The Beginnings - St Mark's
School
Imperial Service College grew from a small
'cottage' school founded in 1845 by Revd Steven Hawtrey, curate
at Windsor Parish Church and later at Holy Trinity Church. The
school was originally known as St Marks School.
St Marks soon grew to 50 or so pupils and the premises
at the corner of Goswell Road and Oxford Road (formerly Clewer
Lane and now buried beneath Ward Royal) were, within 20 years,
too small, so new buildings were built in Alma Road on land obtained
from the Vansittart Estate. These were opened on 25th April 1862,
St Mark's Day, Revd Stephen Hawtrey remaining as Headmaster.
The school was located in buildings behind what is now The Frogmore
Hotel, which at that time was the Rectory for Trinity Church,
Trinity Place. The school was obviously held in high esteem as
the subscription list, opened to raise money for the building
of the new school, was headed by Queen Victoria, Prince Albert
and the Duchess of Kent.
In 1870 the first boarders were accepted with additional
buildings constructed in Alma Road. These included a Chapel and
Alexander House on the site now occupied by the Police Station
and named after the Chairman of the School's Governing Body,
Prince Alexander, 1st Earl of Athlone. Across the road was Lawrence
House, on the site now occupied by Lawrence Court. A short distance
northward was The Hermitage, which still remains today as residential
accommodation, and now known as Camperdown House.
Camperdown House, formerly The
Hermitage, now converted into privately owned flats
The main entrance to the school was opposite
Lawrence House. There is some question as to who is commemorated
by this building but it seems likely that it was Sir John Lawrence
rather than his brother, Sir Henry Lawrence.
Lawrence House as viewed from the
Kipling Building gateway in 1975
(© J Handcock)
Lawrence House as viewed from the
Goodhart gateway, opposite St Mark's Road, in 1975
(© J Handcock)
In addition there was Roberts House (68
Alma Road), since demolished, and Connaught House, now known
as Upton House School in St Leonard's Road.
Connaught House, now Upton House
School in St Leonards Road
St Marks Middle School occupied new buildings
in Grove Road where a plaque on the Parish Rooms, dated 1871,
remains to this day.
The former St Marks Middle School,
now the Parish Rooms
The plaque above the entrance of
the former St Marks Middle School
Kipling Lawn in 1969 with the St
Marks School Room, to the left, and the 1870 Chapel, right.
The helicopter is about to take off for a photo survey of Windsor.
A close up of the Chapel Belfry
taken by a pupil in 1936
In 2005 we were given the following pictures
by David Andrews and to whom we are very grateful. It has not
been possible to positively identify all the buildings featured
in the photographs and so any assistance would be appreciated.
A view to the south showing the
School Room with The Lodge to the left
The School Room with Roberts cannon
outside. It is believed that the Gym was to the left, or in the
School Room itself
Alexander House with the Roberts
cannon in foreground
Alexander House from the Alma Road
entrance, with The Hermitage (Camperdown House) in the background,
to the right.
A view from a similar angle but
looking more to the west, with Alexander House now out of shot
to the right. In the distance, centre left, is Cromwell Cottage
with Vansittart Road and Vansittart Recreation Ground beyond.
Here the gift of the cannon by Lord Roberts is acknowledged.
A classroom at Imperial Service
College in Edwardian times. The bench seats (forms), large mantlepiece
and overmantle mirror, plus extensive plasterwork and cornices
show that this classroom was one of those set up in a converted
private house adjacent to the school. (To be identified)
A hallway quite possible in the
same house as the classroom above.
The Engineering Laboratory
St Mark's School and USC
At the start of the 1900s, the St. Mark's
School amalgamated with the United Services College, which had
originally been founded in 1874 at Westward Ho!, Bideford Bay,
Devon, originally occupying a row of former lodging houses there.
The first headmaster was Mr Cormell Price who, after Oxford and
a spell as a tutor in Russia, came to Haileybury School in Hertford
to organise the 'Modern Side'. Haileybury was to play a significant
part in the later history of the school at Windsor during the
Second World War.
After the merger, the school became
known as United Services College, St. Mark's, Windsor. The following
photograph is an enlarged image from the postcard featured at
the start of this article.
The Hermitage in 1906 taken from
the USC postcard. This building remains to this day and is known
as Camperdown House although this view is now obscured by two
very large Horse Chestnut trees growing side by side! The building
has been converted to flats, with an extension in a similar style
to the left of this view.
Unfortunately, USC had encountered financial
difficulties in 1903 and failed. The boys from USC, following
moves through two other schools, arrived at Windsor in 1906.
It is this connection that links Windsor with Rudyard Kipling,
who had been a pupil at USC from January 1878, when he was 12,
and remained there until he returned to India in September 1882,
taking up a post on the Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore.
His stories about the USC, 'the Coll.' as he often called it,
are featured in 'Stalky and Co'.
USC becomes ISC
The school in Windsor soon encountered
financial difficulties too and so in 1911 approaches were made
to the Imperial Service College Trust, whose objective was to
assist with the education of army officers' children. The result
was a new lease of life as the Imperial Service College.
With the death of Revd Nagel, the headmaster, also
in 1911, Mr EGA Beckwith was appointed his successor in April
1912.
E G A Beckwith, MA Oxon.
Headmaster 1912-1935
In due course parents expressed a need
for a new Junior School and so in 1920 ISC bought the estate
of Mr Edmund Baines Foster which included Clewer Manor and which
was used for the ISC Junior School from 1922.
Clewer Manor used by Haileybury
Junior School until its move in 1997. It was purchased by ISC
in 1920 and used as the Junior School from 1922. In 2002 the
Manor was converted to flats, and houses were built in the grounds.
One of a series of ISC postcards
believed to show Clewer Lodge when used by ISC's headmaster,
Mr Beckwith.
Other buildings were acquired as part of
the estate, including Clewer Lodge, in which Mr Beckwith lived,
and the gatehouse to Clewer Lodge. Although the lodge was demolished
to make way for Peel Close, the gatehouse remains at 364, St
Leonard's Road.
Imperial Service College,
Windsor - OTC (Officer Training Corps)
The postcard view above was posted in 1925,
although the image could be several years earlier. Being a school
with a military background, the training corps were important
in the school's daily activities. Here the Officer Training Corps
are photographed on parade.
The view is taken across the area that was to become
Kipling Building lawns, looking north-west with Vansittart Road,
running left to right, beyond. The Officer Training Corps are
on parade beneath a flag staff that features several cross arms
presumably for raising signals. To the left, and running parallel
with the lane (Vansittart Road) beyond is a rifle range, then
comes a pavilion with steps that was later used by a local shooting
club in the 1950s, then Cromwell Cottage and another single storey
building to the right of that. We believe that this last building
was demolished when Kipling Building was erected in 1939. Behind
the pavilion and Cromwell Cottage, several of the trees remain
to this day (2003) in Vansittart Road Recreation Ground, though
the two poplar trees are now gone, lost during storms in recent
years.
In various articles and reports that we have read
while researching the history of ISC, the college is always referred
to as 'Coll.' and 'Big Side' is believed to be the northern area
of the ISC grounds, before the construction of Kipling Building,
the area now occupied by an office block dating from the 1980s.
Buildings and Benefactors
Financial difficulties remained throughout
the early 1900s because the Imperial Service College Trust allowed
only for bursaries, leaving other debts outstanding. Benefactors
continued to come forward, including Patrick Alexander, aviation
pioneer, friend of the Wright brothers, and financial supporter
of many aeronautical projects. Patrick Alexander will be featured
in future ThamesWeb articles. He was closely connected with the
school until his death on 7th July 1943. He lived at 28, St Mark's
Road, Windsor, from 1940-1943. His grave is in Windsor Cemetery
and is illustrated in an article here.
In 1922 another benefactor, Mr F E McCormick-Goodhart,
donated land that was sold to benefit the school, part of which
was developed as College Crescent. On 23rd September 1924 Mr
McCormick-Goodhart died and so the College lost one of its greatest
supporters. The Headmaster, Mr Beckwith, later wrote in his history
of ISC, Imperial Service
College, 1912-1933, the following tribute
to Mr McCormick-Goodhart:
F. E. McCORMICK-GOODHART,
Esq.
