated man, having received his Bachelors from the University of Allahanad in 1909 and his Masters of Art in 1913. Following the outbreak of the First World War, however, Thomas found himself serving with the British Indian Army.
Thomas and Gwendoline’s second son, Patrick, had been born in 1913 and their youngest child, Peter, was born in 1917. In 1919, shortly after the end of the war, the couple made the decision to move their family to England, where Thomas senior found work as a school teacher at Northallerton Grammar School in Yorkshire. In the early 1920s, Thomas junior and Patrick were boarders at The Friary School in Richmond, Yorkshire.
In 1922, however, Thomas joined his father at Northallerton Grammar. Thomas completed ‘a good matriculation certificate’ whilst at Northallerton but in 1927 transferred to Darlington Grammar School. The reasons for his transfer were that he wanted to go into engineering and Darlington offered the benefit a more advanced science programme. When he arrived at Darlington, however, it was found that Thomas needed further matriculation work in his Science subjects and so he spent an extra year at the school to achieve his Science Matriculation, which he did in July 1927. Thomas’ headmaster at Darlington found that ‘he took no [place] in the outside life of this school’ but attributed this either to his affection for Northallerton or to the fact that he was travelling 16 miles on the train each day.
Thomas came up to University and to St. Anselm Hall in 1928, although little is known about his time there.
In 1930, Thomas joined the British Indian Army, where he served until 1948. By the late 1930s, he was a member of the Baluch Regiment. It is also believed that in this period he married Gwenyth Buckley, the daughter of a railway worker from Karachi. During the 2nd World War, however, both Thomas and his younger brother found themselves serving in the British Indian Army, in the 2nd Battalion of the Baluch Regiment. When the Battalion were captured during the fall of Singapore in early 1942, the brothers, by now both Majors, escaped on a coal boat. They were later injured at Malaya and treated at a Dutch Hospital in Sumatra (Indonesia.) When Sumatra was also overrun by the Japanese, Thomas was able to escape to India but Peter, who was too badly injured to leave the hospital, was taken as a PoW.
In 1948, Thomas left the Army and moved to Canada to work in electronics. He soon found himself back in the Armed Forces, however, working as a Flight Lieutenant in the Telecommunications branch of the Royal Canadian Air Force. During this time, Thomas was living in British Columbia which he described as having ‘some of the most beautiful spots on earth.’ In later life Thomas was married to Trudy Muntwitch. He died in British Columbia in 1983, at the age of 72.
Albert Henry Candler
1910-1914
BA Arts
Albert Herny Candler was born in Chelmsford, Essex, in 1890, the middle of three surviving sons born to James Candler, an army sergeant, and his wife Annie. Albert is thought to have entered the University of Manchester, and St Anselm’s Hostel, around 1910. Whilst at University he was awarded a number of prizes including the Junior Bishop Lee Greek Testament Prize in 1910 and the Senior Bishop Lee Greek Testament prize in 1913. Albert was also noted for his poetry and in May 1911 was jointly awarded the English Poem Prize with T. Weymss Reid.
During his time at St. Anselm’s Hostel, Albert received ordination training through parochial work at St. Wilfred’s (Newton Heath), St James’s Birch (Rusholme) and Holy Innocents (Fallowfield) and in 1912 was accepted for missionary work. Leaving St. Anselm’s in 1914, he completed his missionary training at St. Augustine’s College, Canterbury, during which time he was awarded the Ernest Hawkins Reading Prize.
In 1916, Albert became a missionary priest in Kumasi, Ghana, being master of The Government Training Collage in Accra from 1922 to 1926 and first Superintendent of the Schools for the Northern Territories from 1926 to 1932, when he returned to England. Having had a brief furlough to Fleetwood, Lancashire, in 1921, Albert, on his return to England, took the position of vicar of Nelson, Lancashire. With him, was his wife, Dorice Worsick, a fellow Manchester graduate whom he had married in 1922. In 1941, Albert left Nelson for the position of vicar of nearby Kirkham, which he would hold until his death in 1947, at the age of 55.
George Carr
Pre-WW1.
