Reg Whellock Turns 100

Reg Whellock was Head of Science at Wandsworth School from 1957-1967 before he became Headmaster of Greenshaw School Croydon. Like Wandsworth, Greenshaw was a Comprehensive school and Reg was a greater supporter of the H. R. King philosophy of a sound secondary education for all. He has a fantastic memory and remembers that when he joined Wandsworth he inherited six sixthformers studying zoology and botany and that one or two of them earned pocket money washing bodies in the Clapham Common mortuary and three others bottled and drank beer in the basement of the Watney, Mann and Paulin Brewery just off Putney High Street!

Reg was born in 1914 and entered Ruskin School, Croydon in 1926. Funds were tight during his time at University College London and earned his keep as the organist and Choirmaster at a church in Rockmount Road, Upper Norwood. At Wandsworth Reg had 21 teachers, 6 lab assistants and 13 labs/lecture rooms. He is a wonderful raconteur and my favourite story from a host of tales is the one when he served in the Royal Navy during WW2. He served for a while on HMS Chitral protecting Atlantic convoys and remembers when anchored in a bay in Iceland waking up to see in front of him, HMS Hood anchored nearby. The Hood was apparently shorthanded and Reg and five others, were transferred with kit bags and hammocks aboard the gigantic battleship. There were 1400men on the Hood who hadn’t been ashore for weeks. Fortunately for Reg and his mates they were returned to their own ship before the Hood set sail. He sailed on with the next convoy, and on Saturday 24th May 1941, Empire Day, reached Halifax Nova Scotia. The Union Jacks were at half mast as the Hood went down that morning just three weeks after Reg had disembarked!