Rhubarb 2021

ST EDWARD’S

appreciated by many who recognized his genuine warmth and feeling for people. He left a School less at odds with itself.

boarding Houses, plus the addition of the new Corfe House. Phillips had introduced Sixth Form girls into his house at Charterhouse and it was a major aim for St Edward’s and a fundamental contribution to its history. He left the School thriving with numbers approaching 600.

CHARLES HENRY CHRISTIE NINTH WARDEN 1971-1978

A mathematician and former King’s Scholar at Westminster and Exhibitioner at Trinity College Cambridge, Christie was the first Warden who was already a headmaster of an established

JOHN CHRISTOPHER PHILLIPS | TENTH WARDEN 1978-1988

FEATURE

Phillips, aged 50, had a curriculum vitae not unlike that of Bradley. He had spent 26 years at

HMC school, Brighton College. If the governors sought a steadying hand after what some saw as a period of disruption, they had chosen wisely. A conservative traditionalist he was well equipped to damp down any sense of protest or disruption, to steady the ship in fact, an image well chosen given his enthusiasm for all things naval after his successful war service. He displayed all the virtues of cautious conservatism. He exuded optimism, a cheerful almost avuncular presence. He knew when to pause and give credit.To him everything was “splendid”, his favourite adjective. Under his guidance the School thrived. In 1971 numbers exceeded 500 and never again fell below that figure. Pupils enjoyed a lavish new Hall, a Big School converted into a splendid library and the visual arts improved further with the conversion of the former Memorial Library. Aged 54 the navy called him to be Director of Studies at Dartmouth. His inclination to leave well alone was

Charterhouse where he ran the CCF, the History

Department and its most successful house. He was hugely popular with his pupils and had a temperament which favoured informality and enthusiasm. He had played cricket, hockey, football, fives and the flute. He sailed and he painted. He collected oils, watercolours and prints. Academically he had promoted the study of local and industrial history and time was to demonstrate his deep commitment to a marriage of technology and design. This culminated in the new Cooper Quad with its lavish Art, Design and Technology centre and a purpose-built Maths block.This was after fundraising had brought about the new Douglas Bader Sports Centre and an extensive modernization of five of the School’s

DAVID CHRISTIE | ELEVENTH WARDEN 1988-2004

Christie embarked, as it was to turn out, on the longest wardenship since Kendall’s and, like him, he made the School firmly

his own. A Scot and an economist he was devoted to the Enlightenment in general and the Scottish Enlightenment in particular, about which he had published. His remarkable 18th-century book collection indicated his intense bibliographic interests alongside his devotion to golf. He had trained teachers at Moray House, taught at GeorgeWatson’s College and ran the Economics at Winchester. His commitment to Education as a subject of study was furthered by spells of teaching in both Sweden and at the European School in Luxembourg. He was a man of ideas, forceful and decisive, earning an admired reputation among fellow heads. Aware that reality

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