Last Post

The AGM is over and Chris Darnell (M 1965) has been duly elected as President and the medal handed over. He will be a great President for the school's 150th anniversary and we all wish him well. Meanwhile hearty congratulations are due also to Catherine MacLeod-Smith (Alb & L 1979), who has become the Chairman of the Trustees of the Society, the first woman to hold this office, as she was the first woman President. The President Elect for 2013 is Jane Everard (Alb & L 1976). Joe Davis, the Master, was elected an honorary member of the Society, as was Paul Wilkinson, the Bursar. Both have been great supporters.

This will be the last regular post on the blog now that the Presidency has been handed on. I hope you have enjoyed the miscellany of things. There are some posts which never quite made it, and I still have ideas, but 301 posts (including this one) in sixteen months has been quite busy. Of course the quality has been variable, and sometimes just a picture has had to do. The original idea was to post once a month or so, but I got enthusiastic and it has been much more than that. Sometimes I have had time to post daily, whereas over last summer the rate dropped down to less than once a week for a while.

Readers have come from all the continents except Antarctica, and at the time of writing there have been just under 25,000 page views. The busiest month was February 2011 with 1,645 page views from 1,020 unique visitors. People have stayed on the site too. At any one time according to the tracking software about 15% of my readers stay on the blog for more than 20 minutes, which is a long time for a website.

My family will be pleased that will not be forever taking pictures of Haileybury related things to put up on the blog. I have a set of pictures which did not get used for a series on 'nooks and crannies,' which was rather scorned by a friend who, seeing a photo of the urinal at the back of the pavilion on Lower Pavilion on my phone wondered whether people really want posts on 'places where I urinated when I was a teenager.'

Thank you all for reading. I shall leave the blog on the internet, and you can use the links on the right of the page to read the old posts. I am investigating how to make Haileyburiana available as a book using Print on Demand and will put up a notice if that can be done.

Finally, the Master said in his address to the AGM that in the 150th year he would ask the Director of Music to teach the school the Vivat, which has not, I think been sung at Haileybury for 20 years (the hymn Lift up Your Hearts, having largley taken its place). Here is an attempt at a Sesquicentennial verse:

Now we've been here thrice fifty years

Vivat Haileyburia!

Living out our hopes and fears

Vivat Haileyburia!

Girls have come to join the boys,

In other lands they share our joys,

And still this song our tongue employs

Vivat Haileyburia!

I fear it is not as good as AG Butler's original:

Then close your ranks and lift your song!

Vivat Haileyburia!

That life is short, but love is long;

Vivat Haileyburia!

And all through life, where'er we be

School of our hearts, we'll think of thee

And drink the toast with three times three

Vivat Haileyburia!

Changing Fashions

The HM of Lawrence has sorted out some new House strip for Rugby and Soccer. The difference of the new shirts is pretty striking.

Here are the old ones

And this is the new model.

This is not the first time that the strip has changed. Trawling for a picture from the past I found the online Museum of Rugby with a picture of Jim Unwin (L 1926) in a Lawrence team in 1930. It may be copyright so I have not pasted it into the blog, but you can see it here. The rest of his story with a section on his time at Haileybury is here.

Meanwhile at the end of half term the girls house hockey tournament was going on and there were some shirts which gave me a double take. The blue and magenta quarters of the old Hailey rugby shirt have become blue and pink.

Not as pink as the athletics tops mind. Here is a picture plundered from Haileybury's own website of a competitor in the House athletics in 2010. Quid Forteous Leone!

Lift Up Your Hearts

The news this week has been full of the sorry business at S Paul's Cathedral. That our economic system brings great benefit is true, as is the fact of terrible inequalities. Yesterday evening the Bishop collated and  I inducted the new vicar of S Paul's church in north Tottenham, serving the Northumberland Park ward where youth unemployment is higher than nearly anywhere else in the country. It is less than sixteen miles from Haileybury.

Writing in 1908 Lionel Milford (L 1867; Staff 1879 - 1919) quoted a speech made by Thomas Hughes in Big School in 1880. Hughes was the author of Tom Brown's Schooldays, and was a friend of Dr Bradby's. Hughes sent his own sons to Haileybury. After making mention of the upheavals in Europe in 1848, Hughes went on:

