St Edward's 150 Years - by Nicola Hunter

St Edward’s: 150 Years

Chapter 2 / Wardens

Left: School Shop, 1969. Right: Warden Henry Christie, 1975. Bottom: Prince Philip’s visit to see his award scheme in action, 1972, with Cameron Cochrane, an assistant master at the School, 1957–66.

HENRY CHRISTIE (1924–92), WARDEN 1971–8

Malcolm Oxley writes of Henry Christie ‘Of the five Wardens I served, though all were conscious of their duties, none was so liked and even loved by the School’s servants and domestic staff.’ Henry Christie had been eight years a ‘beak’ at Eton and had spent six years as Under Master and Master of the Queen’s Scholars at Westminster. He came to St Edward’s from Brighton College, where he had been Headmaster since 1963. He had been a King’s Scholar at Westminster and an Exhibitioner at Trinity College, Cambridge, his subject Maths. He was from a naval family and had served in the RNVR in the war, being Mentioned in Despatches in 1945. His wife Naida taught English as well as working hard at her role helping her husband – both husband and wife clearly had abundant social charm. In 1972 Prince Philip flew in by helicopter to visit the School and see his Duke of Edinburgh Award in action. In the same year Henry Christie introduced two Leave Weekends per term in addition to the half-term break – the Leave Weekends acting as safety valves for teenagers used to more freedom at home. Pupil numbers at the School were around 500 and once again new buildings were needed; during Henry Christie’s

Above: Common Room, 1978. Back row (left to right): G.R. Rigault, P.G. Badger, A.J.M. Smith, M.J. Hiner, M.J. Rosewell, S.G. Spanier, J.A. Taylor, J.A.S. Donald, R.W. Young, K.N. Jones, L.P. Morton, G.E. Fuzzard. Second row standing (left to right): D.P. Pritchard, P.G. Cave, P.E. Futcher, R.D. Aldred, J.D. Leach, M.P.M. Watson, Revd D.J. Conner, R.M. Clements, N.R. Quartley, I.D. Wright, J.J. Mcpartlin, J.W. Gidney. First row standing (left to right): E. Weeks, A.D. Tree, C.W. Lane, J.R. Scarr, W.M. Boswell, P. Mallalieu, F.W.J. Pargeter, D.J.M. Howorth, J.A.N. Snell, P.S.A. Taylor, L.A. Lyne, N. Christie. Seated (left to right): M.S. Oxley, J.L. Todd, P.N. Corlett, F.H. Pritchard, D. Williams, P.R. Church, Warden Christie, J.E. Armstrong, M. Evans, N. Roberts, N.T. Roberts, R.H.M. Arkell, M.D. Peregrine.

Wardenship the New Hall was built, the War Memorial Library was converted into an art and exhibition space, and Big School was transformed into the Library. At the same time that the New Hall was opened boys were allowed to wear coloured shirts, the idea being that they would take more pride in their appearance if they wore something which they had chosen.

Attendance of Chapel was still under discussion and the upshot was that only one service a week was now to be compulsory. Sport was very successful under Warden Henry Christie, though inter-House events were now becoming much less important than school matches. The 1970s included a period when pupils and students at schools and universities all over the world felt able to voice aggressive discontent over many of the traditional aspects of their communal life, and St Edward’s was no exception. The mood of protest involved such aspects of School life as the CCF and food; rules and discipline generally seemed to be resented at this time. Malcolm Oxley says that Warden Henry Christie had ‘a skill in riding with the punch and being genuinely disarming when face to face’. In 1978 Henry Christie was invited to become Director of Studies at Dartmouth, when the post suddenly became available, and decided to accept, going back to his naval roots. He told the Governors that it was the only post for which he would have considered leaving St Edward’s.

pupils the choice between a Theme service on Sunday, where matters of a moral or spiritual nature would be considered, and a Chapel service. In December 1968 Bradley rendered another great service to the School that needs recording. Oxford City Council produced proposals to create a new road which was intended to cross the School’s grounds opposite Lower II and link up with Summertown traffic, thus slicing the School’s fields in two. Bradley and his chosen QC, Professor Colin Buchanan, put up a fantastic fight against this road. The Warden’s written evidence stated ‘We are being asked to surrender vital educational amenities for the solution of a problem which may conceivably have changed in nature by the end of this present century. By contrast, the requirements of education will continue quite unabated.’ The road was scheduled for construction in 1991, but the Warden’s determined approach put paid to the plan and neither spine road nor spur road was built. Sadly, given his extraordinary qualities, Warden Bradley decided he must resign in 1970 owing to personal problems, that is the breakdown of his marriage. After leaving St Edward’s, he continued his successful career as a Headmaster in Canada and the US.

Top left: Construction of the New Hall. Left: Interior of the finished New Hall, 1974.

34

35