WCE Timeline

1649 The English Revolution - Charles I is executed.

1660 Restoration of the English monarchy – Charles II becomes King.

1664 Rector of Woodchurch - William Anderson

11th May 1665 William Gleave of London leaves £500 for the erecting of a free school at Woodchurch. £400 whereof to be laid out in land in fee-simple at the value of £20 per annum for the maintenance of a schoolmaster for ever and the other £100 for building of a school house.

1665 Outbreak of the Great Plague in London

1666 Great Fire of London. Newton discovers the law of gravity.

1673 Deed of trust for purchase of land at Newton cum Larton on behalf of the estate of William Gleave. The land is purchased from Thomas Guile and the terms of the deal are set out in the Trust Deed which was signed by each of the executors who were also the first trustees or managers of the school.

1673 Rector of Woodchurch – Hugh Birches

1676 In 1676 the School received a handsome gift. "Richard Adams, Master of Arts, born in the Parsonage House, at Woodchurch in his life time, in the year 1676, purchased and gave for ever to the use of the free School lately founded, a certain study of books, in number 394, with a Scrutore the same containing." The collection was eventually presented to St. Aidans College, Birkenhead shortly after that school was founded in 1846. All trace of these books has now been lost.

1685 James II becomes King.

1688 The Glorious Revolution – William and Mary proclaimed monarchs.

1694 Bank of England founded.

1702 Queen Anne on the throne.

1704 Rector of Woodchurch – Robert Janny

1705 Rector of Woodchurch – Thomas Green

1714 George I on the throne.

About 1717 Rev. Richard Smith, M.A. - Appointed Master of school. Richard was the son of Rev. Charles Adams, Rector of Woodchurch 1646 – 1648.

1727 George II on the throne.

1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie is defeated at Culloden.

1747 Rector of Woodchurch – John Crookhall.

1757 An advertisement placed in the Liverpool Marine Chronicle on Friday 28th October 1757: " Wanted a Master for the Free School of Woodchurch in Wirral, in the County of Chester, well read in the Classics, and every Way qualified for the Instruction of Youth. There are belonging to said School about twenty Cheshire Acres of good arable Meadow and Pasture lands: And for further Encouragement to worthy and learned Men to offer themselves Candidates, the Situation of Woodchurch is such that the Emolument arising from Out-Scholars would probably double the Sum accruing from the Profits of the Lands, as Numbers of Gentlemen in Liverpool, and elsewhere would be glad to send their Sons from the vitious Temptations of a Town to prosecute their Studies with rural innocence. Such Gentlemen as choose to offer themselves Candidates are desired to attend, with Testimonials of their Morals, at the House of CHARLES WORRAL, in Woodchurch, on Monday the 19th Day of December, 1757, in the Forenoon, in order to be examined in Classical Learning and other Branches necessary for the Instruction of Youth. N. B. The Trustees for the School of Woodchurch are desired to meet at the Time and Place before- mentioned.

1760 George III on the throne.

1776 American Declaration of Independence.

1786 Samuel Price the school’s first recorded Master resigns. Among the School documents there is an indenture dated 1786 binding one John Spencer to the Trustees of the free School (" in the sum of one hundred pounds good and lawful money of Great Britain") as School Master. The schoolmaster is to be "a man of good life and conversation, learned in the Greek and Latin tongues, and studiously spent two or three years in the university, at least to be a Bachelor of Arts. He is to begin and end with prayer. He is to teach "those authors in the Latin and Greek tongues which are usually taught in the free Schools", and "every Thursday afternoon the scholars are to be taught the Church Catechism and instructed in the principles of the Protestant religion for the space of one hour". School is to begin” not later than seven in the morning from Lady Day until Michaelmas", (at eight during the rest of the year) "to end constantly at eleven o’clock, and he shall get the scholars together again by one of the clock in the afternoon, and so continue together until 5 o’clock at night in the summer and till three or four in the winter.”

1789 The French Revolution. George Washington is elected first U.S. President.

1792 Rector of Woodchurch – Bryan King.

1800 Parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland.

1805 Nelson victorious in the Battle of Trafalgar.

1807 The slave trade is abolished in the British Empire.

1811 Originally the School stood to the south-west of the church, adjoining the churchyard, which was not as yet extended, so that the School formed its western boundary. In 1811 and succeeding years, an attempt was made without success to move to a new site, on "Woodchurch Common". The move was blocked in 1811 when Mr. John Shaw of Arrowe served the Trustees of the school with an Injunction.

1812 George III becomes mentally unstable and the Prince of Wales becomes Prince Regent.

1814 Rev. Bryan King - Appointed Master of school.

1815 Napoleon defeated at the Battle of Waterloo.

1820 Rev. Joshua King, M.A. - Appointed Master of school.

1820 George IV on the throne.

1821 Rector of Woodchurch – Joshua King.

1830 William IV on the throne.

1835 John Ralph Shaw builds Arrowe Hall on the site of Arrowe House.

1837 Queen Victoria on the throne.

1840 Rev. Joshua King, Rector of Woodchurch raised upon the walls of the free school a room for a girls’ school at a cost of £124 - 14s.

