royal

THE SCHOOL'S HISTORY (plus the 80th ANNIVERSARY) - & THE 'ROYAL' in R.L.S.

There were two grammar schools in the area, both single sexed. The Royal Liberty School, so named after the Royal manor of Havering-atte-Bower, was about two miles from Romford in the village of Gidea Park; a largely commuter district of mostly lower to middle class. The school had been founded just after the war and in the 1920s took in fee-paying pupils with a quite large quota of scholarship boys, whose group I joined. The 'Liberty', as it was always referred to, was a lively school with a notable absence of snobbery towards the 'scholarship boys'. Most of my personal friends were fee-paying and lived in houses more middle-class than mine. During my years from 1927 to 1934 a new teaching block, large gymnasium and open-air swimming pool were added to the original buildings, the last being financed mainly by the Parents' Association. It stood in its own large grounds. When I left in 1934 there must have been about 600 boys on the registers.
The teaching was well organised and adequate to very good. Most boys left at sixteen after one year in the sixth, and went into business or the executive grade of the Civil Service or banks or solicitor's offices. The sicth form provided the school prefects and the Head Boy, but it was always quite a small group, especially in the second year. The number of university entrants was no more than two or three each year. (John Saville 1927-34)

From Saxon times until 1892 Romford and Hornchurch were part of the Royal Manor of Havering, which was afterwards known as The Royal Liberty of Havering atte Bower, whose charter had been granted by King Edward IV 15th July 1465. Some of the other villages that had come together under the name of Havering had not however been part of the Liberty. Upminster and Rainham were outside the Royal Manor area. They formed part of Chafford Hundred during the centuries when this was an administrative unit of Essex. The modern Borough takes its name from this ancient demesne.

"King Edward the Confessor is the first notable person to have a known connection with the area, as it was he who occupied the royal house in the village of Havering atte Bower...

...The historic Royal Liberty of Havering, (Havering atte Bower) where there had been a palace owned by the Kings of England from before the Norman Conquest until 1620."

The London Borough of Havering was created in April 1965 by the merging of the former Borough of Romford and the old Urban District of Hornchurch. The name 'Havering' is said to come from the ring which, according to legend, Edward the Confessor gave to a beggar with the words 'Have Ring'." (Ian MaCauley)

The name 'Havering' is said to come from the ring which, according to legend, Edward the Confessor gave to a beggar with the words 'Have Ring'." I've heard this story before but I've always had my doubts. What was the place called before E the C started giving his jewellery away? Did he really say 'Have ring'? Not 'have this ring' or 'prithee take this band of gold my good liege'? What if E the C had said 'Piss off out of my way you scruffy git'? Who decided to bestow this name? And what does 'Atte Bower' mean? (Roger Jacobson)

A small number of historic maps of Essex and of the local area (l6th-2Oth centuries), including Chapman & Andre's Map of Essex (1777) and a copy of 'A Map of the Royal Liberty of Havering' (ca.1618) can be found at: London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Heritage Services Department Valence House Museum, Becontree Avenue, Dagenham, Essex RM8 3HT.

Person in charge: Sue Curtis (Heritage Services Manager) Telephone: (020) 8227 5293/5294

Tue to Fri 09:30 - 13:00, 14:00 - 16:30; Sat 10:00 - 16:00 (JAS)

Gentlemen, today is the 80th Anniversary of the official opening of the Romford County High School For Boys. I am pleased to be able to present a specially commissioned work for the occasion. Over to Mike... (Adrian Thompson)

It's eighty years, almost to the day, that Hartley we are told
Declared that common County High, Hare Hall would never be
With dashing strokes of pen, a monarchs privilege stole.
Created what we now know as Royal Liberty.
The years they passed, boy and master did proceed,
Many made the sacrifice, discarding cap and gown
Remembered now, as in the sunlight, silently we read
Their names upon that stained glass window looking down.
Should you have the chance, take a summer evening walk,
Across the pitches where we once played in gold and blue,
In the gentle breeze, you may hear shouts and talk,
All there together now, boys and masters too.
Gathered there together, ancient boys and masters do we see,
A single bond does join them all. Royal Liberty.
(Mike Merry)

THE 'ROYAL' IN ROYAL LIBERTY

How did Royal Liberty School become Royal? Did/does the school have a Royal Charter (as I know some schools do)? And did any members of the Royal Family ever visit? (Robert Priddy)

Robert's question brings back memories of: The Liberty of Havering, which was something to do with a grant or gift of liberty to the people of the area from some restriction or other which was imposed on the rest of the realm. During the lead-up to the Coronation in 1953, we were given a book entitled: 'The Royal Family in Essex'. Unfortunately mine disappeared many years ago (Anthony Woodason)

It is the Liberty of Havering which is royal (because royalty stayed there) not the school. (Eddie Pond)

The Royal issue : The royal manor of Havering enjoyed certain privileges in the Middle Ages. This was because the king was supposed to "live of his own", meaning that before asking for taxes he had to put the screws on his tenants. This meant making sure that they had some cash in their jerkins. Hence responsibility of fixing up the bridges over the Ingrebourne rested with the parishes on the east bank, South Weald, Upminster and so on, and Havering tenants free of all charges at markets in England, Wales and Berwick-upon-Tweed.