Subject Unknown
Born near Kelloe, County Durham, in December 1896, George Carr was the third child and eldest son of Jonathan and Mary Jane Carr. As a young boy, he served as a choirboy in the local church and decided to take Holy Orders through the influence of the Rev. Samuel Taylor. Having attended Henry Smith Grammar School, Hartlepool, George was then sent to Manchester Grammar School and went someway to achieving his ambitions when he entered St. Anselm’s Hostel in the years prior to the First World War. The outbreak of the war, however, closed the hall and in 1915 George joined the army, becoming a Chaplain to the Kings Royal Rifles. For his actions, George was awarded the military cross, however severe physical and mental wounds prevented him from pursuing ordination and he instead found work as a teacher.
George took a teaching job at Coxhoe Church of England School, leaving in 1919 to attend York training College and in 1920 entering Clare College, Cambridge, where he obtained at B.A. in history. It was probably whilst at Coxhoe Church of England School that George met Ethel Greenwood, an assistant teacher there, and the pair were married on 1 April 1923. The marriage ceremony was performed by George’s fellow Slemsman Spencer Wade, by then vicar of Roker, Sunderland.
At the time of his marriage George was working at New Kyo School in Kyo, Durham. In the following October he was granted an appointment at Birtley George Street School. In 1928, George became a teacher of history at Houghton-le-Spring Grammar School, a post he held through the 1930s and the Second World War, a period in which he took additional responsibilities as a major in the 14th Battalion Durham Home Guards.
In 1946, George left Houghton-le-spring to take the position of headmaster at Wingate A.J. Dawson Grammar School (now Wellfield School) in Wingate, Durham, a role he would hold until 1959 when he left to pursue his ambition of ordination. He was made deacon in the 1959 Michaelmas ordinations at Durham Cathedral and appointed to St. John’s, Darlington, Durham, before being appointed to the perpetual curacy of Evenwood St Paul, Durham, in 1961. George died at Middle Herrington, Durham, in 1970.
Wilfred Yaleman Carruthers
Entered Hall 1937
Municiple Engineering
Wilfred Maleham Carruthers was born in Whitehaven, Cumberland, in 1918 and was the son of Isaac Carruthers and Lillian Maleham. After the death of his twin sister Beatrice in infancy, he grew up with his parents and older sister Freda, attending St. James National School and then Whitehaven County Secondary School, for which he gained a County Minor Scholarship at the age of 11. During his time at the County Secondary School, Wilfred demonstrated considerable athletic abilities, achieving school colours in Rugby and Cricket before being made Captain of the Rugby Team 1936-37. During that academic year, he also set a new Javelin throwing record in the Cumberland Inter-School Sports competition.
Wilfred came up to the University of Manchester in 1937 to study Municipal Engineering. During his time at St. Anselm Wilfred was able to continue with his sporting activities, appearing in hall records as a member of the 1937-38 Rugby-Football Team.
As Wilfred graduated, the Second World War began. Although it is known that Wilfred did serve with the British Army during the War, in what capacity is unclear. In 1945, he married Eileen in London and they had two sons together. During this period in his life, Wilfred was working as a fruit merchant.
In 1952, William and Eileen made the decision to migrate with their family to Canada. Records show that they travelled in September 1952 on the Nova Scotia from Liverpool. City Directories, however, show that by the 1960s they were living in Clearwater, Florida, U.S. In 1974, they moved for a final time to Lakeview, Arkansas. Wilfred died there in 1985 and was outlived by Eileen who died in 2007.
Alan Thomas Chamberlain
1927-1929
M.Sc. student
Born in July 1906, Alan Thomas Chamberlain was the eldest child of John Chamberlain and Mary Noseley. Alan and his younger sister Phyllis grew up in Leicester where their father, a recognised authority on Textiles, worked for the Leicester College of Technology (now De Montfort University), first as a teacher and then from 1919, when the Technical school separated from the Art School, as headteacher.
Initially attending a local council school, Alan was a student at Wiggeston Grammar School from 1917 to 1925. Afterwards, he studied at Leicester University College, then a constituent college of the University of London, where he achieved a 2nd Class honours in Chemistry in 1927. In providing a reference for Alan R.F. Rattray, the principal of Leicester University College, wrote ‘He has unusual originality and strength… Mr. Chamberlain’s defects are rather defects of excess and often mark a man who is later an exceptional success…’
Alan came up to the University of Manchester in 1927, to study an MSc. He was a resident of St. Anselm Hall for two years and after graduating in 1929, completed his ordination training at Dorchester Missionary college.
