Education

Christ College, Brecon: Census

Rugby team, Christ College, Brecon. c1885.
Brecknock Museum & Art Gallery

At the time of the 1891 census there were 73 boys boarding at Christ College in Brecon. The head teacher, Rev M A Bayfield, and his predecessor, Rev D L Lloyd, had gone to some lengths to recruit new pupils for the school from a wide area. The census shows that they did come from many places, mainly from Wales, but very few from Breconshire itself. Of the boys listed in the census who were boarding at the School House and the Hostel in 1891, 65 were from Wales and only 8 from outside the country; they came from Norfolk, Gloucester, Worcester, Herefordshire, Buckinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Suffolk.

Christ College, Brecon
Powys County Archives

There were 53 boys living in the school house.

So, what sort of boy became a Christ College scholar in 1891? Taking a random selection of boys and tracing them back to the 1881 census, it can be seen that they were the children of the rising Victorian professional and middle classes.

Charles Lace was the son of Henry Leigh Lace, a Master Engineer, who lived in Cardiff. Another civil engineer's son was Trevor Roberts of Newport.

Arthur and Hugh Hughes of Aberystwyth were the sons of Arthur Johnson Hughes, an Aberystwyth solicitor. The father of Charles Steel was a Land Agent Auctioneer, Henry C Steel.

Percy Ingram of Monmouth was the son of a shipbroker, Samuel D Ingram.

John Lester's father was Hugh Lester, a wine merchant in Llandudno.

William and Leonard Johns, and Thomas and Edward Trevor were the sons of vicars, Revs Thomas Johns and Trevor Thomas.