St Edward's 150 Years - by Nicola Hunter

St Edward’s: 150 Years

Chapter 2 / Wardens

Below: Kendall in the late 1940s with Noel Hudson, son of Warden Hudson and later Bishop of Ely.

mains sewers, and interfered with lines for gas and electricity. There are two delightful cartoons by Common Room member George Segar (above and below) showing the Mayor of Oxford attending its opening. An extension of the Dining Hall into the Quad, and the building of a Laboratory block were next completed. The Work Block, the Chapel extension,

for use in 1933. Kendall himself, anonymously, also provided funds for the Gallery in Big School (now the Library). Kendall was a popular and energetic Warden, with his own highly personal ways of getting things agreed and done. Once he had decided something was for the good of the School he was able to charm or talk those he needed to persuade into doing what he wanted, and they ended up agreeing with him. In his later years, as part of the process, he would say things like ‘you must sometimes let an old man have his way’. He certainly made innumerable friends at the School over the years. Subsequent to his retirement in 1953, he became Rector of St Mary Arches in Exeter and later returned to Oxford and was a Governor of the School for the last six years of his life. For the School’s centenary in 1963 he was asked to undertake a tour of the world to promote the School and visit the OSE who had so much appreciated him. He began the trip, but died on board ship in April and was buried at sea.

the Squash Courts (where The Oxfordshire Health and Racquet Club now stands), Cowell’s and Segar’s houses (now Cowell’s and the English block), the Calvary and War Memorial Library and Art School (now used by Information Technology as well) were all also built during his time – an enormous programme. At one point, just when Warden Kendall stated that he had come to an end of his building plans for the present, the Governors decided to build a new pavilion, which was ready Below right and above right: Cartoons by George Segar showing the Subway opening in 1929.‘George Segar served the School from1918–51 andwas well known for his wonderful cartoons of School Life and personalities. He was an impeccable gentleman and dresser and taught French tomost of the School’s pupils.Apopulareccentrichislessonswereoftennotplannedwellandwenton for much longer than they were supposed to!’– Chris Nathan, Archivist. Below left: The entrance to the Subway.

Above: Aerial photo of the School, 1934. Left: Apsley prefects, 1940.

Above right: Opening of Cowell Gates, 1939. Cowell had died in 1937 and the School gates were put up to commemorate this great stalwart of the School, who had ended his days in rooms in the Lodge. They were opened in 1939 by the Princess Royal.

there were trenches in the corners of the field and every window was ready for blackout. By 1942 there were 24 School acres sown with wheat and each House had an allotment worked before and after games. Kendall was an inspiring leader of the School community throughout these dark and difficult years, during which so many OSE were killed in action. With the possibility of invasion at any time there was a need for schools in dangerous areas on the coast to be re-housed. Warden Kendall offered Kenneth Harding, OSE and headmaster of St Bede’s Prep School in Eastbourne, a temporary haven for his school at St Edward’s, and in June 1940 the offer was taken up and the school duly arrived. By all accounts this was a remarkably successful arrangement. He was also the driving force behind many additions to the School’s land and facilities during three decades. Apsley Paddox, a house with ten acres of land north of the School,

between the Woodstock and Banbury Roads, was bought by the School, very usefully, during his very first term in 1925, and was first inhabited by Apsley; Field House was to move there in 1931. Negotiations were undertaken with the Blenheim Estates’ office for the 46 acres between the railway and the Avenue, land that ran nearly as far as Wolvercote; this area was duly leased and eventually purchased. In fact much land was gradually acquired from the Duke of Marlborough’s estate, and by 1934 the School’s freehold land had grown to 97 acres. In 1952 the Blenheim Estates finally agreed to sell the six acres of the Avenue Field – and at that point every bit of the School grounds was owned by it – all 110 acres. A strip of land south of the Trout Inn was acquired for a boathouse, opened in 1927. A School shop and Armoury were both completed by the summer of 1927. Next came the Subway, finally completed in 1929; this was not easy to build as it involved the redirecting of

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