Introduction

As a former pupil, parent and current teacher for over two decades at what is now ‘Tranby’ I have developed a deep fascination with Tranby Croft. This luxurious mansion was built in 1874-76 by Arthur Wilson, a wealthy local shipowner, with all the comforts of the time, and was intended to be a showcase property to help him and his future family make their mark and climb the social ladder in East Yorkshire.

In its heyday, as the seat of this philanthropic and influential local family, it received politicians, British royalty, high ranking army officers, explorers and foreign dignitaries. However, the Wilson family also showed an early commitment to girls’ education in the area and it was Arthur Wilson who became the first and largest local shareholder of ‘Hull High School for Girls’ when it was founded in Albion Street in 1890 and subsequently moved to Park Street four years later.

Following the death of Arthur in 1909, the fact that Mary favoured the London property or their villa in France and his children had all found their own destinies elsewhere meant that the house went into a period of decline, being opened up only for occasional charity events or other local functions. It was finally purchased by Alma Jordan in 1938 and rented out to the Ellerman’s Wilson line the following year before being offered up for sale again in 1943.

Its future was quite uncertain and today we can look back to its purchase by the Church Schools Company with a sense of relief. It was in 1945 that the staff and pupils, having spent the preceding five years as evacuees in Milnthorpe, Cumbria, returned to East Yorkshire and started life, as a new family, in Arthur Wilson’s former home. I would like to think he would have approved.

In my role as a teacher I am constantly seeking to identify, nurture and celebrate talent within my pupil community. As an amateur historian I am keen to collect, record and preserve historical records for future generations. In this publication both of my interests coincide as I attempt to record and publish numerous wonderful poems written between 1939 and 1990.

These works were produced by pupils of all ages and contain verse which is both creative and charming, often humorous and sometimes sad, and at times certainly very thought-provoking. They are written snapshots containing thoughts and feelings of the time, many of which are also recognisable in today’s classroom. Comments on lessons, teachers and examinations inevitably evoke feelings of boredom and despair, but aspects of school life such as the Christmas hampers, sports day and friendships are also explored, making the works important in terms of recording the wider social context. I find it particularly fitting that the final poem was written in 1990, exactly one hundred years following the formation of the school.

The poems come from the various Hull High School newsletters spanning this period – ‘The Hull High School News’, ‘Script’, ‘Aspect’, ‘As We Were’ and ‘The Crofter’. Each poem is dated as per the issue of the newsletter in which it appears. I have tried to trace pupils whose work appears in this publication to request permission for its inclusion but in the majority of cases the passing of time and/ or change of surname has made this task quite impossible. If owners are identified subsequent to publication and wish their work to be amended, corrected or removed I shall be happy to do this forthwith in future publications. Likewise, I have attempted to identify and contact pupils who appear in accompanying photographs, and will happily edit or remove these if requested.

Copyright of this publication as a whole rests with Tranby School, though the works contained in this document belong to the individual writers. Any reproduction of the content of these works should therefore be duly credited to the individual concerned.

All proceeds from this publication will go to the Tranby Trust, an independent education charity (charity no. 1079653) founded in 2000 to provide financial assistance to new and existing pupils of Tranby by subsidising the cost of cocurricular and extra-curricular activities and school fees.

As you go through this anthology, I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed compiling it and that you, too, may hear the voices of generations of former Tranby pupils speaking to us through their poetry.

GORDON STEPHENSON TRANBY DECEMBER 2022