On July 28th, 1939, a group of 10 excited girls left College to join a Public Schools tour of Canada under the supervision of two CLC teachers, Miss Mary Shaw and Miss Richardson. The tour was organised under the auspices of the Overseas Education League of Canada. The twenty-nine schools involved were split into two groups, labelled A and B and included four cricket XI’s.
Party A, including the ten College girls, embarked on the ship R.M.S. Duchess of York on Friday 29th July and arrived in Quebec on 4th August. A further two College girls were in Group B which sailed on the 5th August from Southampton on the S.S. Empress of Britain arriving in Quebec on August 10th. The two parties were due to link up in Toronto from the 2nd September and return on the S.S. Duchess of Bedford, leaving Montreal on the 9th September and arriving in Liverpool on the 16th September.
Pictured - 1939 Canadian tourist brochure, and ship’s log for outward journey aboard the R.M.S Duchess of York
Mary Shaw was appointed to the position of Honorary Secretary for the organising committee and was therefore responsible for all the communications sent to the girls and parents. She was a long-standing teacher of mathematics at CLC and Head of Upper College. She would need all the benefits of this experience to deal with the unforeseen difficulties that would arise.
A Bon Voyage card was received by Mary Shaw from College with the prescient message ‘N.B. please don’t miss the boat home’ presumably because she would be much needed for the preparation and start of the new term. Miss Popham, the Principal, also sent a good wishes telegram before they sailed for Canada. The official programme recorded that there was a reception for Party A when they arrived in Quebec and numerous invitations were received by the teachers to attend teas and ‘at home’ receptions during their time there.
The programme contained an address which outlined the aims of the trip, as follows:
‘But little idea has been given to you of the programme that awaits you in Canada, and this with a purpose. It is intended that you should regard yourselves as “Explorers,” not merely setting out to “find” Canada, but the heart of the Canadian people, among whom I feel confident that you will make lifelong friends.’ He went on to state that “you are not just ordinary tourists; you are to be the guests of Canada.”
Pictured - official programme produced for the visit to Canada and souvenir postcards collected by Miss Shaw
The tour continued as planned with much time for sightseeing, in addition to playing cricket, as the numerous tour guides contained in the collection reveal, but world events were to have a dramatic impact on the length of this tour.
On Monday 1st September as Mary Shaw’s diary entry reveals: ‘We woke to hear the news boys crying ‘Extra’ and had an early paper to learn that Germany had begun to make war on Poland. Since then we have begun hearing the news from Europe frequently and we are all wondering whether we shall be able to go home on the appointed day. However, as before we carry on!’ The unfolding story was picked up by the Canadian press who reported on the many cricket matches.
Picture 1 - page from Miss Shaw’s diary recording outbreak of war, 1st September 1939
Pictures 2 & 3 - news cutting headline recording cricket match played after the outbreak of the war, 1939
The voyage home was delayed as the British Admiralty sought to minimise the risks of crossing the Atlantic. After a few weeks, the British Council of Canada announced in an official communication that the British shipping was to be convoyed and there would now be no insuperable reason why parents should not have their daughters at home. In order to try to assuage parental anxiety, a formal letter was issued to all parents stating that ‘It is obvious that the convoy system is now in operation and parents should therefore decide whether their daughters should return home.” Two options were outlined, as follows:
Option 1: girls are to return home in the near future by a convoyed British Ship.
Option 2: girls are to remain in Canada indefinitely under conditions which apply to Canadian students.
“If you choose B then you may rest assured that the best possible arrangements will be made at a minimum of expense. Many girls would undoubtedly remain there in their present homes where they have become members of the family. Some parents have recently written asking for advice on the best course to take. Soon war will probably descend on England in no uncertain manner: the present quietude is conceivably the prelude to attack on a grand scale. When war comes to England is it not better that these girls should be safe in Canada among friends? Among the girls is a feeling that they should be doing something in England. To this I reply that there will be ample time in which to serve England. My advice therefore to parents generally is to let the girls remain for an indefinite period unless they are to return at once.” In the event, at the request of parents, all the College girls returned home over the following weeks.
One of the final students to return home with Mary Shaw wrote an account of the trip in the 1939 Autumn edition of the College Magazine and described the journey home:
“We stayed for some time in Toronto at St. Hilda's College, one of the women's hostels for the University. Eventually, however, we all were scattered, some to stay in private families, some to go to school and some to the University. On September 22nd four of us went to New York and on the following day we sailed for home on the President Harding, an American ship. We came across in a blaze of light, with huge Stars and Stripes painted on the sides of the ship and on the tarpaulins covering the holds. We had an excellent crossing, although two days were very rough, and saw no submarines; but in spite of that we were very glad when we arrived at Southampton on the 2nd of October. We were glad to be home again, and yet we would not have missed our Canadian tour for anything. We learnt a lot and made many friends whose kindness we shall never forget.”
Picture 1 - menu card for farewell dinner held on board the S.S President Harding return voyage, 1st October 1939
Pictures 2 & 3 - photographs of the wartime arrangements at College
Mary Shaw returned home to a changed College: the Government had requisitioned the College buildings with the result that boarding houses were scattered in various locations around Cheltenham and Gloucestershire. Classes took place in the boarded over College swimming pool and a circle of hastily erected huts on the playing field. Despite this, the atmosphere in College echoed Mary Shaw’s comments on learning of the outbreak of war, “as before we carry on as usual.”
Mrs R Roberts, Former College Archivist
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