Archive Materials - A Message from the Headmaster
We have arranged that the Old Russellian Society have a dedicated archive space at the school. I am very keen that the school should hold a complete record of events that have occurred in order that these can be referred to in perpetuity. I would like to take this opportunity, therefore, to invite all Old Russellians to search their attics, garage, (bomb shelter?), for any memorabilia associated with the school and pass any (that are not of personal value!) to the school to enhance the archive. The school will reimburse postage on larger items! Julia Powell or Brian Angel will be pleased to discuss this with you and thank you in anticipation of your assistance with this important aspect of the school's heritage.

C J Hutchinson
Headmaster


The Story of 1853
Click here to read article.


Geography Field Trips Over the Years

Mr Tanner has compiled the reports of the Geology Field Trips back to 1999. There are some missing ones and a lot more to go from when he arrived at RRS in 1982. If you have any articles from past magazines, or would like to send in any photos and comments about your memories of these trips, please let Sue have them. The file so far can be downloaded here. It's work in progress!

Phil Reynolds has responded to this message and sent us an article and photos from his Geology Field Trip to Dorset in 1976. Please click here to download the article.

Royal Patrons and Benefactors
1863 HRH Edward, Prince of Wales
1878 HRH Princess Louise
1901 HM King Edward Vll
1910 HM King George V
1936 HM King Edward Vlll
1937 HM King George Vl
1952 HM Queen Elizabeth ll

Queen Elizabeth II visited RRS on 4 occasions, first as Princess Elizabeth in February 1952, then as HM Queen Elizabeth on 20th May 1963, then on 16th March 1079, and most recently for the school's sesquicentenary on 5th November 2003. Footage of HM's visits can be purchased from The Old Russellians.  Click here for details.

In addition, in the 1870's both HRH Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria) and HRH George, Duke of Cambridge (seventh son and tenth child of King George lll) presided at the annual School Appeal Dinners held at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate.

In 1924 HRH Edward, Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone for the Chapel.

In 1936 HRH Prince George, Duke of Kent (fourth son of King George V and younger brother of King Edward VllI) was the Appeal President for the School.

Benefactors

Our Old Russellian, Brian Angel, writes: ROYAL WEDDING Kate's Family : School Benefactors

Kate's great-grandmother Olive Middleton (née Lupton), born in 1881, was an Edwardian Society beauty and daughter of the wealthy Yorkshire wool and worsted merchant Francis Lupton. He had been widowed at age 43 and was left to care for young Olive, her sister and three sons, at the same time running the family firm William Lupton & Co. at Whitehall Mills in Leeds. Olive married solicitor Noel Middleton in 1914 at the outset of the First World War, in which all three of her brothers were killed. Shortly after in 1921 their father Francis died, it is said, of a broken heart. Olive Lupton, now Middleton, and her sister inherited the business and the equivalent of £9.8 million today. The textile business continued to thrive. Our School records for 1936, when Kate's great-grandmother Olive died, show that the company had remained generous benefactors of Russell School. Their annual donations over the years, and in 1936 when our School Appeal President was HRH the Duke of Kent, ensured that any orphaned or needy children of Lupton employees would be accepted into Russell School Croydon or Russell Hill Purley. As Olive Middleton clearly bequeathed her fine looks to great-granddaughter Kate – can we also be grateful that Olive continued to bequeath part of her fortune to our School's development?

Addington Gentry

When World War One ended in November 1918 there were 300 new orphans of textile trade employees. Russell Hill School Purley was already near capacity and about to be overwhelmed. Urgently, Sir Sydney Skinner of John Barker's of Kensington (and Derry & Toms and Pontings) negotiated the purchase of the Ballards estate. Howard Hollingsworth of Bourne & Hollingsworth of Oxford Street then provided the purchase price for the 120 acres. Sir Ernest Debenham and Sir Woodman Burbidge of Harrods acted as treasurers for the new School. Sir Aston Webb (President of the RIBA and architect of Buckingham Palace facade and Admiralty Arch) designed the new buildings which were ready for the first pupils as quickly as 1923. The Gothic estate house, until 1970 used as St Andrew's House after being bombed by incendiaries in World War Two, had been owned by the Goschen diplomatic family who at one time hosted the Kaiser of Germany.

Ballards Hill - click image to enlarge

A local enthusiast and archivist, Lindsay Ould, has put together a walk around the Ballards area, Heathfield and Coombe Wood highlighting Victorian and Edwardian residents. Please click here for further information. Even if you don't do the walk, the contents are very informative.