By the death of Mr. McCormick-Goodhart
on the 23rd of September, 1924, the College loses one of its
greatest benefactors. At a time when the finances of the College
were at their lowest and it seemed impossible that they could
recover, Mr. Goodhart came to the rescue. Not only did he remove
a terrible technical embargo of over £70,000 by the payment
of a large cheque, but also in addition gave a further cheque
of £9,000 to meet current debts, and then, as if such generosity
was not enough, bought the Alma Park Estate for £13,000,
the free use of which the College has since enjoyed. Although
he found it necessary to leave England in order to acquire the
status of an American citizen, he continued to take the liveliest
interest in the College, and had actually arranged in his last
letter to the Headmaster to stay with him in the summer of this
year, when he purposed coming over to England. It is no mere
'facon-de-parler' to say that the College owes very much of its
present flourishing condition to him.
Truly may it be said of Mr. Goodhart - "his
works do follow him." In addition to being a Governor of
the College, Mr. Goodhart was a leading member of the Council
of the Church Army.
Mr McCormick-Goodhart had decided to leave
England at some point and take up American citizenship, yet he
continued to take the liveliest interest in the College, planning
a visit to Windsor and to stay with Mr Beckwith in the summer
of 1924.
The Goodhart Gates were erected at the main entrance
in Alma Road in his memory. HRH The Duke of Connaught and
Strathearn laid the foundation stone for these gates on July
24th 1926. They were located almost exactly opposite the junction
of Alma Road with St Mark's Road. A wall in the same style, together
with a second set of gates, extended beyond Camperdown House.
The fine St Mark's lions on the pillars of the Goodhart Gates
were reproduced from figures of the same in Ripon Cathedral and
were incorporated at the suggestion of old boy, Barrington Hudson.
The Goodhart Gates in Alma Road
The Foundation Stone of the Goodhart
Gates. (Photo July 2000)
Located at the front and to the left of the current Police Station.
Laid by HRH The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, July 24th
1926.
In 2002 the only remaining part of the
wall and gate in the original style is to the northern end, alongside
Camperdown House, the curved entrance now obscured by ivy. Related article - The
demolition of the ISC buildings, Windsor
The single gate, to the right and beneath
the tree in the above picture, is stoutly constructed of oak
although it is beginning to show signs of age. [Update 30th September 2002. The frame has been
strengthened and the gate painted with a black preservative paint.
Update April 2005 Camperdown House received substantial attention
to the slate roof.]
The bricks used in the construction of the wall are of
non-standard size, and we have been advised that they are known
as Dutch bricks. There are several examples of houses nearby
also constructed in the same style of brick in Vansittart Road,
adjacent to the recreation ground, and at the southern end of
Alma Road, either side of the junction with Goslar Way.
The remaining gate in the same
style as The Goodhart Gates of 1926.
Another valuable benefactor was Mr F C
Macaskie who donated generously to the college, funding a classroom
block which was named after him, in the area now crossed by Goslar
Way. Mr Macaskie J.P. died on 17th January 1933. Mr Beckwith
wrote the following obituary.
F.
C. MACASKIE, Esq., J.P.
It is with the deepest
regret that we record the death, following an operation, of Mr.
F. C. Macaskie, J.P., on the 17th January, 1933. To many, his
is but a name connected with classrooms, but to a few of us here,
and to the writer especially, the great privilege was vouchsafed
of knowing the man, and it is a further privilege to be able
to let the present I.S.C. generation know in the hope, too, that
future generations may also know what Mr. Macaskie did for the
I.S.C. and how it is that he has earned the name of one of the
School's greatest benefactors. Not only did he pay for the Macaskie
classrooms, but also gave the writer another five figure cheque
to wipe out a heavy load of back debts, and it was the writing
of this cheque that made it possible for the Trustees of the
King Edward's Horse Fund to make over the Fund to the School,
in very truth a case of " bis dat qui cito dat." Hence
the name of Macaskie must be inextricably bound up with any success
that the School has achieved. Such generosity speaks for itself,
but those who were present when he laid the foundation stone
of the Macaskie classrooms will never forget that wonderfully
human touch, when he handed over a further cheque for fifty pounds
to celebrate the event, "so that (to quote the gist of his
humorous remarks at the time) those who were not especially interested
in work and to whom the classrooms rather denoted an interference
with the liberty of the individual might derive at any rate some
enjoyment, and, he hoped, might not feel too evil effects".
Surely it is no spirit of exaggeration or adulation
that we may say that the I.S.C. boys of the future will rise
up and call him blessed, while those of yesterday (with memory
of the huts) have already experienced a deep and abiding sense
of gratitude.
a view of the Macaskie Classroom
Block looking to the east.
Note Trinity Church far left background
A second view of the The Macaskie
Classroom Block looking south-east.
After WWII the building was used as a barracks and were finally
demolished in 1966 to make way for Goslar Way. King Edward Horse
Hall was to the right of this view.
The Boathouse
The Boathouse pictured in 1937
Being just a short distance from the River
Thames, rowing was an important sport at ISC and eventually in
1934, the College had their own boathouse. Prior to that the
boys had used the facilities of Eton College and their boathouses
near Windsor Bridge. The new boathouse was opened on May 22nd
1934 by Lady Mary Crichton. Afterwards the dignitaries, Eton
College Boating masters and their wives were entertained to tea
in the grounds of the Eton Country Club, later demolished to
make way for the original Windsor War Memorial Swimming Baths
in 1962.
The boathouse in September 2006,
near the Windsor Leisure Centre.
The King Edward Horse
Hall
In the late 1920s ISC was approached by
King Edward VII's Horse Regiment Endowment Fund. With the disbandment
of the regiment, the fund's trustees wished to pass on the assets
to an educational institution that would permit bursaries to
be paid for sons and descendants of commissioned officers. Part
of the fund was to be used to create a memorial to the regiment,
and this resulted in The King Edward Horse Hall being built in
1931 and used as the School Hall.
The King Edward Horse Hall opened
in 25th July 1931...
...but was demolished less than
40 years later.
King Edward VII
Horse Hall Clock Tower, somewhat lower
than when originally installed on the roof of the old hall
Prize Giving Day
1937
The panelled stage of King Edward's Horse Hall
The Beckwith Memorial
With the death of Mr Beckwith
in 1935, a memorial to him was commissioned, 'The Statue of Ambition',
which stood in the grounds near the Horse Hall. The Old Boys
Journal (March 1937) reports that "The design is simple
but dignified and adds greatly to the effect of the hall and
the classrooms which flank the court on the south and east sides.
In the centre of a grass quadrangle, at the intersection of two
flagged paths, there is a bronze figure of 'Ambition', the work
of the late Richard Goulden. The statue is supported on a granite
pedestal and was the gift of Mrs Goulden. The north side at present
remains unfinished."
The Statue of Ambition
is unveiled, July 1936, by the Duke of Connaught
The Statue of Ambition
in Beckwith Court
with the King Edward Horse Hall behind
The inscription reads "In Memory of
Edward George Ambrose Beckwith, First Headmaster of The Imperial
Service College, 1912-1935, This Court was given by Governors,
Masters, Boys and Friends, July 25th 1936." Below
it reads "Well done thy good and faithful servant."
At the bottom of the picture, by the path,
a small plaque commemorates the unveiling of the statue by HRH the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn,
President of the Board of Governors.
On the day of the unveiling,
the weather was most unkind, with heavy rain. Mr
Clyde Young was the architect of the memorial having designed
the King Edward Horse Hall and classrooms buildings. 'The Statue of Ambition' is now believed to be
in the possession of Haileybury School Hertford.
'Tokio' - The Chaplain's
House
'Tokio' 38 York Road
In February 1920 a reference to the house
'Tokio' (38 York Road) was found in an ISC journal 'Chronicle'
which reads "The
house 'Tokio' in York Road, which is now the property of the
College and is to be known in future as the Chaplain's House,
is under Mr Healey's charge."
This house was the subject of a planning application for demolition
in 2003 which was fortunately refused. Details
Kipling Memorial Building
Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay
on December 30, 1865
and died on January 18, 1936 in London
On the death of Rudyard Kipling, a past
pupil of the USC at
Westward Ho! from 1878 to 1882, it seemed
appropriate that ISC should benefit from the Memorial Fund set
up in his honour. Six months later a letter from the Governors
of ISC appeared in The Times as follows:
Sir, Rudyard Kipling
was at the United Services College, Westward Ho! from 1878 to
1882. His old school is now at Windsor under the new name of
the Imperial Service College, and it aims at educating, on favourable
terms, the sons of those who have served throughout the Empire
in any capacity under the Crown. We feel that this aim is in
keeping with the ideals implicit in his writings. In a letter
written not long before his death he expressed his great pleasure
that the continuity and traditions of his old school were being
so well maintained and fostered by the College.
