sanderson: the years of conflict i8g2-1900...

CHAPTER XVII

Sanderson: the Years of Conflict

i8g2-1900

THE future of the Schools depended on the choice of the new head-master. The Court of 24 February 1892, which accepted MungoPark's resignation and was prepared to consider the transformation

of Oundle School into a Modern School, instructed the Oundle Com-mittee to consult the Second Master and the housemasters, visit Oundleand suggest the changes felt to be expedient and practicable. Thecommittee prepared a report, leaving the decision to the Court, with arecommendation that the details of the new Schemes should be settled withthe new headmaster after his appointment. "The system of teaching atOundle School should be gradually modified so as to make it a school giv-ing prominence to modern subjects, reserving advanced Classical studiesfor those whose position or exceptional abilities fitted them for a careerat a University". The Second Master had been consulted: in his reply Mr.Brereton, who hoped to see a Classical School of three hundred, stressedthe importance not only of securing the headmaster a good income (hewas not himself a candidate) but of giving him, whoever he was, the fullconfidence of the Company. Mr. Hansell, who had his own explanationof the decline in numbers, believed the possibilities of Oundle School tobe infinite, but took the opportunity to oppose the introduction of thehostel system as being against the tradition of the School. The headmasterof the Grocers' Company's School at Hackney Downs (who became acandidate) also tendered advice. Perhaps that obtained from Mr. H. D.Leigh was more pertinent. Although he referred to divided counsels atGrocers' Hall and sympathised with the Court over results not being com-mensurate with the expense, he urged that, if the Governors did notchoose one who knew Oundle, they should choose the strongest and most

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SANDERSON: THE YEARS OF CONFLICT: 1892-1900

experienced outsider and give him. a free hand: but first let the position andabilities of the existing staff be reviewed; "subordinates with fixed tenuresand ideas, if incompetent or unwilling to adapt themselves, would hamperthe work and prejudice the position of a new Headmaster". This warningshould be pondered in the light of the next seven or eight years: it is strangelyprophetic. The Oundle Court of 6 July 1892 had a short list of three namesbefore them: twenty-nine members were present. On a final ballotFrederick William Sanderson was elected. This election of a mathematician,identified with the development of the teaching of Science and Engineer-ing at Dulwich College, marks the new departure, the attempt to makeOundle School serve the needs of the times: but it was achieved by a baremajority of the Court. It is curious that this new departure started, justwhere Reade's new order had begun, with ninety-two boys in the School.

The career, ideals and methods of this outstanding Headmaster havebeen published by his colleagues after his death in Sanderson of Oundle: theseries of articles in the New Statesman written by H. G. Wells, for manyyears the friend of Sanderson, has been collected and published under thetitle of The Story of a Great Schoolmaster: the circumstances of his death, noless than H. G. Wells's championship of his ideas, called forth manyappreciations in 1922. But it may be doubted if the full effect of his life-work has even yet been felt. Readers of the Hadow Report who are familiarwith Sanderson's ideas will recognise them at every turn, although hisname is not mentioned in it. The question is how far any one man influencesa generation or how far the ideas of a generation find their expression inany one man. It may be admitted, at the outset of any account of the workof this dynamic personality, that complete originality is the last thing to belooked for: in many instances the ideas of others fell like seed into groundprepared to receive them: in other instances the suggestion of what mightbe done, thrown out by others, was translated into action. Some ideas werein the air, but found expression in the Oundle of Sanderson. He always feltthat in Oundle School and the Laxton Grammar School he was able to givea demonstration of the practicability of that wherein he believed so deeply:the Schools provided a laboratory for his experiments. It is not too much to

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A HISTORY OF THE OUNDLE SCHOOLS

claim that three headmasters of schools forming a triangle in the Midlandshave given, public school education in one century three great principles:Arnold of Rugby the management of the school by the boys, or the prefectsystem; Thring of Uppingham the teaching of the whole class, not merelythe promising boys at the top of it; and Sanderson of Oundle the width ofthe curriculum, the finding of a course of study that would fit the individualboy. And certainly, for Oundle School, Sanderson's thirty years saw un-paralleled progress: in one sense the feature of the period was change."Let Oundle be the first of schools of its class to move in the direction inwhich sooner or later all schools, except a special class, will be obliged tofollow", wrote Sanderson shortly after his first term as headmaster.

Sanderson came from a very different class from his predecessors forsome centuries: he was the youngest son of an employee in the Brancepethestate office of Viscount Boyne, and was born on 13 May 1857 in Brance-peth, County Durham. He attended the village school and became a student-teacher at Tudhoe: in January 1876 he entered Durham University as atheological student of Hatfield Hall and was awarded the Van Milderttheological scholarship. He took his degree with a first class in Mathe-matics and Physics in 1879: the same year he gained an Open MathematicalScholarship at Christ's College, Cambridge; in 1881 he was elected aFellow of Durham University; in January 1882 he graduated nthWrangler and was placed high in the examination for Dr. Smith's prizes.Although he did not secure a fellowship at Cambridge, he stayed there till1885, taking private pupils and lecturing in Mathematics at Girton College.For five years he was appointed Examiner in Arts in the University ofDurham: in addition to the Honours Mathematical papers, he had chargeof the papers on the Greek Gospels, English History, Scripture History andLogic. In May 1885 he accepted an invitation to replace Dr. Kemshead asassistant master at Dulwich College, where there was no teaching in Physics,and Chemistry was taught only as a special subject. With the Governors'full approval he extended the teaching of Chemistry and introduced that ofPhysics to the whole of the Modern Side and to the middle Forms of theClassical Side: he founded the Science Side (about forty-five boys) for those

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seeking scholarships in Science at Oxford or Cambridge (and in four yearsthirteen open awards were won) and the Engineering Side (up to sixty-fiveboys), to keep a little longer at school, receiving a sound general education,those boys intending to enter the profession of engineering or manufacture.The arrangement of the Physical and Mechanical Laboratories and theworkshops was done by Sanderson. New Science classrooms and work-shops were completed by October 1886: and in September 1888 a steam-engine was installed in the Engineering Laboratory. Thus early he wasstating his thesis that models will not do; it must be the real thing. Similarly,his distrust in text-books was shown, although he wrote two himself, oneon Hydrostatics and the other on Magnetism.

It is important to notice two things about Sanderson's stay in Dulwich,where he, having married in 1885 Miss Jane Hodgson of Broughton Hall,Cumberland, took in his private house a few of the eighty boarders in thatpredominantly day school of six hundred. In the first place, not only wasa "Stinks beak" regarded as fair game by those accustomed to bait theModern Languages "Froggie", but his beloved Engineering Laboratorywas looked upon as a rather vulgar excrescence, necessary, perhaps, butstill deplorable: Sanderson had therefore to overcome troubles withdiscipline: he must have determined that at Oundle he would tolerate nononsense of that sort. Dulwich knew him as "Sandy", but Oundle as "Beans".In the second place, as an old pupil records in Gilkes and Dulwich, he was "fullof enthusiasm, and he managed to communicate his enthusiasm to others. Hewas often working in the labs for hours after school was over, and especiallywhen he was testing the engine and experimenting". Another writes:

The tide was turning when I went there and we had most orderly classes, everyonekeyed up by his simple expositions of scientific facts. He used to get almost inspiredas his talks went on, and never gave us a dull moment... . He believed that Sciencecould be made the base for true education ... he was developing his ideas of a broadcurriculum of Education based on Scientific Method. He taught us by means of thesimplest experimental apparatus, made by the boys themselves to a large extent inthe workshops, to rely on experimental evidence for scientific facts and to refuse tobe satisfied with the pronouncements of authority. What we learnt from him, apartfrom a valuable acquaintanceship with Scientific apparatus, was a kind of funda-mental belief in Scientific Method as a means of solving all the problems of life.