1840 Penny postage introduced. Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert.

1843 - 1850 Purchase of Carr Meadows, Newton cum Larton, a field containing two acres, one rod and thirty-four perches, for the sum of £135. The field was let on a lease for £8 per annum, the proceeds to be spent as follows: £5 a year towards the mistress’s salary, £1 on bread for the poor and the residue in providing clothing or useful articles and books as prizes or rewards for the proficiency and good conduct of the girls educated in the school.

1861 Rev. P.R. Robin, M.A. - Appointed Master of school and Rector of Woodchurch.

1861 The American Civil War.

1865 President Abraham Lincoln assassinated.

1866 -1871 Sale of land at Newton cum Larton to finance building of new school.

1869 Suez Canal opened.

1873 Matthew Thomson Yates - appointed Master of school. A new school and school house were built at a cost of £1,511, on the present site, on land presented jointly by Lord Winmarleigh, (Col. the Rt. Hon. John Wilson Patten, M.P.), and the Rev.Canon P.R. Robin. The new school was soundly built of brick with a roof of Welsh slate (some of which can still be seen on the current school kitchen). The teaching accommodation consisted of one large room that housed a class at each end, one for 7 – 10 year olds and one for 11 – 14 year olds, and an Infant classroom, which catered for 4 – 7 year olds. Other facilities included two small cloakrooms and a coke-fired boiler supplied heating. Outside there were two schoolyards, one for the boys and one for the girls and infants, with toilets at one end.

1874 The school had its first Government Inspection:

“The school is evidently taught with great care, and the four Standards presented for examination have passed satisfactorily on the whole. Most of the slate and paper work is done in good style. The reading of the infants and of the children in the lower Standards needs attention. Simultaneous answering should be avoided.”

1876 Alexander Graham Bell produces the prototype of the telephone.

1878 Mark Worth - Appointed Master of school. Mr. Worth was to last less than a year as Master. He left at Christmas 1878 following a Government Inspection Report, which heavily criticised the standards in the school.

1878 Edison and Swan produce the first successful electric light.

1879 Henry Axton - Appointed Master of school. Mr. Axton was to go on to serve the school for 44 ¼ years before his retirement in 1923.

1880 Another classroom added to the school.

1882 Infants’ school extended.

1888 Jack the Ripper murders seven women in London. George Eastman introduces the Kodak box camera.

1894 Manchester Ship Canal opens.

1897 Rector of Woodchurch – Percival Carteret Robin.

1897 The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. A school holiday was given at Woodchurch in honour of the event. The children went to the churchyard where the churchyard cross was dedicated in commemoration of the jubilee. The children marched around the village accompanied by a band, and at length reached the field where they were regaled with plenty of cake, ginger beer etc, after which games and sports were indulged in until nearly eight o’clock. Each child was decorated with a medal.

1901 Queen Victoria dies and is succeeded by Edward VII.

1903 The school comes under the control of the Education Committee of the Cheshire County Council by virtue of the Elementary Education Act 1902.

1909 The old age pension is introduced in Britain. Henry Ford begins mass production of the Model T Ford.

1910 George V on the throne.

1914 First World War begins.

1915 Einstein formulates his theory of relativity.

1916 Battle of the Somme.

1919 First World War ends with the Treaty of Versailles. First solo flight across the Atlantic by Alcock and Brown.

1921 The BBC is created.

1923 George W. Newcombe - appointed Headmaster of school

1926 Birkenhead Corporation purchase an expanse of land stretching form the Fender up to Arrowe Hill. This would eventually become the site of the Woodchurch Housing Estate.

1926 John Logie Baird gives the first public demonstration of television.

1929 In the summer of 1929, 50,000 Boy Scouts from around the World assembled at Arrowe Park for the first World Scout Jamboree. The highlight of the Jamboree for the locals was the visit of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII). Children from the village waited and watched as the Prince’s procession swept across Woodchurch Green and through the main gates of Arrowe Park.

1930 James Herbert Robinson - appointed Headmaster of school

1931 Sale of Carr Meadow, Newton cum Larton.

1932 Robert Tyson - appointed Headmaster of school

1933 The school comes under the control of the Birkenhead Education Authority instead of the Cheshire Education Authority.

1933 Hitler comes to power in Germany.

1936 Edward VIII becomes King, only to abdicate later the same year in favour of his brother, who became George VI. At a Parish party in the school, villagers listen to the King’s Abdication Speech, a radio having been brought in especially for the occasion.

1938 The Bishop of Chester the Right Rev. Geoffrey Fisher dedicated the Parish Hall, which had taken four and a half years to build with money raised from Country Fairs, the first being held in 1933. The Hall was later to be used for School Christmas parties and even as a makeshift classroom during the early 1950’s prior to other schools being built on the new Estate.