England has come grandly through that shaking of the nations. But, by all the signs of the time, another great crisis is upon us in these days. How will our country come through it? For myself, I am more and more convinced that that question must be answered in these great Schools. If they are sending out a constant stream of young men, not only of high intelligence because that goes without saying but simple in habits, strong in principle, who have learned that lesson, so hard to learn in this luxurious and self-indulgent time, to say the words 'No' and 'I can't afford,' then I have little fear of our country losing her great place among the nations. If, on the other hand, they are sending out a stream of young men of many wants, hungry for enjoyment of all kinds, greedy of change, without simplicity, without true manliness, then indeed, for my part, I have little hope that the sceptre will not pass as so many say it is already passing from English hands. On which side is Haileybury going to stand ? I hope and believe it will be on that which she has held so staunchly hitherto, during her short life of eighteen years. And how is it to be done ? How is this ground, so well won in the past, to be held well in the future ? Only in one way, only by the old method.  Read your grand motto, which faces you there at the end of this room ' Sursum Corda.' Boys ! Up with your hearts ! Act up to that, be true to that. Lift up your hearts for the strength and help which never fails them who will lift them up honestly and humbly, and you will answer that question in a way which will do honour to your School, and make your country glad and grateful that it has risen up in our midst.

A lovely email from John Homan (ISC E 1941 & K) and Past President (1995 - 1996) who has found the blog. John writes:

I was particularly surprised and pleased when you posted so much about the Imperial Service College. It was well timed to put this on record while still a few of us OISCs are about and able to get nostalgic about 'The Coll'.

    I was at Windsor for just two terms before the two schools amalgamated at Haileybury, so I have little that I can add to your Blog accounts. I will try shortly to put together and post a few personal recollections but for the moment I just want to write that I found the description of the demolition of the school buildings and re-development of the site very sad but enlightening. [That of course is not my work, but from a Windsor Historical Society website -  L] Almost total obliteration, just one building remaining, Camperdown House, and that of no architectural distinction! Visiting the site about ten years ago after a long gap I found it quite unrecognisable and could not even work out where the old buildings had stood. Was it not a shame that, presumably to balance the books in 1942, the whole site had to be sold at its wartime value. That was a small fraction of what could have been achieved if delay had been possible. The sale of the much smaller Clewer Manor site when the Junior School moved to join up with Lambrook showed this and, I believe produced a more substantial, if belated, dowry for the 1942 amalgamation.

   

Indeed the 'dowry' from the amalgamation helped to pay for the building of the new Houses required when the school went co-educational. Lawrence, which recievd the boys from the ISC House of the same name, and Kipling, John's Haileybury House, once Le Bas, but renamed for Rudyard Kipling (USC 1878) remained in their original Haileybury buildings. Melvill and Edmonstone moved to new sites.

Former members of Kipling may like to visit the House Website here. I pinched from it the 1942 - 2011 house photo montage at the top of this post.

Going Back in Time?

Number one son now has a study overlooking Quad. It has been carved out of the old Lawrence dormitory. Of course, as a Hailey boy I had little to do with the Quad Houses, but I did once or twice go into the long dorms, and those with sharp eyes can see in the new arrangements the columns which still support the roof. Originally Wilkins' East India Company College provided university style rooms. I guess one can get an impression of what they were like from Downing College Cambridge, also by Wilkins in the Grecian style, where the students live in almost square high ceilinged rooms with large windows.

That's pretty much what the Lawrence study is like - though it is shared for two. The more senior boys have smaller rooms; but at least some modern Haileyburians live in spaces like those of the Guv'nors of old.

Is this the best view in the school?

Some older OHs will remember the third verse of the Vivat! (It is like the National Anthem - even those who know the first verse seldom remember the second or third).

And sweet was then the victor's crown,

Vivat Haileyburia!

But friendship's joy struck deeper down,

Vivat Haileyburia!

And though our distant feet may roam

Our hearts will ne'er forget the home

The dear old school beneath the dome

Vivat Haileyburia!

The one is not new this term No 1 son, who has moved into a room looking out from Lawrence over the Quad, with a fine view of the 'school beneath the dome.'

Is this the best view in the school?

Names

Borders return tomorrow and the house has been a whirl of name tapes and packing lists.

The names work differently now. we found a towel of mine which is still labeled H MILLER LJ. I got the initials because there was another Miller in Hailey at the time. For the girls the labels were the other way round, initials first then surname then House. So my sister was AF MILLER A. She took my old tuckbox (which tomorrow is off with number three to join Lower School 1), and so both patterns are painted on it.

I was foolish enough to order labels with full Christian names. It just makes them longer and mor work to sow. Imagine then the consternation to discover from number 1, who has been in Lawrence for a year that in the hags they have a pigeon hole and his is simply Lawrence 33 and all his clothes really need is L33. That's what he says anyway....

Anonymity

Discussing blogging at dinner tonight there was a question of anonymity. Some write, as I do, under their own names. Other bloggers are anonymous - or pseudonymous. There was quite a tradition of Pseudonymous writing in the Haileyburian. Letters from 'our corespondent' at one or other of the Universities were signed "Cantab" or "Oxon" or "Londin" and there were the famous letters from 'Praeteritus'. Praeteritus was LS Milford (L 1867 and staff 1879 - 1919), Haileybury's first historian.  These letters were written from memories of old boys sent to Milford, which he recast for publication. It seems to have been an open secret that he was the author, so maybe that pseudonym does not count.

