A ‘Schoolboy Entente’: the Anglo-German School Trips in the Lead Up to World War I

On 28 June 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian  throne, was assassinated by a Bosnian-Serb. A series of events followed which ultimately led to more than 30 nations being involved it what was once called the Great War. The scale of the 1914-18 war was unprecedented. Fighting took place on the Western Front (in France and Belgium), in eastern and southeast Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Although the final trigger for war was the murder of Archduke Ferdinand, the underlying causes dated back much further. Imperialism, economic rivalries, militarism, nationalism and alliances between nations stretching back over 30 years all contributed to the tensions that would lead to conflict.

It was against this backdrop that, in 1911, King’s introduced a series of exchange visits to Germany with the hope of building better relations between the two countries.

‘Many attempts have from time to time been made to bring about a better understanding and closer relations between boys and girls of different countries. They have been encouraged to write letters to one another, and to visit one another's homes; just as their teachers are now being encouraged to meet in conference or to effect a brief interchange of methods and of duties. But one of the most novel, attractive and successful of these experiments has been initiated by King's College School in the Easter holidays just passed. Thanks to the senior German master at that school, and to the kindness of Professor Kuhne, Direktor of the Evangelische Paedagogium, a big boarding-school for boys at Godesberg, on the Rhine, arrangements were made and carried out by which some dozen or more K. C. S. boys of different ages and attainments, were enabled, under Mr. Koch's skilful management, to make the Godesberg School the headquarters of a delightful and thoroughly educational tour in the lovely Rhine district of which Godesberg is the Centre.’

 Surrey Comet, 1911

 'An interesting practical experiment...'

Between 1911 and 1914 four visits to Germany were organized for pupils from King’s; at least three return trips were made by German pupils to Wimbledon.

These Anglo-German school exchange trips were an exciting new venture for the school. They opened the eyes of King’s pupils and their German counterparts to various new things: cultural spaces, feats of engineering, geographical wonders and industry in action. Could they go further, however; could they also encourage peaceful relations between the two countries?

Travelling outside of Great Britain was still quite unusual at that time, and school trips abroad were pretty much unheard of. The journey from Wimbledon to Godesberg, where pupils on the first tour stayed at a boarding school, involved several trains and an overnight ferry crossing. The total time travelling would have been around 24 hours. It is not surprising that the Headmaster, Lionel Rogers, believed that they were the first school trip of their kind in England.

According to a newspaper report, it had been a pupil who first suggested the idea of visiting Germany. Why have only one visit when a whole group could go? The German master, Mr Koch, had taught at the Evangelische Paedagogium, a boarding school in Godesberg close to Bonn. He was well placed to make the necessary arrangements.

The visits all lasted around three weeks (including travel). Pupils saw sites such as castles, bridges, industrial centres and churches. They went wine tasting and discovered the joys of German patisseries. They walked in forests and journeyed on boat-trips along the Rhine.

The tours were ambitious, and not only in terms of the educational experience they offered. Lionel Rogers firmly believed they would develop empathy and a common understanding between the young people of the two countries and, in so doing, foster positive relationships based on mutual respect. As he said on Speech Day in 1911, if English boys –  

‘learned to know the customs, institutions, and ways of foreign nations; if they made friends with foreign boys, and lost their priggish estimate of others without forfeiting their legitimate pride in what was good at home, then… although they might not have universal peace they would be much more unlikely to be engaged in ignorant and senseless struggles.’ 

(H. Lionel Rogers, Headmaster of King's, Speech Day 1911)

His words suggest that Rogers was mindful of the political landscape–the tension between many European countries and the growing tendency to lean into nationalism in England and elsewhere.

‘Two great nations drawn from the same stock’

During the 1913 visit of German pupils to England, a lunch was held at the Guildhall in London hosted by Sir Charles Wakefield (an Alderman who would later become Lord Mayor). The guest list – aside from pupils – included Sir Edgar Speyer, Lieut-General Moncrieff, Major-General Pipon and Colonel Dunfee. Other schools were also represented: Herr A. Lorey (Klinger-Ober-realschule) and Dr. G. Sander (Musterschule), and the Headmasters of Merchant Taylors', Dulwich and St. Paul's.

