The Berkhamsted School Archive

Michaelmas term started with a bang, and folk that had made enquiries during lockdown had not forgotten my invitation to visit, all ready and willing to comply with the new visitor protocols set in place. It has been heart-warming to listen to tales of OBs and the family connections with Berkhamsted or just to let them soak up the atmosphere of the School when walking round. Our two Antipodean enquirers, though, will have to wait a little while longer to visit.

The fi rst, a great-nephew of ED Clixby had been searching for a photograph of the Clixby Trophy. An unrelated Australian WWI researcher had managed to fi nd a Clixby link to an ex-Berkhamsted staff member and then called me to ask if I could help. After all the eff ort to get in touch, here’s hoping that I can. During a house match between St John’s and Incents in 1912, Clixby took 10 wickets for 24 runs, six of which were clean bowled. The Clixby Trophy is awarded annually, in perpetual memory of Edward D Clixby (SJ 1914), killed in action October 1915. The second enquiry concerned a previous Headmaster: Cuthbert Machell Cox (1931-1946). A family member (great-granddaughter of Cuthbert’s brother Edmund) had discovered a collection of letters written between Cuthbert and his nine brothers and sisters, that began in 1906. They named the round robins ‘The Family Budget’ and the hundreds of sheets of notepaper and exercise books continued between the generations until 1987. A telephone call from the lady in Australia followed and the conversation came round to the podcast that she had started, with the very fi rst 1906 letter and the monumental task of transcribing the letters, as some of the handwriting is awful – her words not mine. It’s a fascinating insight into the time and Cuthbert writes about every detail of School life: marches to camp, digging up potatoes, speech days, cricket matches and the OB that piloted the airship that landed in the grounds of the castle. A further article about the letters and the podcast appears in the later pages of this magazine.

Other enquiries have covered such subjects as the architectural history of cricket pavilions, information for a Head of Academic Music undertaking a PhD on the subject of the School Song and a visit from a grammar school wanting to gather information and ideas for displaying their own artefacts and memorabilia. Our own Estates Dept and Marketing have called for help with the site of a ‘lost’ gate, found Air Raid shelters and time-line information. Years 7-11 English classes were tasked with writing a poetical piece

This is small collection of obsolete School keys that came to light in the Estates Dept move in summer 2021. Each has a diff erent key ward and bit design, and the original tags are fashioned from redundant School performance tickets and Eastern Electricity Board labels. The display door was crafted from solid oak by Keith Goddard (Ad ’62)