A L L S A I N T S ' SCHOOL, BLOXHAM

" T H E PATH OF T H E J U S T IS AS A SHINING L I G H T "

" T H E LORD SHALL PRESERVE T H Y GOING OUT AND T H Y COMING I N "

This is published to commemorate the Centenary of the School, and dedicated to the memory of all concerned with the life of the School 1860 — 1960.

As the complete costs of the production of this have been defrayed by an anonymous donor all the proceeds from the sale of it will be added to the Centenary Fund.

Further copies are obtainable at the School Shop.

ALL SAINTS' SCHOOL, BLOXHAM CENTENARY

1 8 6 0 — 1 9 6 0

Brief History of the School and its progress

CONTENTS

Messages for the Centenary from :— Page

The Rt. Revd. Robert Cccil (Mortimer) D.D., Lord Bishop of Exeter, the President of the Corporation of SS. Mary and Nicolas, Lancing and a former Chairman of the School Council ... ... ... ... 3

The Revd. Canon A. R. Browne-Wilkinson, M.C., M.A., the Provost of the Southern Division of the Woodard Schools 3

Commander H. L. Agnew, R.N. (Retd), the Chairman of the School Council ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 4

The Revd. H. R. Willimott, Chaplain of Bloxham 1904-08, 1910-17, 1926-27 4

K. T. Dewey, Esq., Headmaster 1940-52 5

R. M. Raymond Esq. (O.B.), the Chairman of the Old Bloxhamist Society and a member of the School Council ... ... ... ... 5

The Founding of the School in 1860 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Outline List of the Main Events in the History of the School 1860-1960 ... ... 9

Pictures and Brief Accounts of the Main Events in the History of the School... ... 12 The First Fifty Years, 1860-1910 12

The Second Fifty Years, 1910-1960 24

A Few Pictures Illustrating the Results of Developments from 1860-1960 ... ... 31

Looking Forward ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 34

SOME MESSAGES FOR THE CENTENARY

From the Rt. Revd. Robert Cecil (Mortimer), D.D., Lord Bishop of Exeter. The President of the Woodard Schools and a former Chairman of the Council of Bloxham School.

T H E PALACE, EXETER.

I have a great and long-standing affection for Bloxham School. It began in the summer of 1921 when with characteristic generosity the School allowed me to make my first, and as it proved, my only century in a cricket match. I can still occasionally feel the glow of that triumphant summer's afternoon. So I love Bloxham.

Bloxham was also the first Woodard School with which I have been connected. For when I joined the Corporation I became a member of the Southern Division and I was put on the Bloxham School Committee. In time I became Chairman of it. It was with the greatest reluctance that I resigned —I had to—on becoming Provost of Denstone.

During the time I was on the School Committee I grew to love Bloxham. It has a friendly, vigorous atmosphere all its own. It is partly due to the Chapel, and partly due to the grounds, and partly due, I think, to its size. I hope the School will grow and develop, but that it will not ever become very big. For then it would be, I fear, quite different, and some of its especial charm, at least for me, would have gone.

I salute Bloxham ; sturdy, independent and proud ; rightly proud of itself and of its old boys, of what it and they have been and have done. May the School go from strength to strength, firmly based on the foundations which have been laid of duty to God and neighbour.

ROBERT EXON.

From the Revd. Canon A. R. Browne-Wilkinson, M.C., M.A. The Provost of the Southern Division of the Woodard Schools.

T H E RESIDENTIARY, CHICHESTER.

After marching on for a hundred years, Bloxham pauses to reflect. First there is a long backward look : so great is the distance that but for the records the earliest events would have escaped us. Thank goodness we have the records which recount the faith and valour of Philip Egerton, to which we owe our existence. Immediately we think of what the Founder stood for and at what he aimed, our thanksgivings begin. As our thoughts travel down a hundred years, we realize how truly the character stamped upon the place from the outset has persisted. Faith and valour. By Faith we mean the Christian attitude to life which sees the service of God as the first and paramount duty, and trust in God as the one dependable security. Each generation of Bloxhamists has learnt this attitude at the school : it has been impossible to miss it. Bloxham School regarded as a collection of buildings has less hint of any axis than any with which I am acquainted. Bloxham School regarded as a society has an axis more marked and definite than any known to me, and that upon which all turns is that for which the Chapel stands. Then there has been valour. Not always has the way been easy and there have been crises, but the tradition of valour has carried the school through, and now, on our hundredth birthday, we are able to rejoice in a greater feeling of security than the school has ever known.

But the occasion of a Centenary is not just one for looking back ; we also look ahead. Faith and valour : we still mean to display both, indeed they are both so deeply rooted in Bloxham's character that they cannot be erased. I think the future holds high promise of much development if only Bloxham's members and friends will display the customary valour. As for Bloxham's Faith, the glow of past experi-ence shows clearly the path ahead — Justorum semita lux splendens.

A . R . BROWNE-WILKINSON.

From Commander H. L. Agnew, R.N. (Retd.) The Chairman of the Council of Bloxham School.

At the beginning of a note on Bloxham's Centenary Year I may, I hope, be forgiven for looking back.

The first important event I can remember at Bloxham was the opening of the Great Hall and new classrooms in 1937, when I was a recently-joined member of the School Council. We had what Nathaniel Woodard would have called " a nice luncheon " followed by speeches. A learned don from Oxford replied to the toast of " Our Guests " in a witty and apparently quite spontaneous speech mainly about the new building, taking as his text, " Etes vous content ? " "Je suis tres content," words which he said he had just read on one of the classroom blackboards. At that time F. B. Palmer, a great benefactor of the school, was chairman of the Council. Another well-known member was Millington Sing, former headmaster of St. Edward's School, Oxford. C. J. Wilson, most of whose life was spent at Bloxham, was still living in the school until sometime in 1936— though he had retired from teaching.

