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20 Apr 2023 | |
Written by John Sadden | |
OP updates |
This year we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) and the 160th anniversary of the school's very first cadet corps. This was originally affiliated with the local Volunteer Company of the Hampshire Rifles in 1863, then transferred to the 5th Hants followed by the 3rd Hants Volunteers. Although the School closed down briefly in the 1870s, the PGS Cadet Corps was quickly reformed after its re-founding at the end of the decade and has been in continuous operation ever since. Because of the long history and tradition, of the PGS corps, is one of very few entitled to have its own badge rather than the generic CCF emblem.
The first commandant was Major Samuel Hudson, after whom the Junior School house is named. He had served nine years in the Hampshire Regiment before taking up teaching. In its early days the Corps attended Territorials’ camps and exercises, as well as public school camps and field days.
At this time, boys could belong to Army and Navy classes, the curricula having been designed to enable a smooth transition for school leavers into the armed services. This met the strong demand in a town that was not only Britain’s premier naval port, but also had a substantial garrison. The training and drill provided by the Cadet Corps provided a good grounding for young men whose duty was to fight for and defend the British Empire in an age when patriotism was inseparable from imperialism.
The Corps became an increasingly popular part of a PGS education. By 1903, when the Duke of Connaught inspected the school contingent, it numbered seventy members. In the years of the arms race leading up to the First World War, boys were urged to join the Corps on Speech Day and Empire Day, to prepare them for “The Great Game”. The Cadet Corps, raised in status in 1908 to that of an Officers’ Training Corps, had by 1914 achieved a membership of a hundred. The outbreak of war brought more eager recruits. By 1915 there was an estimated six or seven hundred Old Portmuthians serving, including five members of staff. At least 131 OPs and two members of staff died in the war.
Between the wars the Officer Training Corps was commanded by Major Lee who became responsible for the organisation of summer training camps for many school units and was awarded the OBE for his work. OPs of the time have often remembered that the uniform was uncomfortable and needed a great deal of cleaning and polishing. A cadet wore a tunic with brass buttons, a webbing belt which had to be cleaned with blanco, but the worst job was reported to be the putting on of his puttees, strips of khaki cloth which were wrapped tightly around the calves so that the ending came at the right place on the outside of the leg.
During the Second World War, Portsmouth was a major target for the Luftwaffe and PGS was evacuated and settled in Southbourne. At the time of the invasion threat of 1940 members of the unit were involved in guard duties at Hengistbury Head.
The Officer Training Corps was renamed the Junior Training Corps (JTC) in 1940 and an Air Training Corps (ATC) was established the following year. Many pupils, inspired by the victory of the RAF in the Battle of Britain, joined the latter. They studied the principles of flight, aircraft recognition and other subjects for their proficiency badge. In 1942, the Signals Section converted to radio and attracted new recruits. Under the command of Captain Stansfield the Corps prepared hundreds of cadets for the basic training Certificate A, and, as a result of this and other preparatory training, many boys were given commissions in the army. In 1940, the school magazine listed 400 Old Portmuthians who were serving in the armed forces overseas, and many former Corps members took part in the defence of Portsmouth, manning the anti-aircraft guns on Southsea Common during the blitz. It is not known how many Old Portmuthians had served during the six years of war but, by the the end of hostilities, at least 148 are known to have lost their lives in the fight against fascism.
The Army and RAF service Corps joined together to form the Combined Cadet Force in 1948 and a Naval section was established the following year. In the 1950s the Corps paraded twice a week in the Quad under the commands of Major Knowles and Major Bartle. The Corps expanded rapidly and an Artillery Section was established under Captain James. The Naval Section also thrived and, by 1963, was the largest section with 150 members. In that year, the centenary of the formation of the original PGS cadet corps, hero of El Alamein, Field Marshall Earl Montgomery carried out an inspection of the cadets.
In later years there was less emphasis on parade ground drilling. By the 1960s and 70s, practical skills and hands-on experience began to be more valued and Adventure Training was introduced, as well as Naval camps at Newtown on the Isle of Wight, and participation in the annual Ten Tors challenge. New Army camps attended included Fort George at Inverness, attended by a record 180 cadets, nearly all of whom reached the top of Ben Nevis. Other expeditions included Norway, Ireland and Germany and annual winter mountaineering in the Cairngorms led by Roger Harris and Captain Bill Taylor.
In 1955, the Air Section acquired a glider which for many years was catapulted across the sports field at Hilsea by Air Cadets pulling on elastic ropes, giving the pilot a brief and sometimes terrifying experience of flight. By the late 1970s, PGS was reported to have provided more officers for the RAF than any other school. One cadet rose from Sergeant in the Corps to be in command of the RAF. Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Johns left the school in 1956 for RAF College, Cranwell. Sir Richard returned to the school as inspecting officer at Hilsea in 2003, the year that Major Sue Sheldrick was appointed the school’s first female Contingent Commander. He returned in 2008 on the 60th anniversary of the Corps when many OPs in middle and old age celebrated the occasion by taking part in drilling at Hilsea.
75 years after the formation of the CCF, and 160 years after the first school cadet corps was established, the CCF continues to flourish with a substantial increase in recruits in recent years.
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