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So far, while still at Dulwich, had Sanderson gone in realising the valueof the new course in Applied Mechanics and Physics with MechanicalDrawing and Workshop Practice, not as part of a technical college, trainingengineers for their profession, but as an integral part of a public school,training boys for life.

In July 1891 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the headmastership ofthe William Jones Grammar School, Monmouth. His chance came a yearlater, when he was appointed to reorganise Oundle School. The Alleynianof August 1892 records that "Mr. Sanderson . . . has been appointed HeadMaster of the Grocers' Company's School at Arundel"—that mistake isheard less frequently nowadays. But his work at Dulwich had alreadyattracted attention: one of the visitors from Cambridge, Mr. H. O. Haleof Trinity College, was so impressed that he accepted a post as assistantmaster at Oundle and came to the School with the new Headmaster. Andin September 1895, Mr. H. M. King, a scholar of Emmanuel, who hadbeen taught by Sanderson at Dulwich, rejoined him at Oundle. Both thesemen gave the School their life's work. Four boys were transferredfrom Dulwich to Oundle to complete their education on the lines they hadbecome used to following: it must be added that their presence did notmake Sanderson any more popular with the boys at Oundle.

The advertisement of the School ran thus: "The School will Re-openon September i6th. When, in addition to the Classical teaching hithertogiven, and which will in no way be interfered with, a Modern Side will beformed to provide instruction in (i) Modern Languages, (2) Science, (3)Engineering." The unfortunate part of this notice is that italicised, for allthe staff believed that the opposite was what was intended: it disclaimedtoo much. The mere fact of his appointment was taken as a condemnationof all that had been attempted and done in the days of the Classical School.Added to this came other considerations: he was a layman, but, as was soonto be learnt, a modernist who accepted the results of the new-fangled OldTestament criticism, and quite as good a theologian as anyone in orders:he had not been at a public school and had no first-hand knowledge of theworking of a boarding-school, for the problems of a day school are quite

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Plate 33

Photographs by F. W. Lane, Oimilr

THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE AND ITS ADDITIONS, circa 1933

In the upper picture the 1763 house is on the left, the new buildings of 1799 in the centre and the Laboratoriesof 1899 on the right.

In the lower picture can be seen the old wooden gymnasium, the Laboratories, the 1799 Building and thewooden Engineering Laboratory.

Plate 34


different: he was not athletic and was suspected of not attaching sufficientimportance to games: he was a reader of Ruskin: his politics were Liberal(if not Radical) and he had an increasing concern for the improvement ofthe condition of the working classes: he was, perhaps, not sartorially smartas schoolboys understood smartness: his voice, if not his idiom, was of theNorth Country, and along with his gestures, which were individual, pro-vided yet another subject for ridicule: and, a relic of his earlier contestswith ragging, he had a violent temper, imperfectly under control. Butabove all he was a worker, ablaze with a passion for his wrork, and he ex-pected from his staff and from his boys the same devotion to hard work andlong hours. All this the staff soon discovered and quietly went into opposi-tion. One Old Boy of the period of strife, who wrote later on, havingcome to regret his share in the adverse criticism of the new headmaster,says that the boys took their cue from the attitude of the staff, but, he adds,to the credit of the masters, he never heard a word said to boys by way ofcriticism. It may be added that the county likewise stood aloof. There wasno welcome extended to him from any quarter. Yet with the formation ofthe Oundle Urban District Council in January 1895, he was co-opted to bethe first chairman: and later became a J.P.

When Sanderson came to examine the buildings in which his newventure was to take shape, he found the Cloisters building, with an Artroom in the tower, and a Library below it, five single classrooms—themasters' common-room was given up—two double rooms and a head-master's office or study: and the Old School House of 1763 and 1799,already with the exception of the attics in use to provide not merely theporter's room and four Music rooms but also improvised laboratories andworkshops. Here he made such changes as amounted almost to a newcreation, which, indeed, it was claimed to be. His ruthlessness in this matterdid not endear him to the Mathematical and Science master, Mr. Cobbald.The changes were effected during the summer holidays in order to beready for the new start in September, at the cost of ̂ 300. Sanderson wrote:"I found that all the apparatus, machines and tools in the laboratories andworkshop belonged with very few exceptions to either Mr. Cobbald or

H.O.S.—16 481


Mr. Park. I did not think it advisable to take over any of Mr. Park's at thevaluation: and of Mr. Cobbald's I took apparatus to the extent of ̂ 6. Mr.Cobbald has taken the remainder away. It consisted chiefly of amateur-made apparatus and rough tools of no value to the School." Mr. Cobbaldhad to build a shed in the garden of his house in Glapthorn Road to housewhat he was asked to remove. The point underlying the harshness is clearlythat to be of any use the tools must be real workmen's tools, the propertools for the job. And clearly the laboratories and the workshop alreadyexisting seemed to Sanderson and his newly appointed assistant master,Mr. Hale, utterly unlike the real thing: water and gas had apparently to belaid on. In the old dining-hall (two rooms in one along Church Lane),which Park had used as a carpenter's shop since 1887, they set up a com-bined metal and wood workshop equipped with four vices, a screw-cutting lathe, a back-geared lathe and six carpenter's benches with sets oftools: and the old smithy, to the north of the fives courts in the Quadrangle,was cleaned out, a new brick forge built and a brass furnace set up. The roomon the right of the front door of the 1763 building, previously the matron'sroom and then a Music room, became a Mechanical Laboratory able to takeeight boys at work. The old common-room on the ground floor of theNew Building of 1799 was remodelled as the Physical Laboratory withtwo working tables, to take sixteen boys. The dormitory above it becamea Chemical Laboratory with two working benches and a small lectureroom at the south end of it: the floor of the attic above was partiallyremoved to admit more light and air. A workshop instructor, Mr. F.Clayton, was engaged, to be paid by the School, with a lad to assist him.

, The organisation of the School promised in the advertisement waseffected thus. The three forms at the bottom formed the Junior School,with Mr. Perfect the form-master of III (six boys) and Mr. Joel for II (nineboys) and I (two boys): above that the four streams divided. The ClassicalSide consisted of IV (eight boys) under Mr. Winch, VB (ten boys) underMr. Jones, VA (seven boys) under Mr. Vince and VI (nine boys) underMr. Brereton: the Modern Languages Side was formed by IV (thirteen boys)under Mr. Hornstein, and VB (five), VA (five) and VI (one) under Mr.

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Hansell: the Science Side consisted of VB (three) and VA (one) under Mr.Cobbald and Mr. Hale, and the rudimentary Engineering Side of IV(twelve) and VA (one) taken by Mr. Cobbald. The Classical Side and theJunior School were arranged in six Mathematical Sets, and the three newSides in two. The Classical Side was also divided into two French Sets.The Headmaster himself had a full programme of teaching. The ModernLanguages Side, preparing for the Army or the Civil Service or for busi-ness, was the old Public Services Department and gave six periods each toFrench, German and Mathematics, four to Latin or Science, three toEnglish subjects including Divinity, and one to Drawing. The Science Side,aiming at University scholarships in Natural Science, the London Inter-B.Sc. and Medical Preliminary examinations, gave seven periods each toPhysics and Chemistry, six each for Mathematics and either ModernLanguages or Biology. The Engineering Side dealt with boys intended forCivil, Mechanical or Electrical Engineering, Manufacture, Industry andAgriculture, providing seven periods for Languages (English, French andGerman), six for Mathematics, four each for Mechanics and Physics, fourfor Drawing, three for Chemistry and, out of school hours, four for work-shop practice. With Perry, Sanderson believed that "ignorance of the usesof squared paper was evidence of a neglected education". The CertificateExaminations of the Oxford and Cambridge Board were to be taken, theHigher by CVI and CVA and the Lower by CVB, CIV and all the ModernSides. The taking of the Lower Certificate was expected to have a goodeffect on the teaching in the middle and lower parts of the School, whichseemed to leave much to be desired.