Reverting to the don's text we, today, are indeed " tres content " with the Great Hall itself, with the new labs, and with many other improvements carried out during the last twenty-five years. We are not and must not be " content" with the present school buildings as a whole. Our next two big steps are to build a new house and so to enable us to improve and make better use of the existing main school building. The sooner this can be done the better, that it may be said by future generations that we in our time have done our part in building Bloxham, not only spiritually and educationally, but in improved amenities.

HUGH AGNEW.

From the Revd. H. R. Willimott Chaplain of Bloxham School 1904-1908, 1910-1917 and 1926-1927.

I have been requested to send a small contribution to the special article which is being compiled to commemorate the centenary of All Saints' School, Bloxham. The first boy to enter the school was William Pearce on January 31, 1860. I never knew him, nor do I remember ever having heard anything about him. But I knew the first boarder at the school and was closely associated with him during the three periods when I was there as Chaplain. Next to the name of Philip R. Egerton, the Founder, the name of Charles John Wilson must surely come second. He passed from being a boy at the school to being a member of the teaching staff, covering a period of thirty-six years, hi 1896 the School became a Woodard School, attached to the Southern Division. Wilson was invited to act as Sub-Bursar under the Bursar, the Revd. E. Blackmore, who necessarily lived in Sussex in close proximity to Lancing, Hurstpierpoint, Ardingly and Bognor. After much consideration and (we may be sure) many prayers, he consented to change from being a schoolmaster to being a housekeeper, an office which he held until for health reasons and advancing years he finally retired in 1917 ; but he continued to live at the School as a pensioner.

The point of greatest importance is the fact that Mr. Wilson kept the School afloat through more than one period of great financial difficulty ; not that he himself provided funds to pay the bills, for he had little, if anything, of this world's goods, but by sheer hard work and the most scrupulous attention to every detail of domestic science. These are matters of which the world knows very little, but in this centenary year do not let Old Bloxhamists and their friends forget that the present welfare of the School is very largely due to Charles John Wilson.

H . R . WILLIMOTT.

4

From K. T. Dewey, Esq., M.A. The Headmaster of Bloxham School 1940-1952.

In my joy and delight at Bloxham weathering its 100 years I will divide my thoughts into three parts :

Humble gratitude to God for the high quality of the School's resolution and courage, which has enabled Bloxham to play a part boldly in setting forth the Tractarian endeavour to teach the Catholic faith of the Church of England, even when this determination was lacking in other Schools and such loyalty cost Bloxham some material prosperity. It richly deserves thanks and praise for never deviating ; it has indeed been a " lux splendens " in the Church of England.

Remembrance of the Founder and of all members of the Bloxham world past and present, with gratitude for their services, especially perhaps at this time, those Bloxhamists who were cut down, many as young men, in the wars 1914-18, 1939-45, in the Boer War, and in Korea. In paying my annual visit to the School it is a great inspiration to me to pause in the chapel in front of the names of the many I have known and to recall, one by one, their (so often) merry lives at Bloxham, and to think of them, having done so well, now joining the " great company," which we all hope to join, in the higher service of our Lord.

As Bloxham has been faithful these 100 years it has every right to claim a good future, and we can be sure we are justified in being " forward-looking," because of our own loyal past. And so we enter our second IOO years full of excitement over future endeavours, in the same way as we have great gratitude and joy over the past.

KENNETH T . DEWEY.

From R. M. Raymond, Esq. (O.B.) The Chairman of the Old Bloxhamist Society and a member of the School Council.

On behalf of the Old Bloxhamist Society, I send greetings and good wishes to the School on the occasion of the Centenary.

To the many Old Boys who have been visitors to the School during recent years, the alterations and development which have taken place are self-evident, both in curriculum and construction, and par-ticularly to the advancement of Science and the Arts ; but, important as these changes are to keep abreast of the times, it is in the spirit and character of the Boys that the value of any Public School lies—and, in this respect, Bloxham has few equals.

Thereby, surely, is our Founder justified in that, after one hundred years, Bloxham continues to provide that basic Christian education for which the School was founded.

R . M . RAYMOND.

5

THE FOUNDING IN

OF THE SCHOOL 1860

The Circumstances of the Time

IN 1857 PHILIP REGINALD EGERTON was ordained deacon and became a curate at Deddington, situated on the main road between Banbury and Oxford about five miles from Bloxham village. He was then twenty-five and, having been educated at Winchester, New College Oxford, and Cuddesdon Theological College, he had felt the influences of the Oxford Movement which was then reviving the religious, sociological and educational life and work of the Church of England.

Schemes were afoot for the enlarging of some of the then few existing public schools, but in many cases those were mainly for the benefit of the sons of the aristocracy. At the same time there was at least talk of providing some elementary education for the children of the working classes.

Between the educational plans for those two very con-trasted classes of Mid-Victorian England lay the ideas of Canon Nathaniel Woodard, who realized the importance of providing general education with a sound and sensible religious basis for the sons—and in time for the daughters too—of the middle class: that growing and fairly pros-perous class which, having mainly arisen from the agri-cultural, industrial and commercial developments of the previous half-century, was in some cases tempted to

worship Mammon rather than God. Woodard's aim was to found schools where the sons of the middle class would receive the reformed public school type of education per-meated by the teachings of the revived Church of England, and also based on the idea that much expense could be avoided by the boys in them learning to do many things for themselves and for each other without retinues of domestic servants. Thus in the Woodard Schools— a century before a second world war would make such ideas universal—self-help had become an established principle. Already Woodard had founded Lancing, Ardingly and Hurstpierpoint and he was busy with schemes for starting other such Schools.

The founding of Bloxham, however, was not to be the work of Woodard ; for the School of All Saints was to be built up on its own for thirty-six years before the Founder's long-cherished wish that it should join the Woodard Schools, and make the contribution of its ethos to their society, would finally be achieved.

So much for the circumstances of the time ; but particu-larly significant is the unique story of how Bloxham came to be founded : a story which is best told in the words of the Founder himself at an O.B. Dinner many years later.

