User talk:Pauladbs1953

Samuel Pearse

Can you point me in the direction of a source that Samuel Pearse attended Liverpool Blue Coat School please? Kernel Saunters (talk) 09:12, 28 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Kernel Saunters: An article from the Liverpool Daily Post, dated 17 September 2002, states that Samuel Pearse VC, MM, was not a pupil at the school. The article says: "Last month, the Daily Post revealed that Samuel George Pierce from Vauxhall in Liverpool, was wrongly recorded as winning the VC on a plaque at the Blue Coat School in Wavertree... Now, a London-based historian thinks he has discovered how the mistake occurred. Ian Hywel-Jones of the Victoria Cross Association has found a printing mistake in a definitive volume of World War I VC winners. The 1928 book by Lt Col Rupert Stewart, entitled The Victoria Cross: The Empire's Role of Valour, wrongly recorded Pearse as serving with the Liverpool King's Regiment... Samuel Pierce was born in Great Crosshall Street, Vauxhall, in 1885 and studied at the Blue Coat between 1896 and 1899 before emigrating to Australia aboard the Orama. No records exist of where he disembarked or settled. S G Pearse was awarded his posthumous VC for storming a Bolshevik blockhouse during the "protectionist" campaign of 1919. He had already fought for four years in the trenches of the Western Front, having been wounded and awarded the Military Medal. The chairman of Blue Coat Foundation, Peter Healey, said: "We have looked through our records and found no information on Pierce or when the plaque was put up."" Keri (talk) 17:24, 30 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Also the Western Mail, dated 12 September 2002 ("Welshman Was the Real Winner of the Victoria Cross: Mistaken Identity Revealed after 80 Years"): "The Victoria Cross is the highest honour for bravery. It is rarely awarded, and only for the most heroic acts.But a case of mistaken identity has meant that for years the VC awarded to a Welshman has been attributed to a Liverpudlian with a similar name, who never fought in a war. One of five men to be honoured in the North Russian Relief Force, Samuel George Pearse from Penarth, was posthumously commemorated for his bravery. For more than 50 years in Liverpool the bravery of another man, Samuel George Pierce, has been polished and admired on a plaque of war heroes. The plaque hangs in the Liverpudlian's old school, Blue Coat School, and depicts his heroics for winning the Victoria Cross... It is now believed that Pierce never fought in the war, but his Welsh counterpart Pearse won the posthumous VC after storming an enemy blockhouse in 1919 during the Russian counter revolution... Ian Hywel-Jones of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association believes a mistake was made years ago. "This is not uncommon. I don't think this has been done with malice. When you look back into these records it's a labyrinth." Mr Hywel-Jones is in no doubt that the real person to be given the Victoria Cross was the Welshman, Pearse, for immense bravery... The plaque hanging up in Liverpool's Blue Coat school will not be changed, even though it wrongly cites a man as a hero. Peter Healey, chairman of the Blue Coat foundation, said there were no plans to change the memorial." Keri (talk) 17:47, 30 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Liverpool Blue Coat School

Please do not reinsert unreferenced material. This article has been on notice for its lack of references for many years. Keri (talk) 16:57, 30 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Keri: Whilst I appreciate the fact that the article in question has been on notice for its lack of references for many years I find it utterly perplexing as to why you would seek to deprive readers of information that is completely accurate, factual and insightful. As I'm sure you can appreciate a lot of the information which you've taken it upon yourself has been added by myself, an ex-pupil of the school and comes from first-hand knowledge and cannot therefore be referenced as it has never been formally published, I fear that it will be an impossible task to include a lot of the valuable information that was included in this article. Whilst I will endeavor to re-instate the material that you have deleted trying my upmost to reference that information I am able to, I feel thats a lot of quality material has been lost purely as a result of your pedantry.

Moreover a lot of material that was included in the article was added by the school's senior leadership team as an important informational resource for prospective students and their parents as well as current members of the school community - notably the list of societies and the names of the subject masters.

Furthermore I find it difficult to comprehend why you have been so inconsistent in deleting material from the article- why for example would you trust my information on the different school ties but not that on school traditions?

I fear that your actions have destroyed what was a truly outstanding article especially when compared to other articles on British schools, not only this but you have erased a valuable source, and in the case of a large chunk of the material, the only remaining source of information of this 300 year old institution.

I ask you to trust my information and judgment and review and undo your edits. Pauladbs1953

Unfortunately, Wikipedia:No original research and Wikipedia:Verifiability are core content policies. Keri (talk) 18:18, 30 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

And providing quality information isn't?

"Quality information" is verifiable. You need only look at the Samuel Pearse affair to see why verifiability trumps word-of-mouth, anecdote and personal recollections. Keri (talk) 18:35, 30 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Draft

The page as it was in its largely unreferenced state is now at User:Pauladbs1953/Draft Liverpool Blue Coat School. I hope that having it all together in a place where you can safely work on it is of some use to you. Contrary to appearances, I don't want to just delete material out of hand; I also appreciate that a lot of effort has gone into it. Keri (talk) 09:30, 31 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]