Welsh Journals

analytical approach in chapters highlighting key issues and themes pertaining to change and continuity, similarity and difference would have added to the appeal of the volume. Nevertheless, it does provide a microcosm of the mixed fortunes of the evolving system of intermediate and secondary education in Wales from the late nineteenth century. Attitudes to intermediate education in Caernarfon in the 1880s are revealed in the references to the apathy and hostility, as well as enthusiasm, generated by the Mundella Bill of 1885. There was fear that intermediate education would be accompanied by an increase in the rates. The amendments to Rendel's Intermediate Education Bill in 1889 were criticised in the local press as 'Churchy anti-kymric and Phillistine'. From 1894 until 1900, the Caernarvon County School found a temporary home in premises vacated by the North Wales Training College, following its move to Bangor to become St. Mary's College. The school was most fortunate in the appointment of J. Trevor Owen M.A. as the first headmaster from 1894 to 1901. A native of Anglesey, he possessed 'the imagination, tact and strength of character needed to spark off a unique educational experiment with scant resources'. He was fortunate in having the support of J. Issard Davies, who was to remain a powerful chairman of the governing body for twenty years. As elsewhere in Wales, they were faced with the problems of the early years of intermediate education: scarce resources, financial pressures, inadequate buildings, pupils' short stay, the burden of school fees and dual inspection by the C.W.B. and Board of Education (Welsh Department). In the early years of intermediate education at Caernarfon, J. Trefor Owen and his worthy successor as headmaster, J. de Gruchy Gaudin (1901-13), were conscious of the need to establish a recognisable identity for the school. Though endeavouring not to establish a slavish imitation of the English grammar schools, it was virtually inevitable that an examination-orientated, academic curriculum was soon well established in the Edwardian era and the years prior to World War I. The school was proud of the academic successes of such gifted pupils as W. J. Gruffydd. In 1910, the headmaster acknowledged that education was not simply 'an intellectual scramble for three or four years'. But he was also aware that whatever virtues educationists might see in a balanced, differentiated curriculum, parents wanted 'good exam results' to equip their children with the formal qualifications necessary in the harsh, competitive world. The Welsh language was no more than an optional subject at the school and periodically there were demands for greater attention to the native tongue of most of the pupils and for the inculcation of a stronger Welsh ethos in the school. But the school authorities were also aware that in the view of very many parents, children were handicapped if they spent too much time on Welsh, 'a language they knew, at the expense of English, a language they needed'. World War I generated much patriotism and sacrifice from staff, pupils and Old Arvorians and a greater realisation than ever of the social and economic importance of education. In 1916, the headmaster, E. P. Evans, addressed the school: 'What we certainly can associate with German education is that extraordinary efficiency and superb organisation in peace and war, which in war has kept the world at bay, and