The Founder's own story of the Founding

" It happened that on a Monday morning, in the Autumn of 1859, my fellow curate and myself had walked over to Banbury from Deddington, when he proposed that we should return by way of Bloxham instead of going back by the main road. It was this change of route that led to my beginning the School at Bloxham. As we approached the village I saw, for the first time, that portion of the buildings, which had been erected by a Mr. Hewett. This School had failed and for two years there had been no school existing, and the property was to be sold by auction on the Thursday following that Monday.

" We went to the Vicar of Bloxham, obtained the keys of the building, and went over it—lamenting that it had been abandoned and the work given up.

" The idea of re-starting the School was suggested to me by my friend and rejected promptly by myself, as I said it was the very last thing in the world that I should think of, to become a schoolmaster. However as we walked back to Deddington the matter was discussed again and again, and as I had then no immediate plans for the future I at last began to think that it would be a work to which I might devote my life and do some good in.

" I will pass over the details of what happened between

the Monday and the sale by auction on the Thursday. Suffice to say that the property was bought in by the creditors for the sum of £1,500, and after a few days was bought by me for £1,550.

" No sooner had I bought it than my heart misgave me that I had embarked on an undertaking which was far beyond my powers, and I cast about for some solution of the difficulty. I wrote to Mr. Woodard the Founder of the great Corporation of St. Nicolas College, Lancing, telling him what I had done and asking him to take me under his wing and work the school. At his invitation I went to see him ; but he could not see his way to having anything to do with Bloxham ; and in the end, I was obliged simply to begin as best I could on my own resources. These were slender enough. I had, as Fellow of New College, Oxford, something like £200 a year to live on, and when some friend asked me what I was going to do, I said ' I am going to live at Bloxham, and if anyone likes to send me a boy to teach I will teach him, so long as I have money enough to pay my weekly bills, and as soon as I find I have not I shall shut up.'

" I began work in January 1860, with the promise of one Day Boy ! The walls of my rooms were stained with damp.

6

I had one room for sitting-room and schoolroom combined —its furniture consisting of some matting, a trestle table, a school desk and six cane-seated chairs. I had one small bedroom, scantily furnished for myself, and another for an elderly woman who had kept house for me at Deddington

and came with me to Bloxham. Thus I opened school ; a poorish and not very promising outlook, I think, it will be allowed to have been. In less than a fortnight, however, I doubled my number, for I had a second day pupil and the two constituted the School for the first quarter of 1860."

The Original Buildings

The buildings Mr. Egerton referred to consisted of two portions :—(1) the derelict and abandoned school and (2) an old farmhouse with some outbuildings to it (which were later pulled down). These are shown with explana-tions in the three following pictures.

road and lying on the North side of the grass quadrangle, contains the main line-up corridor, the studies and masters' common room, the Wilberforce House dormitories and housemaster's rooms. The main school entrance and Crake House staircase were built on to the right hand end of it. For a modern similar view see page 31.

2. The Old Farmhouse and Thatched Barn (below). This is viewed from approximately the back of the

first cottage in the High Street. This building (much altered) now forms the headmaster's waiting room, the hospital sister's room and No. 1 ward on the ground floor, the Wilson House junior dormitory on the first floor, and the hospital isolation wards and Wilson housemaster's rooms in the roof. The present headmaster's study and main hospital block were later built on to the left hand end,

1. The Derelict and Abandoned School (above). This is viewed from approximately the site of the present

No. 9 study room and was connected to the old farm house by a corridor along the site of the dining hall. This building, now forming the main frontage to the Banbury

to form the main part of the headmaster's house until 1939. The old barn, used as the dining hall with No. 1 ward as the kitchen until 1869, was subsequently pulled down to make room for the West end of the Chapel wing and the Egerton Library. In later years the right hand end of the old farmhouse was built up to the same height, and later still the whole roof was raised. For these subsequent develop-ments see the pictures 011 pages 20, 21 and 31.

3. The Original Buildings about 1863 (left). This view is from approximately the site of the gym.

It shows the farmhouse, the thatched barn and other farm buildings (later pulled down) near the site of the Chapel wing. In the background stands the former derelict School, and in the foreground lies the site of the Great Hall and classrooms block.

7

From these simple beginnings Bloxham gradually arose, and the story is traced in the following pages mainly by pictures. Before we follow it thus let us be clear as to the intentions of the Founder. They were to be restated by him on many occasions, for example at an O.B. dinner in the 1880's when he said that were he to be asked the reason for the School's prosperity he would answer without hesitation that it was owing to his having kept to one distinct principle throughout. That he started the School

The Revd. P. R. Egerton, about I8JO.

with a decided object—it was begun because he was one of those who felt that the duty of the Church was to take Education into her hands ; and he firmly believed it was the keeping strictly to that one principle which had in reality created that strong feeling for the School, which he was quite sure existed amongst all Old Bloxhamists.

G R A M M A R SCHOOL, BLOXHAM,

N E A R B A N B U R Y .

THE School Buildings at Bloxham having been purchafed by

the Rev. P. R. EGESTCN, B.C.L., Fellow of New College,

Oxford, will be opened by him (D. V.) on January the 31ft,

1860, as a Grammar School, for the education of the Sons of

Tradefmen, Farmers, Clerks, and others of the Middle

C!affes.

Bloxham is fituated within an eafy diftance of Banbury,

where there are Stations of both the Great Weflern and

North Weftern Lines.

The courfe of Inllruilion includes the Englifli, French,

and Latin Languages; Vocal Mufic ; Writing, Arithmetic,

and the other details ot a found commercial education.

The Terms for Boarders arc ^ 2 5 . 4.J. per annum. Day

Boys 6s. per annum. Entrance fee for boarders 1/.,

for D.iy Boys IOJ. 6J. Thefe charges include every ex-

penfe, except tradefmen's bills, books, and llationery. ,

The Payments mull be made quarterly, in advance, one

week before January 3 1 , March 3 1 , July 3 1 , September 30,

either to " The Bloxham School Account," at the Old Bank,

Oxford ; or to the Head Mailer.

