There is something peculiarly present about a photo album, even one that is over a century old. It gives an immediacy and vibrancy to those that lived long ago, proving the popular perception of that era as stiff and hidebound to be incorrect. We are lucky to have in the archives, therefore, a scrapbook that shows life at Bow School circa 1901-1907. The owner of the scrapbook is unmentioned, as are the identities of many of the people in it; however, the dates seem to align with the career of George Shafto Legard, who worked at the school from 1896 to 1924. There are also many photographs of an individual named 'G.S.L.' as well as 'R.H.L.', which presumably refers to his brother Ralph Hawksworth Legard. 

George Shafto Legard (1874-1924) was the latest of two long lines of Durham families. The Legard family were a Yorkshire branch of wealthy baronets, while on the Shafto side of the family he was a direct descended from 'Bonny Bobby Shafto' who, according to the well-known folk song, went "to sea/ silver buckles at his knee". He was one of Bow School's first pupils, starting in September 1885; the school itself had only opened the previous January. He played in both the XV and the XI, and would later join Durham School as a day boy from 1887 to 1889. He completed his early education at Dulwich College before advancing to Oxford, graduating with a BA in 1896. Upon leaving university at the age of 22, he was invited to join the staff at Bow, and would stay there for the rest of his life. He was considered the right-hand man for the Headmaster, William Bramwell, and was made junior partner in 1904. He ultimately became the Bow School Headmaster in 1917. 

The scrapbook provides a wonderful insight into life at Bow during the Edwardian era. The uniform is striking, comprising of what appears to be double-breasted suits and Eton collars. One photo, labelled 'Church Parade, 1907', shows the students with boaters; another, 'Sunday, Sept. 1906', shows them with top hats. Another photograph contains 'Ye Fourth' and identifies one of the students within it as 'Dingle'. This would be Arthur James Dingle, who would grow up to play rugby union and win three caps for England; unfortunately, he would die fighting at Gallipolli in 1915. 

Other members of staff who worked alongside George Shato Legard appear in the photo album, although as they are all referred to be their initials in can be difficult to determine who is who. A photograph of a man called 'W.B.A.W.' playing a game of croquet at Langford in August 1907 would seem to refer to William Bingham Ashton Wynyard (1863-1919), who joined the school as an assistant master in 1887 after his predecessor, Arthur Thomas Rogers, died tragically at the age of 25. He left the school in 1893, but apparently must have remained close enough socially to the school to become friends with Legard (who started working at Bow in 1896) and play a game with him in 1907. Wynyard's brother, Teddy Wynyard, was himself a famous first-class cricketer and centre forward. Perhaps W.B.A.W. gained some his skill at croquet from his brother. 

Another photograph shows 'J.H.B.' during a picnic, halfway through a sandwich. This is likely John Hay Beith, who taught at Durham School from 1902 to 1906. Beith was a good friend of Legard's, and he provided a moving tribute to him when he died in 1924: 

 "In Durham itself [Legard] was a conspicuous and popular figure for many years, whether at Bow, or in the athletic world, or in the local society of the place. But throughout all else the outstanding feature of his character, as I saw it, was his devotion to Bow School. Apart from his work as a teacher he was indefatigable in devising those occupations and amusements for his charges out of school without which the life of a boy, especially a small boy—and a small boy has a very limited idea of how to amuse himself—can be a very dull and monotonous affair indeed." 

John Hay Beith would later grow up to become a very popular novelist, writing novels like Pip (1907), A Safety Match (1911) and Housemaster (1936) under the pseudonym 'Ian Hay'. He would even collaborate with such luminaries as P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton. 

 As for George Shafto Legard, he was called up as Captain of the 3rd Battalion of the DLI in 1914. While fighting at Ypres, he was seriously injured by a shell. When he was eventually demobilised in 1917, he returned to Bow to become Headmaster. His health deteriorated, however; by 1922 he was confined to the house, and had to be moved about in a wheelchair in order to watch the school's rugby or cricket. Unfortunately, he died in September 1924, another casualty- albeit a belated one- of the First World War. 

 Regardless of the fates of Beith or Legard of Wynyard the photo album provides a vision of Bow School at the turn of the century that is full of life, of picnics and sports day and top hats on Sundays and croquet and cricket. The above classroom photo, which depicts Legard in the centre, is marked with thumbprints and dashes of red ink. The annotations are full of nicknames filled with warmth for Miss C. Fawcett and her dog, of 'Eppie', 'Wee John' and 'Bobbie'. They show that not all Edwardian photographs were the staid and austere pictures that we imagine.