Alan was ordained in 1930 and made curate of South Bank, an industrial town near Middlesborough, Yorkshire. In 1934, he was made curate-in-charge of St. Micheal’s, Whitby. The following year, in September 1935, Alan married Frances Fisher. They had four children together, one daughter and three sons born between 1936 and 1946. In 1939, the family moved to Middlesbrough where Alan was Vicar of St. Cuthbert’s, in Marton, near Middlesborough. They remained in the village until 1949, when Alan was made Vicar of St. Alban’s, Coventry.
In 1959, a further moved followed to Hull where Alan was made Vicar of the Church of the Ascension with St. Thomas, in the Derringham Bank area of Hull. Alan retired in 1972. He went to live in Illstone-on-the Hill, near Leicester, where he died in October 1986. On his death one of his parishioners from St. Albans recalled that ‘He was a very learned man… I can only speak well of him.’
Michael Chamberlain
Mid 1920s
M.B. and ChB
Micheal Chamberlain was born in 1902 in Bradley-in-the-Moors, a small village close to Alton in Staffordshire. The youngest of three children (he had an older brother and sister), Michael came from a family of builders, his grandfather having run the building firm Messrs. Chamberlain Bros. in Burton-on-Trent and his father, Alfred, being a well-known builder in the Alton area. His mother, Annie Coxon, was the daughter of a well-known local family.
As a young man, Micheal attended Burton Grammar School and then went on to study Medicine at the University of Manchester, being associated with St. Anselm Hall in the 1925-26 year, when he contributed to the annual hall magazine with an article on the hall play. Micheal returned for the 1926-27 session and appears on the hall photo for the year. Later in his University career, however, Micheal was associated with the Manchester University Settlement, a social enterprise based in the Ancoats area. Based on a similar project in the East End of London,the enterprise aimed to provide education and culture to the local community whilst also introducing staff and students to the challenges brought about by poverty.
Micheal graduated from the University in the Summer of 1929 with the degree of M.B. and ChB (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery.) After graduation, he lived in Burslem.
On 2nd September 1939, the day after the outbreak of the Second World War, Micheal was one of a group of doctors from the potteries who collectively volunteered to join the R.A.M.C. During the final two years of the war, he served in the Central Mediterranean Force. After being at the landing in Salerno bay in September 1943, he was an early entrant into Naples where to quote Edgar Hulme, the first allied governor, ‘the city was in darkness… Police organisation had broken down and after days of terror there was almost a state of anarchy…’ Micheal remained in Naples for the rest of the war, including through the 1943-44 typus outbreak, and was reception officer at 92 British General Hospital. It is estimated that through 1943/44 he treated 1/3 of British casualties in Italy.
Michael returned to England in 1946 and lived at Burselm in the 1950s and 60s, at one point becoming president of the Burslem and Tunstall Conservative Association. Later in life, however, he as a G.P. at Smallthorpe, in Stoke-on-Trent.
Micheal was also a passionate amateur organ player, with his own organ at home and in 1960, with a group of other church organists, was a founding member of the North Staffordshire and District Organ Society.
Micheal never married. He died in June 1975, at the age of 73, and is buried at Bradley-in-the-Moors with his older sister Edith, who died in 1992. In his will, he left a painting of Primitive Italian Madonna and Child to Hanley Museum and Art Gallery, where he was a regular visitor. His beloved organ, meanwhile, was left to his home church of Bradley-in-the-Moors but after the costs of moving and fitting the instrument proved prohibitive, it was given instead to Richard Greening, then the Organist of Lichfield Cathedral.
Eric Chapman
Late 1930s
Eric Chapman was born in Middleton, Lancashire, in 1919. His father, James Chapman, had married his mother, Emily Taylor, in 1916, shortly before he joined the British Army, serving as a Quartermaster in the South Lancashire Regiment. Their first child, Geoffrey, was born in 1917 and Eric followed in 1919.
