Mrs Betterton

Share your memories and stories from the Hertford Christ's Hospital School, which closed in 1985, when the two schools integrated to the Horsham site....

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Jo
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Mrs Betterton

Post by Jo »

Via Houseyblog (http://trongon.blogspot.com/), which someone posted here not long ago, I've stumbled on excerpts from an unpublished autobiography by Mrs Betterton, who taught some of us English, and who was herself at Hertford in the 20s (as Kathleen Baron). I'm still working my way through it, but there are some fascinating insights.

The URL is long so I've converted it into http://tinyurl.com/mrsgv9.
Jo
5.7, 1967-75
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Re: Mrs Betterton

Post by Jo »

Actually, having read it all now, there isn't a huge amount - the whole thing seems to be an anthology of reminiscences compiled by someone under various subject headings, including "Education", "Home & Family", etc. Mrs Bet's excerpts are included under "Education". But her first impressions of CH are interesting. I wonder if it's possible to get hold of her original work - probably not if it's unpublished.
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Re: Mrs Betterton

Post by MKM »

Thank you for finding that. I greatly enjoyed reading Mrs Betterton's account of her early days at CH. She does write beautifully.
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Re: Mrs Betterton

Post by laprimacenerentola »

Hi - thanks for this. Mrs. Betterton was my form mistress when I arrived in what was the 2nd year (Lower IVth) as I recall.
I always remember what a kind and gentle person she was. One of the staff who really made a difference to a nervous and lonely new girl.
Clorinda Goodman
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Re: Mrs Betterton

Post by Rex »

Jo wrote:I wonder if it's possible to get hold of her original work - probably not if it's unpublished.
Apparently the manuscript is in Brunel University Library, Jo. Stephen Rose used extracts from it in The Intellectual Life of the British Working Class (Yale University Press, 2001).
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Re: Mrs Betterton

Post by Jo »

Thanks Rex, I will maybe contact the library and see whether it's possible to get access.
Jo
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