Concordia
Merchant Taylors’ School
I was a Manor Boy from 1957 to
1961 then known as Ken Davies.
When I was commissioned I added the
double barrel to my name which makes
looking me up in any records difficult!
My father and his two brothers had
been at the school in Charterhouse
Square before the First World War.
My father VKN Davies left the school
in the summer of 1914 aged 17 to
join The Artist Rifles. Subsequently
he made a career in the Indian Army
and died soon after the retreat from
Burma in 1944. I was at the time 14
months old. My time at Sandy Lodge
was greatly facilitated by support from
The War Memorial Fund about which
I know very little. I was however very
interested to read what the Head Master
had to say about bursaries. Without
financial help I would not have been
able to attend the school.
The letter on the penultimate page from
Peter Bowen caught my eye. We must
have been at school at the same time but I
do not recognise the name. He questions
whether room still exists at the school to
educate the less academically inclined. I
do hope so. For various reasons I fell into
that category and was still in the V Form
at 17, struggling to pass 7 ‘O’ Levels. I was
supported and helped in my development
by being made a House Prefect and a
Sergeant in the CCF. On leaving school I
joined the Metropolitan Police where I had
a very full and satisfying career reaching
the rank of Superintendent. I also managed
a Short Service Commission in the Brigade
of Gurkhas.
In my younger days I played rugby
for the OMTs but for various reasons my
membership has lapsed. I do however meet
many OMTs at MT Company functions and
have kept up with developments.
May I just put in a word of praise for the
OMT Archivist, Jem Birch. I have been
researching my father’s life at the school
and his subsequent enlistment. Jem has
done some wonderful work for me trailing
through old Taylorians which makes
fascinating reading.
I much appreciate the publications. I
shall pass on my copies to friends in the
hope that they may send their sons and
grandsons to Sandy Lodge.
Ken Neville-Davies (1957-1961)
Letters to the
editor
I very much enjoy getting Concordia
and once again the Taylorian. I have
heard from a couple of friends … the
school seems so high powered these
days I seriously wonder if many of my
contemporaries would have got in if we
were trying to today.
In about 1966 or so the OMT Society
started to build a personal dossier on all
the OMTs they were in contact with on
a year by year basis. There were, I recall
about two prints of the results, which did
in some people’s eyes serve a useful and
even impressive purpose.
I also know that many did not
respond because they did not think
their achievements were good enough.
Some of course went overboard and later
felt embarrassed. Some recorded with
justifiable pride that they had got a degree
at Cambridge or Oxford or St Andrews
and had then done National Service, some
becoming officers – as you would probably
expect OMTs to do.
But one ‘rebel’ who was a year older than
me put in ‘Left School 1953. Went into
the Army for 2 years and became a Lance
Corporal.’ It was a sort of protest vote. I
think the index then withered on the vine
I have lived in Australia for 50 years and
am an Australian citizen as one should be.
I am proud of having been to MTS for five
years and of having become a Freeman of
the MTS Company some years ago.
If you can just continue to send me the
Taylorian and Concordia, and I will enjoy
both when they come with a good whisky
and a measure of nostalgia.
Michael Hodgetts (1949-1954)
I was drawn to Peter Bowen’s letter
to the editor, as I followed a similar
path through school and not reaching
any academic heights. We had known
each other at school but we were not
in the same year. In 1985 I was living
inAl Khobar in Saudi Arabia and my
wife and I had been invited to play
bridge with friends. We were paired
at a table with an English couple from
Guernsey. The gentleman said that he
thought he knew me from somewhere
but we couldn’t work it out. We talked
about stints in theWest Indies and East
Africa and found we had some friends
in common in those territories, but could
not recall ever meeting. We accepted
that position over the next few weeks.
Amonth or so later I was in Dubai and
played tennis with a business friend. We
talked about schools and when I mentioned
MTS one of his playing partners said that
his brother Peter Bowen had gone there. I
said I knew Peter but could not place him.
His brother Jeremy then told me that Peter
was now living and working in Al Khobar
and it suddenly dawned on me that we
had been playing bridge together in the
previous weeks. You can imagine Peter’s
surprise when I asked him the following
week at bridge, which house he had been in
at school and he said to me ‘you don’t even
know where I went to school’. I suggested
MTS and Andrewes and a very funny and
astonished expression spread across his
face as he suddenly realised how we knew
each other.
We didn’t see an awful lot of each other
after that as he moved to Dubai and I shortly
went off to Paris. It’s strange how paths cross
fleetingly, but seeing his letter brought back
these memories. Funny to think that we both
had undistinguished careers at school but
went on to have fulfilling lives.
Yours sincerely
Mike Patton (1956-1960)