Eric’s came from a devout Christian background. His father was the churchwarden at Middleton for a number of years and, after the family moved to Fleetwood, became a churchwarden there as well, in addition to being a sidesman and treasurer to the Parochial Council, meaning he had responsibility for the accounts of the whole parish. Among his own contributions, Eric was both a chorister and a server and, later, assisted with the Children’s service.
At Fleetwood, Eric attended the local Grammar School, where, among his other achievements, he was a school prefect and, in 1938, won the Bailey Memorial Medal.
Eric came up to the University of Manchester in 1938, although few details are known of his time there as his hall file has survived. Records from other students files, however, suggest that, he was an ordination candidate from the Blackburn diocese, along with Thomas Cooper, who joined the hall in 1939. In a letter written to the Warden by Canon Arthur Boddington, a diocesan secretary, Eric was described as ‘the more mature and developed. He comes regularly to Chapel, and is very popular with the other Students, and he takes a full part in the life of the Hall…’
After graduating with a B.A. in 1941, Eric spent a further two years completing his ordination training at Cheshunt Theological College. He was ordained in 1943 and appointed Curate of St. Peter, Chorley, Lancashire, where he served between 1943 and 1946. This was followed by another curacy position at St. Luke’s, Skerton, Lancashire, between 1946 and 1951.
In 1951, Eric married Margaret Rogers, a local nursery teacher. They had three children together. After the marriage, the family lived at Bolton, where Eric was the vicar of St. Mark’s until 1958. This was followed by a period between 1958 and 1966 where Eric was vicar of Kells in Whitehaven, Cumberland. From 1966, Eric became Vicar of Egremont, where he remained until his retirement in 1985. Other appointments during this period included the position of Rural Dean between 1966 and 1970 and Honorary Canon of Carlisle Cathedral from 1979.
In 1990 Eric remarried to Joan ‘Penny’ Nelson. He died in 2011, at the age of 91.
John Clarke
Mid 1920s
B.Sc., Chemistry
Born in February 1905, John Clarke grew up in Whitchurch, Shropshire, with his father, John, a postman, his mother Sarah and his younger sister Phyllis. As a boy, he was able to attend Whitchurch Grammar School, where he apparently did well as on leaving in 1922 he was awarded a Leaving Exhibition Scholarship. John is thought to have come up to the University of Manchester in 1922 to study for a B.Sc., probably in Chemistry, and during his studies was a resident at St. Anselm Hall, becoming JCR President in the 1925-26 year.
His election was satirised by his fellow Slemsmen in the 1925-26 edition of Aosta:
‘Lo! I have communed with my wits for many days, and have appointed unto you, for a leader, one Cow’n Slor, which being interpreted means Clerk, a man mighty in his understands and who before dwelt at Wit-Church, in the land of Slop.’
After leaving University, John had a brief career in the Chemistry industry before finding work as a tax inspector. Living in Bramall, Cheshire, John married Madge with whom he had at least two children. He died in 1963, at the age of 58.
Herbert Roy Clayton
1934-35
B.Sc., Chemistry with Biology
Herbert Roy Clayton was born in March 1915 in Northwich, Cheshire, and was the only child of Frank Clayton and Mary Jane Bass, who had married the previous year. Frank was an insurance manager, employed by Provest Assurance and later by Pioneer Life Assurance Company.
As a boy, Herbert attended Davenham Church of England School between 1920 and 1927 before going on to Sir John Deane’s Grammar School, where he was a contemporary of fellow Slemsman Jack Blain. In 1931, the two men both appeared in on ‘The Gentle Craft’, a production put on by the school’s Orchestral and Dramatic Society, Jack playing Simon Eyre and Hebert King Henry VI. In addition, Herbert was also the school’s Head Prefect. His headmaster- in summing him up- wrote ‘… you will find him as sterling a fellow in his way as [Jack] Blain or [Leonard] Bradbury…’
Herbert came up to the University in 1934 to study Chemistry with biology as a sub-subject and lived at St. Anselm Hall through the 1934-35 session. Herbert did not return for the following session, however, after the hall was unable to renew his bursary for reasons which are not clear. Despite this, he remained connected to St. Anselm, and is credited in the programme for the 1936 hall play (Who Goes Next?) as a Stage Assistant, alongside Kenneth Watson & Don Duckworth (the elder.)
