Sloane's building was put to good use as a hospital during the First World War and was without pupils again at the onset of World War II.
Guy Boas was holidaying in Scotland in 1939 when, having descended Ben Nevis, he was greeted by a messenger who handed him a letter saying he must immediately return to London as all schools were to be evacuated.
When the day came for Sloane to be evacuated, September 2nd, 1939, no one seemed to know for certain where they were going, least of all the Headmaster. He believed they were bound for Oxforshire but events contrived to put them in Addlestone, Surrey. Addlestone was the train's first stop after starting out from Earl's Court and, as it pulled into the station, one or two boys jumped off to buy chocolate from a vending machine. They were followed by others, including the Headmaster and his staff, who had by now assumed they'd reached their intended destination, until 250 boys, plus staff, were all standing on the platform, watching the train continue on its way with just one infants' school for its passengers. What was soon to follow confirmed that the infants were probably the only ones who should have alighted at Addlestone. After a short walk, the pupils and staff of Sloane were greeted by a welcoming Committee armed with Teddy bears and dolls, which they soon abandoned on seeing the size of the boys they were there to meet, and let the ladies of the Womens' Voluntary Service get on with the job of allocating billets. Ably assisted by Mr Bailey, they found billets for all in the Addlestone, Chertsey and Newholm areas. The first night for some was actually spent on a factory floor and Mr Boas records the following weeks as being the most difficult of his life as locals and WVS alike, feeling aggrieved and hard-done-by, proceeded to take it out on the school.
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| Sloane School playground on evacuation day, September 1st, 1939 |
Eventually, quartered near the Vicker's and Hawker's works at Brooklands, near Weybridge, the school found itself without a building large enough to house everyone, and with a distinct lack of the air-raid shelters they'd become accustomed to in London. The need of a building in which to teach was not immediate, as the school had arrived during an official school holiday period and, by the time the new term started, a disused tin church, St Augustine's, the Methodist Hall, and the Abbey Barn in Chertsey, had been found for Sloane's 300 pupils and staff. In Guy Boas's paraphrasing of Churchill's words,
"Never was so little, provided by so few, for so many."
The four weeks of boredom that followed resulted in six of the boys being hauled into the local court charged with stealing, and two others with riding two on a bicycle.
The school's situation remained less than ideal as, eventually, it took the opportunity of sharing the premises of the Strode School, Egham, on alternate days. This arrangement meant a daily eight-mile train journey to and from Addlestone so Guy continued his search for suitable accommodation. By Christmas, he managed to rent two large, empty houses, a mile apart, which he filled with equipment sent for from Chelsea. One was Addlestone Lodge, let to the school by Mr Barry-Cooper, the owner. This was considered to be 'Headquarters', and was where the upper school worked. The other, Newholm on Woburn Hill, was for the lower school. St George's College, Weybridge, allowed use of their playing fields, gymnasium and science labs. The daily journeys to Egham stopped in the new year and work began on the construction of air-raid shelters in the garden of Addlestone Lodge, whilst the necessary reinforcement of the cellar at Newholm, meant that it wasn't ready for occupation until the new term, after Christmas. With a number of the school staff having joined the services, Boas secured help from a neighbouring girls' school. When the authorities got to hear about this they sent him a letter which read,
"It is noted that you already have four mistresses in Addlestone. If you want a fifth, permission must be obtained from London."
This amused him, but he felt he had to decline the offer.
To amuse himself, and the boys, Mr Bailey wrote a play, The Black Gang. This play, about spies and evacuation, had Sidney Peever as its hero, Tiger, and, due to indoor assemblies being rightly discouraged, was performed in the open air in the grounds of Addlestone Lodge. In general, life went on much as it had in London. In fact, school life in Addlestone, away from competing interests and with smaller classes, proved beneficial from an educational point of view. R. Oblitas, E.D. Kohn and R.A. Blight all won Scholarships at Cambridge, to prove that, despite what was going on around them, work and examination results were being maintained. Football and Cricket continued to be played, and the Annual Athletic Sports day was maintained at St Gorge's. Everyone looked forward to, and enjoyed, an annual Christmas Party at Abbey Barn and Mr Bailey's plays.
Many of the older boys returned to London to sleep at week-ends and in the holidays, and during blitzes at night they fought fires, returning to Addlestone on the Monday to continue their studies. Lacking their company of an evening, life became intolerably boring for Guy and, after a couple of years, he returned to London in 1944 to preside over the West London Emergency School, which included boys from Clement Danes, Westminster City and Wandsworth schools, all wearing their own uniforms, and, until Guy's return had operated with the Reverend John Kingsford as its Headmaster. It had been set up to teach those boys whose families had decided to 'tough it out' in London, and was using the Sloane Building alongside the Auxiliary Fire Service.
