St Edward's 150 Years - by Nicola Hunter

St Edward’s: 150 Years

Chapter 3 / Houses

Below:ArthurTilly,firstHousemaster of Tilly’s. Right: Apsley Paddox, c. 1930, purchased by the School in 1925. Field House moved here in 1931.

so that a Set’s members were often widely scattered throughout the School premises. There was even a marquee on the north side of the Chapel in use as a changing room, showing the ramshackle nature of arrangements. A Tutor of pupils scattered through the School’s buildings could never be the equivalent of a resident Housemaster. The Revd Henry Kendall pioneered the introduction of a radical new way forward. His purpose was to utilise the Set groupings so that the members of each Set not only worked together but lived together under one roof. Warden Kendall Left: The march past of the OTC after the opening ceremony for the War Memorial Buildings (now Tilly’s House), 1925. Far right, Warden Simeon in a bath chair withhiswife anddaughter. Behind the rose tree isWardenKendall. Above: Two early Matrons: Miss Bishop (left), c. 1895, and Miss Blencowe (right), seen through the window of the first School Shop in 1897. Below: Sports kit for girls’ Houses, 2013.

proposal first to parents at the Gaudy of 1893 and brought it into practice the following term. The boys were placed in roughly numerically equal groups, each under a particular teacher – a Tutor. The Tutors were responsible for overseeing the progress of the individuals in their care while at the School. The original four Sets were under stalwart Common Room members: Wilfrid Cowell (Set A, which he headed from 1893–1925), John Millington Sing (Set B), George Sayer (Set C) and D.A. Wynne-Wilson (Set D), with the actual lettering only coming into force in 1897, together with the Set colours. Set E was added in 1898 under a future Warden, Revd William Ferguson, but a further 22 years elapsed before Set F, under Arthur Tilly, was introduced. The boys accepted the new system with enthusiasm. For the next 32 years the Set System served the School well and bred loyalty and highlighted the competitive element amongst pupils and Tutors alike. Tutors’ matches began to receive much coverage in the Chronicle and served as a test bed for emerging sporting talent for the School teams. General knowledge tests were also contested between the Sets and the results printed in the School magazine. While it might be thought these Tutors were the equivalents of the later Housemasters and Housemistresses their duties were in fact very different. Up until Warden Kendall’s time, starting in 1925, boys had slept wherever room could be found for them, regardless of what Set they belonged to,

consequential advantages for character-building’. Kendall also wanted to promote a School community whose core values were based on House, games and the Chapel. Kendall’s aspirations were boosted by a great slice of good fortune, which coincided almost exactly with his arrival as Warden in 1925. The Clapperton family who owned Apsley Paddox, a large house with ten acres of grounds, put their property up for sale and, though funds were tight, it was promptly bought by the School. The Apsley Paddox estate was just half a mile north of the School’s main site, lying between the Woodstock and Banbury Roads, and its acquisition allowed Kendall the opportunity not only to re-house a large part of his growing school but also to introduce within the next few years the Boarding House system we know today. Set E appointed a brand new resident Housemaster, Gerry Segar (himself an OSE), and moved en masse to these new premises under a ‘Titular Housemaster’ (the Warden), taking for the House the first part of the name of the estate, Apsley. The Revd J.W. Griffiths, who was

was a major supporter of what under his guidance became the House system, as he believed that it encouraged competition, loyalty, fraternity, bonding and an overall sense of belonging. At St Edward’s this fitted well into the life of the School: as Malcolm Oxley (Sub-Warden, retired 1999) puts it, ‘The House system was the key institution for effective disciplinary and pastoral supervision. It made both housemastering and prefecting possible and it fostered the sub-groups thought essential for encouraging healthy boy competition with its

Above right: Gerry Segar, after whom Segar’s House was named. Right: Segar’s gym display, 1962.

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