Victoria College at Bedford: Island News in the Second World War
A number of boys had left Jersey in 1940 with the families in the evacuation to the UK. In September 1940, about 40 boys with Mr. Grummitt, Mr. Hopewell and Miss Aubrey were accommodated at Bedford School. Shortly afterwards Mr. Grummitt left on his appointment as Principal of Belfast Royal Academical Institution, and Mr. S. M. Toyne consented to act as Headmaster of 'Victoria College at Bedford. Mr. Toyne had been for 20 years Headmaster of S. Peter's School, York, before coming to Bedford to give part-time help. Victoria College owes a great deal to him for the tremendous work which he did during the next five years.
The Victorians at Bedford took a full part in the activities of their foster-parent school and brought honour to themselves and to Bedford in both work and games, but they never lost their identity as Victorians. As an expression of their gratitude they and other friends of Victoria College presented an Oak Panel, and an oak seat which now stands in the Bedford School playing-fields
As part of their distinct identity as Victorians at Bedford, a newsletter was produced, containing both news gleaned of Victoria College in Jersey, and also of the plight of the Islanders in general.
In the next few weeks, I am posting some extracts from those newsletters:
OBITUARY.
A number of boys had left Jersey in 1940 with the families in the evacuation to the UK. In September 1940, about 40 boys with Mr. Grummitt, Mr. Hopewell and Miss Aubrey were accommodated at Bedford School. Shortly afterwards Mr. Grummitt left on his appointment as Principal of Belfast Royal Academical Institution, and Mr. S. M. Toyne consented to act as Headmaster of 'Victoria College at Bedford. Mr. Toyne had been for 20 years Headmaster of S. Peter's School, York, before coming to Bedford to give part-time help. Victoria College owes a great deal to him for the tremendous work which he did during the next five years.
The Victorians at Bedford took a full part in the activities of their foster-parent school and brought honour to themselves and to Bedford in both work and games, but they never lost their identity as Victorians. As an expression of their gratitude they and other friends of Victoria College presented an Oak Panel, and an oak seat which now stands in the Bedford School playing-fields
As part of their distinct identity as Victorians at Bedford, a newsletter was produced, containing both news gleaned of Victoria College in Jersey, and also of the plight of the Islanders in general.
In the next few weeks, I am posting some extracts from those newsletters:
OBITUARY.
Robert Ranulph Marett.
Robert Ranulph Marett (1812) was at College from 1881 to 1884. At School he gained the Classical Gold Medal. His honours at Oxford included a First both in Modera-tions and Lit. Hum., Chancellor's Prize for Latin Verse, Honourable mention for the Hertford, prox. acc. for Chancellor's English Essay, Green Prize for Philosophy, Fellow-ship at Exeter, D.Sc. He died suddenly at Oxford on February 18th, 1943. We are per-mitted to reproduce C. T. Le Quesne's tribute, read to a meeting of the Jersey Society :—We have heard with the deepest regret of the death on 18th February last of one of our Vice-Presidents, Dr. R. R. Marett, Rector of Exeter College, Oxford.
These few inadequate words of tribute to his memory are spoken by one who was one of his pupils at Oxford and had the good fortune to be on terms of friendship with him for more than thirty years. Someone wrote to me about him and said " His death came to me almost like the passing of an apparently ageless institution," and I with sorrow can say the same.
Dr. Marett was the son of Sir Robert Marett, one of the greatest of all the bailiffs of Jersey. He was born in 1866 and lost his father when he was only 18 years of age. In the same year (1884) he won one of the most coveted of all the awards which are open to a schoolboy going to the university and was elected to a senior exhibition at Balliol College, Oxford. He distinguished himself greatly as an undergraduate and in 1890 he was elected to a Fellowship at Exeter College. He spent the rest of his life in the service of that College, becoming Rector in 1928 and fulfilling the duties of that office to the great advantage of the College until his death in 1943. He was tutor in philosophy but his intellectual activities were not confined to that subject.
Soon after taking his degree he became interested in the science of anthropology, which was then attracting to itself the attention of scholars in various countries. He was more responsible than anyone else for the establishment of the School of Anthropology at Oxford. He wrote books on the subject, and many of you are probably acquainted with his book in the Home University Library entitled el nthropoingy, which has run into many editions and been translated into many languages. The ease and the „Alarm with which it is written may conceal from some readers the industry and erudition upon which it is based. His name will always be associated with anthropological studies, particularly in relation to religion in its early developments amongst primitive peoples. He was an admirable lecturer on philosophical, anthropological and other subjects, full of humour, vigour and humanity. Celebrated Universities honoured him by inviting him to lecture before them. His lectures on the great Greek philosopher Plato were famous at Oxford. I can still see him delivering them (would that I were still listening to them I) in a fine old college hall crowded with students, standing erect at a tall desk (he was a fine figure of a man), manifestly keen on his sub-ject, enjoying the delivery of the lecture as much as his audience enjoyed listening to it.