The Head Mailer can receive a few boys into his own

houfe at 30 guineas per annum. Greek, German, the Piano,

and Drawing are extras.

A Quarter's dues, or Three Months' Notice, is required

before removal of a pupil.

For further particulars apply to the Rev. P. R. ECCRTON,

Bloxh.-.m.

The First School Prospectus.

8

OUTLINE LIST OF IN THE HISTORY

1860 -

THE MAIN EVENTS OF THE SCHOOL

- 1960

The First Fifty Years : 1860 — 1910

Page 1860 January 31st. The School opened with one Day Boy 7

February 14th. A second Day Boy 7 April 10th. Two Boarders (one was C. J. Wilson) and two more Day Boys 12

1862 November 4th. The Founder married Miss Harriet Gould ... ... ... ... 13 1864 November 3rd. The Schoolroom Wing opened 13 and 14 1865 Purchase of the Main Cricket Field

The Revd. A. D. Crake became Chaplain 14 1868 " Botany Bay " (now the Art School, Crake and Wilbcrforce Changing Rooms) built 14 1869 November 8th. The Dining Hall Wing opened 15 1871 February 21 st. The Dedication of the Chapel 15-17 1872 ist Cricket Pavilion built and ist School Shop started 19 1874 Palmer House built as the ist School Hospital 19 1875 January 7th. The ist Old Bloxhamist Dinner (in London)

The Bloxhamist was first published... 1876 The Masters'House (now part of Egerton House) built 20 1884 The School handed over to Trustees

1885 The Cinder Track made, and 2nd Field levelled 1886 The Founder took the title of Warden

New Wing to the Headmaster's House built 20 The Revd. F. S. Boissier (O.B.) became the Headmaster 21

1887 Presentation of the Founder's Portrait 1890 The Founder left the School and went to live at North Cray, near Bcxley in Kent 1894 The Egerton Library built ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 21 1896 The Old Bloxhamist Society founded

The School was handed over to the Society of the Woodard Schools 1897 The Chapel Bell re-cast in Commemoration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee 1898 " Botany Bay " converted into a laboratory 1899 The Revd. G. H. Ward became the 3rd Headmaster 22 1900 The School Processional Banner was completed and the wooden Processional Cross

given 1901 The Gymnasium built ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 22 1904 Memorial Tablet to O.B.'s killed in S. African War unveiled 1907 Mrs. Egerton died 1908 The two present Fives Courts built ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 22 1910 July 14th. Celebration of the School's Jubilee, being the Founder's 78th birthday ... 23

The History of the School published

9

The Second Fifty Years : 1910 — 1960

Page 1910 November. Formation of the Bloxham Contingent of the O.T.C.

191 1 The first Miniature Range constructed (lasted till 1956) April 28th. Death of the Founder ist Annual O.T.C. Camp

1912 Erection of the New Altar, Reredos and Sanctuary flooring and construction of the new North window in Chapel as Memorials to the Founder 18

1913 Founder's Day established (to be on July 14th) The panelling in Chapel completed ist School Flag (presented by Mrs. Hinde the daughter of the Founder)

1914—18 Growth of the O.T.C. 24 1915 The Revd. R. M. Grier became the 4th Headmaster ... ... ... ... ... 24

1916 Scout troop started The House System started Headmaster's, Crake and Wilberforce Founder's Day assumed more the nature of a Speech Day

1917 The silver Processional Cross was purchased as the first stage of the 1914-18 War Memorial in Chapel The O.T.C. carried out 5-day route march through part of Oxfordshire

1918 Merton Cottage (now the School Office), and the buildings on the site of the Merton section of the present Wilson House, purchased School's numbers rose to 157 (then considered to be the maximum)

1919 The Revd. F. H. George became the 5th Headmaster 25 A small 4th House called " Wilson's " was started (it lasted for only about 2 years). A Preparatory School was started in Palmer House, the Hospital having been trans-ferred to the present Egerton House

1920 Rugger was played in the Spring Term, as an experiment, and repeated in the 2 following years The completed 1914-18 War Memorial in Chapel was dedicated 24

1922 Re-roofing of many parts of the School Buildings

1923 The Palmer Chemistry Laboratory and Lecture Room built (used until 1959) ... 25 " Botany Bay " converted into a School Changing Room. Rugger replaced Soccer, which (like Cricket) had been played since the School began

1925 Mr. V. L. Armitage became the 6th (and ist lay) Headmaster The School's numbers were then 129 Mr. K. T. Dewey, who was to be 7th Headmaster, joined the Staff

1926 The Swimming Bath was opened (by Mr. John Hinde grandson of the Founder) 25 and 26 School Entrance Scholarships instituted Electric Lighting installed

1927 The School's first entry for the Ashburton Shield at Bisley Head's House became Wilson House

1928 Reconstruction of the upper part of the old farmhouse and of the kitchens under the Dining Hall 21

1929 Bloxham became a Headmasters' Conference School Many roofs of the main buildings re-tiled

1930 Dining Hall re-floored in oak

1931 " The Friends of Bloxham " Society founded by Mr. Dewey

1932 Oak Tree to commemorate centenary of Founder's Birth planted by Mrs. Hinde and C. J. Wilson

1933 The Memorial Gateway built 27

1934 Reconstruction of the Merton buildings

1935 Music Rooms opened in Merton Special areas made for High Jump, Long Jump, Pole Vault and Weight-put

10

Page 1936 The School Shop rebuilt

The Old Laundry demolished C. J. Wilson retired from Bloxham

1937 The present studies for prefects and the present Chapel Vestry constructed The Classrooms Block with Great Hall opened ... ... ... ... ... ... 28

1938 The Vaughan Cricket Pavilion opened and the first XL Club match played 1939 C. J. Wilson died (aged 91) 78 years after his first arrival

Mr. V. L. Armitage was recalled to the Army 1940 Mr. K. T. Dewey became the 7th Headmaster ... ... ... ... ... ... 29

