(Spoken Introduction) Ruth Whiting. Teacher of History at Bedales, 1963 – 2000. I Had the Pleasure of Meeting Ruth Whiting a Few Months Before She Died
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(Spoken introduction) Ruth Whiting. Teacher of History at Bedales, 1963 – 2000. I had the pleasure of meeting Ruth Whiting a few months before she died. She had a staggering knowledge of Bedales, past and present. Whilst I was preparing this talk, Ruth came to my house to exchange information and chat generally about John H Badley, Founder & Headmaster of Bedales & Oswald B Powell Co-founder and Second master - my Grandfather Ruth asked my opinion about these two gentlemen. My reply was that Badley seemed to be escaping from, and reacting to, his home and school life……….at which point Ruth interrupted, very animated, saying, “Yes! And your Grandfather wanted to continue his!” Oswald absorbed so much from his father, so much from his family with all their activities, so much from his life as a pupil at Uppingham School in Rutland. Experiencing, doing, always learning, always keeping an open mind. That was my Grandfather. Emphasis on DOING. One The following are the sources for this talk. by Ann Donnelly (née Powell) & Jill Thompson-Lewis (née Powell) • More than 40 volumes of family letters & writings, circa 1848-1949, now in The British Library. Plus family photos. • My sister, Jill Thompson-Lewis, extracted about 30 A4 sides of references to Bedales from the above volumes. • ‘Memories & Reflections’ by J H Badley. • Dr Cormac Rigby, broadcaster, who kindly lent to me his Ph.D Thesis on The Rev. Edward Thring. • My 1973 dissertation “Bisham Village School, Uppingham School, & Bedales School, a Family Connection” used many extracts from the family letters & writings. • Jerry Redman, Uppingham School archivist. 2 • Malcolm Tozer, master at Uppingham 1966-1989. Author. Well, what is “Bedales”? • It is a private co-educational boarding school. It has been in Steep, near Petersfield, since 1900. • It was founded 1893 in Lindfield, Sussex, by John H Badley aided by my grandfather, Oswald B Powell. • One of the “progressive” movements of the time • The move to Steep from Sussex was made as more space was needed. • It celebrated its 125 anniversary in 2018 • There seemed to be no mention of my Grandfather in the celebrations. Hence this talk! I would like to stress that this talk is also by my sister, Jill Thompson-Lewis, former Secretary of both PAHS & The Museum, of which she was one of the founders. She was also Editor of the Bulletin. Sadly, she’s now in a care home. 4 Grandfather was Oswald B Powell 1867 – 1967 (Osbos) Second Master and co-founder of Bedales School. This talk is about his journey to it. John Haden Badley and Oswald Byrom Powell, two Victorians, met through a common acquaintance. They were very different in character & background. Two Founders. Two different men. They complemented each other. But how? John H Badley Oswald B Powell “The Chief” “Osbos” 6 John Haden Badley went to Rugby School Father was a doctor. Mother, was an Evangelist. 8 John Badley wrote numerous books as well as his autobiography: “Memories and Reflections.” 1938 Amy Badley with my Mother, myself and siblings 9 There are many errors in this book about the Powell family. Amongst some good accounts of his life, there is also an absurd & fictitious account of Oswald’s death…….. 10 Please meet Oswald Byrom Powell, my Grandfather, 1867 – 1967 ……his parents. ...and boyhood home Man, matron, maiden, Please call it Baden. Further for Powell, Rhyme it with Noël. (by Robert Baden-Powell) 11 The Rev. Thomas E Powell Vicar of Bisham . 1848 - 1900 Oswald was the youngest son. 12 Emma Corrie Powell . She bore 12 children Oswald was the 11th. She outlived her husband by 18 years. 13 1846 Cookham Dean, near Marlow Thomas & Emma, moved to Cookham Dean, near Marlowe, in 1846...... “....a semi-savage district, spreading corruption & mischief to all surrounding parishes. All disreputable sports such as bull-baiting, dog-fights etc. desecrated Sundays.” 14 As an unpaid young Curate, Thomas was alarmed at being awakened at 5am on a Sunday by the “primitives” shouting hymns & sermons, using a wagon for a pulpit . “Preachers, male & female, held forth, surrounded by loafers and drunkards.” Then…….. in 1848 he was appointed Vicar of Bisham & with it, the care of the School. 15 It was clear that the children had been badly treated. The boys were in a minority “..& in a position quite secondary , to the girls..” Most boys went to work aged 7 or 8. “..the residue seemed cowed by the superior age & position of the girls...” This was owing to the lucrative Satin (Damask) stitching by the girls. 16 Actually, it was two “ladies” who ran the school. They were sacked. So.... ..a talented master, Mr Heald, was engaged. A few weeks later numbers rose from under 20 to 70, ”..including many Marlowe children..” It was now a mixed school, but with the infants separate. The satin-stitch girls were all found posts in the area. Alas, Mr Heald’s honesty came into doubt. Sacked. 