From 1956 to 1963 I attended Northampton School for Boys, on the Billing road out at the eastern side of Northampton. That's the name the school uses now. We never called it that. We called it "the grammar school," or more precisely "the boys' grammar school," as there was a girls' one, too. "Grammar school," in the British usage, means a secondary school (ages 11 and up) with a strongly academic curriculum. The school was also referred to as "the town & county." This reflected the fact that it served both Northampton and the surrounding countryside, though not for very far out. The school crest, shown here, and more colorfully present on our blazer pocket badges, is a union of the town crest (castello fortior concordia — "Peace is stronger than a castle") with the county crest (rosa concordiae signum — "Rose, emblem of harmony").
The school is in direct line of descent from a foundation of 1541, in the reign of Henry VIII. There is a history here, written by Thomas Lees in 1947. (It includes the words of the school song, which I do not recall ever having heard sung. Lees, an irascible fellow, was still around in my days at the school, and I learned history from him, 1958-60. We called him "Toss" Lees, I suppose because his forename appeared as "Thos." in some school yearbook.)
For the whole time I was at the school our headmaster was Martin Nettleton, an eccentric man — he eventually lost his mind and committed suicide — but a fine headmaster, who did great things for the school. (Though in later life one of the schoolmasters who had worked under him told me Nettleton ran his staff room the way Stalin ran the USSR.)
My school reports have survived, and are posted here.
Like most good boys' schools at the time, we had a cadet force. It was voluntary, but I participated. After a couple of years in the army cadets, I switched to the sea cadets, which I thought would be more exciting. The sole relic of my cadet career is a Certificate of Seamanship.
The school is still in business, and has a website here.