Sir Charles gave a speech in which he stressed the ‘value of intercourse between England and Germany – "Two great nations drawn from the same stock."’ The Headmaster of King’s, while offering his thanks to Sir Charles, was confident of a ‘wider, brighter future symbolised in this fraternal gathering of German and English Public Schools.’

By this date, the tours had also attracted the support of James Headlam, His Majesty’s Inspector of Schools, Mr. Powell (Chairman of the Surrey Education Committee) and Freiherr von Hermann (representative of the German Embassy).

At all of the events put on, whether it was a relaxed garden party or a formal luncheon, there were gestures indicating respect for the other’s country and customs. Songs – including national anthems – were sung in German and English; the flags of both nations would be raised; a toast to ‘The King’ would be followed by one to ‘The Kaiser’.  

‘how much there is in common between them…’

Judging by accounts of the visits in the school magazines, the pupils themselves certainly felt that the chance to get to know German culture first hand, to be invited people’s homes, changed their outlook. When the final visit by German students ended in July 1914, one King’s pupil summed it up thus:

‘This interchange of visits, which was instituted by Mr. Koch, has now attracted general attention in England, and its importance cannot be overestimated. We British are very insular, and are prone to regard everyone else as “foreigners,” a kind of race apart, having little or no resemblance to us. But when members of the rising generation in both England and Germany have the opportunity to mingle, to see each other's home life and the institutions of each other's country, and to realise how much there is in common between them, a very good work is being done, which may have a deep influence on events in the future.’

Less than a month later, Britain declared war on Germany in support of its French and Belgian allies. Over 1,000 former King’s pupils served in World War One.

THE TOURS

The visits made by King's pupils and their German counterparts all lasted around three weeks (including travel). Pupils would spend their mornings attending lessons, with afternoons free to undertake extensive sight seeing. Pupils were taken to see castles, bridges, industrial centres and churches. They visited seats of learning such as the universities of Bonn and Oxford. They were entertained at the theatre and in people's homes. The itineraries for the 1911 vists are detailed below; these give a good idea of how the time was spent. 

Zeppelin spotting   

'Next morning our lesson was cut rather short, owing to excitement, for the famous Zeppelin airship was due at any moment, and we were to have the opportunity of watching it from the school tower. We got a magnificent view of it, and obtained several good photographs. It passed but a short distance from us, giving us a very fair idea of its great size.'

One of the highlights of the 1911 trip to Germany was spotting a Zeppelin. Invented by Count von Zeppelin, a retired German army officer, the first Zeppelin was flown in 1900. These rigid airships had a steel framework which was filled with hydrogen, making them lighter than air. The design of these airships was quite remarkable and it is little surprise that King’s pupils were excited to see them in flight. During the 1912 visit, a sighting of one was arranged specially: ‘We arrived on the ground just in time to see the monster come out of its shed; and after having prepared everything in order for rising, the engineer climbed into his box, and gradually the great creature rose and sailed away at high speed. It was a grand sight to watch her make the ascent, and with many others on the ground we wished we could be in the cabin of the Princess Louise on this aerial flight.’

The Viktoria Luise was named after Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. King’s pupils saw the Viktoria Luise again in 1913, although on that visit they had to be content with seeing it on the ground as the unsettled weather prevented it from flying.

From 1910, Zeppelin aircrafts began to be flown commercially. During the First World War, however, they were given a different purpose. The Viktoria Luise was used by the German Navy as a training ship, whilst others carried bombs which were dropped on British towns and cities (each Zeppelin was capable of travelling at about 85 m.p.h. and carrying up to two tons of bombs). The first raid was on Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn, in East Anglia, in January 1915. It was the first time that civilians living in Britain felt the impact of war at first hand as previous overseas conflicts had rarely reached British shores. The First World War is often referred to as a ‘total war’ as it was a global war which involved both civilians and the armed services on a massive scale.

Sporting fixtures

‘That afternoon we saw a display of gymnastics at the school by some of the boys which was extremely interesting, and later watched some more boys playing "faustball".’

