Who was McEntee?

Valentine McEntee

Valentine McEntee (1871-1953) C.B.E

was made the 1st Baron McEntee of Walthamstow in 1953.mHe was an Irish-born Labour Member of Parliament in the UK. He was born in Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire) near Dublin, the son of William Charles McEntee, a physician, and Kate, daughter of Valentine Burchell.

He was a member of James Connolly's Irish Socialist Republican Party. After a brief stay in the United States he moved to London and became a member of Social Democratic Federation (SDP), when he went on to help found the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) in June 1904, but he resigned in 1905 after he was nominated as parliamentary candidate for the Labour Representation Committee. After leaving the SPGB, he joined the Independent Labour Party.

By 1908 he was back in the SDF, being a local election candidate for that organisation in Walthamstow. In 1909 he published a short pamphlet Socialism Explained, a criticism of capitalism.

McEntee School Badge

The following year he was a delegate at the Social Democratic Party (as the SDF had been renamed) Conference and was elected to its 1910-1911 Executive Committee. He became became a member of the Labour Party via the British Socialist Party, the successor to the SDF, which affiliated in 1916. During the later part of the First World War he was a member of the relatively large and actively anti-war North London Herald League. In 1920 he married Catherine Windsor and became a local councillor for the Labour Party in Walthamstow. He went on to become MP for Walthamstow West from 1922 to 1924 and again from 1929 to 1950, and served Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Works, George Hicks, from 1942 to 1945. He was Mayor of Walthamstow from 1929 to 1930 and 1951 to 1952. He was appointed a Order of the British Empire, CBE, in 1948. His impressive portrait is in the Walthamstow Town Hall annexe to the Council chamber.

22 Jan 2019 - Schooldays: McEntee School

Daniel, I was one of the original pupils of McEntee, which was originally South West Essex Tec. I left in 1958. It was a very forward thinking school at that time.

David ROWE Private Reply Public Reply

17 Jun 2015 - Schooldays: McEntee

Hi Daniel,

I was going through some old papers recently and came across a fairly comprehensive list of McEntee pupils who all started there in 1966 ( which makes us all 60 now!). Can I ask you to add them to the pupil list as it may jog a few more people's memories.

Girls
Jennifer Best, Hilary Bond, Veronica Breed, Maureen Brett, Lynn Clark, Kathryn Cook, Diane Crocket, Jacqueline Davies, Kathleen Davis, Gillian Dawson, Janice Edwards, Jacqueline Feltham, Christine Frisby, Anne Froud, Christine Ferguson, Christine Fulbrook, Christine Hammersten, Mary Henderson, Wendy Hiller, Mary Hurst, Margaret Jackson, Sally Jones, Susan Kay, Joyce Kimber, Susan Grice, Pamela Leonard, Susan Long, Patricia Milne, Georgina Mowbray, Gillian Nelson, Christine Nicholls, Dina Osborne, Jeanette Perrott, Christine Reeves, Jacqueline Smith, Yvonne Smith, Angela Stevens, Nancy Towler, Elaine Ward, Glynis Wastell, Andrea Wiles, Dawn Williams, Gillian Winter, Christine Woodward, Theresa Wootton, Maureen Young.

Boys
Robert Allitt, Martin Anderson, Graham Atkins, David Bamber, Steven Blackwell, Howard Blair, David Butcher, Raymond Castle, Ronald Chapel, Dexter Coles, Tony Cooke, Roy Coombe, Robin Defoe, Nigel Barrett, John Dunham, John Edwards, Barry Forrester, Mark Garbutt, Tony Gilbert, Patrick Gill, David Glass, Ian Handley, Keith Hawks, Steven Hardcastle, David Harrison, Steven Heasman, Stuart Heasman, Geoffrey Hunt, Philip Else, Tony Driver, Roger Ingram, Trevor Ingrave, Eric Jackson, Ian Kirby, Philip Looker, John Mace, Stephen Malme, Kenny Mason, Paul Masse, Michael McSweeney, Stephen Moore, Tony Morse, Richard Nagle, John Nickelson, Stephen Padbury, Stephen Pearce, Ian Hill, Stephen Johnson, Michael Pitcher, Alan Pratt, Stephen Reynolds, Tony Richards, Alan Skinner, Jeremy Staley, Ronald Stringer, Kevin Taylor, Terry Tatham, Colin Wickers, David Warby, Stephen Wedge, Peter Williams, Stephen Young, Gary Vaughan, Inderjeet Singh.

This list was put together by several people back in the late 80's to enable a re-union to be organised so may not be complete, or have accurate name spellings.

Best Wishes, and many thanks for all you do on this site

Steve JOHNSON Private Reply Public Reply

16 Jul 2014 - Schooldays: McEntee school

This is a picture for all the former McEntee School pupils:

Respects,

Bill BAYLISS Private Reply Public Reply