RootsChat.Com

England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Cambridgeshire => Topic started by: JenniferDenise on Friday 19 August 11 03:54 BST (UK)

Title: Denis Fitzsimmons in Cambridge Boarding School
Post by: JenniferDenise on Friday 19 August 11 03:54 BST (UK)

My father Denis Fitzsimmons Dunbar (1903-1966) born in Calcutta, India in 1903 sent to Boarding school in Cambridge - c.1911-1920.  WW2 Australian Attestment papers say he was in the R.O.T.C. (? school cadets) in Cambridge in 1915-1918.  Want info re which school and about R.O.T.C.,  & when returned to India.  (Went to Adelaide South Australia in 1927):  ???became a teacher first in India then Australia from 1928.

Title: Re: Denis Fitzsimmons in Cambridge Boarding School
Post by: bedfordshire boy on Friday 19 August 11 04:40 BST (UK)

I can't see him in the 1911 census.

Title: Re: Denis Fitzsimmons in Cambridge Boarding School
Post by: JenniferDenise on Friday 19 August 11 08:58 BST (UK)

Thanks for answering Bedfordshire Boy........DFD (dad) probably didn't arrive UK until middle of the year....after Census.  Am I right in thinking the English school year doesn't start til about August?  Here in Oz it starts end of January!
I thought there might be some way of tracking his later involvement in R.O.T.C.  I am aware that the British Army in WW1 drew their very young officers from the public schools in WW1 & even though dad wasn't old enough at the end of the war I was hoping there would've been a record of R.O.T.C. members between 1915-1918.

Title: Re: Denis Fitzsimmons in Cambridge Boarding School
Post by: bedfordshire boy on Friday 19 August 11 10:05 BST (UK)

The English school year starts in early September, so he probably missed the census

Title: Re: Denis Fitzsimmons in Cambridge Boarding School
Post by: sillgen on Friday 19 August 11 10:17 BST (UK)

There may have been others but one boarding school in Cambridge at that time was The Leys School, which still exists, so it may be worth contacting their archivist.
Andrea

Title: Re: Denis Fitzsimmons in Cambridge Boarding School
Post by: JenniferDenise on Friday 19 August 11 10:30 BST (UK)

Hi Andrea
Thanks for the tip.  To date I have got nowhere chasing schools.....they all want me to enroll !!.....and I didn't get any answers to my queries.  Probably because the schools I tried didn't exist then!  That comes from researching from overseas!
Jenny

Title: Re: Denis Fitzsimmons in Cambridge Boarding School
Post by: Selina on Friday 19 August 11 11:29 BST (UK)

Scroll down on this page to see Leys School archive contact information.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&q=cache:_pX5ItHw2uoJ:http://www.theleys.cambs.sch.uk/oldleysians/archive+Leys+School+Cambridge+archives&ct=clnk

Selina

Title: Re: Denis Fitzsimmons in Cambridge Boarding School
Post by: Selina on Friday 19 August 11 12:01 BST (UK)

You could also give The Perse a try.

Not sure if they still take boarders but think they did in the past.

http://www.perse.co.uk/

Selina