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3 St Edward’s r hubarb
There have of course been
enormous changes to the School
since its foundation. Is it possible,
though, to identify any thread of
continuity in the past 150 years?
From its foundation and throughout
my time at St Edward’s, there was an
informal quality to relationships. The
School was in no way ‘snobbish’ – it
was in fact grounded and unpretentious.
Having spent some time in other
schools over the years, I would say that
St Edward’s was pleasantly informal
compared to many other similar schools
– and I would like to think this is still the
case. Size matters of course, and it is
easier to maintain the ‘cosy’ atmosphere
in a smaller school.
Having spent so much time
considering the School’s history,
what is your view of modern-day
St Edward’s?
I would say – treading carefully! – that it is
different: neither better, nor worse.
I have always believed that no
contemporary school could survive if
its pupils were not happy. The pupils
of St Edward’s have always been at
the heart of its success. They love the
opportunities, the location, and – of
course! – the fact that they live in a semi-
autonomous, vibrant teenage community.
Whatever the management, whatever
the strategies, whatever the marketing
– it is the happiness and success of the
pupils that will give the School strength
and secure its future.
Book Review
A New History Of St Edward’s
School, Oxford 1863-2013,
Malcolm Oxley
When Malcolm Oxley retired from St
Edward’s in 1999, the Warden David
Christie wrote in the Chronicle: ‘Malcolm
inspired affection, respect and loyalty in a
wide range of people of all ages, genders
and conditions. When a new history of
the school comes to be written he will
bulk large in its pages. Unless, of course,
he writes it.’ Now, almost 16 years later,
he has written it, in celebration of the
school’s 150th anniversary.
In his opening paragraph Malcolm
acknowledges his debt to Desmond Hill,
whose earlier History was published in
1962 for the school’s centenary, but he
makes it clear that he is ‘approaching
the subject with aims and perspectives
different from Hill’s.’ In addition to having
access to the Governors’ Papers for the
20th century and a mountain of other
archival material, he draws extensively on
the recollections of OSE (and not - some
may feel - without courting controversy in
doing so), he identifies significant periods
of change in the School’s ethos while
also recognising patterns of continuity,
he lauds the ‘giants’ in the school’s history
without being uncritical of them, and he
gives due appreciation to the ‘unsung
heroes’. Indeed it is a major strength of
the book that the author has viewed the
school both from the bridge and from
the engine room: the correspondence
between parents, boys and wardens in the
early days is especially enlightening. He
presents a vivid picture of the Tractarian
years under the first Warden, Algernon
Simeon, and details many other equally
important landmarks such as the school’s
expansion in numbers and buildings, the
impact of two World Wars, the ‘winds
of change’ in the sixties, the introduction
of co-education in the eighties, the
development of pastoral care (so different
from the earlier rougher days of ‘prefects
and fags’), and the steady increase of
state interference in independent schools
throughout the 20th century.
The book is priced at £25.00 + £4.95
for postage and packing within the UK.
If you would like a price for international
postage, or to arrange collection from
the school, please contact the OSE
Office on
or 01865 319362.
OSE of every generation will recognise
personalities, practices and attitudes
from their own time at the School, but
more than that, they will find that they
are explained in the larger scheme of
things. As Malcolm says, the school was
almost ‘monastic’ in its early days, and the
combination of changing public attitudes
and wise governance from within ensured
that it moved with the times. Although
never a rich school, it has been blessed
with generous benefactors whose names
are to be found in buildings, scholarships
and academic prizes. But there were
dangers too: how close St Edward’s
came to foundering in its infancy, the
‘Battle of Wiblin’s Wall’, the hostile press
that attacked the school for the ‘papist’
rituals enacted in its new Chapel, and the
crucial, even desperate negotiations that
took place before the school was able
to purchase, in 1910, the playing fields
without which it is hard to imagine that it
could have survived.
Malcolm Oxley’s fascinating ‘History’,
so meticulously researched and so clear
in its account of the generational changes
that have occurred in a St Edward’s
education over the past 150 years, is a
distinguished addition to the list of public
school histories, but more importantly a
revelation about the school that we may
have thought we knew so well. Read it
and be edified!
Nick Quartley, Former English Teacher
at St Edward’s
f e a t u r e s