Bob Alderman - an outstanding Old Langportian
Andrew Aligizakis alerted us to this story when he contacted the History Society via this website. His email said:
On the wooden floor of my house right in front of the fireplace here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada is a very skilfully made inlay of a portcullis with chains on each side. For years, I was very puzzled as to what it meant especially considering the care and workmanship put into it. No portcullis I could find anywhere seemed to match it exactly. My confusion ended a few moments ago when I saw your website.
It was made by Robert Thomas “Bob” Alderman, the original owner (and builder) of the house, a woodworker, and an influential local politician who studied at Langport Grammar School in his youth before moving to Canada. A school here in Calgary is named after him. Special thanks to your website and society for helping me solve this mystery.
Further research on both sides of the Atlantic has built up a fuller picture of Bob Alderman’s life and achievements. We started in Calgary and worked backwards to discover more about his connection to Langport.
The following newspaper article was key:
Calgary Herald, 14 March 1938: “Mr Alderman resides at 1402 Second Street north west, in the house he built for himself seven years ago. … His hobby follows hand in hand with his trade. It is woodworking, and many pieces of fine furniture and inlay work have resulted from his handicraft.”
A newspaper biography of Bob when he was standing for election to public office in 1948 included the fact that he had attended Langport Grammar School, which led to sources of local information here.
The life of Robert Thomas (Bob) Alderman
Robert Thomas Alderman (Bob) was born in Wiltshire in 1891, the eldest boy of 6 children. His father Thomas was a coachman. At some point between 1901 and 1903 the family came to Huish Episcopi, where his father worked as coachman to William Kelway, owner of the famous Kelway’s Nurseries. Family members have shared an image of Thomas in his coachman’s uniform (see below).
A mention of Bob in the Langport & Somerton Herald of 3 January 1903 reveals that he was attending Sunday School classes taught by William Kelway’s daughter Beatrice, so perhaps William Kelway was helping his coachman’s children. Bob recited a poem at the annual Christmas concert. It was Casa Bianca, perhaps better known by its first line ‘The boy stood on the burning deck’. Sadly, later that year his mother Eliza died after a difficult childbirth, and was buried in St Mary’s, Huish Episcopi.
At about this time Bob was attending Langport Grammar School. He was there for no more than two or three years, because the school magazine, The Alfredian, recorded that he left the school in 1905 at the end of the summer term. Later that same year his father remarried. Three years later, at the age of 16, Bob emigrated to Canada. He described himself as a carpenter, and started his life in Canada on a farm in Gilbert Plains, Manitoba. In 1912 he came to Calgary and was employed as a carpenter by the Canadian Pacific Railway.
He enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1915 and served in the First World War. Shortly after the war he married Florence Annie Chamberlain in Iwerne Minster, Dorset, where his father and step-mother then lived. He returned to Calgary and to work again for the Canadian Pacific Railway.
In 1924, his brother William Caleb, who was born in 1903, followed him to Calgary and eventually settled in Vancouver.
Bob Alderman served on the Calgary City Council and on the Calgary School Board, and took part in many community organisations. He died in 1969 and a junior school in Calgary is named in his honour. The R T Alderman School states on their website, ‘We are proud to have our school named in honor of the outstanding Calgarian’.
Click on an image below to enlarge it and see the caption:
List of headmasters
1706-1730 Henry Norman
1730-1743 Henry Norman (son of the above)
1743-1774 William Hart
1774-1790 Henry Hart (son of the above)
1790 William Moore
1790-1842 William Quekett
1842-1846 Rev. E D Green
1846-1851 E F Smith
1851-1875 John Lanchenick
1875-1883 Rev. Joseph Stubbs
1883-1891 E Western
1891-1896 Rev. E W Smith
1896-1923 Solomon G Day
1923-1933 Charles W Pinton
Coming soon – we’ll be able to add the names of the staff of the Grammar School in the early 1900s.
List of pupils registered between 1902 and 1933
These are the names of the pupils who were registered to attend Langport Grammar School between 1902 and 1933. We have extracted more information from the Admission Registers, including their dates of birth, the names and addresses of their fathers, and their fathers’ occupations. The data is too voluminous to be displayed here, but if you would like more information about any of the pupils listed below you are welcome to contact us via our contact form.
