FOR American high school students the ‘year book’ may be the most important journal of a lifetime – but Jonathan Morgan has covered more than 500 years of history in a book about his former school.
The retired Army captain and university lecturer takes great pride in being an ‘old Breconian’ that is a past pupil of Brecon’s independent school Christ College and has published a book celebrating the achievements of its alumni.
Famous Figures of Christ College, Brecon features some of Jonathan’s own family including a great uncle who scored one of the most famous tries in the history of international rugby. But his book stretches back to the Reformation and the brothers of the Dominican Order who occupied the Priory of Brecon before “voluntarily” surrendering to the Bishop of Dover who seized the site for King Henry VIII.
In 1541 King Henry agreed to a plan to establish a school at the site having received “scathing remarks about the ‘barefoot rascals of Brecon’,” and £24 was set aside for the maintenance of poor scholars.
Jonathan’s book, which is illustrated with sketches of his subjects by respected artist Robert Macdonald, who taught at the school for a temporary period, is divided into chapters covering the military, writers and actors, politics and perhaps closest to the author’s heart sport and religion.
Jonathan’s family have played a prominent role in both at the school where he spent the first eight years of his life before returning aged 13 as a pupil. His father was Reverend Rex Morgan, who was a chaplain at the school, a housemaster and a rugby and cricket coach but also an accomplished first class rugby player and the nephew of the try scorer from Wales’ legendary victory over the 1905 New Zealand All Blacks.
The team, heralded as unbeatable, were defeated due to a try by Jonathan’s great uncle Dr Teddy Morgan, who is another Christ College old boy featured in the book. He is also credited with responding to New Zealand’s Haka by leading a rendition of the Welsh national anthem pre match - starting a worldwide sporting tradition.
Jonathan grandfather, Dr Tom Morgan, who became a GP in Llandovery, and brothers Teddy and Willie were the first generation of the family to attend the school.
Though their father William was a pit draughtsman his brother Edward was the agent to the Marquis of Bute, one of the world’s richest men at the time, in the Aberdare Valley and as a single man supported his nephews’ education.
As Jonathan’s own father was a senior housemaster the school was also his home until being sent to a prep school in Devon. “I’m very proud to have been a pupil, very much so. Nine of my family attended Christ College and are one of the most famous sporting families to have been there,” said Jonathan.
In the book he admits to having developed an inferiority complex about Christ College which he said was seen to rank quite lowly on the pecking order of public schools while in Devon among his English classmates.
He returned to Chris College, age 13, and attended from 1964 to 1969 studying A levels in Latin, history and English before winning a scholarship to the military academy at Sandhurst.
Some of his fellow pupils from his time at the school feature in the book including former Brecon and Radnorshire MP Roger Williams, Simon Hughes who had been a long serving Liberal Democrat MP and party president, and Sir Paul Silk who was a House of Commons clerk and also held the same position at the National Assembly for Wales.
In the book Jonathan, who was discharged from the Army with post traumatic stress and openly discusses his mental health battles which for a time saw him living on the streets of London, pays tribute to Sir Paul who supported him at the time.
“He is a great friend of mine,” said former Royal Regiment of Wales Captain Jonathan of Sir Paul who lives in Cwmdu.
A chapter is also dedicated to Jonathan’s father Rex who endured terrible conditions while serving as an Army chaplain having been captured by the Nazis in World War II. He survived a 600 mile march, over 80 days, across Europe, as German forces retreated, known as the ‘Shoe Leather Express March’ in which POW’s had to survive on scraps, sometimes including live rats, and which claimed the lives of more than 150 men. Throughout Rex was there to support and comfort them as he suffered alongside them.
He accepted his position at Christ College, following liberation, rather than a further posting with the Army to the Far East.
Others to feature in the book include the Martyr John Penry, who operated a secret printing press and was hanged by Elizabeth I accused of undermining her as head of the established church, Methodist leader Thomas Coke, former Archbishop of Wales Glyn Simon and former Appeal Court Judge Lord Atkin. The only woman to feature in the book is the mountaineer Tori James, who in 2007, became the first Welsh woman to climb Everest. She has written a personal account of how she conquered the world’s highest peak, a dream, in part, inspired by her time at Christ College. Former headteacher Emma Taylor, who led the school from 2007 to September 2017, was its first female head. Girls were only admitted to the school for the first time when Sally Stewart became the first to enrol in 1987.
Famous Figures of Christ College is available at Brecon Cathedral bookshop, The Hours in Brecon and Bookish in Crickhowell or direct from the publisher Cambria Books.