Sanderson must have studied his staff very closely in his first term: ofthe ability and competence to teach of Mr. Brereton, his curate Mr. Vince,and of Mr. Hansell there could be no doubt: Mr. Jones also did more thanpass scrutiny in the classroom as on the river; Mr. Hornstein and Mr.Spurling joined him in supporting the new order. Mr. Caparn was anartist: Mechanical Drawing was not his line. Mr. Cobbald was no disciplin-arian, and, although he had been a Wrangler, was not able to handle theadvanced Mathematics required. Mr. Joel, who now received ;£ioo a year

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towards some of the expenses of his house, was master of the Junior School:he had been disappointed of his hope of securing the salaried post of chap-lain, which, as his Headmaster was not in orders, he expected to see estab-lished. Sanderson's summing-up was not flattering: he assigned threereasons for the recent decline of the School—an absence of discipline, anorganisation for the best Classical boys alone, and the small amount ofwork done by the staff. He wrote in words which Fry to some extent hadanticipated:

I have been surprised to find that the Assistant Masters, with hardly an exception,have no idea of what hard work means. This is not altogether their fault. The formshave been small, not making a sufficient demand on their energies, and in some casesit is due to ill-health. But from whatever cause this want of robust energy and hardwork has arisen, it has without doubt done great harm to the boys. Not only havethe boys not been pushed forward, but they have acquired a very low standard ofenergy. I have endeavoured to fill up each Master's time, and I find, upon the whole,that they are at present anxious to carry out my plans as far as they can. It willundoubtedly take some time to infuse a spirit of work throughout the school.

This last he certainly did. After his first year the auditors reported that"under the present Head Master very much more stationery is used inSchool work than was customary formerly", which is an indication of theprocess. He proposed to limit the holidays to fourteen weeks in the year:but as the housemasters objected, the Oundle Committee thought the timehad not yet come for this step.

To deal with the lack of briskness, smartness and tidiness among theboys (which was what he meant by "absence of discipline") he tried twolines of approach: Mr. Spurling was instructed as far as possible to developClass Singing: and the Governors were persuaded to sanction his plans fora temporary Gymnasium. The room, now Mr. Shaw's room, over anentrance in Church Lane belonging to Mr. Ridsdale the draper, had beenlet as a workroom to Mr. Coulson, the School tailor: his equipment wasmoved to Mr. Seal's empty shop, and the gymnastic apparatus dulyinstalled. Mr. Robinson of the Laxton School had died and a Peterboroughsergeant had been hired to conduct the Drill: now a Northampton sergeant,named Sawford,1 took his place: very soon the whole School received two

1 C.S.M. Henry Sawford was unfortunately drowned giving a swimming lesson, 19 August 1895.

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lessons a week, and Sanderson believed Gymnastics to be very popular.The inter-House Competition in Gymnastics dates from 1894.

C. A. Mumford won a Classical Scholarship at Peterhouse, Cambridge,in December 1892, and W. V. Shaw, who had come from Tiverton, wona Science Scholarship at Christ Church, Oxford. The results of the Certifi-cate Examinations in July 1893 were nine Higher Certificates and sixteenLower—only six schools got more. The School was not well known, andsomewhat difficult to reach, but the editors of the Public Schools Year Bookasked for two pages, and these results could be used for advertising theSchool. It was arranged for an illustrated account of the School to appearin the St. James's Budget on 19 April 1895.

Sanderson announced in September 1893 that he proposed to start aPreparatory Department for boys of eight to twelve: at first they wouldbe placed in School House under Mrs. Sanderson's care: though distinct,the boys would be taught by the staff and share the advantages of theSchool itself. Two or three little boys were sent, and showed that they couldstand the pace. To assist in controlling School House, to the boys of whichthe adjoining public houses presented constant temptation, and to replaceMr. Perfect, Mr. H. R. Cooper became, with Mr. Hale, assistant master atSchool House from September 1893 to July 1895: he did not have an easytime of it, perhaps, but wrote a highly coloured account of his experiencesin the Journal of Education of November 1899. His successor was Mr. H. M.King. In January 1894 Sanderson made the first step of a series which in-evitably brought him under criticism: he decided that as Mr. Cobbald, inspite of his sixteen years' service, was not able to do the Senior Mathe-matical work, he must be replaced, and as Mr. Caparn could not do theMechanical Drawing for the Engineering Side, he must make way for onewho could. The Court naturally left Sanderson free to follow his judgmentin the matter. Mr. Cobbald left at the end of the summer term and retiredto Saxmundham. As he was now badly off, the Court, on being appealedto, helped him by paying part of his premium for a deferred annuity. TheLaxtonian of December 1930, in reporting Mr. Cobbald's death on23 November at the age of seventy-six, makes use of an old colleague's de-

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scription of this "gentle, kindly and guileless man", and ends: "To those whoknew him best he was the reincarnation of that most lovable of all types,a modern Saint Francis." Mr. Caparn, however, stayed till Christmas 1895and then retired to the Channel Islands, where he was still active as a flowerpainter, and exhibited in London, as late as 1931: his son was given a bursaryin School House, and, on the boy's leaving, Mr. Caparn received a smallcash payment. Mr. Caparn, who died on 31 January 1940 at the age ofeighty-four, was blind for the last four years of his life in Guernsey. Mr.A. D. Perrott, a Wrangler, did the Mathematical work for a term, and thenin January 1895 Mr. J. W. Mercer (9th Wrangler) took charge of it. Atechnician, Mr. A. Pilsbury, came to do the work the artist could not do,but Mr. King took no small share of it, the common-room of the newSchool House (now the south end of the present dining-hall) being used asthe Drawing Office.

The numbers were rising slowly, by the end of Sanderson's first year theystood at 101, of his second at 105, but by May 1895 they had reached 125 —thisfigure was last reached in September 1888, when the School was shrinking.

During the years before 1900, with three exceptions, the whole staffthat Sanderson found in Oundle School and in the Laxton GrammarSchool, left. One or two were young men who naturally passed to otherappointments, but the Second Master and the three housemasters wereamong those who went after many years in the School. It is too easy tosay that Sanderson desired a clean sweep: but until he had a staff he couldtrust to be loyal to him and his aims and to work hard to realise them, theSchool did not increase rapidly, and he knew no peace. This period ofSanderson's headmastership has been referred to as the Years of Conflict:it has also been represented as an assault by him on vested interests opposedto his plans for the reorganisation of the School. The position of the SecondMaster, appointed by the Court and with direct access to the Court, wasone independent of the Headmaster: as Mr. Brereton was in indifferenthealth, he had his own paid assistant, who, likewise, was not under theHeadmaster's jurisdiction. Yet it is only fair to add that there is no evidencethat Mr. Brereton and his curate ever abused their independent position.