Although at the time of his coming up to University Herbert had wanted to become a teacher, he worked in later life as a research chemist for British Aluminium at their research laboratories in Chalfont Saint Peter, Buckinghamshire. In his spare time, Herbert built a series of remote control models which were featured in the local press, including a yacht and a lorry.
Herbert died in Buckinghamshire in 1973, at the age of 58.
James Mylecreest Colling
1928-30
B.A French
JCR President 1929-30
James Mylecreest Colling was born in November 1907, the only child of Alfred Colling and Ada Mylecreest, and spent his early childhood in Manchester, where his father worked as a Lithograph Printer. James has strong links to the Isle of Man, however, as both his maternal grandparents, despite spending their adult lives in Manchester, were originally from the island.
After James’ father was killed whilst serving with the 20th Northumberland Fusiliers in June 1917, he and his mother returned to the Isle of Man where they lived with his grandfather, also called James, a retried builder. As a young man, James was sent to Douglas High School where he was a student from 1920-27. His headmaster later wrote, on the basis of his time at the school, ‘I have not the least hesitation in recommending Mr. J. M. Colling for admission to St. Anselm’s Hall.’ Among his other activities, he had been School Captain and Senior Prefect.
Coming up to the University of Manchester in 1927 to study an Honours course in French, James was initially in lodgings but by the spring of 1928, having found that he was ‘working under disadvantages,’ he was looking to move into halls. In pursuit of this, he made contact with the Warden and was offered a place at St. Anselm Hall from the summer term of 1928, returning for the 1928-29 and 1929-30 sessions. As a foreign language student, James appears to have spent the summer term of 1929 in Nance, a period which coincided with the Warden falling seriously ill.
On his return to Manchester in the Michaelmas term of 1929, James was made JCR President or ‘Senior Student’ as it was then called, a role solidified by Rev. Armytage as a part of his plan to build a college tradition within St. Anselm Hall and the wider University of Manchester. In this period, however, the JCR president was evidently selected by the Warden rather than voted in for by the JCR body. Rev. Armytage wrote to James on his selection ‘I have given careful thought to the question and I am sure I cannot make a better choice than yourself.’
At the end of that term, however, James landed himself in hot water following an altercation with fellow students. While the exact details remain unclear, it seems that during an (unauthorised) end of term revelry, two students, Downham & Bale (Downham lodging in the ‘The Elms’, a house rented by the hall, and Bale having been sent down a month earlier after being found in bed with the Warden’s personal maid) had refused to leave and a half hour argument on the subject followed. Strong words from the Warden followed ‘The Senior Student is responsible for the well being of the Hall… and he must be strong enough to make it clear that he will not tolerate breaches of Hall rules…’
In spite of this telling off, however, the Warden refused to accept James’ resignation as JCR President, writing ‘It would tell very badly against yourself… and it would be unsettling for the Hall just as we are beginning to settle down under the new [JCR]’ It seems likely that James retained the title of JCR president for his final two terms, before graduating in the summer of 1930.
After graduation, James worked as a French teacher in Cumberland where he married Margaret Sowerby in 1935. They had three children together. By the late 1930s, James and Margaret lived in Workington, Cumberland, where in the later decades of the 20th century he taught at Newlands School and then History at Moorclose School where he was also a housemaster. James died in May 1993 and is buried on the Isle of Mann alongside his mother, aunt and grandfather.
Herbert Crompton
1932-1936
B.A Spanish (2nd Class Honours) & Teaching Diploma
Herbert Crompton was born in Accrington in 1914 and was the youngest of four children born to Joseph Senior Crompton and Mary Ellen Taylor. Joseph worked in the furnishing industry and had set himself up as an independent upholster and furnisher several years before Herbert was born. He was also a committed member of the Oak-street Congregational Church in Accrington. Sadly, Joseph’s health was poor and he died suddenly when Herbert was a baby. After his death, Herbert’s mother Mary Ellen took over the furnishing business while also raising her four children. In the early 1920s she was employing her eldest son, Alan, as a part-time Errand boy.
