During the First World War, as travelling became difficult, more and more of the country girls became weekly lodgers with a family in town.  A hostel was then started in Horton Road which accommodated both staff and girls. By December 1914 700 garments had been sent to various children’s charities and as comforts for the Belgian troops, and money was sent to the Blue Cross Society for the help of horses on the battlefield.

During the next four years hundreds of mittens, socks and mufflers were sent to soldiers and sailors.  When pupils were preparing to go to Cheltenham to see ‘The Merchant of Venice’ Miss Barwell urged them to take their knitting with them so as to waste no useful moment.  A parcel of food was sent every fortnight from each form to prisoners of war in Germany.

During games lessons and after school part of the playing field was cultivated to grow potatoes and vegetables.  A few chickens were fed on kitchen waste to provide eggs.  For a time a donkey was kept on the school field to keep down the grass.  Girls helped with plum picking, and harvested nuts.  Rare Gloucestershire wild flowers were grown in the front garden

 

1918

In August 1918, Miss Barwell retired.

In September, Miss Carless was appointed Headmistress.

Miss Carless started the first School Magazine. “Not for each but for all” became the school motto and was on the first prefects’ badges. Christmas parties began at this time, as did the summer picnics for the Prefects, the first of which included a steamer trip to Wainlodes, with rowing lessons and strawberries for tea.

First issue of Gloucester High School Magazine.

What's happening in history?

18th of October 1911 : Chewing Gum first goes on sale
23rd of October 1911 : First British-Made Ford Car
17th of January 1912 : Scott reaches the South Pole
29th of March 1912 : Captain Scott dies
15th of April 1912 : Titanic sinks
26th of October 1912 : Woolwich Tunnel Opens
18th of December 1912 : Piltdown Man Discovered
26th of May 1913 : First Female Magistrate Appointed
5th of June 1913 : Suffragette dies - throws herself in front of the KIngs Horse
29th of June 1913 : Sons and Lovers Published
28th of July 1914 : Start of World War I
4th of August 1914 : Britain declares War on Germany
27th of November 1914 : Britains 1st policewoman goes on duty
9th of December 1914 : The Ark Royal commissioned
24th of December 1914 : First Bomb Dropped on English Soil
19th of January 1915 : 1st British town hit by a Zeppelin raid
7th of May 1915 : Sinking of the Lusitania
10th of May 1915 : Zeppelin Fire-Bombs Southend
16th of September 1915 : First British WI Meeting
12th of October 1915 : Edith Cavell Executed
2nd of March 1916 : Conscription Begins
24th of April 1916 : Start of the Easter Uprising
31st of May 1916 : Battle of Jutland
1st of July 1916 : First Day of the Somme
18th of November 1916 : Battle of the Somme Ends
6th of December 1916 : Lloyd George becomes prime minister
6th of April 1917 : America Enters World War One
17th of July 1917 : Royal Family Adopts Windsor Name
7th of November 1917 : Russian Revolution
10th of November 1917 : Battle of Passchendaele ends
6th of February 1918 : Women get the Vote
1st of April 1918 : R A F Created
1st of July 1918 : Disaster at Chilwell Shell Plant
17th of July 1918 : Tsar Nicholas and Family Killed
1st of October 1918 : Lawrence of Arabia Takes Damascus
11th of November 1918 : End of the First World War
14th of December 1918 : Women Can Vote in General Election
18th of January 1919 : Bentley Motors Formed
28th of June 1919 : Signing of the Treaty of Versailles
11th of November 1919 : First Two-Minute Silence
28th of November 1919 : Nancy Astor becomes the first woman MP