What has been lost?

We are lucky to have so much to tell us about Sir John Cass and his school. But there are things that have been lost.

 

There were once portraits of Sir John Cass and his wife Elizabeth – these have vanished. Their home in Hackney was knocked down more than a hundred years ago.

 

And there are no personal letters of either Cass or his wife – these must certainly have existed once.

 

In the school records, we have the official documents, which give us glimpses of the lives of the people concerned. And in the cases of the girls and boys of the school, these are children of poor families, so it is difficult to find out more of their stories.

 

So we have the official papers, and it is for us to remember and imagine the real people they are about..