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Another problem altogether was connected with the houses: while thehousemasters made what profits there were—and they were small comparedwith those often or fifteen years before—the Governing Body had to makegood the losses on the School, for the tuition fees alone could not pay forthe great expansion of the teaching facilities now necessary. The adoptionof the hostel system might well find the money, but would be strenuouslyopposed by the housemasters, especially as the profits of their houses repre-sented their principal remuneration. It has never been denied that Sander-son met opposition and criticism: unfortunately, in overcoming it, heseems to have given further occasion to the critical to find fault with himpersonally and to say that he could only work with a staff of yes-men. Andin one sense this is true: he expected his staff to work with him, not underhim, and to do that, his men must, in the main, see eye to eye with him: ifthey did not, they must go. There could be no neutrality: men had to makeup their minds about him, just as he made up his mind about them. Thestress and strain of overcoming opposition left their marks on him: oneresult was the essentially centralised form of control which prevailed to hisdeath. To this period belongs the oft-told, but undocumented, story of theresignation written out, but not posted lest he should abandon those of hisGovernors, masters, parents and boys who believed in his ideas and trustedhim. Before judgment is passed, it will be well to pass in review the circum-stances in which each man left the school: they will be stated fairly, if notfully. It is the story of Sanderson's own development: in the new centurythere were no dismissals: but in gaining his unquestioned supremacy,Sanderson had suffered in reputation and character, and when it wasgained he was left permanently marked.

It appears that from the start Sanderson felt it his duty as headmasterto take some part in the school service in the Jesus Church on Sundayafternoons: at first he gave addresses from the chancel steps, and then tookto preaching sermons from the pulpit. He held, of course, a licence as aLay Reader. This did not escape criticism from Mr. Joel, the only ordainedman on the staff with the exception of Mr. Cooper, who had been ordainedas curate of Weldon and naturally sided with Mr. Joel. The Headmaster

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felt he could accuse the housemaster of Dry den of disloyalty and decidedthat he must go. The Court was informed in January 1894 of the Head-master's intention and raised no objection, subject to the observance ofclause 18 of the Scheme of Management adopted shortly after Sanderson'sappointment, which is headed "Provisions for protecting Masters who haveembarked money in Boarding Houses". A year later Sanderson announcedthat he had given Mr. Joel notice to leave at the end of the summer, andthat he proposed to put Mr. Jones in Dryden House. Mr. Joel, who hadbeen unable since Michaelmas to pay the interest on the improvements theGovernors had made in his house at his request, sent the Court a memorialsetting out his position, and claiming that the notice was inoperative underclause 18: and appealed for justice against arbitrary dismissal inasmuch asno reason had been given. As Mr. Joel was personally popular in Oundle,a memorial signed by eighty-five inhabitants was sent to the Court byMr. Matthew Bigge, who had been an overseer before removing to Elton.The Oundle Committee reported that no payments were due under clause18, but also found that the Headmaster had failed to forward to the Courtone of Mr. Joel's letters. The unhappy business ended with the Courtremitting over £400 of arrears owed by Mr. Joel, refunding £400 claimedas paid (without their knowledge) for "good will" when he succeeded Mr.Adolphus Stansbury, and balancing dilapidations against fixtures. Thesequel is brief: Mr. Joel became Principal of St. Mary's College, Harlow,Essex, and, although from September 1878 to July 1895 he had never misseda day in school through illness, his health broke down and by November1896 he was seriously ill. Mr. Winch collected a subscription for him andsecured ^25 from the Court: but by December he was dead. The Courtmade a gift to the widow and offered a vacant presentation at Christ'sHospital for her youngest son.

In 1893 Mr. Brereton's VI Form secured three Classical Scholarships atCambridge, J. M. Edmonds at Jesus College, G. H. Wilson at Peterhouseand A. E. Nicholls at Corpus Christi College; and in 1894 four more,J. Hullah the senior one at Caius College, G. F. Exton the senior one at JesusCollege, J. H. A. Hart (a Foundation Scholar from the Laxton Grammar

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School) the senior one at St. John's College,2 and F. Sowels one at Christ'sCollege. In October 1894 Mr. Brereton raised the question of retirementwith Sanderson and in December 1894, having as second master directaccess to the Court, he indicated, in view of his health, an intention toretire, the date to depend on what arrangement could be made for a pension.In March 1895 he was only in his forty-seventh year, but was feeling thestrain of nearly a quarter of a century's teaching. He had declined an invita-tion to return to Cambridge, and he was of too great personal dignity toengage in any petty wrangling with his Headmaster, however great hisbelief in the abiding value of a Classical education. With all the possibilitiesof friction, it is something that the relations of the two men were correct:Mr. Brereton realised the difficulty caused by his absences and his workbeing done by a deputy not responsible to the Headmaster. The OundleCommittee, knowing that Dr. Stansbury's pension had ceased with hisdeath the previous December,3 and that there would be a saving on Mr.Brereton's successor's salary, recommended the Court to grant a pensionand to abolish the post of second master. The Court of 20 March 1895decided in favour of a pension of ̂ 200 a year, and amended the Scheme ofManagement. When Mr. Brereton thanked them for this offer of a pension"when the time comes for my retirement", he was informed that the Courthad voted it under the impression that his retirement would take placewithout delay. Ultimately it was arranged that he would retire at Easter1896. But his retirement affected the position of Mr. Vince: Sanderson firstpromised him the senior Classical post, and then said he had changed hismind: there is evidence that Mr. Brereton was much upset at this treat-ment of his young curate. Mr. Vince, however, left in April 1896 andjoinedthe staff of Bradfield College. Mr. Brereton's last success was gained byH. R. Palmer, who won a Classical scholarship at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.He himself continued to live in Church House. The Laxtonian of Apriland July carried in the place of honour glowing tributes from Old Boys,including H. D. Leigh, and an astounding list of his boys' successes. Sander-

2 J. H. A. Hart also received the Latham Exhibition, paid once again by the Duke of Buccleuch.3 The Court made a grant to the widow towards the support of a son then in School House.

H.O.S.—16* 489


son had written, when retirement was first mentioned, "Your letter hascome as a surprise to me, and my only feeling at the moment is that theSchool will receive a blow whenever the time comes for you to separatefrom i t . . . I should like to add my own sense of the loss". One sentence inH. D. Leigh's article is worth quoting in view of what was thought:"He had no favourites, nor did he sacrifice the weaklings to the prize-cattle." The sum subscribed by Old Boys as a testimonial to Mr. Breretonon his retirement was at his request applied to a prize for Latin Verse,which he yearly assisted in adjudicating, even during his last illness. Afterhe had retired Mr. Brereton on several occasions gave lectures to theSchool on Church Architectural Styles: his collection of local butterflieswas open to the inspection of the members of the Science Society belong-ing to the Entomological Section. When he died, his departure was feltby many county architectural societies: in Somerset the plates prepared fora proposed treatise on their church towers were posthumously published:he bequeathed his albums of photographs of churches to the BritishMuseum: he left money for prizes at Jesus College, and to the University ofCambridge towards a readership in Classical Archaeology, and a substantialsum to endow the Brereton Prizes in Oundle School, which have beensuch an encouragement, and help, to generations of Classical scholars. Alarge part of his library was also left to the School. A fund was subscribedto commemorate him, which Mr. Llewellyn Jones was responsible forspending on the brass eagle lectern, inscribed "In Memoriam R.P.B.", whichwas placed first in the temporary chapel and later in the Memorial Chapel,and on the brass tablet, now found behind the lectern, which reads:

In MemorianiRoberti Pearson Brereton

Collegii lesu apud Cantabrigienses quondam ScholarisAnnos XXV

Ex huius Scholae magistris eratet ultimus Hypodidascalus

Natus XVIIImo die Mart: anno salutis nostrae MDCCCXLVI1IObiit IIdo die Ian: MCMVI

Collegae et Discipuli hoc monumentumPonendum curaverunt

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Sanderson's tribute to him will be found in The Laxtonian for April 1906:"It may be said of him that during the 25 years of service in the School, hekept alive the spirit of the place. Amid many changes, his presence servedto maintain the continuity of the life. He joined the old to the new. Heloved the School with a great love, and in his later years rejoiced to see theposition it was taking amongst the great public schools." And it was truethat under five headmasters he had done so very much more than merelymaintain the standard of scholarship; as the Old Boys felt, "nothing Oun-delian would be complete without Mr. Brereton". It is also true thatSander-son was by no means out of sympathy with the Classics and did not hesitateto advise boys likely to profit from their study, to stay on the Classical Side.He appointed as Mr. Brereton's successor a brilliant Trinity scholar, awinner of the Person Prize, Mr. A. D. Nightingale, who was destined toserve the School until his retirement, just before the Second World War,in 1939.

