Pound Lane School - World War I

4 August war was declared and at the beginning of September, two teachers, Mr Jones and Mr Williams enlisted and were accepted in the 8th Surrey. In November, Mr E J Scoones, after taking the Practical Examination for B Sc (Lond), also enlisted. The school received notice in December that Mr Scoones had been awarded his B Sc degree.

A Zeppelin poster and a Zeppelin photographed over Epsom

Log Book entry for 28 September - Several children have been admitted to the School from London, they are leaving town for a time on account of the air raids. [ISLB] Some of the children were given drill for Zeppelin raids and they were told to shelter under their desks

The shortage of staff was causing great problems. An entry for Dec 4, "For the 2nd week the school has been 2 Assistants short, and no "Supply" has been sent. This means that one of the staff must always have charge of two classes" [BSLB]

In November 1914, many of the girls were kept away from school to help at home as men from the University and Public Schools Battalion were billeted around Epsom until their camp was completed at the R A C Club. This paid well and extra help was needed at home to look after the soldiers.

The schools took part in the National Egg Collection for the Wounded Scheme and it appeared many families must have been keeping chickens as in June the Infants' School collected 154 eggs and in July a further 907 eggs were collected by the Boys' School. These were sent to the Military Hospital at Horton.

In Feb 1916 - Lt Commander H Chamberlain gave a lecture to the boys, "His subject was "The War" and he dealt with the western front and the battle of the Falkland Islands illustrating his subject by most excellent maps of his own construction. The lesson was an admirable one and was listened to with keenly appreciative attention". [BSLB]

The battle was a naval engagement fought between units of the Royal Navy and the Imperial German Navy. The British reeling from the defeat at the Battle of Coronel, off the coast of Chile, sent a large force to destroy the German cruiser squadron. The force included two modern battle cruisers, HMS Invincible and HMS Inflexible, together with armoured and light cruisers. The battle lasted all day, with a decisive victory to the Royal Navy. No British ships were lost but four German ships were sunk.

On 30 November the school received the news that "Lieut. E J Scoones was killed in action on 23rd November. He was appointed here in Oct 1911, obtained the B Sc degree in Oct 1914, when he immediately entered War Service. A man of high moral and intellectual attainments, his untimely death comes as a real personal loss"

2 October, 1917 "Miss Wetherall away all the morning for an interview for an appointment under the Ministry of Munitions. Her salary is so poor she is unable to live on it and is therefore obliged to leave the profession" She was successful providing that she could leave straight away.

WW1 Munitions Poster and Women working in a Munitions Factory

Throughout the war, teachers at the Girls' and Infants' Schools were given time off either to get married or if their husbands were on embarkation leave

8 March 1918, "the children have been bringing money this week in connection with the War Savings Association to swell the funds of the War Campaign. The total amount collected is £77. 7s. 0d" [ISLB].

The pupils were taught in "Standards" laid down by the Board of Education, and each child was tested regularly to see if he was suitable to move up to the next standard. This entry for 17 February 1915 from the Boys' School log book shows how these class/age differences throughout the school, made it very difficult to teach. For example, the bottom class had boys ranging in ages from 8 to 13.

Throughout the country, thousands of people were the victims of the world wide flu epidemic and the schools were no exception. The schools were closed for two weeks in October but it was not until the end of November that the numbers of cases began to decline.

During 1919 things slowly began to return to pre-war normal. On 19 July there was a Sports and Peace Celebration Day and the children had an extra week's holiday "at the wish of His Majesty King George V to celebrate the Victory Peace of the European War"[ISLB].

Surprisingly with all the extensive coverage of the of the killing of Police Sergeant Green at Epsom Police Station and the very large public funeral, there was only a passing reference to the event in the Infants' School Log Book - "Many children away this afternoon to witness the public funeral of Sgt Green killed in the Canadian riot"

Sgt Green's children and those of other policemen stationed at Epsom, including the daughters of Inspector Pawley, attended the school and even so the event did not seem to be of sufficient importance for the head teachers of the Boys' and Girls' Schools to record it.