17 In 1849 came a meeting, that was to have a lifelong effect on the lives of Thomas E Powell, Edward Thring & Oswald Byrom Powell 18 • While out walking, Thomas E (Oswald’s father) • met…… • The Rev. Edward Thring. Horse (Grasshopper) & a dog (Queer), exhausted, recuperate, Gloucester 19 “A friendship thus commenced which with some vicissitudes lasted until his (Thring’s) death”. (From Thomas E Powell, Memoirs) Cormac Rigby comments on this friendship: “In the Vicar of Bisham...........Thring found a man after his own heart. Thomas Powell (had) set out to raise the educational level of his parish, and naturally he found an ally in Edward Thring”. Thring wrote of his Gloucester days..> 20 In a speech to Ed. Soc., Thring referred to his work in the slums of Gloucester. “...how on earth the Cambridge Honour Man, with his success and his brain- world, was to get at the minds of those little labourers’ sons with their unfurnished heads, & no time to give.....” 21 “They gave me the great axiom, ‘the worse the material, the greater the skill of the worker.’ They bred in me a supreme contempt for knowledge in lumps, for emptying out knowledge lumps in a heap like stones at a roadside, and calling it teaching.....” So, this is what he did 3 years later, recovered, & now a close friend of the Powell family. 22 He refounded Uppingham School. It became a Public School Cormac Rigby:: “The essential influence was that of a happy house..” The ‘Houses’ consisted of 30 boys of mixed ages. The Housemasters were encouraged to marry young and start a family. For now, back to Bisham………. 23 Bisham Vicarage was home to Oswald’s parents & siblings for more than 50 Years 24 Oswald, the youngest son, & his 5 brothers and 4 sisters all learnt to water-colour, play an instrument, use their hands to make things and sing. And they wrote letters to their parents and each other - a lifelong occupation. They sang & played in their own concerts on the lawn that ran down to the Thames. 25 Rowers stopped their weekend outings, resting their oars to listen, blocking the river from bank to bank. 26 A report in The South Bucks Free Press named them: “The Bisham Family Singers.” But there was also a question of duty to others... 27 Here is Oswald’s diary of 1878, aged 11. He had to wait at table. In ‘dress clothes’ if there were visitors. But excused if it was his bath night! In 1882 he was at Uppingham….and this is what young Oswald experienced at school….. 28 Classics continued, yes. But then...... • Music, practice under Paul David (son of Ferdinand David) • Singing, including a choir. ♦ Modern Languages. • Carpentry. ♦ A school garden. • A love of Nature - birds fed from Thring’s lips. • Athletics, tennis – even teaching it himself! • A school gymnasium. A swimming pool. • Country walks, with no masters. • Private study rooms, “where a boy could cry.” Paintings & works of Art to inspire the boys. Supervised cookery lessons for the village ladies. Then there was sport … 29 Trophies, Uppingham style.....mid to late 19th Century!. 30 I would like to emphasise….. This was mid Victorian times. No names such as “progressive” had been added to the word “education”. Thring just got on with doing something he thought was right. My Grandfather said that even with flogging they still loved & respected him. There was always a talk, an exchange, first. 31 Schooldays over, University over, Oswald taught in Manchester Grammar School. With 40 -50 boys in a foggy classroom something had to change! He wrote to a friend of his sister Emily, ‘Goldie’ Lowes Dickinson 32 How the Founders met • “Goldie” Lowes-Dickinson, a Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, a philosopher & liberal thinker, introduced them to each other. • He was known to John Badley from Cambridge. • He was known to Oswald Powell through his family & sister Emily. 33 Badley wrote on 22/06/1965: “..with all his (“Goldie’s”) wisdom and loving kindness.....I owe an immeasurable debt oF thankFulness; and I hope that all who know Bedales know how much it owes to him as well as to its actual Founders....” (Badley explains “Founders” means himselF, his wiFe Amy, & Oswald & his wiFe WiniFred) 34 So, the two men met in Dudley. Before going to the Badley home, they talked on a hill. Oswald later described Badley’s home as “drab and narrow”. However, he was impressed by Badley’s prospectus. It was agreed they would forge ahead together. “Goldie” Lowes-Dickinson had laid the first foundation stone of what was to become Bedales School. ( OBP had been advised by his friend and colleague from Manchester Grammar School to Dudley “well-dressed and, if occasion offered, to show that you smoke and are not anti-alcoholic…” Grandfather followed the advice……..!) 35 Badley searched & found a suitable house, ‘Bedales’, in Lindfield Sussex.