Concordia

Concordia Winter 2021

Class Notes

Reflections on Merchant Taylors’ School by Lewis Isaacs (1953-1959)

48

Hilles House 1954

I joined John Reid’s Third Form in September 1953 as a rather apprehensive 11-year-old. It was there that I met my oldest school friend, Mike Albutt (1953-1960). We still see each other regularly, here in Cambridge, for pub lunches. The following year, I moved to Upper IV B, where I met John Photiades (1954-1959), my other great MTS friend (and, later, my Best Man). John and I are still in regular contact. Looking back, I feel that the school suffered from what seemed to be the brooding presence of the Head Master, Hugh Elder. It was only when I went to say goodbye to him, in December 1959 that I saw the person he really was. Probably because he would have remembered that my mother had died two weeks after I joined MTS, he started talking about his son, Peter, who had died aged, I think, about eight. At that point, I saw how much he was still suffering. I still think of two members of staff as my mentors. One was my History VI Form Master, Alex Jeffries (ABJ). In the periods given over to Divinity, he spent the time telling us about pre-war England, his war-time experiences (when the life expectancy of a 2nd Lieutenant was just over two weeks) and the England he came back to when he left hospital in

1919. Jeff and his wife, Dorothy, retired to Toft, a village just West of Cambridge. When Mary and I moved here in 1968, we made contact with them and saw them regularly, for the rest of their lives. Jenny, my younger daughter was in the first year of her History GCSE course and they were required to do original research about the Great War. She asked me whether I thought that Jeff would talk to her about his memories and, of course, he agreed. The result was that Jenny received top marks!

Development

Lewis Isaacs and Mike Albutt November 2021