Our History

The school building was designed by E.R Robson and  opened as a school by the School Board for London in 1883 as Mansford Street School. Around 1904 the school was taken over by London County Council, and renamed ‘Lawrence School’, which was a boy’s school. After World War II the school was reorganised to accommodate juniors and a nursery class. Around 1975 the school underwent another major change, as it amalgamated with a girls school in Hackney Road called ‘Teesdale Junior School’. The schools combined their names to form what we know today as Lawdale Junior School.

Below we have a photograph and a school report sent in by Anne Holland. Anne’s grandad, Albert Vandome went to Wilmont Primary School and had to take an exam to get a scholarship to go to Mansford Higher Elementary Street School.  After leaving school at the age of 14, Albert got his first job at the brush factory ‘G B Kent & Sons’. Albert was sandpapering and finishing brushes for 55 hours a week.

– Albert Vandome 12 years of age, second from the left, in the row sitting on the chairs.

A note on the back of the photo says the class teacher was Mr Wilkinson. Mr Wilkinson was his teacher throughout his time at school. Mr Wilkinson taught all the subjects apart from art, woodwork and science, which had separate teachers. 

Anne says: ‘Several of the boys are wearing medals for good attendance; there were ‘white, bronze and gold’. Grandad did not want to spoil his chance of getting a medal by missing school and had several, but obviously didn’t wear them for the photo.’

Below is a report where you can see class sizes were as large as 58.

Below we have here a school report sent in by Beccy Stanley. Beccy’s grandfather Alfred Robert Weaver was born in 1919 in Bethnal Green and attended Lawrence Boys School in 1930.

Alfred went off to war 9 years after this. A glimpse into the past, almost a 100 years ago.

Below we have a picture of Mick Fincham who attended Lawrence Boys Junior from about 1954 to 1957.

Mick Fincham 1954 – 1957 – Lawrence Boys Junior

‘I had a great time there, I learned to play ‘Flicker’ cards and ‘gobs’ under the big shed in the playground. Thought about all this when I came across this photo of Class 1. I’m standing in front of Mr Haylett’.

A wonderful look into the past.

Below we have pictures kindly sent to us by Christopher Moss Richardson, from approximately 55 years ago when he used to attend the school when it was called ‘Lawrence Boys School’.

‘When I attended Lawrence Mr Haylett was the headmaster and there was Mr Cass, Miss Ellis and Mr Edwards and in them days the caretaker lived on site!’

– Christopher Moss Richardson

A picture of Mansford street looking on from Old Bethnal Green Road during the 1960s

‘You can see the buildings are ready for demolition, Mansford Street buildings (where I was born) had no hot water or bathrooms, there was no way to clean or dry clothes, you can just see on the shop on the corner of Mansford Street and Old Bethnal Green Road ‘Bagwash’.  The ‘bagwash’ was where you took your dirty clothes, happy days. ‘

– Christopher Moss Richardson

Below we have pictures of the school building from the late 1980s and 1990s. The pictures were sent to us by Christopher’s Cousin Terry, who also used to attend the school.

Thank you to everyone who took the effort and care to send in their pictures for our website.