Click image to enlarge

Picture received from Ewald Schroder (1977-1984) Article from Richard Dadson (1947-1955) As for the old mansion (as it really was!), it was a bit of a flea pit, but the Music Room was pristine, with its polished wooden floors and paneled walls. Entry was forbidden unless summoned or for music lessons/practice. There was also a Staff Common Room, also comfortably furnished and into which Ballards first TV set was installed in time for the Coronation in 1953. Those who did not have an exeat for that day were allowed to watch the events of the day on the black & white TV. I was fortunate enough to be able to see the Coronation Procession from The Mall, where I slept out for two nights with my mother. In 1951, a group from the school was invited to watch the opening of the Festival of Britain by King George VI. This event took place on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral right outside the School's Offices which were then located at 4 St Pauls Churchyard. The fortunate few were those from both Purley and Ballards who had been Top of Class in the previous academic year. This meant six from each school. I was lucky enough to be the one from my class. As rationing was still in force, the sandwiches at this event were an even greater treat than watching the opening!! Another treat at that time, also accorded to those of us who were top of the form, was a Christmas visit to Harrods at the invitation of Sir Richard Burbage, who was then Chairman of Harrods and a great friend of the School. We were given the freedom of the Toy Department, before having a magnificent slap-up tea after which we were each given a parcel containing a  super gift from the department. Yet another treat - this time for the whole of both schools and which occurred for a number of years, was the fresh strawberries provided in June by Mrs Gerald Bentall, wife of the Chairman of Bentalls of Kingston-on-Thames.

Says Brian Angel (At school 1938-1947): The old Ballards mansion illustrated here did indeed warrant Richard Dadson's fun remark of it being "a bit of a flea pit".  In fact, while I was a pupil there in the wartime forties it was used as  St Andrew's House and - even worse - was actually referred to as "Bugs' Hole"!  This was the result of countless divisions of larger rooms and annexes and staircase changes to make classrooms, a common room and dormitories. More work with fussy diversions had also been made necessary after damage from incendiary bomb raids. Its plumbing and heating soon became hopeless and even before Health & Safety laws really became effective, the former gracious mansion was finally doomed - and knocked down. All that remains today are some of the old brick perimeter walls now well over a century old. Look at them and think how spectacular the building at its 1878 opening must have looked. Its English architect Frederick Pepys Cockerell, who coincidentally died in Paris the same year, very much favoured French influences in building and sculpture. I think this can be seen in its illustration. Cockerell had also designed Freemasons' Hall in London and a major memorial at Castle Howard, location for the TV series and film "Brideshead Revisited".

Russell School in the 1950s
Over the past few years Bill Forster has borrowed photographs from O.R.s of life at Ballards in the 50s which he has then scanned and added to a slide show published on DVD in June 2011.


Faces From the Past - A Mystery Solved
A mysterious photograph album in the School Archive contains the photographs of nearly 400 boys (and some girls) who left Russell School between approximately 1950 and 1965. The photographs in this Album have all been scanned and indexed and more than one hundred of these “old boys” (and girls) have requested copies and been sent them by email.


Russell Hill Girls
Where are you girls now? We want to hear from you!!

We are often getting enquiries about archive material from the girls' school at Russell Hill, and then later when the girls came to Ballards because it was safer for them during WW2.

You can read what Heather Lovell (née Morgan) writes by clicking here.

Christine Bell (née Harte) writes:

I was at school in the 1950s at Russell Hill, not Ballards. Please don't forget us!

Please contact Sue with your stories and interesting facts about life for the girls at Russell Hill, Purley.


School History
Please click on Read More for articles on The Story of 1853, Potted History and How Things Have Changed by Tom Wilkinson (1993 - 2007)


Portraits
Can anyone out there help us to identify any of these portraits? They are the portraits that hang in Royal Russell's Great Hall and the name plaques are obscured and we are unable to read them. If anyone can help, please email Sue with the index number. Please click on Read More to view portraits. 


More Portraits
These portraits have been put on canvas by O.R. Historian, Brian Angel (1938-1947) and framed by The Old Russellians. Each portrait is hung in the Conference Room in the Performing Arts Centre along with its own plaque.


Heads of School
Please click on Read More for a list of our School Headmasters.


Head Prefects
Please click on Read More for a list of all Head Prefects from 1924.


Heads of House

There are 12 House listings for Royal Russell Senior School. Although we have retrieved House information for many past years, Sue would be delighted to hear from you if your name does not appear and you were a Head of House. We understand that in the 1960s the Head Prefects were also Head of their respective House. Please click here for the list we hold. Updated 06/02/12

Pen-Pics of Royal Russell Staff at Ballards, by Richard Dadson 1947- 1955
Please click on Read More button for further details.