As a young man, Herbert attached Accrington Grammar School before coming up to University in 1932 to study a B.A. in Spanish. Sadly, Herbert’s hall file has not survived so little is known about his time in hall but records show that he was the Junior Treasurer in the 1935-36 Session. He also took part in successive hall plays, playing Sadig in 1934 (The Forest), Lord Sunningdale in 1935 (Wings over Europe) and Major Russell in 1936 (Who Goes There?)
Herbert achieved a Second Class degree in 1935, after which he took the Teaching Diploma. Records show that after graduation Herbert lived at home and was a school teacher, although exactly where is unclear. By the summer of 1939, Herbert was suffering with Lymphadenoma, a rare benign tumour of the salivary glands. He was sent to St. Bart’s in London but his condition lead to Herbert developing Pulmonary oedema ( a build up on fluid on the lungs.) Herbert died on 8 August 1939, aged 25.
Richard Walker Crossland
1933-37
General Science- Biology Section (1st Class Honours) & Teaching Diploma
JCR President 1935-36
Richard Walker Crossland was born in May 1914 in Stainland, a village located Halifax and Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. He was the younger of two sons of William Crossland, a chemical labourer, and his wife Minnie Walker. As a young boy, Richard attended a local council school. While his older brother Alan, however, had partially left school before his 14th birthday, Richard was successful in securing a foundation scholarship for King James Grammar School where he studied for seven years. On leaving school in 1933, Richard was able to secure further funding in the form of a West Riding County Major Scholarship and a School Leaving Scholarship.
Unfortunately, Richard’s hall file has not survived and so any information about his time in hall is limited but it is known that he lived throughout his studies. In the 1934-35 hall play, ‘Wings over Europe’ he played Sir Humphrey Haliburton, the Secretary of State for Home Affairs. Richard appears again in the programme for the 1935-36 hall play ‘Who Goes Next,’ where he played Sergeant Major German Feldwebel. At the end of the 1935-36 academic year, Richard achieved first class honours in general science (biology section.) Although he was offered a Graduate Research Scholarship on the back of his degree success, Richard declined it in favour of a teaching diploma. During his teaching diploma year, Richard remained living in hall where he was president of the Junior Common Room.
After leaving University in 1937, Richard began a teaching career. His first job was at King’s School, Pontefract, Yorkshire, where he founded the school’s biology department. In 1939, he was made Senior Biology Master at Plaistow Grammar School. During the Second World War, however, Richard served for six years with the British Army, three years with the Royal Engineers and three years with the Army Educational Corps.
On his discharge in 1946, Richard began a new career in academia. He was appointed first as a Staff Tutor in Science in the Extra-Mural Department at Birmingham University. Originally set up in 1909 as a part of the Workers’ Education Association, the Extra- Mural Department aimed to ‘raise the standard of knowledge possessed by the general public’ by offering education opportunities outside the normal university structure, for example part time courses. It was Richard’s idea to establish Westham House in Barford, Warwickshire, as a rural residental college for adults, although the idea was only brought to fruition under his successor, Mr. Pickvance.
In 1948, Richard returned to the University of Manchester, having been appointed as a lecturer in Education. In 1956, he achieved the additional degree of M.Ed (Master in Education) from the University. Richard was promoted in 1966 to the position of the lecturer and from 1974-76 was Dean of the Faculty of Education.
Richard resigned from the University in September 1977. He died in Cumberland in early 1993, at the age of 78.
Kenneth Appleyard Crowther
1928-32
Chemistry (2nd Class Honours) & Teaching Diploma
Born in May 1910, Kenneth Crowther was an only child and grew up in Halifax with his father John Crowther, a shop manager, and his mother Edith Laycock. As a young boy, Kenneth attended Holy Trinity School before moving to Heath Grammar School, where he was a student from 1921 until 1927. In 1926, he achieved a 1st class Matriculation from the Joint Matriculation Board.
After leaving the grammar school in 1927 Kenneth did not immediately come up to University but instead took a year out, which he spent as a student teacher, splitting his time between Haugh Shaw Elementary School and Halifax Secondary School.
