ARGYLE, William Johnson ‘John’. 1941-1949. M.A. B.Litt. D.Phil (Oxford) after National Service in the Royal Navy. Social Anthropologist. Lecturer, Rhodes University, then University of Natal at Durban. Lecturer, Queen Mary College, London. Professor of Social Anthropology, Durban, 1971-1996. Retired to Devon and then Bristol. b 1931 Matlock, Derbyshire; d 20 September 2021. Obituary here.
Author: Malcolm Peaker
Henry Mellish School Old Boys and Staff-WW2: Imperial War Museum Website
Full details of the school’s war memorial and its location can be found on the Imperial War Museum’s website. There is also a full list of the 58 old boys who were killed.
School Postcard seen on eBay

The unused postcard has been wrongly labelled by hand as the Sir Henry Mellish School. Given the caption used by the printers, the appearance of the children and the newly-planted look of the shrubs my guess is that was taken in 1929 or early 1930 soon after the school opened. It is occupied because the windows in 2A, 3A and the office are open. Spring 1930 maybe?
First XI 1949 Photograph
…added to the SPORTS page. From George Norman Fearn via his daughter, Judy. A poorer copy can be seen in The Centaur No 38, Spring 1950.
Two New Obituaries: Richard ‘Dick’ Storr and his brother Jeremy
Thanks to Jeremy’s son Robert we have obituaries for the brothers. Shown here but also on the OBITS page.
STORR, Richard Charles. 1954-1961. BSc Chemistry (King’s College, London), PhD Chemistry (Leicester). Originally of Forest Fields then Nuthall, took up work at Leicester University during PhD, moving to Liverpool University as Lecturer in Chemistry. Working in research in organic chemistry (Treasurer/Secretary of the Heterocyclic Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry 1986-89) and lecturing at Liverpool from the late 1960s until retirement. Resident of the Wirral. b 1942 Nottingham; d 29 May 2018. Brother to Jeremy G Storr (1958-1965).
STORR, Jeremy George. 1958-1965. BA English (Sheffield, 1968), PGCE (Nottingham, 1969), MA English Language (researching dialects of the Erewash Valley – 1981). Originally of Forest Fields then Nuthall, resident of Sheffield from the mid-1960s. English teacher at Holgate Grammar, Barnsley 1969-1975 then Head of English at Wisewood Comprehensive, Sheffield 1975-1995. Known at Henry Mellish for his sketching skills (see cartoons Centaur 1964/5). After retirement worked as watercolour artist, painting commissions and selling artwork in galleries including paintings of landscapes and scenes across Yorkshire and the Bristol area. b 1946 Nottingham; d. August 2022. Brother to Richard C Storr (1954-1961).
David Drinkwater (1944-2022)
From Andrew Jarratt via Robert Dawson, is this obituary of David Drinkwater.
DRINKWATER, David, 1955-1960, b 2 February 1944; d 15 September 2022. To the consternation of School management, he became an apprentice at the Royal Ordnance Factory Nottingham. This was a precursor to a distinguished career in engineering and engineering standards. Worked for a number of large organisations in a senior capacity in Egypt and USA as well as the UK. A keen cyclist, he covered 163,000 miles in his life including the four cardinal points of the UK.
On the OBITS page.
Professor John Michael Lee 1932-2022
Added to the Obituary Tab:
LEE, John Michael. 1942-1950. Christ Church, Oxford. 1958-67 Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in government, Manchester. 1967-69 H.M. Treasury. 1969-72 Institute of Commonwealth Studies. 1972-81 Reader in Politics, Birkbeck College. 1981-1992 Professor of Politics, Bristol. 1993-95 Visiting Fellow, LSE. Author of books on politics and history, e.g. The Churchill Coalition, 1940-1945. b 29 March 1932, Sheffield; d 2 February 2022, Twickenham. Papers deposited in Nottinghamshire Archives including an autobiography.
Keen to meet
from Anthony Edward Stratford [1967-1972]:
I attended HMGS between 1967 and 1972. I am keen to chat or meet up with old school mates from these times, I’m looking at the school photo’s and i do not recognise anyone from my year. Please drop me an e-mail to help me out
I have the email address if anybody wishes to make contact.
CCF 1971, Prefects 1974 and an Online Photograph Collection
Paul Nicoll has sent photographs and captions for the CCF Naval Section at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth in August 1971 as well as a photograph (with most of the names) of the prefects in February 1974.
A link to David Hallam’s smugmug site showing HMGS photographs has been added. As a reminder it can be found here.
All on the Photographs Page.
Updates May 2022
Two additions:
1 I found reference to the fact that a founding member of staff, JCE Wren, was a descendant of Sir Christopher Wren.
2 A new obituary:
GARDINER, Percy Alec. 1929-ca 1937. M.C., B.A. (French) (University College, London), MEd (Nottingham). b 15 November 1918, Stapleford; d 29 October 2008, Scarborough. 1939 enlisted Sherwood Foresters; commissioned 1942, Leicestershire Regiment, T/Capt 1945. M.C. gazetted 3 May 1945 for ‘gallant and distinguished services in North-West Europe’. Assistant Master, Ilkeston Grammar School 1948-1950, Manchester Grammar School, 1950-1954 (French, English and RI); Founder Headmaster. Boreham Wood Grammar School. 1954-1961. Head, Scarborough High School for Boys, 1961-1974. First principal of Scarborough Sixth Form College, 1974-1979. Organist, Scalbv Methodist Church for 25 years.