Not long after arrival back in London, Guy, asleep at home in Wimbledon, was woken by a phone call from the master in charge of fire-watching for the evening, in the school building. As he recounts in his book A Teacher's Story the caller said,
"The Headmaster would like to know that the school has been struck."
I replied that the Headmaster did not like to know this", and as I didn't see what I could do about it at midnight, I returned to bed."
A doodle-bug had landed near enough to the school to blow all of its windows out. As a result, all but three dozen of the boys were sent to the Roehampton plaqying field the following day whilst the remainder were sent to buy sheets of asbestos and set about covering the windows. They did so with such enthusiasm that the boys at Roehampton were summoned to return to the school just two days later. Attendance at the school was voluntary during the 'little blitz' of 1944 but, according to Donald Wheal's (see the Famous and Infamous page) book, World's End, never fell below 95% full. Standards were certainly lower during this time of upheaval and discipline slack, as some masters were just going through the motions, awaiting the end of war and their 'second retirement'.
Apart from the loss of life suffered by many of the school's old boys and some of its younger ones during the Second World War, which is faithfully recorded on the Roll of Honour below, some proved to be luckier. One of the junior boys was in a Putney milk-bar at 11pm one night when it was hit by a bomb. A number of people were killed and many were seriously injured. This particular pupil was saved by the hollow milk-bar counter having landed on top of him, and having protected him from the caved-in roof. The next day the boy turned up on time for school as usual. In a second incident, a bomb fell about a mile away from the Roehampton playing field whilst Guy Boas was umpiring a cricket match. He instructed everyone to fall flat on their face and injuries were avoided. However, one small boy seemed to the Headmaster to be acting hysterically. Guy Boas writes,
'He was abusing a fellow junior so wildly that I feared his nerve had gone, which was curious as no one else seemed to be at all affected. "What is the matter, sonny?" I asked. "You're all right. What's all the fuss about?" Came the reply, "He gave a seven-ball over!" Such were the hopes of Hitler.'
Two Sloane boys lost their lives during a night of bombing by the Luftwaffe in 1944. The late Donald James Wheal (see the Famous and Infamous page), talks of the same night in his superb book World's End. He had also been living in the Guinness Trust Buildings on Kings Road, on the night of the attack, February 23rd 1944, but, fortunately for him and for posterity, he and his family made it to the public shelter below the concrete of the yard. The families of Harold Constant and Arthur Revell had decided to stay in their flat and these two Sloane boys were killed. Another Sloane pupil, Norman Godber, was living in the block that was part-demolished, but survived to tell the tale and is still with us today.
In the Postscript to his book, Don recounts a strange coincidence regarding that sad night. The story was told to him of Ginger, a naval rating who had lived in Slaidburn Street, World's End, whose Landing Craft had been assigned to bring back some German prisoners. Among them was a Luftwaffe pilot who struck up a conversation with Ginger. In the course of the conversation Ginger told the pilot that he came from the World's End area of London -
"Know it well," the German said. "From maps that is. I bombed the Power Station (Lots Road) there last February."
"You missed the bloody Power Station there last February," Ginger said and hit him so hard the force of the blow swept the pilot over the side of the boat.
The pilot was rescued, but Ginger thought his three days in the Brig for assaulting a prisoner more than well worth it.
As soon as war had been declared, Sloane started to play its part in the war effort. Each year, as many as three dozen Sloane boys, accompanied by Mr and Mrs Boas, spent around four weeks on the Bridehead Estate of Sir Robert and Lady Williams, relatives of Mrs Boas (who had become known to the boys as 'Pussy'), at Littlebredy in Dorset. From here they harvested potatoes and other vegetables to help with the war effort. It was also profitable for them and/or the school. The harvest of 1945,from August 17th - September 15th, when the boys were also accompanied by Mr Harry Little, Mrs Green, the school cook, and Mr and Mrs Gurton, they earned £118-6s-6d for a total between them of 2,366 and a half hours! It wasn't all hard work though, as the boys seemed to enjoy the entertainment they were afforded on the Estate and the extra rations they received for harvesting. They also had to be restrained from accepting gifts from the American servicemen who arrived in the area. The law forbade them from accepting spare military caps, uniforms and weapons, but the school staff realised this was still happening when, one morning, several boys appeared for breakfast dressed and armed as though they had joined the American forces. When the VI and VII flying bombs were hitting London in the latter years of the war, Mr Boas arranged for about thirty of the School's younger boys to join him and the others at Littlebredy. They were too small for the heavy work, but helped by potato-picking, blackberrying, weeding, and putting paid to a plague of caterpillars which had been destroying garden crops.