Sports fixtures were a feature of all the exchange trips. In Germany, King’s pupils were invited to watch games of ‘faustball’ (or ‘fistball’). Never having seen it before, they likened it to tennis or fives: ‘[the aim is] to keep a ball going from one side to the other without missing it…. I believe they score in a somewhat similar way. The ball, which is like an Association football, only a little softer, is struck with the fist, and the players, four on each side, try to keep it going over a string stretched across the court at a height of about seven feet off the ground.’ 

'A cricket match was arranged, and we followed the course of the game, which was quite new to us, with great interest.'

One of the activities arranged for the German students who visited King’s in July 1914 was a League cricket match (a match played between two of the House teams). Many of those who were in the first XI team would have taken part. 

Stephen Read (back row) had, in fact, been one of the pupils who went on the school’s second visit to Germany (in 1912); it was he who wrote up a report of their tour for the school magazine.  

All of these King’s pupils would go on to fight in the First World War, some within a short time of this photograph being taken. Five of them were awarded the Military Cross for acts of bravery. Tragically, three of them lost their lives during the conflict: they are remembered on the school’s World War One War Memorial in the Quad.  

THE CONTEXT: LEAD UP TO WW1

Four interlaced strands, which can be traced back to the 19th century, help to explain why the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand resulted in a global war: imperialism, nationalism, militarism and alliances. 

IMPERIALISM

noun

a system in which a country rules other countries, sometimes having used force to get power over them

From the later 19th century, a desire for imperial influence was an increasing factor in international politics (European powers believed the claiming of another’s territory as their own was completely acceptable). An empire brought not only wealth and power but prestige. Britain had an empire that covered one quarter of the world map whilst France had significant territories in Africa and Asia.

Africa was a prime target. In 1870, around 10 percent of African land was under European control; by 1914, it had risen to 90 percent. Britain and France took the largest parcels of territory during what became known as the ‘scramble for Africa’. Germany was unhappy about this. After the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, Germany occupied a pivotal geographic and political position in Europe but it wanted to build an empire of its own (this one of the main reasons it rapidly grew its naval fleet).

MILITARISM

noun

the belief that it is necessary to have strong armed forces and that they should be used in order to win political or economic advantages

The rivalries between nations also led to competition among the countries of Europe to have the biggest and strongest military capabilities, both as a sign of strength and to enable the conquest of other nations.

British Expeditionary Force (BEF)

Although, by 1914, Britain’s naval fleet was still very robust (it had 29 Dreadnoughts to Germany’s 17), its professional army, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), was small, having been designed mainly to police its overseas empire. The entire force consisted of just over 250,000 Regulars. This was tiny when compared to the armies of Germany, France and Russia: all these countries already had conscription in place before war was declared. Additional support for the BEF came from local Territorial Force (TF) units which attached to the Regular Army regiments. Within the TF, men volunteered to train during evenings and weekends. Territorials were not obliged to serve overseas but, when asked to do so in August 1914, the vast majority signed up for full-time service.

Naval Supremacy

By the end of the 19th century, Britain had the world’s strongest navy. The ruler of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm, was determined to build a navy that would be even bigger. And so began the Anglo-German naval race. In 1898, the Kaiser announced that he was building 41 new battleships. Britain answered this move by building the HMS Dreadnought, a superior battleship, which was first unveiled in 1906. But Germany also began building U-Boats (naval submarines). Alarmed, France and Britain sought Russia’s help as a way to deter the threat of Germany’s rising power.

Against this background of rising tensions, countries started to draw up their battle plans in the event of war.  

‘TO RETAIN COMMAND OF THE HIGH SEAS’: THE FIGHT FOR NAVAL SUPREMACY IN THE 1900s

The majority of King’s pupils would have had some awareness of Britain’s naval history—and the belief that a strong navy needed to be maintained. In 1902 John Knox Laughton, Professor of Modern History at King's College London came to the school to deliver a lecture on the ‘Naval Policy of Great Britain.’ Professor Laughton stressed that the main objective of the navy was to protect Britain’s trade routes:

‘For if a great naval war arose in the future, and the enemy were to gain possession of the trade routes bringing the foreign commerce into Great Britain, then in a very short time it would not be a question of war, as far as our country was concerned, but of starvation first and abject submission afterwards.’