Adams, Wilfred Metford
Alford, Frederick Charles
Alford, Vere Herbert
Allen, Raymond George
Allison, Harold
Aplin, Percy
Aplin, William James
Ashley, John
Atkins, Donald Frederick
Atkins, Thomas Geoffrey Wyndham Hale
Attwood, Edward
Attwood, Henry
Attwood, James
Auer, Wien Philip Francis
Bailey, Raymond George
Baker, Albert Edward
Baker, Reginald Frederick
Banbury, Francis Shelton
Barnard, Edward
Barnard, George Lloyd
Barnard, Godfrey Charles
Barnard, James
Barnard, James
Barrington, Edward William Jack
Barrington, Vaughan House
Batstone, Walter
Baulch, Harry Hamlin
Beaton, Arthur Lionel
Beel, Alexander Donald
Bell, Jack Woodrow
Bennett, Arnold John
Bennett, Edgar George
Bennett, Frederick Edwin
Best, Frederick William
Bishop, Charles
Bishop, John Charles Miles
Blackwood, James Herbert Farrant
Bond, Charles Joseph
Boobyer, George Henry
Boon, William
Bowker, Bryan
Bowring, Walter John
Bradford, William Frampton
Brinson, Herbert William Lloyd
Brister, Lawrence Hugh
Brooks, Irving Frank
Brooks, Norman Charles
Brown, Benjamin John Mitchell
Brown, Ernest Ronald
Brown, Philip Charles
Brown, William Gordon
Brownhill, Dudley Robert
Brownhill, Leslie W G
Buckle, Lawrence Alfred
Burrough, Harold Hembrow
Burrough, Maurice William
Burrough, Richard
Burroughs, George William
Burrows, Herbert George
Burrows, John Lewis
Burston, Philip Dorrien
Burt, James William Robert
Bush, Victor Douglas
Butler, Cecil Talbot
Butts, Edric Kenneth
Cabble, Robert Cecil
Cabble, Wilfred Henry Cecil
Calder, Cecil
Calder, Peter Kennion
Calder, Richard John Brian
Calder, Robert John Ward
Calder, William John
Calder, William Towning
Cannon, William Charles
Cansick, Arthur Christopher
Canvin, Harold Frank
Case, Reginald James
Case, Winford Frederick John
Cattle, Charles
Cavendish, Henry Patrick
Cavendish, Philip Richard
Chaffey, Lawrence Henry Charles
Chalker, Victor Frank
Chamings, Arthur
Chant, John
Chant, Walter Herbert
Chapman, William
Chapple, Percy George
Charity, William Rupert
Chedzoy, Clifford Norman
Chivers, Cyril George
Churchouse, Guy Lyford
Clark, George Henry
Clark, William Stanley
Clarke, Howard Charles
Clothier, Bruce Dorrien
Clothier, Dan Horatio
Clothier, Frederic Lionel
Clothier, Harold Thomas
Coate, Clifford Henry
Coate, Howard Kenneth Coldstream
Coate, Richard Robert
Cobden, James (Joseph) Halstead
Coburn, Francis Hume
Codling, Arthur Henry
Colegate, Leslie Everett
Collings, Wilton Reginald George
Cook, Albert Cyril
Cook, George Lintern
Cook, Herbert John
Cook, Leslie Arthur
Cook, Lionel William
Coomer, Arthur Edward
Coomer, Edward Roy
Coomer, Frederick Horace Victor
Coomer, Herbert Ivor
Corp, Albert James
Corp, Arthur Henry
Corp, Ernest Arthur
Corp, Frederick Joseph
Corp, Stanley Howard
Corp, Wilfred James
Cox, Frederick George
Cox, Frederick Gerald
Cox, Leonard
Cox, Roy
Cox, Thomas Howard
Cox, William Claude Meaker
Cranfield, Reginald Frank
Cranfield, Rodney Clifford
Cridland, Douglas Wilfred
Cridland, Percy Jacob
Croft, Edward Vincent
Cross, Ivor Frank
Cross, Robert Edward
Crossman, Hubert George North
Cullimore, Henry Dennis
David, Hubert William