The numbers of the School were then about 1 10 The School Hospital transferred to its present quarters in the main section of the former headmaster's house. Egerton House, opened as a junior waiting House (1940-1956)

1941 Palmer House opened for additional laboratories and masters' quarters (till 1959) 1942 Consecration of the Pyx by Bishop Kirk of Oxford, and the start of the Reservation of the

Blessed Sacrament in Chapel ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 29 1946 New Merton Dormitories of Wilson House established 1947 ist M.C.C. Match

" Heath's " and its outbuildings (adjoining the Merton area) purchased 1948 The 1939-45 War Memorial in Chapel dedicated 1949 Urgent repairs to the Chapel carried out 1952 Mr. K. T. Dewey retired. The numbers had risen to 245

Mr. R. S. Thompson became the 8th Headmaster ... ... ... ... ... 29 Oriel Cottage purchased

1953 Park Close and Park Close Field purchased ... ... ... ... ... ... 29 Park Close became another waiting House New House Changing Rooms and the Art School constructed out of " Botany Bay." The Gallery of Chapel and the Choir Stalls enlarged. The Centenary Appeal was launched ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 29

1954 The New Organ was built and dedicated ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 29 Park Close Field levelled

1955 Home Cottage purchased 1956 New C.C.F. Armoury, Offices and Miniature Range provided by the War Office

Art School extended Three High Street cottages rebuilt Dayrooms re-equipped (from legacy of A. C. W. Denne, O.B.) Music School opened New Chapel lighting as a Memorial to Bishop Kirk Egerton House reconstituted as the 4th Senior House All waiting Houses discontinued The School heating system converted to oil fuel

1957 Grant of £9,900 from the Industrial Fund for the Advancement of Science in Schools and Grant of £10,000 from the Dulverton Trust for a new Science Block and Equip-ment ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 29

1958 Hard Tennis Courts at Park Close Palmer House converted to be Junior Section of Egerton House Steeplechase, with Water Jump, initiated round the Main Field

1959 The Science Block opened 30 New House Bicycle Sheds built Two Fields above the 2nd Field purchased Improvements to Egerton House began

1960 January 31st. The Centenary of Bloxham's Foundation The numbers had reached 260—the maximum figure intended, and on the basis of 65 in each of the 4 Houses

11

PICTURES AND BRIEF ACCOUNTS OF THE MAIN EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL

The First Fifty Years: 1860 — 1910

The main theme of these years of the School's history is the personality and objectives of the Founder as the inspirer and guide, even after his withdrawal from Bloxham in 1890 and his handing over of the School to the Woodard Corporation, until his death a few months after the Jubilee. Thus the story is mainly one of the steady addition of the buildings which form the main block of the School, and

of the people who under the Founder played the more prominent parts in the spiritual and material growth of Bloxham. Such people were numerous, but among them were Mrs. Egerton and her sisters, C. J. Wilson, the Revd. A. D. Crake (Chaplain 1865-78), the Revd. F. S. Boissier (O.B.) the 2nd Headmaster, and the Revd. G. H. Ward the 3rd Headmaster.

1860 C.J. Wilson became one of the two first boarders. From then until within a few years of his death, in March, 1939, he never really left Bloxham. He was Senior Prefect, Master and Bursar in turn. He even obtained his degree at Oxford without resigning his mastership.

the place best. The record cards of Old Bloxhamists up till the 1930's, written and kept up to date by him, are among the lasting evidence of his devotion and service to his School.

C. J. Wilson about 1930.

C. J. Wilson, one of the first boarders, 1860.

Thus his life covered more than the first 70 years of the School's history, and even by the Jubilee in 1910 it was said that Bloxham without " Old Wilson " would hardly seem Bloxham to the men and boys who know and love

Mrs. Egerton, about 1889.

1862 The founder married Miss Harriet Gould. Hence-forth Mrs. Egerton became virtually co-founder of Bloxham not only because she was always entirely at one with her husband in all that he did, but also because her family had considerable private means and several times its members helped much to make possible the erection of the earlier additions to the School.

1864 The Schoolroom Wing opened. This was the first major addition to the School, and it provided the large Schoolroom and the two dormitories above it. Most of the lower one became the School Chapel until the Chapel Wing was opened in 1871. The two dormitories are now those of Crake House. The building, designed by G. E. Street, cost about £3000 and the then Duke of Marlborough, one of the chief contributors to the building and, to the purchase of the Main Cricket Field, presided over the luncheon in the Schoolroom, which followed the Dedication service conducted in the dormitory above by Bishop Samuel Wilberforce of Oxford. The effects of this extension are shown in the following four pictures :—

Later the far wall was moved inwards by one bay, to allow for the construction of the present Chapel vestry and the passage way underneath it leading to the day-rooms.

The Revd. A. D. Crake.

1865 The Revd. A. D. Crake became Chaplain. The importance of his work and influence in the earlier years caused the author of the History of the School to 1910 to call the years 1865-1878 the Crake Period. While imbued with the ideas of the great revival in the Church of England he was careful not to go beyond sound and essential principles and was keen to impress upon boys that religion was something bright and cheerful. It was in the latter context that on Sunday evenings the historical stories that were to make both the author and the School known among a wide public were first recounted, as verbal stories in weekly instalments— in the Schoolroom or under the shade of trees on the first field.

Below—The Chapel in the present Crake Lower Dormitory 1864-71.

1868 " Botany Bay" built. This building, now the Crake and Wilberforce changing rooms with the Art School overhead, was to have a long history of many contrasting uses up to 1953 : the upper portion varying between being a classroom, a reading room, a dormitory, laboratories and finally the armoury; while the lower portion was at first a covered playground and fives court, and later a laboratory when most of the floor of the upper room was taken out, and then a general changing room for most of the School.

The Schoolroom.