WW1—THE ATTACK ON BRITAIN’S FOOD

The fears expressed by Professor Laughton and Lieut. Knox were well founded. During the First World War, Germany did attempt to weaponize food. Britain was heavily reliant on food from overseas – at the start of the war, in 1914, around two-thirds of the country’s food was imported – so the German government used their  submarines to attack merchant ships carrying food to Britain.

By the autumn of 1916, the German campaign to effectively starve the British into submission was beginning to have a significant impact. Not only were there were food shortages, with long queues outside shops, but the cost of food had drastically increased.

Nevertheless, the British government was reluctant to enforce rationing – not only because it was likely to be unpopular, but also because Germany might use it as proof that they had been successful in stopping vital food imports from reaching the UK. And it wasn’t until 1918 that official rationing was introduced in Britain. 

Two years later, another lecture on the Navy was given, this time by Lieut. Knox, Hon. Secretary of the Navy League. (Like Professor Laughton, Lieut. Knox stressed the ‘necessity of a strong Navy to protect the importation of our food,’ explaining that ‘Thirty tons of food [are] imported every minute into this country.’ Lieut. Knox also highlighted the increased production of armoured cruisers and discussed how Britain’s guns and ships compared to those of other nations. 

These were themes explored in great deal by an unnamed pupil in two articles he wrote for the school magazine in 1908. The author had undertaken research into the relative naval strength of Great Britain to arrive at the number of armoured ships (battleships and armoured cruisers) different countries possessed:

Great Britain 98 | France 46 | America 46 | Germany 42 | Japan 35 | Italy 23 | Russia 177 | Austria-Hungary 9

One country was singled out for further comparison: Germany.

‘Some of my readers may like to have before them some further figures showing our present position with regard to Germany, and for them I will append a table of details, the first column giving the numbers for Britain and the second those for Germany.’ 

NO LONGER ‘PLAYING AT SOLDIERS’: THE ROLE OF CADETS IN THE EVENT OF WAR

‘We saw the drill of the King's College School Cadet Corps, an institution which is not known in Germany, which serves to educate officers for the Territorial Army. The boys wear a uniform and drill with rifles. We regretted not having a similar thing in our school.’  [German pupils writing of their 1911 visit to King’s]

There had been the option at King’s to take part in a Cadet Corps since the 1870s, although membership, at first, was low. For many years it was attached to E Company of the London Rifle Brigade. In March 1908, however, a big change was announced: the Cadet Corps would become an Officer Training Corps under a new scheme established by Richard Haldane, the Secretary of State for War. When Haldane took up this position in 1905, he was aware that Britain needed an expeditionary force (a group of soldiers who would be sent to fight in a foreign country). With tensions high across Europe, war was a genuine possibility. An expeditionary force  might not be enough, however. An established non-regular army was also needed. Some people, such as Field Marshal Lord Roberts (see his letter on the right), were in favour of introducing conscription (i.e. forcing people by law to join the armed services).

CONSCRIPTION – YES OR NO?

Many countries in Europe already had some form of conscription in place. In Germany,  men aged 20 would normally do two to three years of compulsory military training and service, after which they would return to civilian life on the understanding that they could be re-conscripted in the event of war. When the war started in 1914, the German army was able to expand from 808,280 to 3,502,700 men in just 12 days.

Haldane resisted this course of action, however. Instead he created the Territorial Force both for home defence and as support for the expeditionary force. He had to make sure there were enough trained officers in the Territorial Force and so the Officer Training Corps (O.T.C.) was introduced. The O.T.C. was modelled on existing school Cadet Corps and university Rifle Corps but with a standard set of regulations and agreed military training.

King’s pupils joined the O.T.C.  in increasing numbers. They might have been ready to be ‘worthy’ citizens but this did not mean they were all necessarily in favour of war. In 1912, the Debating Society asked “Is War Justifiable?”: when it came to the vote, a large majority agreed that it was not. Nevertheless, when war became a reality in August 1914 many pupils from King’s – both former and current – who were eligible to enlist, did so. In total more than 1,000 would serve in World War One.

