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Chapter 3
Chapter 3 / Houses
HOUSES
N
early all the research for this chapter was carried out
by Chris Nathan, the Archivist.The introductions to
Houses by Housemistresses and Housemasters that
follow were written by them exactly as they wished, and as one
might expect each has a different character.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE HOUSE SYSTEM AT
ST EDWARD’S
There were no named boarding houses at St Edward’s until
1925 when Warden Kendall joined the School. The organising
of pupils into groups was by Form when the School was in
New Inn Hall Street and the system remained in use after the
School first moved to Summertown in 1873. In the earliest days
the number of pupils was low and the range of ages so wide
(8–18) that any more sophisticated system would have been
unnecessary. However, once the move had taken place, the
number of pupils increased from 80 to 120 between 1873–1900,
though varying from term to term, and the need arose to place
them into named teams or sets, partly to give the groups an
identity and partly to encourage competition, particularly in sport.
Once the School was established at its new site, the best
sportsmen could be properly organised into rugby and cricket
teams, and they played whoever was available, from the
workmen still building the School to various teams which existed
locally, and teams made up of friends of the School. Apart from
sports teams, there were also choir and musical groups, as well
as actors involved in the Shakespearian productions that Wilfrid
Cowell put on every year. Despite all this, apart from the all-
powerful prefects, there was little to differentiate the boys, other
than their being attached to the Senior or Junior Schools: even
the Cadet Force did not come into existence until 1909/10.
As far as internal competition was concerned, in 1874 there
were cricket and rugby matches between ‘the School’ and ‘the
Choir’, ‘the 1st XI’ versus the ‘the 2nd XI’, ‘the 1st XI’ versus ‘the
XXII’, ‘St Edward’s School’ versus ‘the Masters of the School’, ‘VI
Form’ versus ‘the School’ and ‘IV Form’ versus ‘V and III Forms’.
Later on there were sporting and scholastic competitions, such
as ‘Upper School’ versus ‘Lower School’ and ‘Chapel West Side’
versus ‘Chapel East Side’. Dormitories and dayrooms also played
each other regularly, an example being ‘Jamaica’ versus ‘Ceylon’.
For the most part, however, just as in Fives or Athletics, the boys
were competing for their own individual glory or success, rather
than on behalf of any special team or group.
These relaxed arrangements changed when Warden Hobson
arrived. He waited a term before putting forward the Set Tutorial
System, an idea he took from Eton College. He explained the
Below left: End of term, 1879.
Left: A Common Room, 1890.
Below: Aerial view of School from the east, c.1970.