Anonymity was frowned upon in the letters column, though some early editions allowed a few unsigned letters; anonymous editorials were common until fairly recently. Today this is all less the case. I cannot find a single piece (or picture) in the current issue without a by-line or accreditation.

So - is it good to say who we are? or does the hidden or alternative persona help?

Lift Up Your Hearts

At the Albans Trev and Lawrence dinner last Saturday I was asked to say grace. In these days of self service (which have made the food so much better) formal grace in Hall is a rarity. We were sitting down to a meal served to the tables so grace was said. 

As a CP I remember trying on the first occasion I said grace to inject meaning into the prayer with disastrous results. The duty Master - who was one if the chaplains - told me in future just to get it over with, which I duly did. "All on one breath!" was the rule. 

So last Saturday night I duly said grace all in one breath as of old. Someone asked me if I shouldn't gave given it more meaning...

There is a view in church circles that one should try and reduce ones own influence on a text by striving to remove too much meaning from the reading of a text. But even in a sung liturgy some of the inflexion of the celebrant will come through. While a reading should not be a performance, I don't think reading in a monotone helps understanding. Most churches have a better acoustic and a more forgiving audience than Hall at lunchtime, and since the Holy Spirit allows our voices to carry the Word of the Lord, He also gives grace that it may be heard. Despite our voices - or because of them. 

Boxes Trunks and Packages

We are in the throes of moving to our new house. This is why blogging has not been happening. As yet we have no phone and no internet and everything seems to be hidden behind and in pikes of cardboard boxes. In the days when I packed up all my chattels at the end of each year to move to a new study it seemed a lot in that it filled the boot of the car. Now it has been a huge organisation. We will all be glad when everything is straight. Please bear with me. Normal service will be resumed soon.

The answer to the New Guvs' Test question was, of course, that there are no tiles on the food of Edmonstone because Lawrence is on top. In these more expansive days Edmonstond has a fine new building with many tiles on the roof. Lawrence still has the same number of tiles on it's roof but hiw many that is I do not know as that question was not on the test.

Who do you thnk you are?

The famous story of the policeman who stopped a speeding motorist and asked sarcastically "Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss?" to get the reply, "Well, yes I am actually," has done the rounds many times.

Sir Stirling (L 1943) is in the news today. He gave a trophy to be awarded as the Sir Stirling Moss Trophy at the Motor Racing Legends Awards Dinner. The trophy itself is very green, being a recyled object: the trophy he was awarded for his very first Grand Prix win.

The full story is here.

The Stirling Moss Trophy race

Here is the News

It is what comes of watching trash TV, where I saw it, but here is a You Tube clip of Chris Lowe (L 1962) "interviewing" Osama bin Laden. Chris, who occasionally presented the BBC news in his OH tie, is a member of Council and Director of the Development Board.

Harder than it seemed!

Gp Capt Peter Townsend (L 1928) knew there were lots!

Well, I thought it would be easy and it has not been. I thought I could do better and I have not. My plan, during the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, was to put the published list of the "Few" against the Haileybury Register and come up with a definitive list of the "Few OHs". I thought I could beat RL Ashcroft who, being a Housemaster of Lawrence published the list of those from that House. I thought I could do better than Andrew Hambling who, in his Haileybury in Two World Wars simply repeats RLA's list and adds in a few anecdotes. But it has turned out to be a harder task than it seems. There are just so many - even the few were actually quite a lot and there are masses of OHs. I have got to "D" and found five or six to add to the list. I still hope to get finished, but not even I can claim it is still summer, and reluctantly I have turned on the heating in church and admit I have not got the task done.

VJ Day

Menu Card for the 1945 OH Dinner at Changi

The sixty fifth anniversary of the end of the war in the Far East us being marked today with what may be the last formal reunions of the so - called "Forgotten Army." Andrew Hambing in his Haileybury in Two World Wars records that William Marley (LeBas 1924) was a liaison officer with General McArthur and was present on the USS Missouri when the surrender was signed. As the POWs began to be able to send news and to return home harrowing stories came to light. There were also some lighter memories. In the midst of the suffering in the notorious Changi Goal Haileyburians from Hertfordshire and from Australia has saved and scraped together rations to hold dinners of the Haileybury Society. Imogen Thomas gives the details in her Haileybury 1806 - 1987. On 21st March 1943 Privates RWL McCall (M 1928), ADA Mosley (he seems not to be in the Haileybury Register) and AS Cassells (Ha 1929), Sgt RH Wade (Ha 1918) had dined on salt fish, rice, bananas and tea. On 18th August 1945 Maj FAH Magee (L 1917) , Capt JC De La Mare (M 1921), Maj J Radford (Tr 1921) and LT Cdr VCF Clark (M 1922) of England, dined with Lt JW Huddlestone and LT WE Smith of Haileybury Australia. Hambling tells us they dined on native beans and dripping. Of these McCall, Wade, Magee, De La Mare, Radford and Clark survived the war. Cassels died at Kuching PoW camp Borneo in July 1945.

