What might a bright working-class boy from south London have learnt in his school history lessons a hundred years ago? We know something of his curriculum from notes made by the poet and painter David Jones about his own Edwardian education – paternalist, imperialist, chauvinist – at Brockley Road School, a state-funded secondary from 1906-1909.
Summing up the ethos of his school history lessons he made this list:
Below the belt / Natives / Sportsman / Whiteman / Boxing / Lower Deck / Club / English woman-hood / Dr Livingstone / North West Passage / ‘but not the six hundred’ / Stock exchange / Slave trade / …sun never sets / Royal Naval & Military Tournament / Clean Living / Cricket / Gordon / Kitchener / Florence Nightingale / Nelson / Lucknow / Beef Eater / Virgin Queen / Fine body of men
You wouldn’t get away with that today.
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