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St Edward’s:
150 Years
Chapter 1 / Origins and Earliest Days
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Opposite lived Felicia Skene, a well-known prison reformer
and also a member of Chamberlain’s congregation, with whom
he became a close friend: she was a great supporter of the
School as well as an inspiration to him.
In the winter of 1870–1 the first school building lost a
large portion of its outside wall during a storm, and Simeon
was bold enough to look for new premises, having been
almost abandoned by Chamberlain, who ‘did not feel equal to
entering on further responsibility’. In 1872 Simeon personally
bought the School’s ‘fixtures and fittings’ from Chamberlain for
£300 and the School became his own – a courageous decision.
In the same year, 1872, he found a site, a five-acre
farm in the area of Diamond Hall (which was just beyond
never even mentioned. Discipline, as you may imagine, was
harsh and the cane was much used. Boys sat in form order,
changing places as their fortunes rose or fell. The boys were
allowed considerable freedom and could leave the grounds
at will during their spare time but had always to return for
evening services.
In the early days many parents were low-paid clergy,
as Chamberlain intended, and the fees were accordingly
modest. Chamberlain himself appeared only rarely, for
example to distribute prizes. In 1870, after seven years as
Headmaster, a job to which he was perhaps not suited,
Fryer was dismissed and replaced with Algernon Barrington
Simeon, a young man of only 23, whose qualifications
were much more appropriate. He and Chamberlain had
first met in 1865. John Keble, who initiated the Oxford
Movement, had been Simeon’s parish priest in Hampshire
and Simeon himself had become a convert to the Movement
as an undergraduate at Christ Church, regularly attending
services at St Thomas the Martyr. In his summer vacations
he had worked at a small school in the London Docks
and subsequent to his graduation had been a private tutor,
having worked part time at other schools. He was ordained
in 1870. Simeon was to become the crucial figure in the early
history of the School, as he was energetic and determined,
overseeing a growth in the number of boys. He certainly
found a purpose for his energy in what he took on and saw
through in his time at St Edward’s, and in his subsequent
continued involvement with the School. His portrait shows
him to be imposing in appearance, and benign looking.
As the School grew Simeon used contacts in Oxford to
obtain access to sporting facilities and he rented another
building two doors away, where he and other staff lived.
‘I remember the day Mr Belson brought his two boys for the first time.
He was rather a choleric gentleman, and having tumbled over a pail
of whitewash, he was so angry that he nearly went off with his boys.’
From A.B. Simeon’s autobiography, on the chaos
of the beginning of the first term on the new site.
Victorian-era wash
drawing of New Inn
Hall Street, date and
artist unknown.
Tracingofan1850mapbyRobertSyerHoggar,amateurcartographer,byeminent
architect Harold Rogers (OSE), responsible for several of the School’s buildings
includingpartsoftheChapel,andwho in1946madestringenteffortstoverifythe
School’sexactoriginal location.Atthetimeofthe1850mapthebuildingwas in
SevenDeadlySinsLane,laterrenamedNewInnHallStreet,anddespiteresearching
therelevantarchivesandadvertisinginthelocalpressRogerswasneverableto
obtainasatisfactoryimageoftheactualbuilding,thoughheidentifieditslocation.
EvenAlgernonSimeonwasunsureoftheprevioushistory,accordingtoKenneth
Grahame(OSE),andpresent-dayeffortstouncoverafullhistoryarestillincomplete.
Above: School Cricket XI, 1869. This is the earliest School sporting group photograph known to exist and shows the
nonchalant XI to be relaxed and with attitude! Back row (left to right): F.E. Long, A.H. Chesshire (Capt.); Centre row
(left to right): H.E. Potter, A.M. Champion, G.R.E. Bonsall,V.J. Simpson; Front (left to right): F.B. Endall, I. Smith, C.L. Palmer,
G.H. Huntingdon, E.H. Champion, J.A. Dockray. Howard Chesshire was the first OSE to row for Oxford University.
Below: The priest’s door, St Thomas the
Martyr, Becket Street, Oxford,
c.
13th
century.Thiswasthechurchwherethe
School’sfounder,ThomasChamberlain,
was vicar for 50 years, and where
there was a service to celebrate the
150th anniversary in 2013.