After resisting conscription for many years, by 1916 it was clear that compulsory military service was needed; Britain could no longer rely solely on voluntary recruits to bolster its regular army. In January 1916 the Military Service Act was passed. This imposed conscription on all single men aged between 18 and 41, but exempted the medically unfit, conscientious objectors, clergymen, teachers and certain classes of industrial worker. A second Act passed in May 1916 extended conscription to married men.   

‘On July 10th, 1908, the offer of the School to provide a contingent for the Officers' Training Corps, Junior Division, was accepted by the Secretary of the War Office. Under the special regulations (1908) the duties of Officers and Cadets are fully laid down. Officers receive commissions in the Territorial Force and are liable to be called out in case of public need. …

It will be seen that the War Office has done its part; it has taken Cadet Corps seriously. No one can call the O.T.C. "playing at soldiers''; we can settle down to a definite task of making ourselves efficient and getting all the "A" certificates possible. I look forward to the time when any boy over 15 will feel it a disgrace not to possess an efficiency badge. The little diamond of scarlet or green cloth will stand for something real-an honest endeavour to fit oneself to be a worthy citizen and not a "passenger" in the British Empire.’

(Summer edition of the school magazine, 1908) 

NATIONALISM

noun

a great or too great love of your own country

In the lead up to the conflict, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Russia were all witnessing a surge in nationalism. Those who believed that their country was superior to others, and that national interests should be protected, supported the idea of war.

In Austria-Hungary, a rise in extreme patriotism was destabilising the empire. The House of Habsburg had ruled Austria since the 13th century. During this time, their domain had included several other countries. By 1914, however, their holdings had dwindled to a mix of multi-ethnic, central European territories known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire (or Austria-Hungary for short). Many of the individual nations were unhappy at being ruled by the Habsburg dynasty, whilst other countries, such as Serbia, were keen to incorporate some of the Austria-Hungarian territories into their own kingdoms.

It is impossible to disentangle the rise in nationalist sentiment with the power struggles around land and the desire for military supremacy.  

ALLIANCES

noun

a group of countries, political parties, or people who have agreed to work together because of shared interests or aims

When war broke out in 1914, parts of Europe were already divided into two loose but distinct groupings, each of which had made arrangements to act together in the event of war. How and why the two alliances formed as they did is complex, and the bonds between the countries were not always as secure as might be supposed. The aim of these alliances was to act as a deterrent towards aggression: a country knew that to start a war would, in theory, invite a response from an entire alliance. Any dispute between two members of these blocs could pull in all of the others, even if they were not directly part of the initial events, as the treaties committed these states to defending their allies. 

Triple Alliance | Central Powers

Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy signed the Triple Alliance in 1882

Central Europe was dominated by two powerful states: Germany to the north and its weaker cousin, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to the south.

The relationship with Italy was less secure and in May 1915 Italy entered World War One on the side of the Allied Powers.

After the war began, Germany and Austria-Hungary were joined by Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire and this group became known as the Central Powers (or Quadruple Alliance).

Triple Entente | Allied Powers

France and Russia signed the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1892.

In 1907, Britain entered into this alliance and the Triple Entente was signed. It was largely designed as a defence against an increasingly

powerful Germany.

Russia, Great Britain and France were the core nations in the grouping referred to as the Allied Powers during the war.

When the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist, it triggered a series of responses that led to conflict on an unprecedented, global scale. Austria-Hungary, conscious that Serbia had been digging away at the southern borders of the Austro-Hungarian empire, felt they needed to retaliate. When Russia mobilised in support of its Serb ally, Germany did likewise in support of Austria-Hungary, declaring war on Russia and then France. It was only after Germany invaded Belgium, violating the Treaty of London (1839) which guaranteed Belgian neutrality, that Britain declared war on Germany. Days before, the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, had addressed Parliament on the pros and cons of a British intervention. Not everyone saw the need for intervention. Even those who felt England should go to war may well have viewed it is as the only way – if not the preferred way – of not losing power, and control over its empire.

The map of Europe looked very different after World War One. The Austro-Hungarian empire was carved up into six new countries. The former Serbia was combined with territories annexed from Austria-Hungary to form Yugoslavia. The Soviet Union lost some of the Russian Empire's former territory to the new Baltic states and to Poland. Poland, along with France, got chunks of Germany.

