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St Edward’s:
150 Years
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Chapter 2 / Wardens
From the outset he decided to remove any vestiges of
Warden Hudson’s Victorian toughness from the School,
intending to give the pupils a better and more fulfilling
school life. His heart was very much in the Chapel and
he was intent on improving the School’s singing; he
composed a number of hymns, including the tune known as
‘Wolvercote’, to which the hymn ‘O Jesus I have promised’
is often sung.
Ferguson made many contributions to the School’s
facilities: he brought electric light to Big School, the Cloisters
and two of the classrooms in 1923, built a Sanatorium in
the Chapel garden and the Memorial Buildings, later to be
Tilly’s. He also raised the number of pupils, and by 1920
there were 230 boys at St Edward’s. When he left in 1925
he went to be Warden at Radley College for 12 years, and
subsequently he was a Governor at St Edward’s, 1939–48.
HENRY EWING KENDALL (1888–1963),
WARDEN 1925–54
The Revd Henry Ewing Kendall was the longest-serving of our
Wardens to date, remaining in post for 29 years. Kendall had
been recommended to the committee, which included Sing and
Ferguson, that chose the new Warden, by the Headmaster of
Shrewsbury School, Canon Sawyer. Kendall had been a pupil
at Shrewsbury and later became a Housemaster there. Canon
Sawyer said of him that he was ‘thoroughly cultured’ but ‘it is
as a personality and a Spiritual Force that he is so outstanding’.
He certainly had a strong personality and a great deal of drive,
which he used to the enormous advantage of St Edward’s.
Kendall was born in Liverpool, the son of a solicitor, and
had read History at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He had
returned to Shrewsbury in 1913 as an Assistant Master and
been ordained in 1915. From 1916 to 1919 he served as a Royal
Naval Chaplain and was made an OBE, returning to
Shrewsbury in 1920.
During his time as Warden of St Edward’s he
more than doubled the School numbers to 480 boys.
One of his early moves, regarded by Hill as ‘the
most sweeping alteration that the school, for all its
62 years, had yet experienced’, was to introduce the
new House system. The new Houses were: Apsley,
with the Warden in charge and G.H. Segar assisting
him, Field House, Tilly’s, Cowell’s, Sing’s and
Macnamara’s, at that time a boys’ House, of course.
Kendall’s Wardenship guided the School
through the Second World War with many brilliant
improvisations and necessary adjustments. During
the war there was food rationing which led to the
creation of the St Edward’s School Pig Club run by
the Common Room which continued until 1960.
When boys returned in September 1939 they found
that each House already had its own air-raid shelter,
Below:WardenFerguson,1915.HisWardenship
coincided with the Great War.
Bottom left: Drawing of Warden Ferguson by
Richard Meadows White (B.1914–1919), 1918.
Above:BigSchool,
c.
1916.
Left: Armoury,
c.
1920.
Below: Laying the foundation stone of the Memorial Buildings,
1923, later to become Tilly’s.
Bottom right: H.E. Kendall,
c.
1930.
Below: Common Room 1920. This collection of masters includes Tilly and Macnamara,
bothofwhom, inaddition toCowell andSing, hadhouses namedafter them. Back row(left
to right): E.T. James, A. Tilly, B.G. Segar (Segar’s was named after Gerry Segar not George
Segar, shownhere), RevdB.W. Machin, H.E. Phillips,W.M.W. Shackleton, M.M. Sing, E.R. Roe-
Thompson. Seated (left to right): Revd A.R. Watson, B.M. Goldie, W.H.A. Cowell, Warden
Ferguson, W.K. Stanton, J.W. Griffiths, Revd A. Macnamara.
WILLIAM HAROLD FERGUSON (1874–1950),
WARDEN 1913–25
Revd Ferguson was a personable man born in 1874 and educated
at Magdelen College School and Keble College, Oxford. He first
came to St Edward’s to teach directly after university but moved
on in 1898, was ordained in 1903 and came back to Teddies from
Lancing College, as fifth Warden. His arrival coincided with the
outbreak of the Great War and when the summer holidays
ended he found that several of his Common Room, other
School staff, most of the 1st Rugby XV and the majority
of his prefects had already enlisted and left for the war.
However, the intake of new boys was at a record
level and he proved well able to deal with this
combination of events. He was extremely musical,
coming to the School originally as an Assistant
Master and organist, with a good singing voice.