Cranbrook College, Ilford, 1927-1939

Donald Cecil Morgan attended Cranbrook College in Ilford from 1928 at the age of 5, right through to his School Certificate taken in the summer of 1939.

The private school was located in Mansfield Road, Ilford just two streets away from where the Morgan family had moved in about 1928 in Selborne Road. The school had moved into a new purpose built building in 1923.

Eastern Counties Times 17 Sep 1926

Eastern Counties Times 17 Sep 1926

A number of school documents and reports have survived.

Three group photographs of the whole school are displayed on a separate page here.

The earliest of surviving annual reports is Donald’s  School Report of 18 Dec 1928, when he was aged 6 yrs 3 months. Eleven years later, Donald took and passed his School Certificate in Jul 1939.

Finally there is a copy of a school play programme, dated 1939, when the school put on a production of Aladdin. Donald played ‘Soapee’ a worker in the Chinese laundry. His good friend Tony Darby played Widow Nozee. Tony was later to be Best Man at his wedding in 1950 and Godfather to his youngest son.

Donald went on a School trip to Bern in Switzerland in Aug 1938. There are about twenty photos in one of Donald’s album of this trip.

After school he joined his father’s accountancy firm as an articled clerk, before being called up for military service in 1941. His career as a Warrant Officer in the Intelligence Corp, took him to Bletchley Park and India.

Notes

Last updated on 5 December 2023 by JJ Morgan