Royal Military School of Music - Kneller Hall

[peterbmillzz]

Hi
there was a Kneller School in Twickenham.

[meles]

That's a coincidence. Kneller Hall is a few miles away.

http://www.mod.uk/defenceinternet/defencefor/servicecommunity/hive/london/knellerhall.htm


http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|TW4 6HD#map=51.46613,-0.38607|16|4&loc=GB:51.46734:-0.38946:16|TW4 6HD|TW4 6HD

meles

[scrimnet]

Here is some local int on the school...Do scroll down though!

Again, named after Sir Godfrey Kneller becasue of the local connection...

Nothing to do with the army though...Unless a few of the Base Brats from the Pads went there!

[LizzieW]

Just to let you know what I found out about my grandfather thanks to a Rootschatter who got his attestation papers for me.

He joined the army in 1901 a couple of months after his mother died (father already deceased) aged 15.  Despite the census 5 months earlier having his occupation as a baker's boy, his attestation papers show that he had been an apprentice to a Tinsmith and Bellhanger for 10 months, but he put his occupation as a musician  Perhaps he was a member of a local brass band, so thought it a good idea to put musician on his papers.

In 1906 he was discharged from the army to an asylum, as unfit for service.  (It has been suggested to me that he pulled a fast one here - can't remember the service term for it).  He entered the Asylum in Hull on 10 March 1906 and was discharged on 2 May 1906.  There are no other details at all which apparently is very unusual.  There is nothing to say why he was admitted or where he was discharged to. Whatever the problem, it was very short lived as he was living in Newport, Monmouthshire in 1907 when he married.  His occupation at the time was an oboeist.

I have written to Kneller Hall, the Halle Archivist and Manchester School of Music and there is no record of him having been at either of the colleges or a member of the Halle Orchestra.   So how he managed to go from being a boy trumpeter in 1906 to an oboeist in 1907, and then to end up as an oboeist/Musical Director of the BBC without any apparent training is beyond me.  (There is nothing on his army papers to suggest he was given any musical training).   Somewhere between leaving the army as a trumpeter in March 1906 and marrying in July 1907 he became an oboeist.

He definitely worked for the BBC as a musical director as the BBC was the only outfit that had a record of him.  Unfortunately, the start of his employment was before CVs were required, (although I guess he would have made up what he put on it if he'd had to write one   ) so all they could let me have was a copy of his rotas.

I think I'll just have to accept that I can't find out anything more about his early life and his musical training.

Lizzie
 

[LizzieW]

ps. Grandfather obviously didn't go to Kneller School either, it didn't open until 1936 and he was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1926.

Lizzie

[Little Nell]

Well, no, he wouldn't have gone to an all girls school!!!! 

Nell

[LizzieW]

From Kneller School website

Kneller School

Kneller Girls' and Kneller Boys' Schools opened on the same site, in 1936.

Lizzie

[Little Nell]

Oops - before my time.  It was all girls in my youth.

Nell

[SHOTLEY50]

Just to let you know what I found out about my grandfather thanks to a Rootschatter who got his attestation papers for me.

He joined the army in 1901 a couple of months after his mother died (father already deceased) aged 15.  Despite the census 5 months earlier having his occupation as a baker's boy, his attestation papers show that he had been an apprentice to a Tinsmith and Bellhanger for 10 months, but he put his occupation as a musician  Perhaps he was a member of a local brass band, so thought it a good idea to put musician on his papers.

In 1906 he was discharged from the army to an asylum, as unfit for service.  (It has been suggested to me that he pulled a fast one here - can't remember the service term for it).  He entered the Asylum in Hull on 10 March 1906 and was discharged on 2 May 1906.  There are no other details at all which apparently is very unusual.  There is nothing to say why he was admitted or where he was discharged to. Whatever the problem, it was very short lived as he was living in Newport, Monmouthshire in 1907 when he married.  His occupation at the time was an oboeist.

I have written to Kneller Hall, the Halle Archivist and Manchester School of Music and there is no record of him having been at either of the colleges or a member of the Halle Orchestra.   So how he managed to go from being a boy trumpeter in 1906 to an oboeist in 1907, and then to end up as an oboeist/Musical Director of the BBC without any apparent training is beyond me.  (There is nothing on his army papers to suggest he was given any musical training).   Somewhere between leaving the army as a trumpeter in March 1906 and marrying in July 1907 he became an oboeist.

He definitely worked for the BBC as a musical director as the BBC was the only outfit that had a record of him.  Unfortunately, the start of his employment was before CVs were required, (although I guess he would have made up what he put on it if he'd had to write one   ) so all they could let me have was a copy of his rotas.

I think I'll just have to accept that I can't find out anything more about his early life and his musical training.

Lizzie
 

Just a thought. Was your grandfather's father in the army? If so he could have been sent to the Royal Military Asylum for children of soldiers. I had another Great Uncle who was sent there at the age of six, he trained to become a musician. Unfortunately I've lost the site address, but I'm sure someone will know it.
Bob.