The tyranny of capitalism: a Reading miscellany

A random collection of mainly printed ephemera relating to Reading (D/EX2571) has several items of interest. These include a paper entitled Co-operation: Its Difficulties In Reading, a paper read at a meeting of the Reading Industrial Co-operative Society in 1882. It includes the opinionated statement, 'if the working classes really desired to improve their social condition, the working classes must do it themselves', and refers to 'the tyranny of the capitalist' and the need to work together, as well as to divisions within the society.

The collection also includes the election manifesto of Communist ex-soldier Charlie Potter, standing for Battle Ward in the Reading Borough municipal election of 1946. He refers to his wartime work forcing the authorities to reform army camp conditions. A report on archaeological excavations of the chancel area of Reading Abbey Church when a new car park was being constructed at Reading Prison in 1972-3 may be useful for the proposed search for the remains of King Henry I; and there is an album of photographs recording conservation work on the abbey ruins, 2005-2009.

Seeing a school’s final days

The Binfield History Project group have placed their collection of audio-visual material relating to the village of Binfield (D/EX2756) in our care. It includes videos of the final days of St Mark’s School, which closed in 1987, the village carnival in 1952, and more. The records have been added to our digital collection but can only be viewed onsite so you will need to book one of of our three PCs.   Please see our Planning a Visit page for details on how to book and contact us. 

Private education photo

We were pleased to receive a lovely photograph album for Wixenford School, Wokingham, which was kept by pupil Sinclair Hood, 1926-1934 (D/EX2967). Wixenford was an expensive preparatory boarding school for boys based at the mansion called Luckley Park, Wokingham. Pasted inside the back cover are a printed letter and list of donations to a testimonial gift of money for a motor car for Charles Mansfield, the headmaster, when he retired and closed the school in 1934. The premises were subsequently acquired by Ludgrove School, where future pupils would include the current Prince of Wales and his brother. Many of the pupils in the Wixenford days came from aristocratic families, including the princely family of Hesse in Germany. We have also catalogued a collection of architectural plans for St Mary’s School, Wantage, 1914-1985 (D/EX2339). This was an equally prestigious school for girls, which later moved to Ascot.

Blue coats and short hair

We have catalogued the records of Lady Frances Winchcombe's Thatcham Foundation, 1860-2009 (D/QX47). This charity was initially founded by Lady Frances Winchcombe, daughter of the Earl of Berkshire and widow of Sir Henry Winchcombe, in 1707, when she gave a disused chapel building in Chapel Street, Thatcham (originally built in c.1301), to be used as a school for 30 poor boys from Thatcham, Bucklebury and Little Shefford. A trust fund provided for the schoolmaster's salary, apprenticeships for three boys a year, Bibles and other books, repairs, and an annual dinner for the trustees. The schoolmaster and the boys given apprenticeships were chosen by Lady Frances during her lifetime and thereafter by the trustees. The school (sometimes known as the Thatcham Bluecoat School, after the colour of the boys’ uniform) opened in about 1713, but had a troubled history due to difficulties with the trust fund.

The master and pupils were all required to be members of the Church of England and to attend their parish church regularly. Rules issued in 1879 required boys to be neat and clean with their hair cut short, and for their parents to keep the clothes provided for them in good repair, on pain of expulsion and return of the clothes. The more advanced boys were required to assist with teaching if required. Some were apprenticed to the head gardener at Highclere Castle, just over the county border in Hampshire, perhaps now best known as the film set for Downton Abbey.

An Inspector complained in 1909, 'I cannot feel that the Boys in this School are getting any considerable benefit from their religious instruction. It was so unorganized [sic] as to make any satisfactory examination of it impossible...  The teaching seemed largely to consist of a limited number of answers learned by heart but only partly understood'. The school was increasingly unable to meet modern standards, and it closed in 1926. The orginal charity was then split into separate charities for different parts of the original beneficial area. The Thatcham Foundation part offered help to boys from Bucklebury, Cold Ash and Thatcham to attend secondary school and university, and enter apprenticeships. In 1980 girls were allowed to benefit for the first time.

Bradley and Bliss

We have added some records from Reading chemists Bradley & Bliss, later part of Vestric, c.1959-1980s, including their price list from 1966, illustrated with advertisements for other businesses (D/EX2516).

You can find out more about these records by searching our online catalogue. Simply enter the collection references given above in the Catalogue Reference field.