We wish therefore to appeal for funds to perpetuate
his memory by erecting a library or group of buildings containing
a library at the Imperial Service College, to be called after
him. Subscriptions should be sent to the Hon. Secretary, Kipling
Memorial Fund, imperial Service College, Windsor.
We are, etc. etc.
Athlone (Chairman, Board
of Governors ISC)
Stanley Baldwin
Alexander J Godley General (OUSC and Member of Board of Governors
ISC)
Hepworth A Hill, Lt. Col. (President, OUSC Society)
L C Dunsterville, Major-General (OUSC and President of the Kipling
Society)
Rudyard Kipling
Memorial Fund Banquet
In March 1938, in the ISC Journal, the
following report was published about the fundraising banquet.
An inaugural Banquet was
held at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, on the 17th November, 1937.
The Chair was taken by the President of the Fund, Major-General
the Earl of Athlone, K.G., who was accompanied by Princess Alice,
Countess of Athlone. The guests of honour were "Stalky"
(Major-General L. C. Dunsterville) and "M'Turk " (Mr.
G. C. Beresford). There were over nine hundred guests present,
among them being the Brazilian Ambassador, Lord Londonderry,
Lord and Lady Dufferin, Lord and Lady Plymouth, Lord and Lady
Greenwood, Lord and Lady Nuffield, Mr. Winston Churchill, General
Sir Alexander and Lady Godley, Sir Bruce Bruce-Porter, the Headmaster
and Mrs. Tollemache, Members of the Coll. Staff, Representatives
of the Services, the Royal Empire Society, the Kipling Society,
and the President and Hon. Treasurer representing the I.S.C.
Old Boys' Society.
Lord Athlone read the following
message from the King: "I am glad to know that representatives
of all parts of the Empire are united in planning a fitting memorial
to Rudyard Kipling, whose genius is the common heritage of all
who speak the English tongue."
Messages were also received
from Lord Linlithgow, President of the Indian Committee of the
Fund; Lord Tweedsmuir, President of the Canadian Committee; Lord
Gowrie, President of the Australian Committee; Sir Patrick Duncan,
President of the South African Committee; Lord Galway, President
of the New Zealand Committee; and letters from Dr. Nicholas Murray
Butler, Chairman of the American Committee; and from Mrs. Kipling.
The loyal toasts were proposed
by Lord Athlone and a silent toast was drunk to Kipling's memory.
Mr. Winston Churchill proposed
the toast of the Fund in a speech of great eloquence. He paid
tribute to Kipling as a poet of Empire whose memory should be
worthily perpetuated in the carrying to fruition of the objects
for which the Fund was founded. There was never a moment when
he did not feel the surge of his (Kipling's) appeal upon "
the great verities of our race and State," and he maintained
that Kipling had succeeded better than any Blue Book in laying
before those who dwelt at home, true pictures of British administration
in India. Nor had he rested there, for life in each one of the
Dominions had been adorned and interpreted by strokes of his
wand. Nothing would ever deprive him of the gratitude which Britons
owed him for his inspiration, or of the homage which English-speaking
peoples would render to his genius.
Lord Athlone, in replying
to the toast, said that as a result of the Dinner nearly £10,000
had been added to the Fund, which now stood at £45,000.
'The Council was aiming at £250,000 and would continue
its work until it had secured that sum. The money would be devoted
to the erection of suitable memorials to Kipling at Westward
Ho! and, possibly, at Windsor, the building of a Kipling Library
in the grounds of the I.S.C. and the endowment of Bursaries tenable
at the I.S.C. for the sons of those engaged in the service of
the Empire.
Lord Greenwood proposed
the toast of the Guests. In the course of their replies, "Stalky"
and "M'Turk" dispelled some popular illusions as to
the activities of the trio at Westward Ho!, but at the same time
supplied further details of them and of Kipling's life at school.
Lord Plymouth proposed
the toast of the Chairman and paid a well-deserved tribute to
the work he was doing to promote the success of the Fund.
The string band of H.M.
Irish Guards played during dinner and afterwards Mr. Peter Dawson
sang "The Irish Guards " and "The Smugglers' Song"
and Mr. Hugh E. Wright spoke "Sestina of the Tramp Royal."
Coll. Prefects acted as
stewards in collecting subscriptions that were afterwards made
by the guests in response to the appeal.
*
* *
The present position is
that next September six Kipling scholars will join
the I.S.C.; one from each of the Dominions, one from India and
one from the Empire generally (including England and British
communities in foreign countries).
In 1937 The Journal of the ISC Old Boys
reported that the plan was still for the Kipling Memorial Library
and Laboratory block to be built to the west of the Beckwith
Memorial Court but finally a new classroom block was decided
upon to the north, the foundation stone for which was laid in
March 1939.
1939 and the School Prepares
for War
The following article was
published in the Old Boys Journal of April 1939
The College has been organised
as a unit in the A.R.P. Scheme at Windsor, and A.R.P. and the
Crisis have left their marks. On the 2nd July last, A.R.P. Drill
was heralded by the bell sounding the alarm at 9.45p.m. Immediately
all lights were extinguished and everyone assembled in their
respective shelters. Several boys from each House had previously
been detailed to act as dispatch-riders and stretcher bearers,
and on the alarm being sounded, they went straight to Headquarters
in Alexander House Junior Common Room.
The scheme was that Cambridge
House had been hit by incendiary bombs, and a fire-fighting squad
rushed to deal with the blaze. This was made extremely realistic
by some ingenious smoke bombs manufactured by Mr. Spauls. Another
incendiary bomb was reported on the top of Lawrence House, which
Major Nicholls gallantly extinguished with a bucket of sand.
A high explosive bomb was dropped on Camperdown House, and the
stretcher-bearers had a busy time carrying the wounded up to
the First-Aid Station in Roberts House, where Mrs. Holdway was
in charge. A rescue party composed of the College groundsmen
also went over to Camperdown House and assisted with the wounded.
Sir Archibald Campbell
(the Head A.R.P. Organiser for Berkshire) and Colonel Robinson
from the Home Office, accompanied by the Mayor of Windsor, watched
the proceedings and were shown round the various Houses, where
they saw the boys assembled, theoretically, in their gas-proof
shelters.
The cease fire signal was
sounded at 10.30, whereupon everyone returned to their beds.
It was an extremely instructive demonstration, but let us hope
it will never have to be put into practice.
During the Crisis gas-masks
were fitted, windows were painted over and trenches were dug
by the boys. The present condition of the trenches is uncertain,
but it hoped that they are not in such a state as will be an
inducement to aquatic sports during the warmer weather.
In the same edition, April 1939, the following
editorial was published giving details of the progress of the
Memorial plans.
The outlook at home, or
at any rate at the Coll., is less fraught with anxiety than the
outlook in world affairs. The Kipling Memorial Fund Council has
decided to place at the disposal of the School the sum of £32,000
for the erection of two new houses. They will be built on Big
Side facing South, slightly in rear of the line of Alexander
House. It is intended that they should form the central portion
of a block of six houses extending from Alma Road to Vansittart
Road, to be known probably, as the Rudyard Kipling Memorial Block.
The two houses to be built now will contain from 47 to 50 boys
each, with Housemasters' quarters at either end and Matrons'
quarters in the centre. They will be occupied by the boys at
present living in Roberts, Connaught, Beckwith and Kitchener
Houses. An account of the laying of the foundation stone by Princess
Alice appears on another page, and it is expected that the houses
will be ready for occupation by November, 1939.
In front of the new block on Big Side, grass cricket
nets have been laid on the West and hard cricket nets on the
East. A new cricket square has been constructed in the middle
of the Rec., and it is hoped that this will soon be accompanied
by an adequate pavilion.
The thanks of all concerned with the welfare of the
Coll. are due to the Memorial Fund Council for enabling this
project to be carried out, for, although many of us will regret
the passing of Big Side and its surroundings as we knew it, the
question of housing was a burning problem that had to be solved
before the Coll. could expand much more. Those boys who have
lived in scattered houses ill-adapted for the purpose will now
be housed within the School grounds nearer their fellows, in
first-class quarters equipped (as the house-agents say) with
every modern convenience. The temporary shelving of the plans
for a Library and the completion of the Quadrangle is more than
compensated for by this achievement.
Also in April 1939 a report was published
of the Foundation Stone ceremony.
RUDYARD KIPLING MEMORIAL
BUILDING
The foundation stone was
laid on Monday, March 6th, 1939, by H.R.H. Princess Alice, Countess
of Athlone, who on her arrival, inspected the Guard of Honour
of the O.T.C.
