The history of the OT Club
Thursday 18 December 2025
Thanks to Stephen Corns, who very kindly typed up a handwritten document from F J Skidmore detailing the history of the OT club in depth. The account is shown here. History of the Old Tettenhallians’ Club(a few random notes) by John SkidmoreThe history of the Club’s early days is very sketchy as the Club has no records going back to its formation. The little that can be learned of the early days is almost entirely from the pages of the College Magazine.“The Tettenhallian” was first published in the Spring of 1888 by a College boy named F. Hewitt (1866-1888). It is clear that the Old Tettenhallians’ Club was already in existence at that date and I should guess that it was formed in or about 1875. There appears to have been four founder members. Two of these were certainly T. Edwards (1863-1867) who died in 1932 and his brother E.W. Edwards (“Owd Tom”) who died in 1931. I have not been able to trace the other two. The subscription in the early days (before the turn of the 19th century) was 3/6d per annum and was payable to the Editor of “The Tettenhallian.” This entitled a member to a copy of the School Magazine. I feel that probably in these early days when the number of old boys was naturally few no formal functions were held. The only other information I have been able at the moment to obtain on the years prior to 1900 is that in 1891-1892 the President was S.T. Mander, the Secretary was A.B. Bantock (later Alderman A.B. Bantock) and the Treasurer was the Headmaster, Mr. Haydon. The following year (1892-1893) the Rev. F. Horton (1867-1871) was President and the next year H.M. Mellor when there was the joint Secretaryship of R. Stockburn and the Headmaster Mr. J.H. Haydon.The first London Dinner was held in the year 1892-3 under the Presidency of the Rev. F. Horton when there were 16 present. Although I have been unable to learn anything further on the years prior to 1900 the London Dinners must have continued to have taken place as the Sixth London Dinner was held on the 15th January 1900. In that year there was a Local Dinner held in Birmingham under the Chairmanship of Rev. G.V. Collier but there were only 11 present. During the next few years the Club appears to have become practically defunct. The Club was resurrected in 1905 very largely I believe to the efforts of the Rev. L.K. Fletcher and Dr. W.A. Stokes. A Dinner was organised at the Grand Hotel, Birmingham on the 23rd May 1906 under the Chairmanship of W. Hall-Jones. At this Dinner the Club was reborn and the Rev. L.K. Fletcher was appointed Secretary of the Club and J.P. Shaw (1863-1866) was President for the year 1906-1907.In the year of J.P. Shaw’s Presidency there were 70 old boys present at the Annual Dinner and by the next year the membership had increased to 100. In 1909 there were 132 apologies for non-attendance at the AGM!! So undoubtedly the Club was flourishing. At the Annual General Meeting in 1909 the Rev. Fletcher was elected an Honorary member for his work in resurrecting the Club and in his capacity as Secretary since the Club had been re-formed. At the Annual General Meeting in 1914 the Old Boys took the momentous step of electing Dr. H.C. Lees President of the Club (older OTs will know that Dr. Lees’ five sons all attended the College). Dr. H.C. Lees remained President without a break from the year 1914/15 to the year 1926/27 inclusive. From reading the brief records of the Club during this period I think there is no doubt that it was very largely due to Dr. H.C. Lees that the Club continued in existence during the First World War and quickly became active again immediately afterwards.In those days Old Tettenhallians’ Committee Meetings were held in the Headmaster’s house on a Sunday afternoon and on looking through the old Minute Books I find there are not many meetings that Dr. Lees did not attend.In fact meetings continued to be held in the Headmaster’s House right up to the outbreak of the Second World War. Reading between the lines I think that the Old Boys felt that the Headmaster’s house was not necessarily the most convenient place to hold the meetings and after the Second World War the Committee commenced holding its meetings at The Rock Hotel and they have continued to be held there ever since. Going back to the year 1926/27 Dr. Lees retired from the Presidency and it was decided that in future the office of President should be held for one year only. Except for the years during the Second World War when Fred Yorath held fort this has been the practice ever since. That the Club survived the Second World War is largely due to the untiring efforts of “Theo”. As far as I have been able to ascertain the only person who has been President of the Club and has not been a pupil at the School is Horace Pearson who was President in the year 1945/46 but unfortunately he died during his year of office. In the hope that it may be of interest I give below a complete list of the Presidents of the Club since the year 1906. I also wish I had space to mention the names of other Old Boys who have served the Club so well in many capacities, but perhaps I may be allowed the space to mention these and many other interesting facts in the Club History in some future edition.