Kenneth came up to University in 1928 to study for an honours degree in Chemistry. Although unsuccessful in securing a hall scholarship (they were awarded that year to Cecil Elliott and Miles Birtwell), Kenneth nevertheless lived in hall for four years from 1927 until 1932. He had graduated with second class honours in Chemistry in 1931 but seems to have lived in hall for a further, most likely whilst taking the teaching diploma.
After graduating, Kenneth worked as a chemist in the Renfrew area of Halifax. During the Second World War, he worked for the Ministry of Supply in Scotland, achieving during his time there a degree of education (1943) and the position of Associate of the Royal Institute of Chemistry (1944.) After the war, he had some continued contact with hall, attending the 1949 reunion and contributing 7s 9d to the first war memorial fund.
Unfortunately, nothing else is known of Kenneth’s later life. He died in Northumberland in 1994, at the age of 84.
Edward Cropper
1933-36
B.A French (Upper 2nd Class Honours)
Edward Cropper was born in Burnley, Lancashire, in December 1914, the eldest son of John Robert Cropper and Mary Ann Thompson who had married in 1910. He had two younger brothers, Alan (born 1916) and Norman (born 1920.)
During the 1st World War, John served with the Lancashire & Cheshire Royal Garisson Artillery, a Territorial Force who also served in France during the War. By the early 1920s, he had returned to his day job and was working as a life assurance agent. As a young man, Edward attended Blackburn Grammar School, although little is known about his time there except that in 1933 he was a member of the School Cricket Team.
Edward matriculated in 1933, after which he came up to University to study French. Unfortunately, as his hall record has not survived, little is known of Edward’s time in hall except that in the 1934-35 year he played Lord Vivian Vere, the President of the Board of Education, in that years hall play Wings over Europe.
After graduating with a 2nd class degree in French in 1936, Edward lived in Bolton where he worked as a tax inspector. In 1941, he married Dorothy Entwistle, a French teacher at Edgbaston College, Birmingham, who he had met whilst at University. They had two children together.
After the War, Edward and Dorothy lived at Offord Cluny in Cambridgeshire. In August 1956, the purchasers of his house wrote to the hall to say they believed he had moved to Kenya. Unfortunately, nothing else is known of Edward’s life. He died in Oxfordshire in 2000.
Edward Neil Cunliffe
1927-28
Engineering
Born in Preston, Lancashire, in 1906, Edward Cunliffe was the oldest child of Frederick Cunliffe, a manager for a Christmas Card Manufacturer, and his wife Mina Gray. Edward was from a methodist background and, growing up in Preston with his younger brothers Leslie and Ian, attended Moor Park Wesleyan School before going on to Preston Grammar School, where he was a student between 1918 and 1925. Edward was apparently academically successful at school and also achieved in sports, becoming captain by the time he left. Edward had also developed a skill and passion for electrical engineering, an activity to which he reportedly devoted most of his free time.
When Edward came up to the University in 1925 to study engineering, he did so with a Edmund Mills Harwood Scholarship. Set up in memory of a former student of the Manchester College of Technology, the scholarship provided successful candidates with £50 a year for three years of study. It is not known where Edward lived during his first two years of study, but he moved to St. Anselm Hall during his third year, the 1927-28 session. One of his requests in communicating to the Warden was ‘… can I have a single room, because I shall be in my third year, and will better be able to concentrate on my studies if I am alone….’ While it is not known if Edward got his single room, it is known from the hall history book that third year men would typically be offered a ‘single study bedroom,’ and that finalists would often be placed together on the top corridor of the Main Building (now Schuster), where they formed ‘an almost monastic community, with its own rules, especially of silence…’
Edward graduated from University in 1928. Although it is unclear what he did in the years immediately following his graduation, it is known that in 1936 he took a job as an Engineer with the Belfast Corporation Electricity Department, where he continued to work on war service through the Second World War. In 1946, Edward began a new job with the Department as distribution engineer, meaning he was responsible for designing and maintaining the electrical distribution grid. Continuing to work for the Belfast Corporation Electricity department for the rest of his working life, Edward was promoted in 1965 to the post of head of department. He retired in 1971 aged 35 years of employment with the department.