The Earl of Athlone welcomed
the guests, among whom were the High Commissioner for India (Sir
Firoz Khan Noon), the Provost of Eton, the Rector of Beaumont
College, the Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Colonel Lionel James,
the Governors of the College and a large number of parents, Old
Boys and friends, and mentioned that Lord Kenilworth had taken
a prominent part in the inauguration of the Rudyard Kipling Memorial
Fund.
The Hon. Vincent Massey,
P.C, High Commissioner for the Dominion of Canada, said that
it was proper that the name of Kipling should be commemorated
by this building in the grounds of the school which he had immortalized.
The School, in a different place and under a changed name, was
faithful to the traditions in which Kipling so firmly believed.
He welcomed the idea that boys from the Colonies should be educated
at the Imperial Service College and hoped that some of those
who passed through would make their way to Canada and help in
the development of the Dominion.
The Headmaster expressed
the thanks of the College to all who had helped to make possible
the erection of the new building and particularly the Kipling
Society. He also announced that Princess Alice had graciously
consented to become Patron of the College.
Her Royal Highness then
formally laid the Foundation Stone and stated that she had had
a very charming letter from Mrs. Kipling, saying what great pleasure
this memorial would have given to Kipling.
Three hearty cheers were
accorded to her, after which the guests were entertained to tea
in the K.E.H. Hall.
The simple Foundation
Stone photographed in the 1970s
A similar report appears in the Kipling
Journal, No 49 of April 1939 which reads:
In the Daily Telegraph
and Morning Post (March 7th) there appeared a long account of
the Laying of the Foundation Stone of the Rudyard Kipling Memorial
Buildings at the Imperial Service College, Windsor, on the previous
day, 6th March 1939, by Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone.
The college is a direct descendant of the Old United Services
College at Westward Ho!, the scene of the immortal 'Stalky and
Co.' The Earl of Athlone told those present that the new buildings
would allow more than 100 boys now living in houses outside to
be accommodated within the college. The Memorial Fund now totalled
£40,000 and five Kipling scholars had already arrived.
The Hon. Vincent Massey, High Commissioner for Canada, said there
could not be a more suitable site for a memorial to Kipling than
the school which he immortalised. In a different place and under
a changed name it was faithful to the traditions in which the
author so firmly believed. It was fitting that several of Kipling's
former school-fellows were present, and they would agree that
Kipling would have been very happy to have his name permanently
linked with the school he loved. Mr. L de O. Tollemache, the
headmaster, said that it was largely due to the Earl of Athlone
that the fund had been so successful. Princess Alice has been
a devoted friend to the school, and he was glad to say that she
had become patron of the college.
Kipling Memorial Building
Completed
Kipling Building (dating from 1939)
viewed from the north in the 1970s
With the onset of the war, and the original
school buildings, Connaught House and Roberts House, already
commandeered by the army, The Rudyard Kipling Memorial Building
(locally known as Kipling Building) was completed by September
29th 1939, delaying only for a week or two the start of the Christmas
Term. The building comprised two school houses, retaining the
names of Connaught and Roberts, and each accommodating fifty
pupils. At the eastern and western ends of the building were
house masters' accommodation. The building was designed by Mr
Clyde Young in collaboration with Mr. Bernard Engel. On the south
side was a lead plaque illustrating the characters of the 'Jungle
Book' modelled by Mr Benno Elkan. This plaque is now installed
in the building currently occupying this site in Alma Road, Windsor.
The writer recalls Kipling Building from the 1950s.
It was very solidly built with large stout wooden doors, varnished,
with high quality, polished wood floors throughout. The windows
were metal, Crittal style, with large cast iron radiators in
all the rooms. There were also fireplaces in some rooms. I recall
being shown the boiler-room and was fascinated by the hopper,
full of solid fuel, probably anthracite, which was delivered
to the bottom of the boiler by a huge horizontal Archimedes screw.
There were two air-raid shelters in brick with flat
concrete roofs, one at the western end, near Vansittart Road,
the other to the north, running alongside the line of the path
constructed in 1981 that connects Alma Road and Vansittart Road.
A rifle range had been built alongside Vansittart
Road, running north-south, approximately the full length of the
nearby Recreation Ground. At the 'target' end, the north end,
a large wall, with curved ends, some 15 feet or more high had
been constructed, with firing areas at selected points along
the sunken ditch that formed the range. Each of these had a roof
over them with round, dark wooden supports at each corner. The
floors of the firing areas were covered with what seemed to be
fine clinker or cinders. The range was a reminder of just how
important military skills were in the days of the Imperial Service
College at Windsor. As a boy I remember collecting the small,
brass, spent cartridge cases from the firing areas.
Beyond the rifle range at the northern end was a Cricket
Pavilion and beyond that, Cromwell Cottage which, when Kipling
Building was taken over by Windsor Corporation in 1949, became
the home of Jimmy Johnson and his family. See
the postcard above for a view of these buildings. For many
years Jimmy Johnson was foreman at the council depot and could
always be relied upon to get out with his crew in all weathers,
especially in snow and frost, to salt the roads or clear snow
drifts, or attend to any other emergency that might arise.
Kipling Memorial Building (south
face) from the lawn (1)
Kipling Memorial Building (south
face) from the lawn (2)
Note the Rudyard Kipling Plaque in the centre of the building
and reproduced below.
The Rudyard Kipling Memorial Plaque
on the south side of Kipling Building, overlooking the lawn.
Cast in lead, it was modelled by Mr.Benno Elkan.
1940 Wartime ISC
The following was published in the April
1940 issue of the ISC Old Boys' Journal. Whilst not all is relevant
to Windsor, we have included the extended text as ISC had such
close ties with the British Armed Forces. The school almost certainly
lost in action a much higher percentage of their Old Boys than
other schools.
Time moves against Germany
in all spheres and the past six months have been of immense value
to the Allies in strengthening their positions. But they cannot
win the war without first destroying the enemy's power and will
to fight and we should be foolish to underrate his strength.
The overthrow of the enemy can be achieved only by the supreme
effort on the part of every individual directed into the right
channel and this will inevitably entail great sacrifice. We cannot
foretell what lies ahead, but this year will surely see us put
to the test and the full issue joined. Lord Halifax has said
that we are opposed to an active force of evil that, if it should
triumph, would not permit our civilization to live. No price,
then, is too great to pay for our freedom.
* * *
The war has changed the
lives and prospects of most of us and not the least of the difficulties
it has created is the problem facing the boy about to leave his
Public School. If he is destined for the Services he finds the
Cadet Colleges closed to him and if he contemplated a University
degree he will be able to take only a somewhat truncated course
of study - at any rate for the time being. As the Headmaster
said in his speech on Founders' Day, it would seem advisable
for the undergraduate to postpone his military training until
after he has taken his degree, but the problem of the boy who
contemplates the Army or Air Force as a career seems as yet unanswered,
and training for a professional or business career will have
to be viewed in the light of the requirements of militia training.
When peace comes again it is hoped that the State will tackle
such problems without prejudice and with practical sympathy.
The future of the Public
School system itself may well create a serious post-war problem,
both for parents and governors. The cost of even the average-priced
Public School has been of late years an increasing strain on
the resources of many parents who are now faced with possibly
dwindling incomes and certainly increased taxation. Will the
State be compelled to step in and assist the Schools to lower
their fees ? If so, undoubtedly the State will demand its price.
Let us hope it will be a fair one with due regard for the benefits
that, despite its many shortcomings, the Public School system
has bestowed on the community in the past.
* * *
At the Coll. the most important
development during the year has been the completion of the Rudyard
Kipling Memorial Block on the old Big Side. The buildings were
designed by Mr. Clyde Young, in collaboration with Mr. Bernard
Engel, and a description of the building programme was given
in last year's Journal. It had been hoped that there would have
been a formal opening by an important personage, but the war
prevented this. Instead, they were informally occupied at the
beginning of the Christmas term by the former inhabitants of
Connaught and Roberts Houses. The design is in harmony with the
K.E.H. Hall, the Classrooms and the proposed Laboratories. In
the centre gable of the south front is a plaque, modelled in
cast lead by Mr. Benno Elkan, illustrating the characters of
The Jungle Book.
A bust of Rudyard Kipling,
which will be placed in the buildings, has been presented to
the Coll. by H.R.H. Princess Alice and Lord Athlone. The bust
was executed by Madame Ginette Bingguely Lejeune, and has been
on view both in the Royal Academy Exhibition in London and in
the Paris Salon.
Mrs. Kipling herself died
on the 19th December last.
