History Department

Historical Happenings

Girls pay their respects on the Belgium visit History club’s creative work on slave resistance Year 9 are givien a demonstration of a cotton spinning machine

At October half term the History department ventured to Belgium for it’s second trip to the First World War battlefields in as many years. In the Armistice assembly back at school, Alexandra Graham of Year 10 spoke movingly about what she had seen:

The visit was extremely interesting whilst at the same time being a very moving experience as it is only when you see the memorials that you truly comprehend the scale of human sacrifice during the Great War. It was supposed to be the ‘war to end all wars’ but this was not to be the case and it certainly left me agreeing with Wilfrid Owen’s sentiment about the ‘old lie’ that is: dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. In November, Year 9 girls visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Amara Vijaradurai writes: When we went to MOSI we looked at the history of the cotton industry, mainly in North West England and how it affected the British economy. We learnt that the cotton was imported to the UK in cotton bales from countries with warmer climates (like the southern states of the USA) and sent to local factories to be processed through many different machines. In the museum we also saw the world’s first railway station and my favourite part was going through the tunnels and learning about old and modern day water usage.

In February, Year 8 pupils went to the Liverpool Maritime Museum in order to learn about the transatlantic slave trade. Stephanie Holland (8S) writes: I saw many things. I saw harrowing recreations of brutal environments into which the slaves would become accustomed. I saw horrible collars and other things made to hurt the slaves. That said, I also saw the beautiful clothes that the slaves made, and the empowering ways that they fought the system. Inspired by this visit, members of History Club have been exploring slave resistance further by creating their own quilt code patterns of the Underground Railroad, which was a route taken by escapees to get away from the slave owning states in the southern United States. The pictures show the code of the North Star, which many slaves followed, and a symbol for where they could find shelter.

Also in February, GCSE History students were invited to see a show performed by Peter Gill. In this one-man play, “Private Tommy Atkins” reflected on the Great War and its dramatic impact on history. Of the climactic scene, Nicola Li (Year 10) writes: Tommy told his story of how on December 24th 1914 he shouted “Fritz! Fritz! Merry Christmas Fritz!” to the other side of the trenches after the soldiers heard the Germans sing Silent Night and other Christmas songs, and how someone on the other side yelled back “Tommy, Fröhliche Weihnachten Tommy!” The Bolton Branch of the Historical Association has continued to meet in the Girls’ Division. The History Department and the Branch have been particularly grateful to Year 12 girls who have helped with tea, coffee and general administration. Below, Cerys Baines (Y12) writes about one particular lecture on King Charles I, which caught the imagination of our Sixth Form: Professor Richard Cust, a historian who has dedicated much of his career to the study of Charles I, delivered a highly captivating lecture about the early reign of Charles I. He spoke about a man who was never expected to become King, and who, after living in the shadow of his elder brother Henry and his glamorous sister Elizabeth for the most part of his childhood, was suddenly thrown into the public limelight. Finally, the Politics Club has been working hard to create their own political party, culminating in a whole School election. Congratulations are due to the clear winner, the Union Improvement Party, who beat competition from the Allegiance Party and Future Conservatives. The group has been equally busy since, as two teams faced off in preparation for our full school referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU in the final weeks of this half term.