Mr. Winch, who (unlike Mr. Joel and Mr. Hansell, who were in housesbelonging to the Grocers' Company) had, as a private venture, createdSidney House in buildings he held on lease, seems to have decided toseek another post without undue encouragement to do so. There hadindeed been occasions of friction with Sanderson as there had been withMungo Park, but nothing definite can be said as to the causes. Early in1894 Mr. Willson, from whom Mr. Winch rented part of Sidney House,inquired if the Company wished to purchase, as the mortgage on theproperty was being called in: the Court was not interested. Two yearslater, in February 1896, the Court referred to the Oundle Committee aninquiry from Mr. Winch as to the advisability of taking a new lease ofSidney, and as to the possibility of any claim for "good-will" arising, shouldhe leave the School. There was doubt at Grocers' Hall about the agree-ments made as to the extent to which Mr. Winch's salary dropped withthe number of boys in his house, but in view of his heavy rent therewas no intention of enforcing that made with Reade in 1882, when Sidneywas in only one house: no claim for "good-will", however, could berecognised. When Mr. Jones went into Dryden, it had been decided that

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his salary ceased when he had thirty boys: in May 1896 it was ruled thatwhen Mr. Winch had thirty boys (he then had twenty-six) his salary shoulddrop from ;£ 180 to j£ 130. In spite of Mr. Winch's protest, the Court refusedto reopen the discussion,4 and proposed to fix with the Headmaster and thehousemasters the number each house should hold. In September Mr. Winchtendered his resignation on appointment as headmaster of New College,Eastbourne: he left at Christmas 1896. His fixtures were purchased, but nogift was made to him: a request in the following May for a pension in viewof his twenty years' service was refused. He does not seem to have settleddown very successfully in any subsequent post, and died on 6 June 1927 atthe age of seventy-four. His place on the staff at Oundle was taken byMr. W. G. Grace, junior, late scholar of Pembroke College, Cambridge:in view of Mr. Winch's cricket prowess, this was no bad appointment. Asaccommodation was still required, Sanderson suggested that the time hadcome to consider the alternative in clause 17 of the Scheme—the hostelsystem: Sidney should be rented temporarily to house the boys left behindby Mr. Winch, and run as a hostel by Mr. Hale, until two semi-detachedhostels could be built on Grocers' Field to house forty boys each. On4 November 1896 the Court decided to adopt the full suggestion.

To replace Mr. Joel the Rev. R. Edmonds Jones, a scholar of Jesus Col-lege, Oxford, who had been chaplain at Bromsgrove and for two yearsprincipal of Bangor Diocesan Training School of Divinity, had come inSeptember 1895. It had been suggested that Mr. Llewellyn Jones intendedto take orders, but he did not do so. Mr. M. W. Brown, of Christ's College,Cambridge, an old Crusader, joined the staff, also in September 1895: hewas ordained in December 1898, and as he was a devoted follower ofSanderson, there would be no clerical opposition from him. In June 1898Sanderson decided that the School should attend a special morning servicein the Jesus Church, as the School had to sit in two groups in the parishchurch, the Junior School being seated separately in the South (or Wyatt)

4 The clerk wrote of the correspondence: "Once again we see the idea that Oundle is a collectionof private schools subsidised by the Grocers' Company, and a consequent claim by outgoing House-masters to dispose of the livestock with the premises."

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Chapel, and he considered neither the service nor the sermon there suitedto boys. He was hoping for a School chapel: in the meantime bothservices should be private, and in them he, as headmaster, would take part.Doubts were expressed as to his doctrinal soundness—really directed at hismodernism—and to meet the criticism he had a number of his sermonsprinted, not because he felt them particularly cogent and arresting.5 Inlater life, he always abandoned his manuscript and sought new forms ofwords to get his meaning across when face to face with his hearers: thevitality of his spoken word, in spite of the struggle for expression, was mostimpressive, but fails to appear in the printed copy of his written address:that may have been the case in earlier days also. The pattern repeats itself:the case of Mr. Joel as seen by Mr. Cooper resembles the case of Mr.Hansell as seen by Mr. Edmonds Jones: the difference is that the second is thelast great conflict. Mr. Hansell was the last of the old regime of Reade'stime: it is beyond question that he was a good schoolmaster and a much-loved housemaster: in Sanderson's treatment of him there are painful fea-tures once more. On what the accusations of opposition and disloyalty werebased was never made known. According to the account published by hiscolleague, for Mr. Hansell himself kept silent, charges were made, curiouslyenough on both occasions on Sundays, in March and June. On 8 July 1899,Sanderson startled the whole School, which had no inkling, apparently, ofwhat was happening, by concluding Prayers, or Music Practice, by sayinghe had been insulted—the incident lived in Old Boys' memories—and twodays later he dismissed Mr. Edmonds Jones, having in the interval askedfor Mr. Hansell's resignation. The Headmaster informed the Court thathe had dismissed the former and proposed to give the latter notice to leave.

6 The following passage from a sermon on Isaiah liii. I will illustrate the point. The sermon iscalled 'Martyr—yet King'.

"A martyr's death—and the generation is not passed before it is recognized to be a martyr's death.Simple cases will illustrate best. A Colenso gives his life's work to the natives of South Africa—and inthis work discovers the literary nature of our Bible. He is persecuted throughout the whole of hislater years: comes to England to defend himself against the charge of heresy and schism, and is shunned—as one from whom men hide their face—by all the bishops of the Church, except—to his everlastingcredit—except one, the celebrated Archbishop Tait. But the principles of criticism which has givennew life to the Bible which Colenso thus started are now accepted by all men of any depth of insight,or catholicity of vision."

