St Edward's 150 Years - by Nicola Hunter

St Edward’s: 150 Years

Chapter 1 / Origins and Earliest Days

‘I remember the day Mr Belson brought his two boys for the first time. He was rather a choleric gentleman, and having tumbled over a pail of whitewash, he was so angry that he nearly went off with his boys.’

Below: The priest’s door, St Thomas the Martyr, Becket Street, Oxford, c. 13th century.Thiswasthechurchwherethe School’sfounder,ThomasChamberlain, was vicar for 50 years, and where there was a service to celebrate the 150th anniversary in 2013.

From A.B. Simeon’s autobiography, on the chaos of the beginning of the first term on the new site.

never even mentioned. Discipline, as you may imagine, was harsh and the cane was much used. Boys sat in form order, changing places as their fortunes rose or fell. The boys were allowed considerable freedom and could leave the grounds at will during their spare time but had always to return for evening services. In the early days many parents were low-paid clergy, as Chamberlain intended, and the fees were accordingly modest. Chamberlain himself appeared only rarely, for example to distribute prizes. In 1870, after seven years as Headmaster, a job to which he was perhaps not suited, Fryer was dismissed and replaced with Algernon Barrington Simeon, a young man of only 23, whose qualifications were much more appropriate. He and Chamberlain had first met in 1865. John Keble, who initiated the Oxford Movement, had been Simeon’s parish priest in Hampshire

and Simeon himself had become a convert to the Movement as an undergraduate at Christ Church, regularly attending services at St Thomas the Martyr. In his summer vacations he had worked at a small school in the London Docks and subsequent to his graduation had been a private tutor, having worked part time at other schools. He was ordained in 1870. Simeon was to become the crucial figure in the early history of the School, as he was energetic and determined, overseeing a growth in the number of boys. He certainly found a purpose for his energy in what he took on and saw through in his time at St Edward’s, and in his subsequent continued involvement with the School. His portrait shows him to be imposing in appearance, and benign looking. As the School grew Simeon used contacts in Oxford to obtain access to sporting facilities and he rented another building two doors away, where he and other staff lived.

Above: School Cricket XI, 1869. This is the earliest School sporting group photograph known to exist and shows the nonchalant XI to be relaxed and with attitude! Back row (left to right): F.E. Long, A.H. Chesshire (Capt.); Centre row (left to right): H.E. Potter, A.M. Champion, G.R.E. Bonsall,V.J. Simpson; Front (left to right): F.B. Endall, I. Smith, C.L. Palmer, G.H. Huntingdon, E.H. Champion, J.A. Dockray. Howard Chesshire was the first OSE to row for Oxford University.

Opposite lived Felicia Skene, a well-known prison reformer and also a member of Chamberlain’s congregation, with whom he became a close friend: she was a great supporter of the School as well as an inspiration to him. In the winter of 1870–1 the first school building lost a large portion of its outside wall during a storm, and Simeon was bold enough to look for new premises, having been almost abandoned by Chamberlain, who ‘did not feel equal to entering on further responsibility’. In 1872 Simeon personally bought the School’s ‘fixtures and fittings’ from Chamberlain for £300 and the School became his own – a courageous decision. In the same year, 1872, he found a site, a five-acre farm in the area of Diamond Hall (which was just beyond Tracingofan1850mapbyRobertSyerHoggar,amateurcartographer,byeminent architect Harold Rogers (OSE), responsible for several of the School’s buildings includingpartsoftheChapel,andwho in1946madestringenteffortstoverifythe School’sexactoriginal location.Atthetimeofthe1850mapthebuildingwas in SevenDeadlySinsLane,laterrenamedNewInnHallStreet,anddespiteresearching therelevantarchivesandadvertisinginthelocalpressRogerswasneverableto obtainasatisfactoryimageoftheactualbuilding,thoughheidentifieditslocation. EvenAlgernonSimeonwasunsureoftheprevioushistory,accordingtoKenneth Grahame(OSE),andpresent-dayeffortstouncoverafullhistoryarestillincomplete.

Victorian-era wash drawing of New Inn Hall Street, date and artist unknown.

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