Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

It has been customary that when an Old Blue is mentioned in the Blue, and now the Old Blue, his/her house/ward and years at CH is always mentioned and highlighted.
With the advent of first Junior and Senior Houses, and now Grecians Houses, how important is your House to you? I get the feeling that the younger generations relate more to the years they were at CH rather than the House/Houses they were in.
I left CH and Barnes B in 1966, but my brother was in both Barnes B and Mid A, and if asked, normally mentions only that he was in Mid A.
I ask this question out of laziness, since most contributors to the Blue forget to put in these details and I spend hours trying to track them down from the little information available. Who's Blue on line is only as accurate as the information put in by the data owner, the paper version is last dated 1999 and the Directory, apart from having inaccuracies and occasional information at variance with Who's Blue, is dated 2003.

I think both house and years.

Certainly I knew very few people except my own house/year. Until we were in Sixth Form we very rarely socialised with people outside our own house, so even our own year we only met in class.

One of the things I think has probably changed for the better.

John,
I suggest years at CH as the norm, and houses/wards as well, but only if they are given to you by whoever has provided the info. I don't see why you should have to spend hours digging around. I noticed some young contributor recently who was in four houses, although why that should have been I know not.
Happy Christmas in sunny Spain!
David

I consider years at CH important so that the reader can calculate the person's approximate age, associate the person with the school's history (and perhaps their own presence there).

In my days, one's house was everything; anyone from another house was normally a lesser being (perhaps occasionally the word "mortal" might just be considered). Therefore house is another imperative for my generation but I can understand if younger OBs want to leave it out. In conclusion, if the person gives his/her house or ward, put it in but otherwise don't worry.

I probably wasn't clear.

Certainly if someone doesn't put their house don't bother tracking it down. If you were trying to find someone you would do it by year not by house.

I have never met anyone else from public school as obsessed by the house they were in as an OB.

In my signature on here I've noted both my junior and senior houses.

For people from the era of separate junior and senior houses, it's common practice to give the name of one's senior house only, plus dates at C.H.

For example, I would give "Mid. B. '72-'78" as my dates, even though I was in Barnes A for the first two of those years.

Anyway, I've voted to keep houses and dates in.

I would agree with the proposal that dates be kept but house is only mentioned when the information is at hand (ie supplied by the contributer). For me I look at the dates, to see if the person mentioned was a contemporary of mine and if I can remember them. The house would be of some assistance but not essential.

I'd go with both house and year

Looks like both House and Year being included is going to win !

That's how I voted, anyway !

I notice that jhopgood uses the argument of the creation of Grecians' houses to suggest the house is getting less relevant. Even in Grecians' houses, pupils are divided into 'pods' by the house they come from. The original house numbers are retained (with a red or black line underneath to indicate Grecians West or East - no assimilation. And with the reintroduction of the all-through houses, boarding house is hardly becoming less important: you remain (as a general rule) with the same seven or so people from Second Form until Grecians. Anyway, it appears the majority of people already agree with the principle...

Thank you for the observation.
Given my vast age and distance from CH, I have met few who have been to the Grecian Houses so I just assumed.
Coming from Barnes B, which was first a junior house and then a girls house, I have assumed that younger inhabitatnts would have little in common with my Ba B generation, and have extrapolated that thought to the rest.
Good to be put right.

I think it was just during the reorganiation of the houses that some people spent time in 4 seprate houses...