The letter sent by Mr. Jack Scott from the military hospital on Alfred Street in the January of 1916, is a mix of optimism, pleasure at some good news and a reflection on the future.
In that sense it will not be different from the millions of similar letters that were sent during the Great War.
Mr. Scott, commented on “the good news”, adding “it’s a pity it was not a decrease of £90 a year, but we must not grumble, if we manage to get a decent man, we shall be a happy little party”.
Just what the money was for, and what the “decent man” was engaged to do is lost forever.
But we know “he was getting on very well”, despite some upsets leading him to confide that “I have a had a very rough time and never expected to get better. I’m one of the lucky ones. I don’t want to go to the East again, don’t mind France”.
Just where in the East he served is not made clear, and so far, a search of the military records have thrown up a number of men who might be Mr. Scott.
Nor have I been able to locate the recipient of the letter who was a J. J. Clayton of the Post Office, Clacton-on-Sea, but I am confident that in time both will come out of the shadows.
For now, I shall finish with the hospital, which until 1915 had been Alfred Street School, which catered for 360 boys, 420 girls and 320 infants.
It was one of seven schools which the Government had taken over in the March of that year and prepared to accommodate 1,015 wounded soldiers.
According the chair, reporting back to the Manchester Education Committee, these were the “municipal Central School at Ducie Avenue; Grange Street School Bradford; Alfred Street School, Harpurhey; Lily Lane School, Moston; Mosley Road School, Fallowfield; Atherton Street School, Deansgate; and Heald Place School”. *
In response to a question about the provision of education for the displaced students, he replied “If you can tell me, I shall be glad.
We shall have to go into the whole thing, so that it may come before the Committee, later.”
That something, became part time education for the displaced students and a series of ad hoc provision by Manchester University, all of which is covered in great detail in Manchester Remembering 1914-18. **
By the end of 1915, a total of 14 schools had been taken over, across the city, and into Salford, Stockport and Trafford, and another four during 1917-18.***
Leaving me just to point the interested to the follow up stories, at A new book on Manchester and the Great War
And with that outrageous bit of self promotion out of the way, I am pleased that the school does still exist.
The foundation stone was laid by Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst on October 15th 1904, cost £18,850, and is now known as Harpur Mount Primary School.
Location Harpurhey, Clacton-on-Sea
Pictures, the letter, 1916 from the collection of David Harrop, record of Alfred Street School, Slater’s Directory of Manchester and Salford, 1911, and Harpur Mount Primary School, 2019, courtesy of the school.
*Schools for Hospitals, Eight Thousand Scholars to be displaced, Manchester Guardian, March 16th, 1915.
**2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester, 1914-1919, 1919
*** Manchester Remembering 1914-18, Andrew Simpson, 2017, and
****A new book on Manchester and the Great War, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20and%20the%20Great%20War
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| Posted by a Wounded Soldier, 1916 |
Mr. Scott, commented on “the good news”, adding “it’s a pity it was not a decrease of £90 a year, but we must not grumble, if we manage to get a decent man, we shall be a happy little party”.
Just what the money was for, and what the “decent man” was engaged to do is lost forever.
But we know “he was getting on very well”, despite some upsets leading him to confide that “I have a had a very rough time and never expected to get better. I’m one of the lucky ones. I don’t want to go to the East again, don’t mind France”.
 |
| B7 Ward, Alfred Street Hospital, 1916 |
Nor have I been able to locate the recipient of the letter who was a J. J. Clayton of the Post Office, Clacton-on-Sea, but I am confident that in time both will come out of the shadows.
For now, I shall finish with the hospital, which until 1915 had been Alfred Street School, which catered for 360 boys, 420 girls and 320 infants.
 |
| Alfred Street School, 1911 |
According the chair, reporting back to the Manchester Education Committee, these were the “municipal Central School at Ducie Avenue; Grange Street School Bradford; Alfred Street School, Harpurhey; Lily Lane School, Moston; Mosley Road School, Fallowfield; Atherton Street School, Deansgate; and Heald Place School”. *
We shall have to go into the whole thing, so that it may come before the Committee, later.”
That something, became part time education for the displaced students and a series of ad hoc provision by Manchester University, all of which is covered in great detail in Manchester Remembering 1914-18. **
By the end of 1915, a total of 14 schools had been taken over, across the city, and into Salford, Stockport and Trafford, and another four during 1917-18.***
Leaving me just to point the interested to the follow up stories, at A new book on Manchester and the Great War
And with that outrageous bit of self promotion out of the way, I am pleased that the school does still exist.
 |
| Harpur Mount Primary School, 2019 |
Location Harpurhey, Clacton-on-Sea
Pictures, the letter, 1916 from the collection of David Harrop, record of Alfred Street School, Slater’s Directory of Manchester and Salford, 1911, and Harpur Mount Primary School, 2019, courtesy of the school.
*Schools for Hospitals, Eight Thousand Scholars to be displaced, Manchester Guardian, March 16th, 1915.
**2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester, 1914-1919, 1919
*** Manchester Remembering 1914-18, Andrew Simpson, 2017, and
****A new book on Manchester and the Great War, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20and%20the%20Great%20War
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