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1869 The Dining Hall Wing opened. The cost of this wing was met from funds mainly provided by Mr. Egerton himself. The new Dining Hall and kitchens underneath replaced the thatched barn and adjoining kitchen in the present No. 1 ward, which had become quite inadequate for those purposes. Over the Dining Hall were two dormitories—the present Wilson House Senior one and what is now the School Locker Room. The effects of this extension are shown in the two follow-ing pictures.

Buildings from N. W. after addition of Dining Hall Wing.

Headmaster's House and Buildings, without Hall, viewed from the main road.

1871 The Chapel Wing opened. It was to achieve what the Founder called " the crowning building of all " that he had always looked forward throughout the first ten years of the School's existence. In 1870, largely owing to the generosity of Mrs. Egerton and her two sisters, it became possible. Designs were prepared by Mr. Street. Stone was quarried on the actual site— some of the best ever found in the neighbourhood— while for the facings, windows and spire Box stone was used. Yorkshire stone was used for the Chapel steps, and Devonshire stone for the two pillars of the Sidelia which was presented by the workmen employed on the building. Most of the building was carried out under Mr. Egerton's own directions. A fire-proof floor of iron girders and 13 inches of concrete, carried on strips of wood laid between the girders, separated the Chapel from the four classrooms underneath, of which three are now House Dayrooms. Below them the large excavated area, from which most of the stone had come,

was made into cellars acting as storerooms. The original organ cost £500, to which boys and their friends contri-buted about £250. The total cost of the building was about £4,000. The Dedication took place on Shrove Tuesday, February 21st, 1871, when at 8 a.m. for the first time Holy Communion was celebrated in the Chapel by the Bishop of Oxford Dr. Mackarness, the successor to Bishop Wilberforce in 1869. The service was choral and was followed at 11 a.m. by the Dedication Service and Sermon by the Bishop. At the subsequent luncheon in the Dining Hall the Old Winchester College Latin Grace was sung before and after by the School choir. At 6 p.m. Evensong was held and was attended by the workmen and their rela-tives as well as others from the village. Only 13 months had elapsed since the first spadeful of earth had been dug up on the site.

The following three pictures show the effects of the addition of the Chapel wing.

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I

Buildings with the Chapel, 1871; compare with picture on page 13.

View from the site of the Gym ; compare with picture on page 7. The old barn has disappeared. The buildings in the foreground were used as a laundry and stood in what is now the quad between the Classrooms Block and Art School until 1936.

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The Chapel, 1871-82.

The Chapel after the Installation of Pews, 1882.

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The Sanctuary when the Altar, Reredos, and marble floor had been added as memorials to the Founder after 1912.

A strange photo—The New Altar Stone on its arrival at Banbury station in June 1912. It weighed two tons and took six hours to raise to its place in Chapel during the Summer

holidays.

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1872 1 st Cricket Pavilion built and ist School Shop started (above). These were partly contrived out of some old farm buildings and were on the sites now occupied by the Vaughan Cricket Pavilion (1938) and the modern School Shop (1936). The fives court at the eastern end of the pavilion was a memorial to Miss Arkell the first matron.

1874 Palmer House built (below). [This was originally built to be the School Hospital. In 1941 it was taken over for additional laboratories and two sets of Masters' rooms. In 1959 it was re-adapted and modernized to be the junior section of the present 4th main house (Egerton founded 1956).

(Above) Site of Masters' House. (Below) Masters' House.

1876 The Masters' House built. The Masters' house which thus took the place of the old buildings was for a time the house of the Revd. F. S. Boissier. It is now the main block of the 4th house—Egerton House—founded in 1956 which replaced the junior waiting house of that name (1940-1956). The eastern section was extended nearer to the roadway in later times. The cottage at the further end of the left picture still stands.

1886 New wing to the then Headmaster's house built. This view should be compared with those on pages 7 and 21. It shows the new wing added to the old farm house, which had by then itself undergone considerable alteration in appearance. Almost at the end of his time at Bloxham the Founder had improved his house, more for his successors than for himself. It now con-tains the present Headmaster's Study and the main parts of the School Hospital.

(Below) New wing added to the Headmaster's House.

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1894 The Egerton Library built. The building, which houses the lower and the upper library, was built to commemorate the work of the Founder who had left Bloxham in 1890. The upper one was named " The Liddon Room " because of the legacy for the purchase of books left to the School by Canon Liddon of Oxford, a great friend of the Founder. This view should be compared with those on pages 7, 20 and 31. The only subsequent changes to the South aspect of the School were the alterations carried out to the original farm house in 1928 and shown in the view below.

The Revd. F. S. Boissier (O.B.), Headmaster, 1886-98.

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Gymnasium and Fives Courts.

Gymnasium, exterior, about 1905. The Revd. G. H. Ward, Headmaster, 1899-1914.

1901 The Gym built. Gymnastics, already for long a feature of Bloxham, thus secured a permanent building. Note, this view is from approximately the N.W. corner of the site of the new house which it is hoped to erect as part of the Commemoration of the Centenary.

1908 The Fives Courts built onto the Gym. There was a plan to build a similar wing—possibly an indoor swimming bath—eventually on the other side of the gym, but it never materialized.

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An inset photograph of the Founder appears above, as he was not well enough to come to Bloxham. He passed away the following year.

1910 The School's Jubilee. The School's Jubilee was celebrated on the 14th July, the Founder's 78th birthday. There was an " Early " in Chapel at 8 a.m. A great pro-cession was formed from the School to the village church for the main service at midday, in which there were the representatives of Ardingly, Hurstpierpoint, King's College at Taunton and Lancing. The Sermon was preached by the Bishop of Chichester. Lunch was served in a large marquee when the Provost, Canon (later Bishop) Southwell, quoted Mr. Gladstone as having said of the Founder that England owed as much to him as to any man in religious education. During the afternoon there was a cricket match, a

gym display, the planting of an oak tree by the Founder's grand-daughter, out-of-doors singing by some of the choir, Evensong and finally an entertainment in the Schoolroom. Next day the cricket match was continued and the inhabitants of Bloxham were invited to tea, gymnastics and glee singing.