Don Smith recalls that the boys slept in Army tents and ate their meals in the village hall. he saw what they had to do as 'cheap labour' but welcomed the extra money and the use of a full-sized snooker table, which sat in the conservatory at the 'big house.' The tail-coated butler was also on hand to bring them the apples and peaches that were grown on the estate. Don had returned to London in 1942, after spending time as an evacuee with an aunt and uncle, near Sutton Coldfield.
It took the War Agricultural Committee four years to recognise the efforts the school had been making, when it offered to provide the tents and equipment the school had already been paying for, along with elaborate printed instructions on how to run the camps!
On a more mundane level, the effects of rationing were felt personally by the school when production of The Cheynean magazine was stopped in 1940. Three issues a year had been printed since 1926 but it was destined not to return until December 1943, when, without a cover and of a reduced size, The Cheynean had this to say -
"We look forward after victory to resuming our pre-war length and also our familiar blue cover."
During this time, the school helped raise funds for the Red Cross by holding a dance in the gym and didn't themselves go without completely, as hot school lunches were provided by Londoner's Meal Services, at a cost of 5d each. The school also became affiliated to the British Ship Adoption Society (organised by the Royal Geographical Society and the Ministry of Education), adopting the Lowlander and one other ship, to whose crews they sent letters and parcels. The Lowlander was an Italian built ship, on Lease-Lend from the USA after having been seized after Pearl Harbour, and she survived until being broken up in 1961.
John Forbat, still with us and a member of this site, was a pupil at West Kensington Central School when he was evacuated to Melksham in Wiltshire in 1939. Whilst there he worked on the school allotment, producing a variety of vegetables. Being an enterprising lad, after being given his own allotment, he sold whatever he grew on the 'open market', and spared no effort in ensuring he could add to his meagre pocket money by offering delivery as well. His most vivid memory is of walking a mile clutching a huge marrow, which he sold to a lady customer for 2d! Returning from evacuation in 1942, John joined the West London Emergency School, resident in the Sloane building. Enrolment in 1565 Air Training Corps, at the school, followed between 1943-44. He rose to the dizzy height of Corporal, was Morse instructor and gained 'B' level Propeller. Time spent at annual ATC/RAF station camps meant lots of flying, starting with a Stirling bomber and leading to a 1945 gliding course on Hounslow Heath, the area which is now Heathrow Airport, on which he flew solo from the off.
John recalls that each morning's assembly during the war, inevitably included a reding out of the names of those who had been killed in the previous night's bombing raids. When daylight raids occurred, everyone decamped to the school basement, and larked about when they could get away with it. When the V-1 flying bombs, commonly known as 'doodlebugs, became Hitler's weapon of choice and rained on Britain day and night during 1944, they only served to make John more determined than ever, never to be late for school. He admits it was probably the only time during his school life that he was never late for school! In his own words he, "cycled from West Kensington, determined that despite the interminably frequent air raid warnings, Hitler was not going to make me late."
Edward Kelly recalls spending one year in Hortensia Road before being evacuated, but was on holiday with his parents when war broke out and had to wait until he received verification of where the school had been evacuated before joining them. Whilst at Addlestone, one of his duties was firewatching at the Lodge with Ken Evans. They used the Head's office, and Edward admits to occasionally helping himself to one of the Head's cigars! Edward and Ken were responsible for compiling the fire watching rota; the main reason why their names appeared more regularly than those of others! Like others, he was encouraged to grow vegetables on the allotments in the grounds of the Lodge, and some of what he produced often found its way into his saddlebag before cycling home for the weekend. He always managed to return late for school on the Monday which, in particular, seemed to annoy Mr Duffy, the chemistry master.
Edward took part in Mr Bailey's production of The Black Gang and remembers having a great friend in Sidney Peever, the boy who played its hero.
No. 1565 (Sloane School) Flight, Air Training Corps
John's time with 1565 (Sloane School) Filght ATC was, like that of all the others who joined, geared towards air crew training for the RAF, but it also acted as pre-service training for the RAF and Navy in general. It had been formed in August 1941 among those who had been evacuated to Addlestone and was expanded with the introduction, in December 1943, of the Flight at the school in London, under the command of F/O Maguire.
