Hi,
I am a teacher at Dartford Grammar School and I have been researching pupils from the school who fought during World War I. I have found your notice about Richard Glynne Lloyd here, so I thought I ought to send you some information on him.
The Spring 1919 Dartfordian magazine gives the following details about him: "DGS 1904-08. Prefect 1907. “School Poet.” Enlisted in the 9th Battalion of the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment in 1915. Served in France with the 7th Battalion from August 1916 to 1918."
A previous edition of the magazine in 1916 actually printed a poem by him, which is as follows:
The New Boy
A hitherto unpublished poem by the author of “The Forwards Would Not Shoot”, “The Studious Lad”, “Engledow’s ‘Swotty’ Book”, “The Fundatores’ Revel”, etc., found in a waste-paper basked some years after the ‘poet’ had finished his schooldays.
I am but a new boy, but I think I may say
That since I have been to this school
My habits are changed, and I feel a new chap
Though they call me ‘old man’ as a rule.
No longer you’ll see me roll in the mud,
Nor hear me in school make a row,
For you see, I must keep appearances up,
For I go to the Grammar School now!
If there was one thing I never could bear,
‘Twas the History of England and Wales;
But not ‘tis all changed, we don’t learn that dry stuff,
But we read Meiklejohn’s fairy tales.
I don’t think they’re true, though they make out they are,
For myself I could never see how:
But they’ve very amusing, I read them right through,
For I go to the Grammar School now.
But I’ve duties as well as pleasures, you know,
At the Grammar School we’re a smart lot;
We don’t loll about, but stand on the square,
When found talking, we catch it quite hot.
For football I change every day of the week,
If I didn’t, there would be a row!
I don’t learn Latin, but change always for Gym,
For I go to the Grammar School now!
Paper-fasteners and nibs I am never without,
(A penny-worth last for a year).
My books are all covered in brown paper so neat,
No complaints about me you can hear!
It’s not as we like, it is as we are told,
For we have to authority bow.
I don’t want to learn Euclid, but I must, I suppose,
For I go to the Grammar School now.
One thing that I like is to be in the Lab,
Mixing up all the liquids I see:
Astute H2O and strong HCl
Are all the same substance to me.
They say there’s a prefect* who lives in the Lab,
It’s sounds a bit quaint, I’ll allow,
But I’m used to strange things, for I see them each day,
For I go to the Grammar School now!
RG Lloyd, January 1908.
Now Sergt. RWK Regt.
*Lieut. Engledow? – Ed. [a pupil who later became a famous scientist].
I hope that you find this interesting. If you could give me any more information about him I would be very grateful. For instance, where can I find any more information about his later life, such as his teaching career?
Thanks,
Dave Barrett
