Percy Tompkins was deputy
headmaster in the early years of the school's development.
Born in 1891, he attended Kettering Road school from 1905 to
1909. He then went as an uncertificated teacher to St. James
Road school and began teaching at evening school in 1912. During
the 1914-1918 war he served in the Medical Corps in Mesopotania.
After the war he returned to teach at Kettering Road
Intermediate school. Whilst there he took his Inter-BSc in 1928
and his Finals in 1930, when he was awarded a First-Class
Honours degree. The Northampton Technical College was opened in
1932. One part consisted of a Junior Technical School and
commenced with an entry of 31 boys and 9 girls. The assistant
staff member was Mr Percy Tompkins, who was in charge of general
subjects. By 1941 Percy Tompkins was in charge of the Junior
Technical School. The Junior Technical School was abolished
under the 1944 Education Act and became the Technical High
School. Although he had been in charge of the Junior
Technical school, the minutes of the governor's meeting show
that he was not considered for the post of headmaster.
Four candidates were considered, Mr L. J. Gould, Mr B. S.
Howard, Mr A. B. Moffat and Mr J. F. Topping.
[Research into council records
done by Dennis Rooke]
At "Tiger" Timms retirement party at the
Masonic Hall in Northampton, which took place after he had become known as
"Tigger", the Laurence Lloyd Singers (Stephen Meakins being one of the
two leaders of this group – his middle name being “Lloyd”) sang to him an
amazing little “ditty” which had been composed by Stephen based
entirely around the two words “Tigger Timms”.
To read the article from the Chronicle and Echo following the death of
"Pip" Harris [click here]
There is a section on "Gunner" Wright and we hope to be able add
one on "Buzzer" one day. At present, you can read a press cutting
on the occasion of his retirement. [Buzzer
Retires]
There is a full index of all teachers.
At the moment it lists all teachers, with some comments and the
approximate dates they were at the school. I would like to
add more comments, so please send you items to me.
[teacher index]
[mail]
There are some photographs and other details of staff members.
On the photos of staff taken in 1975, 1978, and 1989 Janet Anderton (Facer) has
identified almost all of the names. How many do you recognise? Click on the links below.
There is also some photos of a staff celebration in 1991, showing some of the
teachers from our days still at school.
[Up] [Teacher Index] [Buzzer Retires] [Deputy Heads] [Staff in 1974] [Staff in 1975] [Staff in 1978] [Staff in 1989] [Staff in 1991] [Staff in 1992] [Staff in 2003]