An admirable picture of him as a man and a scholar is contained in his own account of his life entitled A Jerseyman at Oxford, which was published in 1941. In 1940 his elder son, a naval officer, was lost in the naval fighting off the Norwegian coast, and his home at La Haule in Jersey fell under the control and perhaps passed into the possession of the enemy. He did not sink into despair, but wrote the history of his life as he tells us, '` simply in order to keep various black devils at a distance," and so produced an autobiography which will never cease to interest those who knew him or who love Jersey or Oxford. Its title is significant.
He was a Jerseyman through and through. He was Seigneur du Franc Fief en St. Brelade and of all the honourable titles which belonged to him there was none of which he was more proud. Nothing ever impaired his devotion to his native island. He could have used with complete honesty the often quoted words of Victor Hugo, " Savez-vous ce que j'aime jersey ? j'airne tout."
He lived on a wider stage than Jersey could have given him, but he wrote these words about himself in his autobiography (p. 317) : " I should have been perfectly satisfied if I could have occupied some position of trust in the Island," and none of us who knew him can have any doubt that the words are absolutely true. It was appropriate that his life work should have been done as a Fellow of Exeter College, which amongst all Oxford Colleges has a peculiarly close and long-established connection with Jersey.
There can have been no one to whom the temporary separation from Jersey which this war has forced upon us was more painful. He was one of the most active and enthusiastic members of the Societe Jersiaise, and had held the office of President. He was a great authority on the antiquities of all the Channel Islands and did much to promote the study and the knowledge of them.
He took a leading part in the exploration of the now world-famous Cotte de St. Brelade, the cave in the cliff on the eastern side of St. Brelade's Bay, which belonged to his old friend, Mr. Guy de Gruchy, Seigneur de Noirmont. He laboured with pick and shovel in the excavations, and took his share, and more than his share, of the toil and the risk.
None who worked with him there will forget the scramble down to the site, the perspiring labours in the scorching sun above that lovely bay, his delight in dislodging some immense boulder which would go crashing down to the beach, and the unending flow of conversation. From the discoveries in that cave there was derived a new chapter in the prehistoric annals of the island.
His kindness to undergraduates going up to Exeter College from the Channel Islands can be appreciated fully only by those who have benefited by it, and has been a support and an encouragement to many a lad, who was feeling a little lost, home-sick, and bewildered. I have as much cause as anyone to remember it with thankfulness. He delighted in conversation and was ready and brilliant in it, prepared to meet all comers and full- of marvellous stories. His carriage and his movements all betokened great energy. He was a man of indomitable spirit, and Lord Portsea in writing about him to the Times rightly applied to him the well-known words of Emily Bronte : " No coward soul is mine, No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere."
He had achieved much but he was entirely free of any pride, which would have set up any barrier between him and his fellow men. He never lost the common touch, and his magnificent vitality and youthful spirit enabled him to understand and to command the confidence and the friendship of young men to the very end of his life. He was the staunchest of friends, and I speak for all who enjoyed the privilege of his friendship, when I say that they will always remember him with affectionate gratitude.
Cyril Thompson Elliott.
Cyril Thompson Elliott (2468) died on January 3rd, 1943, at his home in Johannes-burg. He entered in 1894 and left in 1897, and in his last year captained the Cricket XI, when Victoria College defeated Elizabeth College by an innings in both matches. Becoming a schoolmaster, he migrated to South Africa and joined the staff of St. John's College, Johannesburg. He was for many years Secretary of the Transvaal Golf Club, and in 1921 won the Open Championship of the Transvaal. In the Great War he served as a subaltern in the East African Force. He leaves a widow, a son and two daughters.
Frederick William Mackenzie Skues.
Mackenzie Skues (1674) was at College from 1878 to 1884. He served with the South Rhodesian Volunteers in the South African War. He became a Lecturer and Instructor in Surveying at the Crystal Palace Engineer-ing School, and a Member of the Council of the Society of Engineers. He died on May 27th, 1940, at his home in South Croydon.
O.V.'s Here, There and Everywhere
I'm a bit too old for any regular war work, and it has gradually become clear that my job in this war is to collect, co-ordinate, and distribute news of all kinds from Jersey, from Germany, from and concerning O.V.'s of all generations, wheresoever they may be, I receive a great number of most enjoyable letters, and write considerably more.
The late Jurat Payn, who had a gift of caustic utterance, once remarked at a Governors' Meeting, " A good deal of correspondence seems to emanate from that quarter."
"Well, anyhow," as A. P. Herbert says, " the News Letter seems to have its mission."
It goes to between six and seven hundred O.V.'s, and, the stone having been dropped into the pond, the circle widens steadily. To a man fighting grimly in the desert, or watching in loneliness on a vital frontier, or cheerfully sticking every kind of hardship on inhospitable seas, hunger-ing always for scraps of news from home, its coming is welcome. I forbear to quote from letters of appreciation, but they verge on the enthusiastic. War is a powerful harmonising and unifying agency. Consider what it has done and is doing throughout the world.