When first formed in 1938, under the name of the Air Defence Cadet Corps, the idea behind it was a simple one. With WWII on the horizon, the RAF were going to need many combat-ready pilots and competent support crew to keep the aircraft, that were seen as a major combat strength, in the air. BY 1940 the government realised the value of the cadet force, took control of the ADCC, and renamed it the Air Training Corps on 5th February, 1941. The Officer Training Corps (OTC) was also absorbed into the ATC. Having originally started in 1859, in schools across the country, as armed units of adults and older boys with the purpose of protecting Britain in the event of an attack from overseas, it had been renamed the OTC in 1908
With many instructors being drafted into the RAF and squadron buildings being used by the military, cadets were sent to work on RAF stations. They became messengers, handled aircraft, filled sandbags and ammunition belts, and moved equipment. They were invaluable.
Back at the Sloane building, all of the boys volunteered for firewatching duties and, apart from Mr Maguire, the instructional ATC staff also consisted of -
SIGNALS: G. BOAS & F.W. JEAVONS
NAVIGATION: F/O MAGUIRE & MR J.J. MURPHY
DRILL AND PT: MR H.W. HIND
ENGINES: MR F.J. GRIFFIN
ADJUTANT: F/O F.J. BOARDER
F/O Boarder took over command after F/O Maguire's departure in 1944 and the Flight was disbanded in 1946.
It would be July 11th, 1945, before the whole school was once again reunited in its old building and it wasn't until December 1947 that The Cheynean returned to normal.
As late as 1938, no one in Britain had really been sure about what the near future held for them. Reproduced below is a piece from the April 1938 issue of The Cheynean. It is attributed to I.H. and makes fascinating and, with hindsight, scary reading. It recalls the writer's experiences of pre-war Germany on a visit he paid there. The last sentence, especially, shows how naive the rest of the world was about what was really happening to Germany and what was to come for the rest of the world -
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Sloane occupied the Polytechnic building in Manresa Road, Chelsea, during the First World War, but little is known about the part it played, although one-time Chairman of the Old Cheyneans Association, Alec Stewart, recalls in the last issue of The Cheynean, in 1970, that a weekly collection was held at the school, for cigarettes for the troops. That may seem strange to us today, but it was designed to keep up morale and let those fighting for their country know that they were in everyone's thoughts back home.
THE LISTS THAT FOLLOW ARE BASED ON INFORMATION TAKEN FROM A 1946 COPY OF THE CHEYNEAN AND CONFIRMED VIA THE WEBSITE OF THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION. THEY MAY NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE.
CLICK ON A NAME FOR MORE DETAILS
NO INFORMATION WAS AVAILABLE FOR WORLD WAR I, AND THE WHEREABOUTS OF THE SCHOOL ROLL OF HONOUR BOARD FOR THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THAT WAR, THAT USED TO HANG ON THE WALL AT THE BACK OF THE HALL, AND WAS FUNDED BY CONTRIBUTIONS, IS STILL A MYSTERY. ALSO UNKNOWN IS WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BOOK, SUSCRIBED FOR BY OLD BOYS AND STAFF, THAT CONTAINED THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR, AND WHICH HUNG IN A GLASS CASE BESIDE THE 1914-18 ROLL OF HONOUR.
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WAR HONOURS 1939-1945
R.D. AMBROSE
D.S.C.
L.E. AUSTIN
Mentioned in Dispatches
A. BLEACH
Mentioned in Dispatches
E.E. BRADSHAW
Mentioned in Dispatches
B.G. BRAME
M.B.E. (Civil)
D.J. BRIGHT
D.F.C.
D.B. CHATTERTON
M.C.
N.C. CRESSWELL
D.F.C and Bar
R.A. DIXON
D.S.M. and Bar
E.J. FROGLEY
M.B.E. (Military)
Mentioned in Dispatches
J.C. KNEUBUHLER
Belgian Croix de Guerre
Mentioned in Dispatches
A.J. LECKENBY
Croix de Guerre
M.B.E. (Military)
J.D. LITTLE
Croix de Guerre
Order of Leopold II
E.C. MACEY
M.C.
D. McMILLAN
O.B.E. (Military)
Twice Mentioned in Dispatches
F.E.G. MELENER
D.F.C. and Bar
J.L. MITCHELL
D.F.C.
T.J. MYRING
Mentioned in Dispatches
G.T. POWELL
American D.F.C.
W.R. RUDD
M.C.
A.H.F. SELMES
B.E.M. (Military)
H.C. SHARPE
B.E.M. (Military)
P.I. THORPE (the late)
M.C.
D.E. TIDMAN
M.B.E. (Military)
J.M. WIBLIN
M.M.
L. WILKINS
D.S.C.
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