* * *
It is with great regret
that we publish a list, of casualties suffered already among
the ranks of Old Boys of the Coll. No words of ours are needed
to convey honour to their services or sympathy with the bereaved.
It is necessary, however,
to point out the requirements of the Press and Censorship Bureau,
set out in a circular letter to the Headmaster. In the publication
of lists of Old Boys who are serving their country or who have
lost their lives in such service, the Authorities are anxious
that, though the name, rank and regiment may be given, no reference
should be made to any ship, battalion or other unit within the
regiment, or to any command, unless such particulars have already
been officially published. It is also requested that no information
should be published that would reveal the locality in which any
member of the Forces is serving.
* * *
It was reported that 481 Old Boys, one
Assistant Master and three members of the College staff fell
in the Second World War.
It is beyond the scope of this article
to publish the lists of those from ISC who were killed in action,
or serving in the Armed Forces or who were decorated, but we
will retain the published lists here for as long as is practicable
if anyone would like to research their forebears. Please contact
Thamesweb
ISC Leaves Windsor
In 1942, just three years after Kipling
Building had been completed, ISC merged with Haileybury School
and moved to Hertford. This was not as it might seem at first
sight a totally unconnected move, for United Services College
at Westwood Ho! was created by Mr Cormell Price, its first headmaster,
when he took a class to Devon from Haileybury and so, after over
sixty years, the school was, in a sense, returning to its original
roots.
At the time it was hoped or assumed by many that
the move to Hertford was quite possibly a temporary war-time
measure. The following editorial and letters, as published in
the ISC Old Boys Journal of April 1942, reveal the real background
to the move.
" The Past
at least is secure." Daniel Webster
We have the sad duty of
confirming the information, which has already appeared in the
Press and has also been circulated to members, that the I.S.C.
will have come to the end of its existence at Windsor on March
31st, 1942. As from the beginning of the summer term the Coll.
will be amalgamated with Haileybury, under the title of 'Haileybury
and Imperial Service College'.
The causes which have led the Governors to make this
decision are financial. We understand that the state of affairs
had become so serious that only a large sum of money could save
the situation and as this was not forthcoming the only alternative
to closing down was to seek an amalgamation.
The Junior School remains at Clewer, though losing
some part of its grounds. Boys from this will have certain advantages,
including some closed scholarships at Haileybury and I.S.C. The
Trust Funds remain intact and the income will be used for this
purpose, and also for the provision of Scholarships and Bursaries
as before. All the school buildings including the land known
as Big Side are to be sold, and also the rest of the playing
fields, in order to pay off the indebtedness. The sale of the
former is, however, probably postponed as the Government has
requisitioned the buildings.
It is not for us to apportion the blame for allowing
the finances of the Coll. to have reached such a deplorable condition,
but we have no hesitation in stating that those responsible should
have realised the situation and should have taken steps in time
to avert the disaster. Those who were present at the Coming of
Age Dinner in 1933 may perhaps remember the late Mr. Beckwith's
words of warning and those of us who were privileged to assist
him in building up the traditions of the I.S.C., whether as Masters
or as Boys, will deeply sympathise with Mrs. Beckwith and her
family in seeing his life's work brought to nought.
The Captain of School, as Editor of the I.S.C. Chronicle,
has dealt very ably and sympathetically with the situation as
it affects the present generation of boys and we are glad to
reprint his editorial below, together with a letter from Mr.
Sidney Beckwith to Ex-Juniors. We would also call attention to
letters from Col. Tapp and Gen. Godley in the O.U.S.C. Section.
[Reproduced below,
Ed.]
The closing of the Coll. at Windsor is naturally
as much of a blow to Old as to Present Boys. The Coll. has a
record of which it may justly be proud. Its members are now scattered
over the face of the earth, fighting the Empire's battles, and
as in the Great War many of the best have already fallen. Old
Boys may be assured that the best traditions have been maintained
to the end, and we know from observation how manfully and tactfully
the Present have carried on during the very difficult period
of the last two terms. There has been no rot from within.
The Headmaster of Haileybury, Canon Bonhote, has
given assurances that I.S.C. Boys will he welcomed and not treated
as strangers, and the hand of friendship has been offered by
the President and Secretary of the Old Haileyburian Society..
The boys, some one hundred and ten, who are going on will be
housed in Lawrence and Kipling Houses. The former is already
a Haileybury name and we are glad to note that Maj. Nicholls
has been invited to be its Housemaster. Several other Masters
have been invited to continue their work at Haileybury and I.S.C.
We can only hope that the union will be a happy one and that
the members of each School will strive to that end by being prepared
to accept what is best in the other.
From all quarters Old Boys have expressed the hope
that, after the war, it may be possible for the School to return
to Windsor. Financial support on a considerable scale would,
of course, be necessary, but, given the right spirit and the
determination to fight an uphill battle, the difficulties might
not prove unsurmountable. Any practical suggestions from Old
Boys will be welcomed.
* *
*
The following editorial
and letter are reprinted from the last number of the I.S.C. Chronicle:-
"The chief characteristic
of the boys of this School is the nobility of their conception
of the purpose of mankind." So says the Dean of Windsor.
And although this term is to be our last at Windsor, this is
an ideal which we should carry away with us, wherever we go,
ever striving to maintain it throughout all our lives,
It is hard for us, who have a tradition peculiar
to ourselves to be forced to stand by and watch our school gradually
drifting apart; hut we must remember that the spirit of a school,
and of this School particularly, is intimately bound up with
the boys themselves. One of the traditions of the I.S.C. has
been that the School has been run by the boys, and for the boys
with the minimum of needless interference by the masters. Thus
it will be more difficult for us to adapt ourselves to the routine
of another school; but we must never lose sight of the fact that
Haileybury will be experiencing a similar problem; and although
our's must, of necessity be the greater sacrifice, we must try
and " see the other fellow's point of view," and not
abandon ourselves to fruitless recrimination. With our recent
sporting victories over Haileybury still fresh in our minds,
we know that we shall be accepted as equals.
We have met Canon Bonhote, and we have every reason
to believe that the social life of this school is as vital to
him as that of Haileybury itself. We must hear in mind that this
amalgamation will be the ultimate test of the value of the College,
requiring all the strength of our traditions of Service and Obedience.
We must see to it that we do not try to evade this final duty.
Now, all that remains for us to do, is to wish all
members of this School who are going on to Hertford the best
of good fortune; and we beg that they will try and remember that
they were once proud to be boys of the Imperial Service College.
By Sydney Beckwith. (Headmaster
at the Junior School)
DEAR EX JUNIORS,
As this is probably the
last opportunity I shall have of addressing you through the medium
of these notes, there are one or two things I should like to
say to you.
I have been intimately associated with the College
since 1912, when it first became known as the Imperial Service
College. It was then a small school of not much more than fifty
boys and burdened with an almost, overwhelming debt. In spite
of this, the School and I grew up together, so to speak, until
its numbers reached nearly four hundred, which was the goal that
had been set for it. Devoted though my father was to my sister
and myself, he made no secret of the fact that the College was
to him both son and daughter.
You can understand then that the sudden news that
the I.S.C was to be amalgamated with Haileybury, that the old
associations with Windsor were to be ended, and that most of
the land, redolent of happy memories, was to be delivered into
the hands of the builder, came as a bitter blow to my family
and myself.
You may possibly wonder why the Junior School is
able to continue. The answer is that it has so far succeeded
in paying its way. Whether it will continue to do so in the future
depends largely on circumstances. The fact that it has in the
past contributed considerably to the upkeep of the College is
perhaps beside the point.
I fully realise what this amalgamation means to you.
It is not only buildings that you will be leaving behind you.
I can only pass on to you a piece of advice repeatedly given
to me by my father and one which has stood me in, good stead
on more than one occasion: "When the milk has been spilt,
go to the next brown cow." One of the arts of life is that
of knowing how to deal with the fait accompli.
I am no prophet, but it is by no means unlikely that
by your amalgamation with Haileybury you are setting an example
that will have to be followed willy-nilly by most of the Public
Schools in the near future. You are at any rate amalgamating
with another Public School of considerable standing, with a fine
reputation both for work and games (yes, I put them in that order
on purpose), and you are retaining your name.
Just to start with, you may find things a bit difficult.
Schools are usually notoriously jealous of their customs (often
erroneously confused with traditions) and there may be a tendency
at first for each school to try and show the other "where
they get off." Forget it. Show one another how to get on.
Remember that Haileyburians may not be much keener on the amalgamation
than you are. Be broadminded. There are two sides to every question.