1911 ANGLO-GERMAN TOURS: ITINERARIES

SCHOOL TRIP TO GODESBERG, GERMANY | ITINERARY |  Easter holidays: April 1911

Tour lead: Mr Koch, German master at King’s (with Professor Kuhne, Direktor of the Evangelische Paedagogium, a big boarding-school for boys at Godesberg, on the Rhine)

Party size: 12-15 pupils

Accommodation: boarding houses at the Evangelische Paedagogium, a large school for boys at Godesberg, on the Rhine

OVERVIEW: An educational tour in the lovely Rhine district of which Godesberg is the centre. Pupils will experience life in a foreign town, have lessons in a German school, visit interesting towns such as Cologne, go on walking tours, and see German industry.

 *****

 TOUR ITINERARY

MONDAY: Meet at Liverpool Street station to catch the train to Harwich, where we will board the boat at Parkestone Quays and sail overnight to Antwerp.

TUESDAY: Take the train from Antwerp to Brussels. There will be time to see some of the city and have a meal before taking the train to Godesberg (to arrive at nine o'clock).  

WEDNESDAY: Tour of the Paedagogium, during which pupils will visit the school’s museum, the laboratories and workshops, and the school’s small observatory which offers views of the surrounding countryside. There will also be time to visit the town of Godesberg.

THURSDAY: In the morning, pupils will attend classes at the school (lessons commence at 8am and, excepting when they have gymnastics or practical science / workshop classes, finish at 1pm). Pupils will spend the afternoon at the home of Rector Kühne, for a social event including games and singing. The Rector has also arranged two games, one of football and the other a German game which is similar to rounders.

FRIDAY:  In the morning, pupils will attend classes at the school. In the afternoon, pupils will climb the Drachenfels, the most important, though not the highest, of the Seven Mountains.

SATURDAY: We will spend a full day in Cologne, visiting the Cathedral, the Bridge of Boats, the market-hall, the harbour, the Ringstrasse (a splendid boulevard built on the site of the old fortifications), the New Market and the Town Hall. Later in the day, pupils will go to the Zoological Gardens, before a trip to the opera in the evening.

SUNDAY: This will be a day of rest.  

MONDAY: After breakfast of coffee and rolls at 8.30am, pupils will have a German lesson from 9am to 11am. After lunch, Mr. Koch will take pupils on a tour to Remagen (travelling on a motor-boat).

TUESDAY: Pupils will attend lessons in German in the morning (there might also be the chance to see the Zeppelin from the observatory in the school tower). In the afternoon pupils will walk along the Rhine towards Bonn, with the possibility of seeing a train-ferry on the way. In Bonn, we will visit the renowned Bonn University, the railway bridge replacing the older Bridge of Boats, the Market Place and the Victoria Baths.

WEDNESDAY: There will be a day trip to include the Kaiser Wilhelm Brücke (Bridge) at Schuberg, a skate factory at Remscheid, a smelting works and its forge, and a Talspere (or valley dam). At Barmen, we will take the over-head railway, which is suspended over the River Wupper, to Elberfeld.

THURSDAY: There will be free time to explore (pupils will be able to hire a boat on the Rhine, or go walking).

GOOD FRIDAY: Pupils will attend a church service at 8.30am.  In the afternoon, Rector Kühne and his family will lead a walk to Heisterbach, the site of a ruined monastery.

SATURDAY: In the afternoon there will be an excursion to the Ahr valley, with a walk from Rech to Altenahr.  

EASTER SUNDAY: Pupils will attend an early church service, and afterwards collect Easter eggs in the Rector's garden. In the afternoon, pupils will go on a long walk through the Cottenforst woods behind Godesberg.

EASTER MONDAY: Pupils will visit an island up the Rhine from Godesberg on a Rhine steamer.