The jubilee of C. J. Wilson was also commemorated by the presentation of his enlarged photographic por-trait, an illuminated address and a gold watch, and the annual Wilson prize was started to be awarded to the boy who in the opinion of the headmaster has made the richest contribution to the life of the School during the past year.

There were just over 100 boys in the group. The Headmaster was the Revd. G. H. Ward (1899-1914). C. J. Wilson sat on his left, the Revd. H. R. Willimott the

Chaplain, who is still living, sat on his right.

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The Second Fifty Years 1910 — 1960

These years were naturally to be rather different. There followed headmasters, masters, generations of boys and O.B.'s who had never seen the Founder ; but somehow his principles and objectives seemed to go on with neither break nor fundamental changes. Undoubtedly this was mainly due to the long life and presence of C. J. Wilson at Bloxham itself (till 1936), the guidance of the Provosts of the Woodard Corporation, and the handing on of traditions by chaplains, masters and boys. Notable among the O.B.'s who enabled so much of the spiritual and material work of the Founder to be carried on was F. B. Palmer

(1862-1947), whose generosity was always available when the costs of additions and major repairs arose.

Two world wars, too, made the second half-century different. O.B.'s served and many died, thus creating a greater appreciation of the Bloxham community of living and departed. Costs rose, so that further additions could not come nearly so frequently as they had done in the past. Therefore the following pictures may not be so numerous as those for 1860-1910. Nevertheless they show how the needs of the 20th century are being met in Bloxham, which has grown from about 100 to 260 boys during those fifty years.

1914-18 The Growth of the O.T.C. ; On Parade in 1917.

The Revd. R. M. Grier, Headmaster, 1915-19.

The War Memorial in Chapel. This Memorial was the idea of the Revd. H. R. Willimott, Chaplain during most of the war years. The processional Cross was purchased in 1917 and the memorial completed in 1920. A replica became a Memorial for the 2nd World War in 1948.

The Revd. F. H. George, Headmaster, 1919-25.

1926 The School Swimming Bath opened. Since the School began the bathing place had been in Sor Brook, close to Wykham Mill. For many years previous to 1926 a fund to provide a bath was gradually built up.

1923 The Palmer Chemistry Laboratory opened. Since the new Science Block was opened in 1959 this building has been temporarily left standing to house such activities as the Motor Club and the Radio Club.

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The Site of the Great Hall and Classrooms Block. This view also shows the Old Laundry buildings from the S.E.

The Opening of " The New Buildings."

F. B. Palmer (O.B.) unlocking the main doors accompanied by Mr. V. L. Armitage the Headmaster. On the great day, October 30th, 1937, extra coaches were added to the train from London. Chapel was full for the Sung Eucharist, which was followed by a procession to the entrance door. Immediately after the unlocking there was a fanfare of trumpets from the Great Hall gallery, maroons exploded in the garden, the School flag was broken from the masthead, the School and Chapel bells rang wildly, and from the glorious steeple of the Parish Church came a joyous peal. Luncheon, the O.B. Rugger Match (won by the School) and Dance in Great Hall followed.

Thus were buildings, and the resulting improvements in the old ones, which together transformed the Bloxham of 1910-1937, only just completed before the 2nd World War began. The Great Hall and Classrooms Block under construction.

1939—45 For the second time the pages of The Bloxhamist record the service and deaths of O.B.'s in a world war.

Mr. K. T. Dewey, Headmaster 1940-1952. Of how Bloxham itself—in 1939 faced with building debts to be paid, and threatened with amalgamation or worse—was carried on and the numbers built up from no to 245 in most difficult circumstances by Mr. Dewey, the Revd. J. Sholto Douglas the Chaplain, Miss Garnar the Bursar, the depleted staffs and by the boys during the war years and those immediately after them, a fuller and more detailed story remains to be told when that struggle has become even more a matter of history than it can be today.

The known facts include those merely recorded on page 11 of the outline of events, and of them the most important was when in 1942 Bishop Kirk of Oxford consecrated the Pyx so that the Reservation of the Blessed Sacrament in Chapel during term time could begin. From then on the Chapel has been even more the centre of all that the Founder intended Bloxham to stand for.

This is a photograph of the painting of Mr. Dewey presented to him by the Old Bloxhamist Society on his retirement. Significantly it hangs in the Dining Hall with so far only the paintings of the Founder, Mrs. Egerton, the Revd. F. S. Boissier and C. J. Wilson besides.

1952 Mr. R. S. Thompson became the 8th Headmaster.

1953 The Purchase of Park Close and Field. This large undertaking was to serve many purposes : to provide a proper home for a married headmaster and his family, to enable him to entertain suitably and to provide accommodation for boys. Since then it has been suc-cessively a junior waiting house till 1956, the junior section of Egerton House till 1959 and now some Wilson House boys sleep there. A fully-equipped Music School with a small concert room, instruc-tion and practice rooms have been made out of the former stables. The Field, towards which the O.B. Society contributed £500, has been levelled and provides extra space for cricket, hockey and hard tennis courts.

The Centenary Appeal initiated the Centenary Fund for the purpose of developing existing buildings to modern standards of teaching and accommodation, the provision of new laboratories, and ultimately the building of another House to reduce those in main buildings to two and thus free accommodation there for better uses. Subsequently this scheme was defined to be carried out in three phases.

Phase 1 :—Some new laboratories, the Music School and general internal improvements.

Phase 2 :—Enlargement and modernization of Egerton House (became a Senior House in 1956).

Phase 3 :—The building of the new replacement boarding house.

So far Phases 1 and 2 have been carried out and the School architect's plans for phase 3 are ready, although at the time of going to press the Centenary Fund is still some £23,000 short of its target.

1954 The New Organ was built by the firm of Percy Daniel (O.B.) as in part a memorial to F. B. Palmer (O.B.) and in part to commemorate the O.B.'s who fell in the 1939-45 war.