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The Master merely acknowledged two letters from Mr. Edmonds Jones,written from Cobthorne, where Mr. J. H. Smith resided. The Courtdecided to take no action. After Christmas the boys of Laxton House wouldbe rehoused in one of the two new Field Houses and the Rev. M. W.Brown would be put in charge of them: the old house should be let. Inthe course of Mr. Hansell's last term, though Mr. Hansell maintained hiscalm, letters from Old Boys, parents and Oundle residents came intoGrocers' Hall, some on one side and some on the other. Then the Octoberissue of the Journal of Education published a long letter from Mr. EdmondsJones, now in Canada, detailing the circumstances of his own dismissal,but not naming his colleague. Mr. E. P. Monckton, M.P., who resided atLaundimer House, wrote to call the Grocers' attention to this letter: theclerk in reply explained that the Court did not interfere with the head-master's discretion in these matters: he pointed out certain misstatementsin the letter—"Ex pede Herculem". The November issue printed the letterfrom Mr. Cooper to which reference has already been made: and further,there was an "Editor's Note" even more damaging: "Either two clergymenof repute have conspired to invent a malicious and slanderous story inprosecution of a personal vendetta, or a head master has grossly abused theautocratic powers committed to him by his Governing Body. If the HeadMaster refuses to take up such a challenge, only one inference is possible.We should be sorry to be compelled to draw it." This led to anxious dis-cussion in the Court, but with all the evidence before them, the Courtrefused to send any communication to the paper or to dispute Sanderson'sdiscretion. He himself ignored the challenge. Letters, however, poured intothe editor's office: some were printed in December, and the editor wrote:"On reflection we do not think we were justified in assuming that if Mr.Sanderson made no answer, he has no answer to make.... We are informedthat the Governing Body of Oundle School has fully considered the case andwholly exonerated the Head Master . . . yet we cannot pretend to think thatthis wholly disposes of the charges." And there the matter rested: theeditor, it may be felt, had put the case in a nutshell. Letters also reachedGrocers' Hall in support of the Headmaster. But the news that Mr. Hansell

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was "retiring" after more than twenty-three years' service caused wide-spread distress. Mr. H. D. Leigh, now a Fellow of Corpus Christi College,and Mr. W. H. V. Reade, now Tutor of Keble College, organised a presen-tation among the Old Boys and found a hundred and twenty-five sub-scribers. Mr. Hansell, with embarrassing generosity, insisted that, if a tea-set in silver were given to his wife, the rest of the money should be devotedto founding a "Hansell Modern Languages Prize" in Oundle School. TheCourt, after consulting the Headmaster, who raised no objection, acceptedthe trusteeship: the prize was duly awarded for Modern Languages, butnot announced, for the name "Hansell" was not used until after Sanderson'sdeath except once after a protest to Grocers' Hall in March 1914. Thepresentation was made by the two organisers in the School buildings, bythe leave but in the absence of the Headmaster. Warm words of appreciationwere spoken, Mr. Brereton testifying to the great regard and admirationfelt by Mr. Hansell's old colleagues: and Mr. Hansell referred to the painwhich any man would feel in leaving the place to which the best years ofhis life had been given, but avoided any reference to the circumstances ofhis going. In 1900 he took over a preparatory school at the corner of Toot-ing Bee Common, known as Cheltonia College, which he carried on tillhis death on 24 January 1914: he was the only one of the old staff to dowell in another place. Like Mr. Joel before him, Mr. Hansell claimedreimbursement under clause 18: there was, apparently, no legal right forcompensation, and his moral claim was met by the Court with an offer of^350. His garden, where the masters' tennis courts now are, was subse-quently purchased by the Company in October 1901 for ^300. LaxtonHouse, being unsuitable for a preparatory house, was let on a short leaseto a Colonel Spilling, by whom, with the consent of the Grocers, theowners, it was renamed Cottesmore House. Mr. G. H. H. Evans, of LincolnCollege, Oxford, became senior Modern Languages master; Mr. D. A.Macnaughton, of Christ's College, Cambridge, had replaced Mr. EdmondsJones in September 1899.

It is tempting to think that this was more than a clash of two strongpersonalities: it may well have been also a contest over the hostel system,

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which the one advocated and the other opposed. Mr. Hansell knew thatthe building of two hostels had been ordered on 4 November 1896; and waswell aware that all entries to the School were made through the head-master: for since Mr. Winch left, Sidney's numbers had been increasedfrom thirteen to thirty, but Laxton's had fallen from thirty-five to twenty.In November 1898 all houses butLaxton were reported full. For the present,School House and Dry den remained houses run for the profit of the Head-master and a housemaster: Sidney and Laxton became hostels, and allsubsequent houses likewise: in due course the two remaining became hos-tels, but not in Sanderson's time. It should be observed that the Oundlehostel system was a new one, aimed at combining the best of both alterna-tives. The houses were kept entirely distinct—there were no meals in acentral School dining-hall—and, as far as the boys were concerned, theywere managed by their housemaster and his wife. (It is true, of course, thatthe earlier hostels were run by bachelors and their matrons.) The house wasnot lost in the School. Housemasters received their full salaries as teachersin addition to board and lodging, and, as time went on, an actual increasein salary for the responsibilities they shouldered.

At Speech Day 1894 the suggestion was made that the Old Boys shouldsubscribe for a pavilion on the cricket field, to be a visible link between themand the School. At the time the O.O. Club was less than eighty strong, andthere was no son of an Old Oundelian in the School.6 The Court decidedto subscribe j£ioo towards the pavilion, which was to cost not less than^300: the figure mentioned was ^325 without the clock turret, whichwas a gift from Lord Lilford. Ultimately, the pavilion cost little short of,£500, the profits of the tuck-shop7 being devoted to paying off the debt.In November 1894 Sanderson, remembering Dulwich, asked for a 4-h.p.steam-engine made by Tangye & Co. costing ^226 to be bought and setup in a shed outside the workshops. A live engine, he argued, breedsenthusiasm: and theory cannot be taught without an actual engine: and he

* In February 1899, after the death of the Rev. A. E. Francis, a special grant was made to help hissecond son, then a scholar in School House, and the only O.O.'s son in the School.

7 Opened in the new pavilion in May 1896.

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wanted a small dynamo with it. In February 1895 the Court voted tocomply with his requests. The engine-shed was ready before the enginewas delivered, and the whole set-up was working by the Michaelmas term:the pavilion was not finished till the following January. Old Boys—onthe Classical Side—recall the ugly building and the brick chimney belchingsmoke: but the engineers were fascinated, as they were meant to be.The appearance of the School yard was not improved: worse was tofollow. By July 1895 the improvised Gymnasium in the hired room hadbecome unsafe, and had to be given up: in December the Court decidedto build a wooden Gymnasium, capable of enlargement, in the north-west corner of the Quadrangle in place of part of the narrow coveredplayground running along the vicar's wall, the remaining part of whichwas to be converted into the necessary dressing-rooms. The erection wasuseful, but although not to be expected to last for fifty years, it did so,serving many purposes but never that of adding dignity to the Quad-rangle. It was, in fact, enlarged to 80 feet by 30 feet in 1899. Early in 1896Sanderson urged the purchase of the Red Lion, immediately to the northof School House, but was told the matter had been considered in 1883and again in 1891 but dropped owing to a defect in the title. WhenMr. Winch announced his impending departure to Eastbourne, Sandersontook the opportunity to suggest the building of two hostels and the hiringof the old Sidney House for use as a hostel until they were ready. Thedetails were clear in his mind, sketches of plans for two semi-detachedhouses on the Field were forwarded for the guidance of the architect,details of other schools with hostels were available, and in an interviewwith the Oundle Committee he won their whole-hearted support. TheCourt on 4 November 1896 adopted the hostel scheme by ten votes tonine: the argument that the two hostels would make a profit for the SchoolFunds of about a thousand pounds a year, after paying interest and boardingtwo masters in each, won the day. To whom the profits should belong couldbe settled later, when they were made. The site chosen faced the NorthBack Way and was on the lands bought from Sharman and known as theGrocers' Field; the houses were to be the first "Field Houses". Mr. H. C.