TUESDAY: Pupils will go on a walking tour through the gorge of the Rhine from St. Goar to Bacherach, seeing the Lorelei Rock, the Sieben Jungfrauen and several castles on the way. From Bacherach, we will take the train to Bingen and cross the ferry to Rüdesheim where we will stop for lunch. In the afternoon, we will travel on a rack-railway to the famous National Monument, and then take a long walk through the Niederwald forest, ending at the water's edge where a motorboat will take us to Rüdesheim and Konigswinter before returning to Godesberg. 

WEDNESDAY:  Another rest day, with a visit to the home of an old boy of the Paedagogium.

THURSDAY: In the afternoon, we will go on a second tour to Remagen in a motorboat with the Rector’s daughter, her brother and cousin. This time there will be an opportunity to visit the Appolinaris Church, with wall paintings which show scenes in the lives of Christ and His Apostles.

FRIDAY: There will be a whole day excursion, starting with a tour of the extensive wine cellars of Deinhart and Co. in Coblenz.  We will then travel to Cochem to see the ancient castle (it is still inhabited but visits are available in the owner's absence). Returning to Coblenz, there will be time to look around the city and climb the Kaiser Wilhelm I Monument, which stands at the junction of the Moselle and Rhine, and see the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein. We will take the train from Coblenz to Konigswinter, and from there a motorboat to Godesberg.

SATURDAY–MONDAY: Time permitting, we will complete a long walk in the Seven Mountains, sail along the Rhine in a steamer possibly as far as Linz.  There will also be time for visit to Fobbe's ‘conditorei’ (bakery).

TUESDAY: Return to England. 

SCHOOL TRIP TO WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND ITINERARY | May-June 1911

Tour lead: Herr Williger and Herr Lindemann, masters at the Evangelische Paedagogium, Godesberg (with Mr Koch, German master at King’s College School, Wimbledon)

Party size: 17 pupils

Accommodation: Most pupils will stay in the two boarding-houses of King's College School; the others will be welcomed by private families.

OVERVIEW: An educational tour for pupils to see something of English school life and get to know their English comrades. It was planned after the success of the tour made by pupils from King’s College School to Germany at Easter.

*****

TOUR ITINERARY

WEDNESDAY: We will leave Godesberg and travel to the Hook of Holland, where we will board the Great Eastern Railway steamer, Munich. We will sail overnight and arrive the next morning in Harwich harbour.

THURSDAY: From Harwich we will travel by train to Liverpool Street station where Herr Koch (a master at King’s College School and previously a master at the Evangelische Paedagogium) will meet us and accompany us to Wimbledon. In the afternoon, we will meet at King's College School from where there will be an excursion to Hampton Court, possibly travelling on a "two-storied" tramcar. We will visit Bushy Park and the Royal Palace of Hampton Court with its magnificent gardens.

FRIDAY: In the morning, pupils will attend different classes at the school for two hours. In the afternoon, we will walk across Wimbledon Common to Richmond Park. We have been invited to call at the house of Mr and Mrs Paul, parents of a boy at Godesberg, who live near Robin Hood Gate. In the evening a musical party will be given in our honour by the Headmaster, Mr. Rogers, at his home.  

SATURDAY: There will be an afternoon excursion to Box Hill, walking from Leatherhead through beautiful countryside. At Box Hill we will see the house where George Meredith lived and wrote; it is of special interest as Meredith received part of his education in a school on the Rhine.

SUNDAY: This will be a day to rest and will be spent in the families of our hosts. For pupils who are interested, there will be the opportunity in the afternoon to hear the suffragettes, who hold a meeting every Sunday on Wimbledon Common.

MONDAY: In the morning, pupils will attend classes. We will then watch the drill of the King's College School Cadet Corps, an institution which is not known in Germany, which serves to educate officers for the Territorial Army. Afterwards, we will attend a garden party hosted by Mr. Carrodus, a master at the school.

TUESDAY: In the morning, pupils will attend classes. We will then travel on the District Railway to Charing Cross from where we will walk along the Victoria Embankment, passing Cleopatra's Needle, to reach Ludgate Circus. We will visit St. Paul's Cathedral and, if time allows, the new General Post Office. At four o'clock we will go to the Guildhall; the visit has been arranged by Mr. W.H. Thomas, an alderman of the City of London. As part of the tour pupils will see Shakespeare's signature and the great banqueting-hall which is adorned with the monuments of the great Generals. This will be followed by tea, to which Mr. Thomas has invited us. We will then go to the Mansion House where we will meet the Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress. In the evening, W. E. Scott, the head boy of King's College School, has invited us to go to the Coliseum.