David, Reginald
Davies, Evan Daniel Tudor
Davies, Geoffrey William
Dawson, Cecil Alexander
Demey, Francois Joseph
Denman, William Brian
Denner, Linsey Arthur
Desa, Philip Geoffrey
Dillen, Robert
Dinham, Edward Joseph William
Dougherty, James Herbert
Duckett, Cyril Clifford Frederick George
Duckett, Wilfred Gordon
Duckworth, Francis Richard
Duckworth, Kenneth Richard
Dummett, Stanley Charles
Dunlop, David Norris
Dunlop, William John
Dyer, Herbert Thomas
Dyer, Leonard Snelgar
Dyer, Leslie William
Eames, John Gordon
Edwards, Robert John Stott
Farrant, Percival James
Fellender, Wallace George
Follett, Eric Lorraine
Follwell, Edward Francis
Foot, Kenneth George
Gardiner, Maurice Ernest
Gare, Clifford Joseph
Gare, Gordon Stanley
Garland, Charles Edgar
Garland, Maurice John
Garland, Ralph Clifford
Gaylard, Thomas William
Gibbs, Arthur Edwin
Gibbs, Reginald William
Giles, Herbert Ernest James
Gill, Alfred William
Gillett, Lionel George
Gladstones, Richard John
Glide, Charles Frederick James
Glide, Francis Thornton
Glide, James Walrond
Glide, John Manfield
Gooding, Edward William
Gooding, George Henry
Gould, Leslie Charles
Gould, Morris Edwin
Grant, Louis John
Grater, Richard Giles
Grater, Vivian Somers
Green, Geoffrey Alan
Greenslade, Cyril Dorman
Greenslade, Edward
Greenslade, Hugh Reginald
Grinter, John Charles
Gunning, Cyril Walter
Hale, Dennis Aubrey
Hale, Francis Wilfred
Hale, Percy Bertram
Hallett, Leonard George
Hallett, Lynton
Hallett, Richard C
Hampton, Arthur Leslie
Hancock, Wilfred Job
Hann, Edward Wesley
Hann, Frederick James
Hannam, Roy Reginald
Harding, William John
Harris, Cyril Henry
Harris, George Herbert
Harris, R James
Heard, Douglas Casley
Hebditch, Ernest Josiah
Hebditch, Harold
Hebditch, Kenneth Noel
Hebditch, Norman
Hector, Philip Leslie
Hembrow, Frank Albert
Hembrow, Frederick Alfred
Hembrow, Leslie H J
Hembrow, Thomas
Hembrow, William Francis Douglas
Herring, Morris John
Hewson, John Jennings
Hine, David Thomas Holt
Hird, Robert Allan
Hole, Eric Harry Warren
Hole, Norman Herbert George
Hole, Reginald Ernest Arthur
Hole, Ronald Austin James
Hopkins, Harold Sidney
House, Clifford James
House, Frederick John
House, Jack
Howe, Roy William John
Hull, Arthur Henry
Hunt, Bertram Alan
Hunt, Edwin James
Hunt, Frederick Henry Donald
Hunt, Humphry Cecil
Hunt, Wilfred Dudley
Hutton, John Calder
Hutton, William Herbert
James, John Edwin Dyke
Jennings, Richard Male
Jennings, Robert John
Jennings, William Francis
Jones, Norman Price
Jones, Percy William
Jones, Reginald
Jones, Wilfred Llewellyn
Keirle, Frederick Alfred
Kiddle, Herbert John
Kiddle, Thomas George
King, William Edward
Knight, James Towill Hamblen
Knight, Ralph Eric
Kynaston, Leslie Arthur
Kynaston, William Edwin John
Lake, Harold Ralph
Larkham, Charles Frederick
Laver, Victor James
Lavis, Frederick Archibald
Lawrence, Jasper Ryland
Lawrence, Victor
Lee, Ronald
Lees, Thomas
Legg, William Gilbert Russell
Lenton, George William Alexander
Lenton, Richard
Lidbury, Percy Alfred
Lidbury, Thomas George David
Lidbury, William Louis
Lister, Henry Bedford
