Frank Cull was Schoolmaster of Standlake school from 1911-1929. At various times, he was also Chairman of Standlake P.C.C., one of the Trustees of Standlake Charities, and the Honorary Secretary of the Standlake Horticultural Society.
All his life, until his death in 1944, he was interested in the history of Standlake, and planned to write a book about it. He never did so, but in the meantime he put together extensive notes on the topic, and also collected several original documents, given him by other villagers, which might well have been lost but for his intervention. The notebooks contain not merely his own observations on Standlake history, but also transcripts of many documents, some of which may now be lost. The papers have much on education and schools, as well as on local agriculture, and church life. There are also several papers on local charities and the Parochial Church Council.
His papers were given to Oxfordshire Archives in 1993, and given the Accession Number 3660.
The papers of Mr. Cull (hereafter referred to as FC) contained several official documents on Standlake School and Church, which are more usually catalogued elsewhere. They have therefore been transferred to the school and parish catalogues (S248 and PAR248). Several printed books found in the collection have been transferred to the Davenport Library of printed books. All these documents, with their references, are listed in an appendix at the end.
Users of P4 are also recommended to examine P2, a collection of more recent notes on Standlake history, compiled by Brigadier and Mrs. F.R.L. Goadby.
Catalogued by Robin Darwall-Smith in December 1993.