Hurstpierpoint College - By Peter Woodard

[St. John's College, Hurstpierpoint, formally celebrated its centenary in August, 1949, but did not come to Hurstpierpoint until January, 1850, as is recorded in this article by Peter Woodard, the great-grandson of the Founder, now a member of the Staff.]

Never have I seen such sunrises and sunsets as I did at Hurstpierpoint from the terrace. Many and many a time have I stood there and watched the glory of the departing day. I looked and wandered...and learned a great deal Thus wrote Sabine Baring-Gould, the author of John Herring and such famous hymns as "Through the night of doubt and sorrow" and "Onward Christian Soldiers". He had been master there in its early days, as had George Willes, later to achieve fame at the hands of Rudyard Kipling (who knew him at the Imperial Service College at Westward Ho!) as the "Rev. John Gillette" of Stalky and Co.

Generation after generation of masters and boys have loved this school, and it is natural that is should be so, because, apart from everything else, the founder had a keen and loving eye for natural beauty, and would often spend many months exploring the district from end to end before he finally decided where a new school should be placed.

Among the causes which led to these occasional long hesitations in selecting a site must be reckoned the desire to place his schools is positions where, on the one hand, the buildings would show to best advantage and, on the other, masters and boys would draw continual inspiration from their environment. He believed also that no system of education would be perfect which did not provide for the cultivation of the taste of the pupils through the agency of the highest examples of architecture.

In Sussex alone we have three of these great schools, Lancing, Hurst and Ardingly - in fact almost fifty percent of the boys in these schools come from this county alone. There are sixteen such schools in England sprung from the vision and energy of this practical prophet - schools both for boys and girls, over 5,000 of them being educated throughout our land.

It was in 1847 that a small school "for the sons of the middle classes" was opened in rented quarters at Shoreham by Nathaniel Woodard, a local curate. From this he entertained the idea of starting a series of schools from the Upper, Middle and Lower Middle Classes on a definitely religious basis. The record of Canon Woodard's achievements as an educational pioneer has been described; "as great as that of any single person in the history of Western Civilisation". Although he ruled autocratically and brooked no interference in accomplishing his great purpose, yet he was diffident about undertaking the office of Provost and he thought the honour of laying the foundation of Hurst too great for himself. He was possessed by a vision and an idealism which far transcended the mere founding of a few schools. Honest, courageous and frank, he believed that "Education without Religion is in itself a pure evil". This is why each Woodard school is dominated by its Chapel.

The founder pressed on with the foundation of the first of the "middle" schools and as a temporary abode a house known as the Mansion House in the village of Hurstpierpoint was taken and adapted for use as a school. At the same time plans were under way for the erection of the permanent buildings on the site they now occupy. The School was opened in the Mansion House in January 1850.

Hurstpierpoint a hundred years ago must have been a very pleasant, sleepy, country village. Instead of the long lines of cars and lorries which pass through its narrow street to-day, one would only have seen a farm cart or two, a couple of farmers' gigs, the doctor in his Stanhope, or a barouche or Victoria bearing a lady from one of the big houses on the outskirts.

But on this particular day in January the village was very wide awake. The street as we read in a contemporary account, was filled with people, many of them strangers brought by the railway to Hassocks Gate. Some walked, others rode, farmers and tradesmen exchanged views; a gentlemanly man with a boy in a handsome dog cart with a liveried servant was duly noted. All gradually converged on the Mansion House where the Treasurer awaited the payment of fees for the ensuing term. There seems to have been considerable confusion, some parents paying too much, others too little; others again into the wrong account. But eventually all was rectified, and then the crowd moved down to the church, where a service was held. The sermon was preached by the Bishop of Chichester, and in the church were many well know supporters of the Founder's plan.

After the service there was a luncheon party in the Market House which was "plentifully supplied." Apparently the boys of the school, thirty-four in number, were not invited for they were observed by the reporter of the English Churchman (who had managed to get into the Market House) to be making friends in the street, "rosy open country faces and sharp priggish-looking London children." Speeches followed the luncheon: then the crowds gradually dispersed and by five o'clock Hurst had returned to its normal state.

The success of the new venture was immediate; plans for the building of the new school were hurried forward, and the ceremony of laying the corner took place in June 1851.

The occasion was made a general holiday in Hurst; triumphal arches were set up both in the village and at the approach to the new site, some of the brickwork was already up, there were plenty of flags and bunting in evidence and a large assembly to greet the Bishop. The architect and his assistant were there with a silver trowel and a mason's mallet made from oak taken from the Chapel of the Royal Pavilion at Brighton. This mallet was in use until recently to signal the saying of grace at meals in Hall.