Lloyd, George Wallace
Lloyd, Maurice
Lloyd, Norman Joseph Harold
Lock, Edward John
Lock, Joseph Samuel
Lock, Norman Charles
Lock, Ronald George
Lock, William George
Locke, Courtney Frampton
Locke, Overt Thomas
Lockyer, Gerald Charles
Long, Edward Harry
Long, Harold James
Longman, Leslie Dyke
Longman, Richard
Longman, William Martin
Look, Robert Norton
Lovell, John Edwards
Ludbrook, William Henry
Lukins, Harold Austin
Luxton, Percy
Lye, Ernest William Geoffrey
Male, Archie Henry Chancellor
Male, Leslie John
Manfield, Walter Gordon
Marks, Alfred
Marsh, John Henry Wakeford
Martin, Joseph Barber
Martin, Reginald John
Martyn, Harold Henry
Mathison, James Crichton
Mathison, Joseph George
Matravers, Clifford F
Matthews, Peter
Maynard, Albert Victor
Mead, Frederick Uttermare
Mead, James Uttermare
Meade, Edwin Rupert
Meade, Francis Henry
Meade, Thomas Edmund Marshall
Medway, Graham F R
Millard, Robert George
Mitchell, Arthur Henry
Mitchell, Dudley Roy
Mitchell, Warburton George
Moreton, Leslie Stanley
Morris, William Jasper
Morrish, Harry Hartnell
Morrish, Norman Walter
Morrish, Ronald John
Mounter, Arthur Oliver
Mounter, Donald John
Mounter, Frederick Charles
Mounter, Guy
Mounter, Henry Paul
Mounter, Philip Raymond
Mounter, Wilfred Bryan
Munckton, James Herbert
Mundy, Francis Stenlake
Mundy, George Stenlake
Mundy, Ralph Stenlake
Musgrave, Geoffrey Ivor Gent
Northover, Alan Leslie
Norton, Charles Gilbert
Norton, Maurice Herbert
Oborne, Cyril George
Oborne, Ernest Arnold
Oram, Frederick Luther
Osmond, Harry Percival Clifford
Osmond, John
Palmer, Arleigh Frederick William
Palmer, Sholto Douglas
Palmer, William George
Parfitt, Clement Joseph Martin
Parker, George Tom Gulliford
Parris, Jack
Parsons, Maurice Courtney
Paul, Reginald Sydney
Paull, John Culliford
Payne, Henry Arthur
Payne, Joseph Charles
Payne, William John
Pearce, James Colebourne
Peare, Percy Alfred
Perham, Sidney Gordon
Perrett, David William
Perrett, James Gifford
Perrett, Robert Barrington
Perrett, Thomas Barrington
Perrett, Thomas Rawlings
Perrett, William Helliar
Perrin, Clifford Frederic John
Perrin, Denis Paige
Pester, William Edgar George
Pettyfer, Charles
Phillips, Frederick Thomas
Phillips, Leslie Hodges
Philpott, Alan William Huxley
Pickering, Sidney John
Pickford, Christopher Albert
Pickford, Jack
Pike, Charles Henry
Pinckard, Robin
Pinton, Peter Charles
Pipe, Donald Charles
Pitman, Alexander Cecil
Pitman, Reginald William
Pitman, Victor Frederick
Pocock, Douglas
Pocock, Gilbert
Pope, Donald Frederic Tom
Priddle, Percy James
Prout, Emrhys Henry Percy
Purchase, Dudley
Purchase, Henry Benjamin Samuel
Rayson, Henry William
Read, Dennis Clifford
Reakes, Mark
Ree, James Frank
Reed, Harold
Rendle, Horace John
Reynolds, Charley Barnard
Reynolds, Stuckey
Richards, Leslie Hubert
Richards, Thomas Walter
Richings, George Basil
Rogers, Leslie Cyril Allan
Rolfe, William John
Rossiter, Edward Tilden
Rossiter, William George
Rousell, Reginald John
Rowsell, Herbert James
Russell, Edwin Arthur
Russell, Harold George
Russell, Leonard Charles
Rutter, Reginald John
Salway, Kenneth Gordon