Changi by Ronald Searle who was a prisoner there

Uganda

John Jameson Willis (M 1887.1) was one of five boys who entered Haileybury that term who became clergymen. One was Bernard Attlee (L), brother of the future prime minister. Willis became Bishop of Uganda, where of course the work of the Haileybury Youth Trust goes on today. I have posted about the HYT before, but here is a video they have made of their work.

Bishop Willis, by the way, was heavily involved in a church controversy which saw him accused of heresy. More about that on another occasion, but for now here is the video.

IB

At the beginning of things at Haileybury, before there were even Houses, there were the 'Reds' and the 'Blues'. Their colours still survive in the rugby shirts of Trevelyan and Lawrence. One was the Modern Side, learning Science and Mathematics; the other was the Classical Side, focussing on the disciplines of the ancient languages and history.

The history of academics has been of the diversification of the curriculum. Even as late as the time I was at school it was unusual for anyone to mix arts and sciences at A Level. I was one who bridged that gap a little bit as I took Maths alongside English, RS and History.

At the turn of the 21st century Haileybury was in the vanguard of English schools to offer International Baccalaureate courses to the VI form. The IB, which has been available since 1999 extends pupils over a range of subjects chosen from six groups. In addition there is a course on the Theory of Knowledge, an extended essay and a programme of 'Creativity, Action and Service' to encourage the application of knowledge.

By designating three subjects as 'Higher Level' there is scope for the intensive study which is the attraction of A Level but without the exclusivity that this can bring at a relatively young age.

There is a very clear explanation of the mechanics of learning six subjects and how IB works on the Haileybury website here.

This year has seen excellent results from the IB cohort. The IB offers a points based scoring system, out of 45. The full details are here, but congratulations to all those who did so well.

Spare a thought for the A Level students who face the long wait for their results next month.

The Few and the Many

There is talk this 70th summer since the Battle of Britain of a memorial to the Spitfire. The Hurricane, more numerous and chalking up more victories never caught the public's imagination in the same way. The last Hurricane built is flown by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and is known as "The last of the Many."

One of the Few - the fighter pilots who fought above Southern England in the Summer of 1940 - was Sqn Leader Peter Townsend, (L 1928.1) officer commanding 85 Squadron. He later became very well known through his association with Princess Margaret. Here he is seen clambering into his Hurricane during the Battle.

The picture is from the site of the Cambridge Bomber and Fighter Society which collects a number of memories of Peter Townsend which is well worth a visit.

The following text is from this site:

Peter Townsend was posted from 43 Squadron to 85 Squadron in May 1940 to take command at Debden and to proceed with the task of reforming the squadron and bringing it up to operational efficiency. Townsend did many operational sorties and one timely escape from a canon shell which went through glycol tank and exploded in the cockpit, injuring his left foot. He survived the Battle of Britain and was doing operational duties as a night fighter. Later on, 17 July 1941, he married Rosemary and the reception was held at the Lordship's Pub in Much Hadham, Bishops Stortford. He is well-known for his post-war life when he became equiry to King George VI in 1944 and spent eight years in the royal household. His name became synonymous with the association of Princess Margaret.

Hard Times

I promised some more about RL Ashcroft's Random Recollections of Haileybury. It is a collection of articles for the Haileyburian written in the 1950s and designed to be amusing and interesting for the pupils of the day. Some of it is frankly no longer funny, if indeed it ever was, but it remains a mine of information about the school and its community in the second quarter of the twentieth century.

It is sometimes quipped that the regime in the Public Schools of the day was deliberately hard so that the boys would be prepared for life as prisoners of war. Ashcroft, writing in 1954, states with a frighteningly straight face that this was in fact the case:

"Many years ago when I visited the lower Lawrence houseroom (where the West Portico now is) and found all the boys in it absorbed in watching a boy eat a live worm. Before I arrived he had dealt with one already, after passing the hat round and collecting 9d for the feat. The one I interrupted was priced at 1s. 2d. he hadn't even the excuse of Luther who is reported to have said at the Diet of Worms: "Great Heavens, there is no other course!" However you never know what good may come out of anything. The same boy spent about six months in hiding behind the German lines, after having been captured as a parachutist and escaped from captivity: and then he had to live as best he could from what he could get from the fields. "