Rhubarb 2021

ST EDWARD’S

boy educated at Magdalen College School, Hudson had employed him in 1896 when he was only 23 and he quickly became a protégé of Sing who, together with Cowell, dominated the Masters’ Common Room. Ferguson was a dedicated schoolmaster unlike so many earlier young priests who took teaching posts while they awaited a parish living.Thirteen years teaching at Lancing, the leading school of the Woodard Corporation of Anglo-Catholic schools, helped him re-assert St Edward’s religious tradition. Within the year the Chapel altar and steps were changed and new furnishings provided with a redecoration. Some rooms were also redecorated including three new dormitories and washrooms.The dining hall and Big School followed, the latter

cricketer, seemed ideally set for a successful wardenship but the Great War intervened.The chapel had been lined with wood panelling to take the expected memorial plaques which Imperial wars would bring and, in due course, the heavy toll of the Great War would be added. OSE complained of poor teaching and a sharp decline of discipline against a background of strictures like the rationing of bread and meat.There was, as usual, not enough money to do much about these background deficiencies and probably it was only the low fees charged which kept the numbers up at all, £90 in 1920 to Radley’s £165. Though Ferguson employed a bursar and gentle increases of the fees were tried, £125 by 1922, it seemed to be a losing battle. Paradoxically the School was not equipped enough to house its Ferguson was clearly stressed and, for a time, was ill and twice bereaved by the deaths of both his brother and sister. Possibly he overestimated the difficulties and with the governors’ support urged that St Edward’s should associate itself with theWoodard Corporation.This affiliation seemed likely to hand over ultimate control to the Corporation. Passing judgment on Ferguson is difficult. FewWardens have attracted such praise for their piety, troubled years for the School. His later success as Warden of Radley seems to stand in sharp contrast to his travails at St Edward’s. He remains something of an enigma. increased numbers and not rich enough to do anything about it. tolerance, approachability and competence and yet they were

FEATURE

his legacy and his investment. In short, Sing was not just a clever Classics teacher but a clear-headed and hard-headed man of business.This was the era of the Rifle Club, the armoury and shooting range, athletic competitions and sporting ‘colours’, violent exercise and ‘school runs’. In 1909 a uniformed Officer Training Corps was formed and the new Imperialism was reflected in the renaming of dayrooms such as Natal, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica and Ceylon. 81 OSE had fought in the Boer War. But something of the School’s informality and unpretentious atmosphere survived intact, possibly because its numbers remained small. Termly numbers from 1904-1913 ranged from 99 to 130 and were regularly at 114. If the School looks rather muscle-bound in these years we have to remember Sing’s scholarly attainments as well. During his time at St Edward’s there were 41 awards at Oxford and Cambridge. Sing was not a warm man but the respect he commanded was universal.

with a new lighting system.These apparently mundane achievements may have helped to increase pupil numbers for Ferguson took over a school of 114 boys and left it in 1925 with 229, a considerable achievement for it must be recalled that St Edward’s had not added any serious building projects since the 1880s while many more prosperous schools had been able to expand with ambitious accompanying building programmes. However, the School was still left with inadequate facilities for a well-ordered education. Frequent complaints were made about the gas lighting inadequate for reading and study, too few baths and lavatories

WILLIAM HAROLD FERGUSON | FIFTH WARDEN 1913-1925

HENRY EWING KENDALL SIXTH WARDEN 1925-1954

Kendall, a 36-year-old housemaster from Shrewsbury and former naval chaplain, was to be Warden for

William Ferguson’s appointment must have seemed the natural thing to do as he was the only candidate. A local Oxford

described as ‘Hell’. Ferguson, a distinguished musician and keen

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