If the truth will out, probably each school can learn something
of the other. You will find that masters are much the same whether
you call them beaks, brushers or just tramps, and there is precious
little difference between a prefect and a monitor. Anyway, we
shall all have to adapt ourselves to circumstances before long,
if we have not done so already.
Three things have always struck me with regard to
the I.S.C.: your splendid good-fellowship, your outstanding "guts,"
and your motto, magnificent alike in its sentiment and its simplicity,
" Fear God, Honour the King."|
If I were asked to define the tradition of the I.S.C.,
a tradition that, in spite of the comparatively short history
of the School, has left its mark in every corner of the Empire,
I should answer without any hesitation, "The tradition of
turning out men."
So I wish you all the best of luck. We shall greatly
miss you. Take with you to Haileybury all that was best of the
old "Coll," and "quit yourselves like men,"
so that whether I.S.C. or Haileybury and I.S.C. you may still
be-
Sons of Empire
Strong to hew
Steps to fame
The wide world through.
Yours always, SIDNEY B.
It was with great regret
that we learned during the summer holidays that the Headmaster,
Mr. L. de 0. Tollemache, had decided to resign and take up a
Government appointment under the Midland Regional Commissioner
immediately.
Mr. Tollemache was appointed Headmaster in April,
1935, after the death of Mr. Beckwith, and it was evident at
once that he did not intend to work with a "new broom."
He recognized and determined to retain all that was best in the
institutions of the I.S.C.
One of his chief efforts was directed towards the
closer union of the U.S.C. and I.S.C. and to him is due the credit
for the first idea of the Kipling Memorial Building.
During the period of Mr. Tollemache's Headmastership
numbers reached their high-water mark and it was after the outbreak
of war that the decline set in which accentuated the financial
difficulties. Far reaching changes were made in the administration
and it came as no surprise when Mr. Tollemache announced his
resignation.
We wish both Mr. and Mrs. Tollemache all possible
happiness in the future.
* * *
The Journal also included
a summary of the changes that the school had seen since 1908
following the amalgamation with USC.
1908-1942
From 1908 to 1942 is a
far cry, and very many changes have taken place during that time
at the dear old Coll. New buildings have appeared one by one,
and the old Houses have been altered, in many cases, almost out
of recognition.
The Squash Court is adjoining "D" House
(then "Old House") were taken down before Mr. Beckwith
joined in 1912, as also the Laundry and Printing Shop, where
the "D" House Changing Rooms now are.
The Dining Hall, which used to be in "A"
House, was transferred to the Rig Hall, which in early days was
used as Classrooms, underneath being the Gymnasium where the
Kitchen now reigns in all its glory.
The name of the College was altered on Mr. Beckwith's
arrival in 1912, and with his advent a new regime started. One
of the first changes he made was that of the boys' headgear;
caps and bowlers on Sundays were altered to straw hats (or Bashers
as they are generally called) on weekdays and Sundays. This change
did not appeal to many at first, but I am sure no boy would be
willing to exchange his Basher for a cap nowadays.
The custom of wearing First and Second XV caps outside
the College was discontinued, much to the sorrow of the Windsor
people, who greatly enjoyed seeing the boys thus arrayed walking
up Peascod Street on half-holidays.
From 1912 until 1918, when Mr. Oliver joined, Mr.
Beckwith and myself carried on the work of the School Office
alone, and I remember once when we had to close down three weeks
before the end of the term owing to a bad epidemic of measles,
finding Mr. Beckwith on. my return from London (where I had been
to see a boy off to Scotland) giving out journey money from my
cash box; later on I found my balance in hand was £10 more
than it should have been and as Mr. Beckwith was sure this sum
did not belong to himself, it was handed over to the School Mission.
A lot of Canadians, who were stationed somewhere
in the Great Park, [See
Smiths Lawn in our Great
Park article here]
were a great help to
the College about the commencement of 1915, coming over every
day and fixing up small wooden huts on the spare patch between
Camperdown and Alexander Houses. These huts were very much appreciated
as classrooms, and eased the congestion considerably in the various
Houses, but were found to be very hot in summer and too cold
in winter. During the wet periods a series of lakes appeared,
which had to be waded through, much to the discomfort of the
individual. These huts were discontinued when the new Classroom
Block was presented by Mr. Macaskie, and what a red letter day
that was too. I remember after the Foundation Stone had been
laid, Mr. Macaskie gave the Headmaster £50 to be divided
amongst the boys; the boys, after a series of mathematical problems,
found it would mean very little if portioned out separately and
they asked for a dinner to be provided and everyone attended
it in state!
Very many of our Masters joined up, and were replaced
by others; one especially remains in my memory, probably because
his room was next to my Office in Lawrence House. He was a very
nervous man and, of course, this was soon spotted by the boys,
who used periodically to creep along the passage and then at
a given signal burst large paper bags. Another Master had a great
dislike of whistling; one Sunday morning a great- noise was heard
outside his study window where a large number of boys had gathered
and were enjoying themselves thoroughly.
The recent happenings, and all the very happy times
we spent together during Mr. Tollemache's Headmastership, are
too vivid to have escaped one's memory; and we felt that with
his departure a new era had started, but it was a tremendous
blow to all of us when we heard that this term would be the last
for all of us at Windsor, and now we find ourselves shortly to
be scattered all over the universe and the dear old Coll. will
be no more; but I am sure that those of us who have been privileged
to be counted amongst its members and have learned to love every
stick and stone, will always remember the very many happy times
we have spent together, and those boys who are starting out on
life's big adventure, will never bring discredit on their School
Tie and Old College traditions.
" Fear God.
Honour the King."
Miss V H Schofield
Also in the Journal of 1942 are reproduced
some of the letters explaining the situation. The following is
taken from the United Services College Old Boys Society newsletter,
by this time incorporated into the ISC Old Boys Journal. The
correspondence is introduced by Col. G C Hodgson, DSO of East
Molesey, Honorary Secretary of the OUSC Society,
News Sheet
OWING to the war and my
still having more than a full-time job with the Home Guard, I
am afraid the heading is a misnomer, for I have had no spare
time to collect news and O.U.S.Cs. have evidently not had time
either to write and give me any.
Most of the little there is has been given me by
Mr. Hughes, the Hon. Secretary of the I.S.C.O.B. Society, to
whom we are again very much indebted for his ever ready help
and for again most kindly offering to send to our members the
combined publication.
You will all be very sorry to hear the tragic news
that, owing to financial difficulties and falling off in numbers,
the I.S.C. is closing down as a separate entity.
The following copies of letters from Col. H. A. Tapp,
a member of our Committee, which I sent to our Chairman, Gen.
Sir A. J. Godley, and asking him if he could do anything for
the return of the I.S.C. to Windsor after the war, as Tapp suggests,
and his reply will explain the situation better than any other
way, I think:
The first letter is to Col. G C Hodgson,
from Col. H A Tapp.
CRANMORE LANE,
ALDERSHOT.
14th February,
1942.
DEAR HODGSON
1. Recently in the Press
it was announced that the Imperial Service College would shortly
leave Windsor and amalgamate with Haileybury, both Colleges retaining
their identity. It is extremely unlikely that two schools can
really retain their separate identity for long under such circumstances.
2. Lord Kenilworth's notice
to parents implied that financial difficulties due to war conditions
was the reason for this 'merger.' To all those interested in
the I.S.C. and its association with Kipling and the old United
Services College, this brief explanation is not entirely satisfactory.
3. If the I.S.C. has found
it hard to keep going during the last few years, a thorough overhaul
of its administration could, no doubt, have detected weak spots
and enabled economies to be effected. Other means might have
been found for obtaining the necessary financial aid.
4. Is the Governing Council
entirely blameless for the present state of affairs, and has
the possibility of carrying on the I.S.C. at Windsor been sufficiently
examined?
Unfortunately no desire
has been expressed by Lord Kenilworth for the School's return
to Windsor after the war. In fact, the buildings are up for sale.
5. Quite apart from the
depressed feeling aroused among some of the Staff, the boys (and
after all boys are often good judges!), and we must include 'old
boy' parents, at the thought of leaving Windsor, there is the
aspect that the Nation's memorial to Rudyard Kipling will be
abandoned. Are these and other memorials to be lightly discarded?
6. £45,000 has been
collected in recent years for Scholarships and the building of
Kipling memorial houses. A sum of nearly £30,000 Regimental
Funds of the King Edward Horse provided a very fine School Hall
in addition to Scholarships for the sons of the Regiment. Many
other gifts have been given to the I.S.C. to help forward the
School and to keep alive the memory of Kipling. Canada and South
Africa are particularly interested in the College. More than
ever such an Institution as the Imperial Service College will
surely be wanted after the war.
