Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Gasp :-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1908-Christs-Hosp ... dZViewItem

Blimey! How great that the original was replaced for him and others -
Qs:
Who was he? Does anyone know?
Are any of his descendants CH-ers?
Does Horsham have a Museum?
The Headmaster at Housey was called Flocker? How unfortunate for him, but fortunate that he wasn't head a couple of decades later!

And it looks just like mine (except for fantastic the history, etc). I never appreciated that they'd been the same 'for ever'.

However, if we all flooded the market .....

Lots of questions!
The HM was 'Flecker' (he was married at the School and his wife produced daughters after whom many of the boys lusted. Actually those girls are the reason I went to Hertford - my mum used to work in a private school in Horsham during WW2 and one of her jobs was to collect the girls for school in the morning, and take them back to CH in the afternoon. She was so impressed by CH that she decided that she would like to send any children of her own there, in time to come..... About 14 years ago I had a charming exchange of correspondence with the (widowed) Mrs. Flecker, on the subject!)

Yes, there most definitely is a Museum at Horsham - and its a very good one. It is not routinely open to the general public but will certainly be accessible on e.g. Old Blues' Day.

'Our' Bibles are the Kings James version, and had leather covers, as this one. These days the whole thing seems a lot thinner, and the cover is imitation leather. There's discussion elsewhere on this Forum about whether or not the Governors bought a huge job lot of Bibles and then 'used them up', and then bought another load of a different version?.....

Some had 'The Charge' pasted inside (mine doesn't).. don't know if these days they do.

For some mysterious reason, a closer look at this ebay item is blocked to German internet addresses. Can anyone tell me why? (The usual reason is that there's a swastika around somewhere, public displays of swastikas being forbidden in Germany.)

(I notice it has no bidders, so the price is theoretical, like that of lots of houses these days).

Can't see any swastika's.... but maybe the reference to WWII and its dates in the title could be enough?

It's a 1945 Bible, as the provenance says so why is the seller going on as though it's a 1908 one.

I'm intrigued by the shape of the Housey shield on the front. This is the same as my 1954 bible but my father's 1932 one had a more ornate, rather Gothic shape to it. I supose Flecker must have changed it - WHEN? and WHY?

I don't think either the Headmaster or the Headmistress would have had authority to change the shape of the crest. Certainly in Victorian times the CH crest was more ornate, with curlicues (ermm.. spelling?!) etc., but at some time after the start of the 20th Century it became the 'clean' straightforward one which we know and love. The appearance of the crest is one rough way of dating items of memorabilia. For instance, I have a Victorian OG badge, which is the ornate crest on a circular blue background; my own (1966) which is the plain crest and nothing else (different because I had sporting colours); and the general OG badge which was issued from the 1950's onward, which is the plain crest within a circular blue background with a golden border.
I suspect a Bible given out in the 1950's might have been 'old stock' - on the Forum we have already speculated about the purchase of large 'job lots'!

I first read this at lunch time when I was at work. I was 99% sure that mine is NOT a King James version, and now I'm home I've checked. Mine is a Revised Version with marginal references - the Preface to the OT is dated 1884 and the Preface to the edition with marginal references is dated 1898 - the references are down the middle of the page not at the edges. I find it very strange that mine should be different from yours, Kerren unless DR had just a few of these left and used them when not many people were leaving!

I have just had another look at the pictures externally it looks just like mine, the crest appears identical as does the spine. The title page is different, as is the layout of the text and the maps. I have maps but not the same as these.

I wonder whether the seller will get any bids for it? I think it was very good the CH was happy to replace those destroyed by enemy action - I wonder how many were replaced?

You are probably right, Katharine. I seem to think that mine is a King James, but I am probably wrong and in any case it is in Hertford at the Museum (though not on display) and I will not get it back until September, to check.
I am sure we have had this comparison of Bibles as a discussion on this Forum, before, anyway.....
Either way, I think we drew the conclusion that at a few moments in history, vast numbers of Bibles were bought, stamped with the gold crest, and then held either at Horsham or at Hertford, for a copy to be issued to the leavers of each year until the stocks ran out. Then the stocks must have been replenished - maybe with a more current edition.

The museum has many bibles knocking around I recieved at least two when I was running the joint and there were many more, usually 'donated' when an old blue cops in the and the berieved family have no clue what to do with his or her things regarding CH (this is how we got the masonic goods, which led to the incident that has left me despising the organisation to this day)!

Talking of Bibles, George Bell the Bishop of Chichester was presented with a Leaver's Bible on his retirement, a nice gesture. Does anyone know of any other honorary presentations?

(Incidentally mine (1963) and my brother's (1965) are both Revised Versions.)

I'm still trying to find out why eBay Germany refuses to let me see this one.

When an acquaintance of mine, a known agnostic, who left in mid-term, went to collect his Bible, Seaman said: "Or would something more secular be appropriate? A Bradshaw, perhaps?" (This really has to be said in a Seaman voice, clipped and precise.)

I wish we had a member of the Forum in Japan to find out whether it is blocked there as well. As the original owner was in Changi POW Camp, Japan is surely more relevant than Germany.

It still irritates me that they stuck the presentation sticker upside down and at the back of my leavers bible