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Boyes, the Company's surveyor,, planned the pair as two boys' wingsunited by a "middle-house" for the staff, matrons and sick-rooms, with akitchen, common to both houses, behind, but placed underground: hegave inadequate accommodation for maids: using stone for the outside,he treated the south face as if it were the only one to be visible. The builderswere Messrs. S. F. Halliday & Co. of Stamford: their work was at firstexpected to be done by Christmas 1898: but it was actually in April 1899that Sidney with MP. Hale moved into the half now occupied by LaxtonHouse. The architect had deliberately left the walls in the boys' quartersunplastered, just as years later Mr. W. A. Forsyth was to do when the twohouses were built on the Home Close: the Oundle Committee, however,which visited the block with Sanderson in January 1899, reported thatthe distempered bricks above the rough dado were unpleasing and likelyto make a bad impression on parents. In May 1899 it was decided to plasterthe walls of the unoccupied house at once and cover the dado, not withmatch-boarding but with "China matting", which it was believed would be"found effective as a temporary expedient", as indeed it has been. Sidneymoved across after one term and the other house was similarly treated.In January 1900, the Rev. M. W. Brown moved in with the boys leftbehind by Mr. Hansell: and the second hostel got under way. The heavyexpenses at the start of Sidney as a hostel and the small number of boys in itcaused it to be run at a small loss, but after its transfer, and as its numbersincreased, a small profit began to appear. By the end of the century Mr.Hale had thirty-seven boys in Sidney (in the building now used by Crosby)and Mr. Brown had twenty-two in Laxton. There were forty-four inSchool House, thirty-five in Dryden and thirteen dayboys.

The growth of the School meanwhile may be noticed: the average for1895-6 (Sanderson's fourth year) had been 127, for 1896-7 and 1897-8 135,for 1898-9 and 1899-1900142: in the new century, in Sanderson's ninth yearit rose to 158; in May 1901 the actual number was 167, which was stillshort of the best figures of Reade's time. Thereafter the numbers were toincrease more rapidly: but the slowness of the earlier recovery had causedanxiety. The Certificate Examinations of the Oxford and Cambridge Board

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were taken every year. This was to demonstrate that the courses of studypursued and the methods employed enabled boys to take such examina-tions in their stride. From the first this was regarded as a School examina-tion by an outside examining body: whole forms were entered rather thanpicked candidates, the gaining of certificates being of secondary importance.But the results were widely advertised: the annual survey in the Guardian,which placed schools in order on the basis of the numbers of HigherCertificates gained, was much quoted. The numbers of Distinctions inthe Higher and of First Classes in the Lower Certificates, often far exceed-ing the number of certificates and awarded in a variety of subjects, couldbe most impressive. The headmaster of Hackney Downs had urged thetaking of these examinations and the use of the results in advertisements:perhaps Sanderson's method was a little subtler in letting them speak forthemselves. The numbers rose from nine Higher and sixteen LowerCertificates in 1893 to twenty-three Higher and twenty-five Lower in1899, with Distinctions in proportion. The School Certificate was notinvented until 1904, and was first taken at Oundle after an inspection in1906. In January 1900 there was an Oundle exhibit at the English Educa-tion Exhibition at the Imperial Institute, South Kensington.

Pressure was already being felt in 1896 in the matter of classrooms,indeed, the School House dining-room and common-room were calledinto use daily: the maximum the present building would serve was onehundred and sixty. The choice lay between restricting the numbers andthe provision of further buildings, aimed at carrying out the originalintention to make Oundle an important school. Sanderson urged that byadding to the present school buildings the Governors might provideteaching accommodation equal to the needs of a school claiming a positionin the front rank and "a block of buildings architecturally worthy of aSchool founded and maintained by a City Company". By June 1898Sanderson found the accommodation for Science teaching improvised inthe Old School House quite inadequate and tentatively asked for yetanother wooden structure, but finding the Oundle Committee more infavour of erecting a permanent building (which they felt to be "inevitable,

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if the school is to be a success on its present lines") than of spending money,which would ultimately be wasted, on a temporary and unsightly erection,he put forward detailed plans for a stone building of two stories on thesite of the fives courts to the north of the building of 1799, and for minoralterations in the Old School House itself. The Court of 6 July 1898adopted the proposals. The contract was secured by Messrs. Freeman &Son of Thrapston. The attic floors were removed from the Old SchoolHouse: the staircase in the 1799 building was taken away and the passagethrown into the old Physical Laboratory: and windows, cut in the westwall of the building of 1799, did the damage to the inscription discussedat length in Chapter XL Much of the walling of the fives courts was in-corporated in the new building (as can be seen plainly at the south-westcorner, and on the east wall) which was constructed to provide a PhysicalLaboratory below and a Chemical Laboratory above, both in line with thebest laboratory practice of the day—no iron to affect magnets, brickpillars to facilitate accurate weighing, fume cupboards and ventilators.The floor-levels did not correspond with those of the old work and theonly entrances were awkwardly placed at the south-east corner: a newdoor to allow entry directly from the Quadrangle was authorised inDecember 1923. There was no formal opening, and the new laboratoriescame into use in the summer term of I9OO.8 Fives courts to replace thosethus lost to the School were built behind the new hostels on the Field.

Altogether a good deal of building had been done; but, lookingto the future, Sanderson began to think of a preparatory house, and achapel: more immediate needs, however, were to prevent Rugby fromattracting away Mr. Nightingale—he had been short-listed for the seniorClassical post there before coming to Oundle—"that the important Classicalwork of the school may go on without check for some years to come",and to secure a dynamo, a shaping machine and a testing machine tobreak up to half-inch iron. The shaping machine was obtained, and on19 December 1900 leave was granted by the Court to spend ^166 on thedynamo and the testing machine. The Court of 6 July 1899 having decided

8 See Plate 34.

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IS99 1799

FIG. 7. SKETCH-PLAN OF THE SCIENCE ROOMS circa 1900

that any future capital expenditure on Oundle School should be accom-panied by a proportionate rise in the tuition fee, Sanderson in November1899 thought the time had come for the tuition fees to rise 40 per centfrom j£i5 per annum to £2,1 per annum: for future entrants it was soordered. Similarly, the boarding-fees at the new hostels were to be at thehigher (School House) rate.

Thus by the end of the century Sanderson had secured the full supportof his Governors and of his staff. How far had he succeeded with the boysin the School? There can be little doubt that he began by being unpopularand suspect: it is clear, too, that, if his methods with his staff had beenruthless, it was not to be expected that his treatment of offenders amongthe boys would be gentle: and it was not. The more sensitive of the OldBoys of his earlier years write as though they had lived in fear of the wrathto come: others admit that there were at times deliberate efforts to goadhim to fury—not the type of thing found in the story of the Mock Trial,

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but organised coughing and the like. Perhaps he had reason to complainof their "general attitude" and slackness, but to begin with he seems to havedistrusted them as much as they distrusted him. It has been said that aheadmaster should not be too popular, but it can hardly be right for aheadmaster to adopt the motto of Tiberius—oderint dum metuant. He beganas a severe punisher: in later years he came to speak of abandoning punish-ment altogether. He would in theory have approved of the man who,asked to write a book on The Punishment of Crime, found that he wroteinstead The Crime of Punishment. In the intervening years he philosophisedhis position. There is a story that once, when he set, in an examinationpaper for a University Teaching Diploma, the question "''Never Punishexcept in Anger'—Discuss", the proof-reader cut out the 'except'—andSanderson cut out the question. The points he would have expectedcandidates to make were these: a schoolmaster cannot act as a judge,hearing evidence, passing sentence and inflicting pain on a child in coldblood: but he can expect the child to understand that his bad conduct hasthrown a spanner into the works, which has come back like a boomerangand hit him before he was aware of it: the violent interference with thesmooth running of things thus becomes intimately associated in the child'smind with his own slackness, carelessness or disobedience. There is morein this than the proof-reader, ignorant of G. B. Shaw and expecting adisquisition on the three aspects of Punishment, thought at the time. Butthe School firmly believed his temper to be uncontrollable and uncertain:the boys never knew which molehill would turn into a mountain. Inearly days they may have been right: yet it could not always be assumedthat, whenever he appeared to lash himself into a rage, this was entirelyinvoluntary. It was known to the staff, at times, when one of these out-bursts was coming to clear the air: and certainly, within seconds of thedeparture of his victims, he was his usual self again.9 There is a theory that

9 Two anecdotes, of a later date, will illustrate this point, for the truth of which this writervouches:

There had been a rag in one of the classrooms, in the course of which one of the shades for thependent electric lights had been broken. Next day, having ascertained the principal culprit, Sandersonsought him out in his form and went into an apparent paroxysm of rage. The boy offered to pay for

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Hamlet, distrusting his own sanity, deliberately decided to put an anticdisposition on, so that any abnormal words or actions might appear tohim his own voluntary choice of conduct: something of the sort mayexplain Sanderson's explosions. But the little tremblers never learnt totrace the day's disasters in his morning face. The School came to acceptSanderson's behaviour and ultimately to expect it of him. And an increas-ing number of boys was won over: those to whom he taught Scienceindividually and those who took something away from his Scriptureclasses, perhaps among the first.