7. The surplus land of
the College has been advertised and sold at a figure which should
relieve the College of the greater part of its financial embarrassment.
8. It is understood the
merging of the I.S.C. with Haileybury requires the sanction of
the Privy Council. Is it not possible to have the situation re-examined,
with a view to preventing the I.S.C. leaving Windsor or ensuring
its return after the war?
9. I send these few thoughts
to a number of friends who may wish to start a press campaign
to save the I.S.C. - being a serving soldier I cannot write to
the press (thank goodness!) Action will be needed quickly as
time is pressing.
10. Please forgive me worrying
you, and I only do so in the hopes that you may agree to put
in a plea for maintaining the I.S.C. at Windsor or for ensuring
its return there after the war.
Yours sincerely,
H. A. TAPP.
The next letter is also to Col. G C Hodgson,
from General Sir Alexander Godley, GCB, KCMG, of the Board of
Governors of ISC.
THE ROYAL EMPIRE
SOCIETY
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE
LONDON, W.C.2.
4th March,
1942.
MY DEAR COLONEL
As I said I would, I am
writing again to tell you something of what transpired at Monday's
meeting of the Executive Committee of the I.S.C. I am afraid
things have gone too far for it to be possible in any way to
even postpone the amalgamation with Haileybury. Lord Kenilworth
saw both your letter and Tapp's, and everything that you both
said in them was explained to the Committee. I feel that I ought
to have kept you better informed of the negotiations for the
amalgamation, but, as I have said to you before, the circumstances
were such that it was necessary to take immediate action, and
we all jumped at the chance of amalgamation with Haileybury,
the school from which the United Service College originally came,
rather than run any risk of missing the opportunity by delay;
and having to accept some very much more unsatisfactory solution.
It is impossible in a letter like this to go into the details
of the financial situation, but it was such as to make it quite
impossible to carry on as things were and the alternative would
have been not only bankruptcy but a most inglorious departure
from Windsor. The number of boys also was dwindling so steadily
that there would not have been enough left with which to carry
on. As it is we march out of Windsor with our flag flying high,
with all our traditions and every safeguard that the identity
of the College will be in no way lost. The name is to be 'Haileybury
and the Imperial Service College.'
The sale of the properties
will realise such a sum as will enable us to not only maintain
the present boys at their present fees, but to nominate and bring
in other boys of the same kind under the same conditions and
same circumstances as at Westwood Ho! or at Windsor, at a fee
much lower than the ordinary and which their parents can afford.
Arrangements are being made for all Memorials worth keeping to
be transferred to Haileybury, or to the Junior School. Our governors
will be well represented on the Haileybury and I.S.C. Council.
They have asked me to be a Trustee for the disposal of the funds
of the College in the interests of I.S.C. boys and you may rely
upon me to ensure that the Old Boys Societies are voiced and
recognised in every way by the amalgamated school. I have made
a great point of this in all our discussions and the same applies
to the King Edward Horse, and Kipling, connections.
I am writing to Dunsterville to ask him to become a Governor,
and I hope we may be able to get someone else of one of the Old
Boys' Societies represented on the Council or Trustees.
The boys were, of course,
very unhappy at first at the idea of leaving Windsor, but the
position has now been thoroughly explained and I think that they
gave come to realise the situation much better and to be much
more reconciled to it, especially in view of the fact that they
will have many more amenities, as I think I explained to you
before, than they had at Windsor, and that they are assured that
they will be most sympathetically received. The Headmaster of
Haileybury has already been to Windsor and met the Prefects,
and I believe they were much impressed by his kindness and evident
sympathy with them in their natural reluctance at the transfer.
He is a particularly nice man, Canon Bonhote, and I am sure he
will do everything to make things easy for them.
If there is anything more
about which you would like information, or about which I can
tell you, do please write to me again. I can assure you I am
only too anxious to do everything I can to keep the old School's
end up and to satisfy the Old Boys' Societies in this unfortunate
matter. In Tapp's letter, he is naturally anxious about the Kipling
Memorial Houses and the King Edward Horse, and I can only repeat
that we have every intention, in some way or other, of identifying
both these things with the amalgamated school.
Yours sincerely,
ALEX GODLEY
Aftermath
When ISC Senior School moved away from
Windsor, 128 boys and seven masters transferred to Haileybury
School, Hertford. Lawrence House took over the original Haileybury
Lawrence, with Major Nicholls as House Master and M G R Kingsford
as House Captain. Connaught and Roberts Houses formed Kipling
House and members of Cambridge House joined other Haileybury
houses.
Most of the various memorials from Windsor
were either removed to Haileybury School or Westwood Ho! before
petrol restrictions came into force. Details appear in the ISC
Old Boys Journal of 1943. The Honours Boards from the Dining
Hall at Windsor could not be accommodated at Hertford and so
the names were transcribed onto vellum in book form and located
in the Library at Hertford.
In April 1943 it was reported that the
land at 'Big Side', the Chapel, King Edward Horse Hall, Kipling
Memorial Building, the classrooms, Dining Hall and 'A', 'B' and
'C' houses were purchased by Windsor Corporation.
The ISC Junior School became known as Haileybury
and ISC Junior School, and remained at Clewer Manor, off Imperial
Road. The headmaster was EAS (Sydney) Beckwith, EGA Beckwith's
son, a position he held from 1934-1968.
In April, 1945, three years after the move,
Mr Beckwith wrote the following article for the Old Boys' Journal.
An Open Letter
from Sydney Beckwith, Headmaster, Junior School
DEAR O.U.S.C'S. and
O.I.S.C.'s.,
It has been suggested to
me by several Old Boys that I should write a brief account of
the Junior School and its doings in this number of the Old Boys'
Journal. I will, therefore, endeavour to give you all the necessary
information.
No doubt you are by now all aware of the fact
that, since April, 1942, the "Coll." as a separate
entity finally ceased to exist, that it has permanently amalgamated
with Haileybury at Hertford as Haileybury and Imperial Service
College, that all the land (including a large portion of the
Junior School grounds) has been sold for building and that Big-Side,
including all the buildings, has been sold to the Town Council
for municipal offices, etc. The idea is, I believe, to make it
a civic centre.
The Junior School, however, now known as Haileybury
and Imperial Service College Junior School, is still carrying
on in its old surroundings at Clewer Manor. The numbers are just
on 100 and with present accommodation and bookings there are
no more boarding vacancies before 1949. It is hoped, however,
that before then we shall be able to increase our accommodation.
The numbers aimed at will probably be in the neighbourhood of
100 boarders and possibly 25 day-boys. Unfortunately now that
the surrounding land has been sold the school will ultimately
be situated right in the middle of a built-up area and there
is more than a possibility that we shall be compelled to move
to other premises in the near neighbourhood. In fact, negotiations
with that end in view are already under way. If we do have to
move no one is likely to regret it more than myself. I am quite
sure, however, that it is the only policy under the circumstances.
Clewer Manor with its present surroundings is ideal. Clewer Manor
in the middle of a building estate of four hundred and forty
not particularly high-class houses with Clewer Lodge pulled down
and Imperial Road a by-pass is a different proposition altogether.
Whatever happens, we shall, if possible, remain in the neighbourhood
so as to keep the connection with Windsor. The present scheme
is largely dependent in the first place on the sanction of the
Board of Education; it is also impossible at the moment to have
any idea as to when we shall be able to build. In the meantime,
a great many boys will have to be turned away.
At the time of writing, the following sons
of Old Boys' are at the School: Hetherington, Hazelton and two
Webbes. Dark and Newton i have just left us for the Senior School.
Newton ii is due to join us next term and several others are
entered for as far ahead as 1952. So don't leave it too late
if you want to register your sons. I have very reluctantly had
to refuse several sons of Old Boys' recently, owing to lack of
accommodation.
Of course the large majority of boys go on
to the Senior School, but we have in recent times been represented
with distinction at Aldenham, Blundells, Charterhouse, Cheltenham,
Dartmouth, Douai, Eastbourne, Epsom, Merchant Taylors, Rugby,
Pangbourne, the Worcester, Shrewsbury (£80 scholarship),
Merchiston Edinburgh (Top scholarship) and Wellington (where
Holdway was recently Captain of the School, Captain of Athletics,
Captain of Swimming, and Scrum-half in the XV).