1939 Outbreak of the Second World War.

1940 Churchill becomes Prime Minister.

1941 Rector of Woodchurch – Ronald Charles Wainwright.

1944 Work begins in earnest on the planning of a new housing estate at Woodchurch.

1944 Allied D-day invasion forces land in Normandy, France.

1945 U.S.A. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. World War II ends with the defeat of Germany.

1946 Work begins on the building of Woodchurch Estate.

1947 The first house on the new Woodchurch Estate is completed. Rector of Woodchurch – Basil Turvey.

1948 Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated. Prince Charles is born.

1951 George C. Crofts - appointed Headmaster of school, Mr. Crofts was to oversee the transition from a village school serving a parish of 566 people in 1946 to one of a number of schools on the new Woodchurch Estate, which housed some 10,000 people.

1952 Elizabeth II on the throne.

1953 The one thousandth house is built on the Woodchurch Estate.

1954 Foundation stone laid by the Lord Bishop of Chester, The Right Reverend Douglas Crick, D.D. Work begins which will transform the old village school with two classrooms and some 100 pupils on roll to a large modern school with 375 pupils on roll by 1956.

N.B. Three sites originally considered for new school - rectory orchard, current school field site and current site. A 'T' shape was also considered for the layout of the buildings.

1954 Roger Bannister runs the first mile in under four minutes.

1955 The Lord Bishop of Chester, The Right Reverend Gerald A. Ellison, dedicates the new school buildings. Many dignitaries including the Mayor of Birkenhead attend the ceremony.

1955 Bill Haley records “Rock Around the Clock” and James Dean is killed.

1956 The Suez crisis.

1961 The school gardens are laid out. Rector of Woodchurch – Raymond Wilkinson.

1962 The last remnants of the old village of Woodchurch, the Church Cottages opposite the school are demolished.

1962 The Beatles begin recording.

1964 President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.

Sept 1965 Junior entrance moved to make room for new medical room.

June 1965 Woodchurch C of E School celebrates 300 years with a History Pageant held in Holy Cross Church.

1965 Winston Churchill dies.

1967 First human heart transplant performed by Dr. Christian Barnard.

1968 Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assassinated.

1969 Neil Armstrong becomes the first man on the moon. Concorde makes its maiden flight. Prince Charles is invested as Prince of Wales.

1971 New classroom (Reception) built and extensions added to ground floor Junior classrooms. Money was raised for this project by the ‘Buy a Brick’ campaign; each child could pay 10 pence to have their name on a brick in the new buildings. Rector of Woodchurch – Ronald Tostevin.

1972 Mr. G. Crofts retires after 21 years as Head Teacher and is succeeded by Mr. F. P. Williams.

1974 Mr. F. P. Williams resigns as Head Teacher; the Deputy Head Teacher Mrs. Sutton takes charge of the school for one term until the arrival of the new Head Teacher Mr. C. D. Robertson.

1974 President Nixon resigns in the wake of the Watergate scandal.

1975 Britain votes to join the Common Market.

1977 Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. One of the stone outbuildings of the Rectory was modernised and converted into what is now called the Jubilee Rooms, this building is close to the site of the original Woodchurch School.

1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain’s first woman prime minister.

1981 Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer.

1982 Prince William is born. Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.

1985 Rector of Woodchurch – Andrew Dean.

1990 The Gulf War. Margaret Thatcher resigns and is replaced by John Major. Nelson Mandela is freed.

1997 Mr. C. D. Robertson retires after 23 years as Head Teacher and is succeeded by Mrs. G. Jones, the first female Head Teacher of Woodchurch.

1997 Princess Diana dies in a car crash in Paris.

1998 The school is inspected for the first time by OFSTED.

1999 The location of the main entrance to the school moves with the construction of a new entrance and offices overlooking the green in front of the old School House. The site of the original entrance and secretary’s office is redeveloped and extended to provide a modern computer suite. Rector of Woodchurch – John Prysor-Jones.

March 2000 The new entrance and computer suite are dedicated by the Bishop of Chester the Right Rev. Dr. Peter Forster. To Do

Find out more about William Gleave and track down his Will. Check parish records.

Finish document transcriptions.

Revisit Cheshire Records Office

Find out when school came under control of education board/local authority.

Write up history

Pen portraits for all head teachers.

Fill in gaps in extracts from logbook

Go through logbooks and extract "Firsts"

Collect Reminiscences Joan Clark Joe Chadwick? Graham Snowden? Mr Robertson Mr Crofts Mrs Sutton

Scanning Photos Photos in hall School trips Any others Maps Plans of school buildings School play programmes Programmes for dedication ceremonies Bookplate Sports certificates Extract from Trust Deed Extracts from John Spencer Indenture Extracts from Mary Alice Johnson contract.

Bibliography

Acknowledgements