1957 Grants from the Fund for the Advancement of Science in Schools and from the Dulverton Trust. These two grants together with £3,600 given by Dr. T. H. Sander-son-Wells (O.B.) and with over £7,000 from the Cen-tenary Fund made it possible to plan an entirely new Science Block.

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1959 The Science Block, opened by Lt. General Sir John Evetts in the presence of representatives of the two Trusts, is the greatest addition to Bloxham since 1938.

Above are two pictures taken at the opening ceremony.

Two Footnotes to the Outline 1860-1960 :—

(1) Space has not allowed for the great work done by many of the Chaplains who have followed the Revd. A. D. Crake to be mentioned, but rather than that they should be omitted altogether their names are recorded below in ever grateful memory.

The Revd. A. L. C. Heigham 1878--81 The Revd. G. F. Garwood 1881 --83 The Revd. A. L. C. Heigham 1883--85 The Revd. W. A. Marshall 1885--89 The Revd. R. A. Ransom 1889--90 The Revd. H. Wigan 1891--99 The Revd. V. T. Kirby 1900--01 The Revd. E. J. Crombie 1902--03 The Revd. H. R. Willimott 1904--08 The Revd. B. M. Maynard 1909-- 1 0 The Revd. H. R. Willimott 1910-- 1 7 The Revd. T. G. Blofeld 1917--25 The Revd. H. R. Willimott 1926--27 The Revd. T. P. Backhouse 1927--29 The Revd. L. F. Andrewes 1930-- 3 i The Revd. R. D. Hudson 1931-- 3 2 The Revd. C. C. Barclay 1932--36 The Revd. J. Sholto-Douglas 1937--49 The Revd. C. G. How 1949-- 5 7 The Revd. D. Knight 1958 The Revd. A. J. Gardiner 1958-

(2) Nor has reference been made to any of the many members of Bloxham's Domestic Staffs, who have contributed so much to the welfare and spirit of the School from the days of the Founder until now. Let this characteristic photo of " Bo " Mallett (1880-1958), who was here for close on 60 years, represent them all.

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A FEW PICTURES ILLUSTRATING THE RESULTS OF DEVELOPMENTS FROM 1860 TO 1960

The Original Building with the Dining Hall Wing ; compare with page 7.

The Reconstructed Farm House with much that has grown up around it ; compare with pages 7, 20 and 21.

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LOOKING FORWARD

The School Bidding Prayer

" Ye shall pray for Christ's Holy Catholic Church—that is to say for the whole congregation of Christian men throughout the world ; especially for that branch of it established in this Realm ; and herein I bid you more particularly to pray for our gracious Queen Elizabeth : by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Queen., Head of the Com-monwealth ; Defender of the Faith; over all persons and in causes ecclesiastical and civil within her dominions supreme.

For Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Charles Prince of Wales, and for all the Royal Family.

And, for the sake of all, ye shall pray for the Ministers and Dispensers of God's Holy Word and Sacraments, for the Archbishops, especially Geoffrey, Archbishop of this Province, for the Bishops, especially Harry, Lord Bishop of this Diocese and for all priests, that they may shine as lights in the world and adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

Also ye shall pray for Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, for the Great Council of the Nation (now assembled in Parliament), and for all those who are set in authority under them, that all and every one of them may in their several callings serve truly and faithfully to the glory of God and the edifying of His People, remembering the solemn account they must one day give before the judgement throne of Christ.

And that there never may be wanting a supply of persons duly qualified to serve God both in Church and State, ye shall implore His blessing on all places of Godly useful learning : on the Universities of this land (and herein, as in private duty bound, I ask your prayers for the ancient and pious foundation of Oriel College, Oxford) and on all Schools, especially this our School of All Saints Bloxham, founded by the munificence of Philip Reginald Egerton, priest, and Harriet his wife ; later set forward on its mission by Nathaniel Woodard, priest, and the Society of St. Mary and St. Nicolas of Lancing ; that in all places specially set apart for God's honour and service, sound learning and religious education may ever flourish and abound.

Finally, let us bless God's Holy Name for all His servants departed this life in His Faith and Fear, beseeching Him to give us grace so to follow their good example, that, this life ended, we may dwell with them in Life Everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord, in Whose words we sum up all our addresses to the Throne of Grace."

{Here folloiveth the Lord's Prayer).

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The School Hymn

O God, we pray with Thy protecting might Stretch forth Thine hand to guard our school from ill. And with Thy Spirit so our hearts instil That our just paths may be one shining light.

Our founder built and worshipped on this site, Here loving hands have laboured in Thy name, Their selfless zeal we thankfully acclaim, For their just paths have been one shining light.

May every son go forth Thy trusty knight To slay the dragons of deceit and scorn, The sword of truth, the shield of faith so worn That their just paths may be one shining light.

Words by G. M. Bolton (Second Master).

The School Prayer

We give Thee most humble and hearty thanks, O most merciful Father, for our Founder Philip Reginald Egerton, and for all our other Benefactors, by whose benefit we are here brought up to Godliness and good learning ; and we humbly beseech Thee to give us grace to use these Thy blessings to the glory of Thy Holy Name, that we may answer the good intent of our Founder, and become profitable members of the Church and Commonwealth, and at last be partakers of Thy Heavenly Kingdom ; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

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The compiler of this Centenary booklet is very conscious of its inade-quacies as a worthy commemoration of the past. But he hopes that this being so, someone with greater personal knowledge and more time may soon be inspired to write a new and comprehensive History of Bloxham School. If so, he would recommend him to study among other things The Bloxhamist, because in it—and more especially in the reports of speeches and descriptions of the Founder, later Headmasters, Provosts, Chaplains, Masters, Boys and Old Bloxhamists on very many occasions—the true spirit of the place lies enshrined, and can be read frequently re-expressing itself, according to the varying needs of the occasions and the passing years, since it was first published in 1875.

B L O X H A M January 31st, 1960.

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Printed by Cheney & Sons Ltd., Banbury, England.