Gaps, Omissions and Forgotten Treasures

Normally on “hoots from the archive” we write about documents and objects that the archive holds. But what about significant gaps and omissions? Sometimes what we don’t have can be as revealing as what we do.

The School’s numerous admissions registers are a key and vital part of the collections. They give the names and dates of boys admitted to MGS, and they often provide information on father’s name and occupation, address and previous school too. They are used frequently, whether to answer a family history enquiry, to improve the accuracy of information in the Old Mancunians database and biographical register or to do wider research into the kind of school MGS was and is. Because they are so useful, the gaps we have in our history where no admissions registers survive are deeply frustrating. We have no proper admissions register from 1515 until 1730. We know that the School kept admissions registers from the time of the foundation onwards, as the following appears in the school statutes on the founding of the School: “every scholar, at his first admitting… to write in a several book all the names of the scholars that do come to the school as scholars, and that book and books thereof always to be kept, and every third year to be delivered to the warden of the said college of Manchester, or his deputy, to the intent that therein may and shall always appear, which have been brought up in the same school”. The story is that these early registers were stolen by Parliamentarian soldiers during the Civil War. The possibility of these registers as lost rather than destroyed is tantalising. We then have a good run of registers from 1730 – 1838. Coverage of the nineteenth century is more patchy, with a gap in 1839, and another between 1853 and 1861. Records started again in 1862, but abruptly ceased in 1879. The final page of this register records the reason:

“Closed by order of the High Master, October 1879“

Why High Master Dill decided to close the admissions register is a mystery, and for boys who started at MGS between 1879 and 1888, records are much more patchy. Thankfully, we do at least have form lists for this period which give a record of forms and academic progress, but it is a shame to have this gap in records which provide information on the social background of a boy through details on fathers’ occupations and addresses.

The other type of omission, of which many abound, is the undocumented rumour. For example, it is said that High Master Peter Mason introduced Russian to MGS in response to a direct request from the government who were concerned about relations with the Soviet Union. Russian was introduced in the 1960s during the Cold War, so the context makes the rumour plausible. However, we have no documentary evidence, and understandably so. Perhaps an Old Mancunian or ex-member of staff may know more? There will be many other stories and rumours, some plausible and some less so, that have never been substantiated and perhaps never will.

We also have examples of items that have “gone missing”. We know, for example, that the School was presented with a German machine gun directly after the Great War to acknowledge the impressive programme of war work to which the School contributed. The gift was recorded in Ulula. We believe it highly likely that the gun was dismantled for use as scrap metal during the Second World War, but we don’t know for certain.

We believe that items are far less likely to go missing now, and we aim to try to collect material from the present-day MGS to avoid any omissions. However, conversely we do occasionally stumble across treasures in the School basements and lofts, and even amongst uncatalogued material within the archive. Back in 2013, a year 7 pupil discovered a letter from a young George V tucked inside one of the books on the bookshelf. The letter was subsequently sent off to the Royal Archives to check its authenticity and the school received confirmation that the letter was indeed written by the future George V.

Perhaps you have items lurking in your loft that could be added to the archive? Do get in touch with us if so!