Family affair at the Blue Coat School

Ian Nutbrown, of Elland, read our recent article about John Waterhouse, one of Halifax’s greatest sons and member of one of our most prominent local families (“John, one of the Halifax greats”, Nostalgia, March 27).

Among many other gifts, in 1853 John, with his brother, Samuel, gave the land, near Well Head, Halifax, for the erection of the Blue Coat School. He also contributed greatly to the cost of the school, built on three sides of a quadrangle.

It replaced the original Blue Coat School, founded near Halifax Parish Church under the will of Nathaniel Waterhouse (15861645) and demolished in 1865 to make way for the Halifax Parish Church Day School; the building is now known as Causey Hall.

The “new” school, in Harrison Road, closed in 1858 and it and the nearby Waterhouse Almshouses were demolished in 1965 to make way for the Nathanial Waterhouse Homes, which opened in 1967.

The article prompted Ian Nutbrown, of Rosemount Avenue, Elland, who attended the school, to send in two photographs of pupils at the Blue Coat School, taken in 1946. He is in the upper picture, left on the second row from the back.

He writes: “One picture is of the boys and one of the girls who were there; they were taken around 1946. I and four of my siblings are in the photographs; another brother had just left.

“The master and matron at the time were Henry Maylor and his wife; he took over from Margaret (Maggie) Quayle and her assistants, ‘Bunty’ Burrows, ‘Ma’ Elliot and Cabbage Campey.

Ian’s brothers, Malcolm and Donald, and sisters, Jean and Beryl, can be seen in the two photos.

The boys pictured are, at the back, Roy Braithwaite and John Spence; second row:

Ray Bird, Trevor Wooley, Len Hedley and Don Slater; third row: David Butterfield, and Trevor Dewhirst; front row: Keith Braithwaite, Ken Shepherd, Frank Steele, Selwyn Richmond and Geoff Wright,

The girls are, back row: Faith Newsham, Marion Brewster, Shirley Wooley, Betty Hoyle, Margaret Brewster, Jean Shaw and Rita Gethin. Middle row: Judy Newsham, Joan Shaw, Audrey Wooley, Doreen Wood and

Front row: Brenda Wood, Iris Coll, Christine Hoyle,

Kathleen Taylor

and Enid Hoyle.

David Hanson