The XV continues to flourish (subject to correction
I don't think we have lost more than six school matches during
the last ten years). On the whole we don't have such big scores
as we used to, as we either play stronger schools or we play
an "A" team. At one time we never considered it a decent
win if we scored less than 50 points! Our two best efforts were
98-0 v. Gayhurst and 79-0 v. Cranleigh Junior School.
The standard of cricket, though never up to
the rugger, is improving and last season we did not lose a match.
Boxing is taken by Sergt. Major Featherstone,
Instructor at Eton, and judging by the number of boys who have
represented their Public Schools, afterwards, the standard is
good.
The letter goes on to mention
that it is Mr Beckwith's view that the USC and ISC Old Boys'
societies should merge with Haileybury Old Boys if the newly
merged school is truly to be "Haileybury and ISC".
He writes:
"I know very well
that I am treading on very delicate ground, and that I shall
probably bring down a heap of abuse on my head by what I am going
to say. However, I think it is my duty to do so. I cannot very
well be accused of being pro-Haileybury or anti-ISC and anyway
the Beckwiths have thick skins! I refer to the amalgamation of
the Old Boys' Societies."
This suggestion was not taken kindly to
it seems, or at any rate it had not been acted upon a year later
for in the Journal of 1946 it is reported that a meeting had
taken place in London in March of that year but that it had been
agreed not to progress the suggestion until after an Annual General
Meeting. In any event, the view was that the two Old Boys' Societies
of United Services and Imperial Service College should merge
first. On 4th June 1946 the AGM took place and the merging of
the two Societies was unanimously agreed to but that amalgamation
with The Old Haileyburian Society should be left in abeyance.
By the time the 1947 Journal appeared it had been snappily renamed
the Journal of the
United Services College and Imperial Service College Society. Membership was reported to be 700.
In 1966 the junior school became known
simply as Haileybury Junior School and in 1997 amalgamated with
Lambrook School in Winkfield, the land being sold for housing
development.
In 1942, the main ISC school buildings,
including Kipling Building, were taken over by the War Office
although it is reported in Windsor
1000 Years [WLHPG] that Windsor Corporation actually purchased
Kipling Building in 1943 for £37,000 so the War Office
leased the building until 1949.
We have been told that Queen Elizabeth II, when Princess
Elizabeth, learnt to drive in the grounds around Kipling Building
at this time. Princess Elizabeth spent much of her time at Windsor
Castle and Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park during the war years
with her parents, George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and her sister
Margaret.
Kipling Building was finally taken over by Windsor
Corporation in 1949, using them as the Council Offices until
the merger with Maidenhead Borough in 1974. Berkshire County
Council Health Department occupied the building at the eastern
end. Plans in the early 1950s showed that Kipling Building could
have become a fully fledged 'civic centre' though these plans
never materialised. Instead Borough offices were built in the
form of York House in Sheet Street. A strange choice of location,
being virtually as far east as it is possible to get in Windsor
and not particularly close to either the main shopping centre
or the majority of the residential areas.
In 1981 Kipling Building was demolished and replaced
by a new building first occupied by Rank Hovis McDougall, then
by Reckitt and Coleman and from 2001 by the Six Continents Hotels
group. In 2003 the site became the offices of the Intercontinental
Hotels group. Here
is a link to more pictures of Kipling Memorial Building.
By coincidence, at the time of the demolition of Kipling Memorial
Building in 1981, the Chairman of Rank Hovis McDougal, J. McA.
Rank, was an Old Boy of Haileybury Senior School in Hertford.
The entrance to Six Continents
Hotels in 2002
originally the entrance to Kipling Building and lined with flowering
crab apples planted in 1949. These were bulldozed away in 1981.
King Edward VII Horse Hall was used in the 1950s and 60s for
public events but was not a popular venue because of its location.
Its demolition followed to make way for Kipling Court, residential
flats for the elderly. Only the clock from the roof of The Horse
Hall now remains, placed above the main entrance to Kipling Court
in York Road.
The clock from The Horse Hall
above Kipling Court
During the war, the Macaskie Classroom Block had
also been taken over by the War Office and used as a barracks.
They were finally demolished to make way for Goslar Way in the
mid 1960s.
It is sad to note that the three major buildings
constructed in the 20th century by the College were demolished
after only forty or so years. Demolition was not an easy task
- the buildings were intended to last for hundreds of years as
befitting a Public School - and it seems that the company charged
with the work significantly underestimated the time it would
take as they were so solidly constructed!
Much of the land sold by ISC in 1942 was bought by
Messrs. Varney, (Builders), who constructed new residential areas
along Springfield Road, Green Lane, York Road and York Avenue
from the 1930s - 1960s.
Vansittart Road Recreation Ground was threatened
with similar building plans in the late 1940s and early 1950s
but planning permission was refused and so Messrs. Varney sold
the land to Windsor Corporation. An attempt to build on the land
in 1989 was similarly halted on appeal to the Ministry as Windsor
was, and remains to this day, substantially short of Public Open
Space. Story here
Haileybury Junior School moved to Winkfield
in 1997. In 2001-2002, Clewer Manor was converted
to flats while the surrounding Open Space has been given over
in part to residential development although a Ministry inspector
had refused an earlier application to develop the site in 1979
"on the grounds of amenity alone".
A new gateway to Clewer Manor,
the former Haileybury Junior School.
The low wall beyond is much older.
New houses built around Clewer
Manor in 2003
The construction of housing on this site
has necessitated the creation of a wider junction some 50 yards
to the north for the access road to Imperial Road as well as
realignment of the entrance to Windsor Girls School. This has
also provided the school with additional sports grounds.
Local Road Names and their
link with Imperial Service College
Several of the roads in this area reflect
the influence and importance to Windsor of the Imperial Service
College and its predecessors from the 1840s. These include St
Marks Road and St Marks Place, Hawtrey Road, Foster Avenue, College
Crescent and Imperial Road which passes alongside Clewer Manor.
Imperial Road was built on the line of the old path known as
'Lover's Walk', running from St Leonards Road to Clarence Road,
as an unemployment relief scheme in 1923.
Personal Reminiscences
by former pupil Mike O'Neil-Shaw
17th April 2002
I attended the ISC junior school at Clewer
Manor from February 1940 to December 1946. At that time the headmaster
was Mr Sydney Beckwith, a man universally liked and respected
by both boys and parents.
I vividly recall the last Sunday service in the senior school
chapel, to which we junior school pupils used to walk every Sunday.
"SB" read the last lesson, but was overcome with emotion
and was unable to finish. I was only nine years old at the time,
but I remember it as if it had happened yesterday.
After the ISC amalgamated with Haileybury, I eventually
moved on to Haileybury in February 1947.
My six years at Clewer Manor were very happy, with the emphasis
(of course) on sport, especially rugby and cricket. Looking back
on those days, one can see how idyllic the ambience of the place
was, with the spacious grounds and wooded areas.
As I was there from 1940 to 1946, I well remember
watching the air raids over Windsor from our dormitory window,
with the searchlights, tracer bullets and explosions of bombs
and flak. We had an unwelcome visitor in the form of an oil bomb,
which fell near one of the rugby pitches, but failed to explode.
Since it fell some distance from the nearest building, it probably
would not have done much damage, even if it had exploded, but
of course it could have fallen on the buildings just as easily.
When you are eight years of age, you don't think
of death as being in any way relevant. Death is for adults, usually
old ones. It never occurred to us boys that we were in danger
and we treated the thing as a big firework display.
After the senior school closed, we walked to the
Guards Church [Holy Trinity Garrison
Church, Ed.] in Windsor every Sunday. The Guards band often
played, which we of course thought was marvellous, and we used
to watch the church parade afterwards, before making the crocodile
walk back to school.
I haven't seen Clewer Manor for over forty years,
as I moved to Australia in 1959, but I can picture the driveway
and the buildings quite clearly. I hope that whatever is happening
to it now will do justice to the way it used to be.
Mike O'Neil-Shaw
School Colours
Black and gold
House Colours
Cambridge (A): Green and black.
Camperdown (B): Saxe blue and black.
Lawrence (C): Navy blue and silver.
Games Colours (C) North: Maroon, blue and
white. South: Blue and white.
Alexander (D): Blue, black and white.
Connaught (E): Green, black and white.
Roberts (F): Red and black.
1st XV. Gold and black stripes with gold
tasseled cap.
1st XI. Blue blazer with school crest embroidered
in re on pocket
Shooting. K E H Colours. (No reference
as to what these might be, though it could be the colours of
the King Edward Horse Regiment)
We invite
other former pupils of ISC to send in their memories with a picture
or two if at all possible.
Other links
To contact us, email Thamesweb.
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