Fred Hando
| Frederick James Hando | |
|---|---|
| Born |
23 March 1888 Maindee, Newport, Monmouthshire |
| Died | 17 February 1970 (aged 81) St. Joseph's Nursing Home, Newport, Monmouthshire |
| Nationality | British |
| Other names | Fred |
| Education | Maindee |
| Occupation |
|
| Known for | Monmouthshire historian |
| Children |
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Frederick James "Fred" Hando MBE (23 March 1888 – 17 February 1970) was a Welsh writer, artist and schoolteacher from Newport who chronicled the history, character and folklore of Monmouthshire (which he also called Gwent), in a series of over 800 articles and several books published between the 1920s and 1960s.
Hando was born in Maindee, Newport, the son of a postmaster Alfred and his wife Miriam, and attended school there. He had two younger brothers, Frank and Harry. He trained at Borough Road College, London, before returning to Newport as a teacher. In the First World War he served as a gunnery officer in the Royal Engineers.
Hando married Alice Stanton, the daughter of a Newport builder, and the couple had two children – Margaret and John. Alice died while still young. After a number of years, Hando married again to Daisy, a staff member at his school. The couple soon had a son, Robert.
His interest in local history was given an impetus when he was asked to provide sketches to illustrate Sir Joseph Bradney's multi-volume History of Monmouthshire, and his first articles about Monmouthshire were published in the South Wales Argus in 1922. In total, he contributed 795 articles to the newspaper between then and 13 February 1970, a few days before his death. Many of his articles and drawings were republished in anthologies of his work. In his early writings, Hando was particularly interested in ley lines and the alignment of the sun with stone circles. He said that he wanted to add to what was already on the map and that by studying leys he could reach back in history far beyond Roman Britain.
In 1925 he was appointed as the first headmaster of Hatherleigh Road school in Newport, where one of his pupils was Johnny Morris, later a noted radio and television presenter. Hando adopted an open and progressive teaching style and was described by a Miriam Andrews, a former teacher at the school, as "a wonderful headmaster and he made the children very proud of Hatherleigh." Recalling his time at Hatherleigh, Morris wrote, in 1987:
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