Only two years later, on 21^st June 1853, the school was opened, again in the presence of a distinguished company. It was indeed an important event because it was the first of the schools to obtain permanent buildings and the first to present the Founder's conception of artistic fitness and practical convenience.

The style is Decorated Gothic, and the materials used are split flints and Caen stone. It is, perhaps, Richard Carpenter's best work. The sure touch of artistic conviction is here, and the effect is heightened by the secluded position, and the gentle beauty of the surrounding country, the natural amphitheatre being closed in by the magnificent dome of the Wolstonbury Hill, nearly three miles distant.

On Saturday July 23^rd last year, the hundredth anniversary of the starting of this great venture was celebrated by over fifteen hundred guests and friends of Hurst. Among them the College was honoured to welcome Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, Major-General the Earl of Athlone, His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, and His Majesty's Lord Lieutenant, the Duke of Norfolk. The weather could hardly have been better; the sun shone brilliantly and nothing spoiled the magnificent setting and impressive stature of the college buildings themselves, dominated by the Chapel Tower, from which the school standard fluttered lazily in an occasional breath of wind.

But who can or shall attempt to define the spell of Hurst? An Old Boy describes what it means to him; "There is a gentle beauty of the setting, the dignified calm of the matrix - the original H block of buildings - the glory and majesty of the Chapel - the cloisters, the quadrangles, the sheer splendour of the North Field on a calm summer's day." All this, to Hurst-Johnians far and wide, is a never to be forgotten memory, a framework within which each successive generation remembers such and such outstanding figures, masters and boys, and even peacocks. But more precious still, perhaps, though intangible, are the bonds of common tradition; certain institutions and customs, which are a source of pride and peculiar gratification, and are the distinctive part of Hurst.

The pilgrimage to "Danny". (Wolstonbury Hill) on Ascension Day for the Latin Carols by the choir on the site of the Old Roman Camp, and the ensuing scramble for tuck (at least pre-austerity days); the Boar Head Carol procession and "stodge" (now held appropriately, on the day of S. Nicholas, patron saint of the Society of Woodard schools); the annual Shakespeare play which dates back to 1854, and although, alas, there have been gaps, constitutes a record achievement in school plays; then the school magazine, the Hurst Johnian, appearing regularly since 1856 and thus the doyen of existing school magazines, and so on. Such is the heritage that Canon Woodard left to the boys of Hurstpierpoint.

But what of the future? A School is no inanimate static thing, but a living entity, ever demanding new expressions as it presses on to meet new opportunities. Hurst was built according to a definite and singularly fortunate pattern, yet that pattern is now a hundred years old and has needed additions and adaptations to meet modern day requirements. Already much that was formerly on paper exists in fact; new kitchens and servery, Junior House buildings, sanatorium and so forth; and those who were present at the centenary saw other improvements coming into being; the extension of the swimming bath, the memorial entrance, hard tennis courts, and the new science block rapidly taking shape. "But the real Hurst does not consist in bricks and mortar alone. Boys make the school which is dead without them. At least it can be said that the boys of the past do not outshine those of the present, either in work or games, and the Hurst of to-day is worthy of the Hurst of the past." Study of the various accomplishments show that in the past games have played an important part in the life of the School, and present developments give every promise that they will continue to do so into the future. But Hurst has never cultivated her games at the expense of other more important activities. She has carefully and wisely held the balance between excessive concentration in games, on the one hand, and lack of appreciation of their educational value, on the other.

She takes a proper pride, however, in the athletic achievements of her representatives and Old Boys, and particularly in the last five years has considerably enhanced her reputation for scholarships. The twelve scholarships and exhibitions won to Oxford or Cambridge during that period, included the much prized Brackenbury Scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford. In so small a school, with only 220 boys in the senior school, this is truly a remarkable record. And so, what better guidance for the future than the Founder's eight points of advice to those who were his followers in the great work; "Never play the hero. Seek to pass through life without attracting the eyes of men. Slight no man's good opinion, much less his love, Never CHALLENGE the world. Neither seek nor depend upon the praises of men. Consider the success of this Society to rest on your shoulders solely. In your labours look not to effects social or religious. Do all to the sole glory of God."

"Beati Mundo Corde."

 

 

Nathaniel Woodard
Founder of Woodard Schools