WEDNESDAY: In the morning, pupils will attend classes. In the afternoon, we will have the opportunity to watch a game that is quite new to us: a cricket match. After this, the Headmaster has invited us to tea, at which there will be music and songs.

THURSDAY: In the morning, pupils will attend classes. We will spend the afternoon in London, visiting Buckingham Palace and the marble memorial to Queen Victoria (which will be unveiled shortly before in the presence of the Kaiser), and St. James' Park. From there, we will go along the famous Rotten Row to reach the Albert Memorial and the Albert Hall. After this we will walk through Hyde Park to the Marble Arch, stopping for refreshment in one of the tea-shops, and then along to Oxford Circus and finally Piccadilly Circus. Here we will take our first journey by "tube" (which runs far below the level of the street, so that the stations must be reached by means of lifts) to Earl's Court where we will meet 17 boys from King's College School who will go with us to the Military Tournament.

FRIDAY: In the morning, pupils will attend classes. In the afternoon Herr Koch will take some of the boys to London to see London Bridge, the Tower and the Tower Bridge. In the evening, we will go to the Lyceum Theatre where an "Old Boy" of King's College School, Martin Harvey, is playing in his well-known role of Sydney Carton in "The Only Way."

SATURDAY: Pupils will visit several of the museums of London, including the National Gallery, the British Museum, and the Tate Gallery.

WHIT-SUNDAY and WHIT-MONDAY: These will be quiet days; no general expeditions will be undertaken.

TUESDAY: The Headmaster of King's College School will accompany pupils on a trip to Oxford, where he was a student (several boys from Wimbledon will also go on the trip). Whilst there, we will go to Christ Church, to see the chapel, the Library and the Great Hall. We have been invited to lunch with several of the German students who are at Oxford under the Cecil Rhodes Bequest; for this invitation we have to thank an old boy of the Paedagogium, now an undergraduate at Oxford, who had read in the "Standard" that we were coming to Oxford. After lunch we will go on the river in punts, and then visit some other colleges, finishing with a service in Magdalen College Chapel. We will leave Oxford at about 7.30pm.

WEDNESDAY: We will visit the London Fire Brigade where we will visit the small museum at the Fire Station, see the stables and watch the fire practice. We will then travel by underground to the Coronation Exhibition, which offers a multitude of objects of interest.

THURSDAY: We will go for a long walk across Wimbledon Common to Richmond Park, returning by tramcar. Our group had been invited by Mr. Price, a master at King’s College School, to spend the evening at his house where a conjurer, also an old boy of the School, will entertain us.

FRIDAY: Pupils will again have the chance to visit the White City, or Coronation Exhibition as it is now called. The Exhibition includes a number of splendid landscapes representing parts of England and her Colonies. There is also the machinery hall, where model railways can be seen working.

SATURDAY: Return to Germany.

REPORTS OF THE TOURS

The tours to Germany, and the return visits, were reported widely in newspapers. Most of the articles were fairly short, providing an overview of the visits. These were written, presumably, mainly on the basis of information released by the school.

A few intrepid reporters decided to follow up on the story, however. Indeed, a group of German pupils, during the first visit to King’s in 1911, were sought out by a newspaper journalist:

“In the evening the boys who were staying in Mr. Carrodus' house had a surprise. They found waiting to interview them a reporter from the "Daily Mail," who had been there from 6 p.m. until 11! However, since the reporter knew no German, and we boys only understood a part of his rather "newspaper" English, the conversation was difficult, and this easily explains the mistakes in the article which appeared next day in the newspaper; as for instance, the statement that golf was played at our school, which is not the case to our knowledge, also that we never play on grass, that the playground is asphalt, and several other incorrect details.”

As the Daily Mail article has yet to be traced, it is impossible to say what other inaccuracies it might have contained!

A lengthy report of each of the tours was published in the school magazine: these are reproduced in the gallery below.