Salway, Reginald
Salway, Stuart Slade
Samson, Francis Lionel
Sandford, Arthur Walter Thomas
Sansom, Robert William
Savage, James Edward
Savidge, Edward Albert
Savidge, Leonard Richard
Sayers, Donald Phillpott
Scott, Richard Wyndham
Scriven, Christopher Trevor
Scriven, Robert Charles Thomas
Scriven, Victor Leslie
Seaton, Reginald
Shapland, William Reginald
Shearstone, Charles John
Shepherd, Wilfred Percy
Sherrin, Charles Henry
Sheryer, Norman Stuart
Shire, Geoffrey Edwin
Short, Arthur Edward
Slade, Arthur James Cosands
Small, Alec
Small, Frederic Biffin
Small, Frederick Donald
Small, Frederick Stanley
Small, Harold
Small, Henry James
Small, Leonard House
Snook, Harry Alistair
Sparrow, Clifford Albert
Sparrow, Colin Harold
Sparrow, Eric Harcourt Penstone
Sperring, Herbert Arthur
Spink, John William
Squire, Harry
Squire, John
Squire, John
Squire, Stanley
Stacey, Horace William George
Stewart, Alan Sewell
Stewart, Peter Alexander
Stewart, Ronald James
Stuckey, Edward William
Summerhayes, Alfred James
Summerhayes, Harry Munckton
Sutton, Norman George Bailey
Swain, Harold William
Sweet, Albert Owen
Symes, Maurice
Talbot, Hugh Ernest
Talbot, Walter Leslie
Tapscott, Ronald Henry
Tarr, Samuel George
Tatchell, Gilbert John
Taylor, Albion Richard
Taylor, Thomas Uttermare
Terrell, William Stanley
Thomas, William James Ridge
Thorne, Harold William
Thresh, Henry
Thyer, Victor Herbert
Tolley, Frederick Joseph Edward
Tompkins, Gordon
Townsend, Alfred Jack
Townsend, Cyril Frederick
Townsend, George William
Travers, Harold Francis
Trevor, Edward Cecil
Trevor, Reginald Francis
Trott, Hubert Allan
Upham, Alfred Raymond
Upham, Ernest Walter
Upham, Norman
Vaughan, Edwin James
Vigar, Albert Henry
Vigar, Maurice
Vincent, Hubert Thomas George
Vincent, William John
Wagland, Herbert Mark
Wagland, Ronald William
Wakley, Clifford John
Ward, Henry Reginald
Warner, Cyril James
Warner, Gordon Henry Clifford
Warren, Ivan Chave
Waterman, John Henry Norman
Waterman, William Stanley
Watts, Henry Alfred Augustine
Watts, James Harold Eugene
Weaver, Donald Hasell
Webb, Leslie Churchill
Webb, Morley Gerald
Welchman, Ewart Steeds
Wheadon, Clifford Harry
Wheeler, Arthur Dennis
Wheeler, Ronald Frederick George
Wheller, Herbert James
White, Charles
White, Cyril Henry
White, Gerald William
White, Hugh Uttermare
White, John
White, Luther Frederick
White, Maurice Frederick
White, William Michael Patrick
Whitehouse, Leslie
Wilcox, Frederick John Venner
Willcox, Harold Roy
Willey, William John
Williams, Henry Langford
Williams, Howard Graham
Willies, Donald Joseph
Willies, Henry William
Willies, Jack Edbury
Willies, Joseph Frederick
Willies, Norman Victor
Winchester, John Ronald
Windsor, Joe Wallis
Windsor, Percival
Windsor, Wilfred John
Winter, Reginald Dennis
Wood, George Mead
Wood, Leslie
Woodborne, Charles William
Woodland, Herbert Roy
Woodman, Graham William Henry
Woolf, Cyril William
Wyatt, Charles Herbert
Yandle, Arthur James
Yandle, Christopher Owen
Yandle, Geoffrey Alan
Yandle, Philip Aubrey
Yandle, Thomas Ray
Yeates, Geoffrey
Yeates, Kenneth
Yeates, Norman