The Photographic Club started in the spring of 1893, and, so long asthey existed, used the attics of the Old School House as dark-rooms: theLiterary and Debating Society again rose from its ashes in October 1893,lasted for three years, and died once more: the time had not yet come forit to play its important part in the life of the School. The Musical Societywas formed in the spring of 1894, and grew into the Choral Society.Acting was resumed, for a moment, with the trial scene from Pickwick. Avisiting lecturer's talk on the Geology of Oundle was followed up, andgeological and mineralogical show-cases began to appear in the UpperCorridor: a large geological section dating from Mr. Teall's visit is nowin the Yarrow Building. Among other lectures on scientific studies wasone by Mr. Caparn on Flowers, illustrated with the series of paintings ofthe Iris family which he had exhibited at the Royal Botanical Society.

the damage, which made things worse. "I don't want your miserable ha'pence," Sanderson shouted.Perhaps the boy came to realise the principle that no freedom to damage School property can bepurchased. A form, listening-in on the other side of the partition, was mouse-like in awe and certainlydid; but it was somewhat disconcerted when a smiling Headmaster entered immediately after andproceeded to praise a member of it for a particularly good Monthly Report. For it was his habit tolook through these reports in the presence of the form concerned: he thought this kept the boys ontheir toes.

Once, early in the War, an unsuccessful attempt had been made to carve a name on one of thetables in the Drawing Office. The whole School was summoned to the Great Hall: in a state of greatexcitement Sanderson, half-way up the gangway, turned round and began his speech, walking back-wards as he did so. Let other schools show with pride the names of their old boys carved on desks andtables: but let it be said at Oundle two hundred years hence that the Drawing Office tables were assmooth as when they were new! Each step backwards brought him nearer the stair to the platform.Finally he did catch his foot on the bottom stair and sat down heavily on the steps. Not a boy laughed.Smilingly sitting there he dismissed the School.

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The Science Society was formed on 2 March 1898, and proved to have lifein it, the rallying-point of the enthusiasts.

Before 1900 Sanderson had taken to giving lectures with "slides",now to the School, now to the Seniors, now to the Junior School: if theSchool had not broken up before Easter, on Good Friday he might lectureon the Development of Christian Art; or at Christmas on the Italian OldMasters, with carol-singing interspersed. It cannot be pretended that theselectures were popular, as in connexion with them "voluntary compulsorism"first developed—the senior boys could attend if they wished, but they hadbetter attend. There are many sets of slides which he bought or had madefor this purpose, dealing not merely with the Madonna and Child butalso with Pilgrims Progress, or the Wayside Songs of Tuscany.

The Boat Club continued to flourish: new "tubs" were acquired andthe landing-stage was extended. As there was a clash between the date ofthe Bedford Regatta and that of the Certificate Examinations, the Schoolfour annually raced the Bedford Modern School four, which had beenencountered twice in the Regatta with honours easy: in 1895 and 1896Bedford Modern won, from 1897 to the end of the century Oundle won.A new ground for Rugby football was prepared behind the pavilion togive the cricket ground a rest. One year, as an experiment, hockey, underMr. Hale's guidance, was tried in the Lent term. Sanderson gave a cup forJunior house cricket, and the institution of a house fives competition beganto be talked about, just as the Boer War led to the formation of a cadetcorps being considered. School matches at Rugby football were againstthe Leys, Oakham and Bromsgrove, and at cricket against the Leys andOakham, with some attempt to find a third opponent: but the presence ofinfectious disease interfered all too frequently with the regularity of theseries.

At Grocers' Hall the members of the Oundle Committee believed thatthe combination of first-rate teaching in both branches (Classics, andModern and Engineering instruction) was peculiar to Oundle, and realisedthat such a new departure involved special outlay and bore fruit slowly.There were plenty of rival schools: Oundle could succeed only by successful

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competition, either by under-bidding (i.e. accepting lower fees) or byoutdoing by the offer of superior, or specially attractive, teaching. TheOundle Committee recorded that they "found it difficult to refuse theHeadmaster whatever, as an expert, he considered necessary": but con-tinued to hope that more economical management or increasing numbersmight produce more satisfactory financial results. Sir William Laxton'sbequest was producing just under /J6ooo a year, rather more than half ofwhich was being spent on Oundle School, ^300 on the almshouses andat least ^1000 on the Laxton School: interest on the capital expenditure ofover ^75,000 more than exhausted the rest. This was undoubtedly aposition that required watching.

In the last year of the old century, the School sent eleven boys toCambridge and three to Woolwich: the number of new entrants wasfifty-eight and the numbers in the School had reached one hundred andfifty: there had been gained five scholarships, including a Trinity Majorin Classics and the best Science scholarship at Caius, and twenty-threeHigher Certificates and twelve Lower Certificates of the Joint Board, withsixty-one distinctions and a glowing report. The new Science rooms werein full working order; permission had been obtained to purchase a dynamoand a testing machine; and the new hostels were showing a profit. Theannual subsidy from the Grocers was almost stationary, and the effect ofincreasing the fees was beginning to be felt. There need be no cheapeningof either teacher or equipment. Sanderson's momentary aim was a schoolof two hundred and seventy, with the younger boys in a preparatoryhouse, for which he planned a new building—to include two classrooms.In Mr. A. Ashworth he had a first-rate instructor in the workshops, andhis staff, with the exception of Mr. Llewellyn Jones, Mr. Hornstein and Mr.Spurling, was wholly of his appointment: their names will serve to showthat, with the three mentioned, the staff already included most of those bywhose devoted service the next twenty-two Years of Achievement wereto be worthy of the name—Mr. H. O. Hale, Mr. J. W. Mercer, the Rev.M. W. Brown, Mr. H. M. King, Mr. A. D. Nightingale, Mr. W. G. Grace,Mr. D. A. Macnaughton, Mr. G. H. H. Evans (the only Oxford man) and

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Miss M. Browning.10 The Boer War was very far away: what did thefuture hold?

10 In the summer term of 1901, Messrs. Elliott & Fry took a photograph of the whole School inthe Cloisters. It shows Sanderson, one hundred and sixty-three boys and eleven masters. Black coatsand vests with grey trousers are worn by all boys: the collars of the senior boys are the single-bandstand-up choker (under forty of these), the juniors wear Eton collars, a few with their jackets overtheir collars. Black ties are worn by all boys, and black boots by most. A photograph of Sandersonand his staff, taken a year or two earlier, is reproduced as Plate 35.

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sanderson: the years of conflict i8g2-1900...

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