In 1465 one of the Cooke family of Gidea Hall got the manor turned into a Royal Liberty -- a bit late in the feudal stakes but the Cookes were the first uppity London nouveaux riches to land in the area and wanted to swank about a bit. (Does this still happen...?)

The result was that Havering was a little county-within-a-county and pretty badly run as a result. Around 1892, after the county councils had been established in 1888, it was quietly put to sleep.

This was within living memory of the establishment of what was planned to be the Romford County High School for Boys in 1921. I met S G Hartley at the 50th anniversary dinner in 1971 and asked him about the name. He told me that he adopted RLS unilaterally, and the Government Board of Education in charge kept sending circulars adressed to Romford CHS for Boys. He changed the title each time and in the end they got the message and accepted the name. Ceertainly when H A L Fisher, Presdt of the Board of Education and a noted historian, came to perform the official opening ceremony in 1921 it had been accepted. I do recall that a cricket team came over once c. 1961 from High Wycombe Royal Grammar School and they wanted to know all about the RLS royal charter. Apparently they thought us a load of bounders for luring them all that way when we weren't royal at all.

Incidentally in 1964 I was briefly involved in a shadowy Liberty of Havering Independence Movement which planned to deny the validity of the abolition of the Liberty back in the 1890s. An attempt was made to draft J A Smith as Independence Movement candidate for the new GLC Council on the grounds that a. he was an inspired leader and b. he was actually over 21 and eligible to stand. But he sensibly preferred to run for the Tories in Harold Wood and won a celebrated narrow victory. I believe Alan used to "pair" with Michael Ward in Council votes, but he would have to confirm that ...

By the way in Scots, "havering" means "barking mad", barking as in dogs not London Borough of course. (Ged Martin)

Just to say how refreshing it was to read in digest 482 four consecutive messages which were relevant to the R.L.S. Yes, I know that will sound a bit 'sarky' to some people, but, if the cap fits, wear it please. That's all for now except to concur with Ed Pond that it was (is?) the Liberty of Havering which was given royal status. As I remember it, the liberty status meant that fleeing felons could not be apprehended within its boundaries. (Colin O'Hare)

I have in front of me the book 'Royalty in Essex' given to all Essex schoolchildren on the occasion of the coronation 1953. I can see no reference to the RLS but there is reference to royal palaces at Havering for over six centuries. It seems the last monarch to stay at Havering was Charles 1 when he came to meet his mother-in-law, Marie de' Medici, Queen Mother of France, in 1638. She stayed at Gidea Hall and there is a French etching, showing them leaving, written in old French. Oh! The rolling hills around Gidde Halle! I have a new computer at home and will scan the page for y'all. There is also a paragraph on Royal Schools. Colchester, Chelmsford, Saffron Walden and Wanstead are all mentioned but the RLS is conspicuous by its absence. I note that the Royal Wanstead got its 'Royal' name by Royal command in 1939. I confess I thought some royalty slept overnight in Hare Hall or kept his dogs there or something, using it as a hunting lodge. (David Silverside)

I had that sneaking suspicion that my education had not been entirely Royal, somehow. Still, some are rather impressed and somewhat humble when you say 'Royal Liberty School', esp. a certain class of Americans. Let's keep the truth between us under our caps. (Robert Priddy)

I do recall that a cricket team came over once c. 1961 from High Wycombe Royal Grammar School and they wanted to know all about the RLS royal charter. Apparently they thought us a load of bounders for luring them all that way when we weren't royal at all. I sincerely hope that we dished out a right royal cricketing thrashing for their pretentiousness? (David Maltby)

It was interesting to read of the intention to call the RLS the Romford County High School for Boys. When we were gaining some public attention vis-a-vis the computer in the early 1960s the Ministry of Education and Enlightenment wrote and told us to desist from using the name Royal Liberty School as to use the term Royal required permissions that had never been given from, one presumes, some committee of the Privy Council. The senior civil servant yapped around our ankles for about 12 months and then presumably retired. He was reasonably civil - but it was difficult to understand the purpose of his service. JPC wrote some clever and most enjoyable letters about this matter. (Bill Broderick)