And in the tiny O.V. sphere it is doing more than anything else could have done in renewing thoughts of and devotion to the old school. I, at any rate, have been provided with an absorbing and delightful occupation, which is not without its usefulness.
Addresses wanted. —My address list is steadily deteriorating. O.V.'s serving leave one station for another, or go overseas, and forget to send me a new address.
AND EVERYWHERE
Robert Ranulph Marett (1812) was at College from 1881 to 1884. At School he gained the Classical Gold Medal. His honours at Oxford included a First both in Modera-tions and Lit. Hum., Chancellor's Prize for Latin Verse, Honourable mention for the Hertford, prox. acc. for Chancellor's English Essay, Green Prize for Philosophy, Fellow-ship at Exeter, D.Sc. He died suddenly at Oxford on February 18th, 1943. We are per-mitted to reproduce C. T. Le Quesne's tribute, read to a meeting of the Jersey Society :—We have heard with the deepest regret of the death on 18th February last of one of our Vice-Presidents, Dr. R. R. Marett, Rector of Exeter College, Oxford.
These few inadequate words of tribute to his memory are spoken by one who was one of his pupils at Oxford and had the good fortune to be on terms of friendship with him for more than thirty years. Someone wrote to me about him and said " His death came to me almost like the passing of an apparently ageless institution," and I with sorrow can say the same.
Dr. Marett was the son of Sir Robert Marett, one of the greatest of all the bailiffs of Jersey. He was born in 1866 and lost his father when he was only 18 years of age. In the same year (1884) he won one of the most coveted of all the awards which are open to a schoolboy going to the university and was elected to a senior exhibition at Balliol College, Oxford. He distinguished himself greatly as an undergraduate and in 1890 he was elected to a Fellowship at Exeter College. He spent the rest of his life in the service of that College, becoming Rector in 1928 and fulfilling the duties of that office to the great advantage of the College until his death in 1943. He was tutor in philosophy but his intellectual activities were not confined to that subject.
Soon after taking his degree he became interested in the science of anthropology, which was then attracting to itself the attention of scholars in various countries. He was more responsible than anyone else for the establishment of the School of Anthropology at Oxford. He wrote books on the subject, and many of you are probably acquainted with his book in the Home University Library entitled el nthropoingy, which has run into many editions and been translated into many languages. The ease and the „Alarm with which it is written may conceal from some readers the industry and erudition upon which it is based. His name will always be associated with anthropological studies, particularly in relation to religion in its early developments amongst primitive peoples. He was an admirable lecturer on philosophical, anthropological and other subjects, full of humour, vigour and humanity. Celebrated Universities honoured him by inviting him to lecture before them. His lectures on the great Greek philosopher Plato were famous at Oxford. I can still see him delivering them (would that I were still listening to them I) in a fine old college hall crowded with students, standing erect at a tall desk (he was a fine figure of a man), manifestly keen on his sub-ject, enjoying the delivery of the lecture as much as his audience enjoyed listening to it.
An admirable picture of him as a man and a scholar is contained in his own account of his life entitled A Jerseyman at Oxford, which was published in 1941. In 1940 his elder son, a naval officer, was lost in the naval fighting off the Norwegian coast, and his home at La Haule in Jersey fell under the control and perhaps passed into the possession of the enemy. He did not sink into despair, but wrote the history of his life as he tells us, '` simply in order to keep various black devils at a distance," and so produced an autobiography which will never cease to interest those who knew him or who love Jersey or Oxford. Its title is significant.
He was a Jerseyman through and through. He was Seigneur du Franc Fief en St. Brelade and of all the honourable titles which belonged to him there was none of which he was more proud. Nothing ever impaired his devotion to his native island. He could have used with complete honesty the often quoted words of Victor Hugo, " Savez-vous ce que j'aime jersey ? j'airne tout."
He lived on a wider stage than Jersey could have given him, but he wrote these words about himself in his autobiography (p. 317) : " I should have been perfectly satisfied if I could have occupied some position of trust in the Island," and none of us who knew him can have any doubt that the words are absolutely true. It was appropriate that his life work should have been done as a Fellow of Exeter College, which amongst all Oxford Colleges has a peculiarly close and long-established connection with Jersey.
There can have been no one to whom the temporary separation from Jersey which this war has forced upon us was more painful. He was one of the most active and enthusiastic members of the Societe Jersiaise, and had held the office of President. He was a great authority on the antiquities of all the Channel Islands and did much to promote the study and the knowledge of them.
He took a leading part in the exploration of the now world-famous Cotte de St. Brelade, the cave in the cliff on the eastern side of St. Brelade's Bay, which belonged to his old friend, Mr. Guy de Gruchy, Seigneur de Noirmont. He laboured with pick and shovel in the excavations, and took his share, and more than his share, of the toil and the risk.
None who worked with him there will forget the scramble down to the site, the perspiring labours in the scorching sun above that lovely bay, his delight in dislodging some immense boulder which would go crashing down to the beach, and the unending flow of conversation. From the discoveries in that cave there was derived a new chapter in the prehistoric annals of the island.
His kindness to undergraduates going up to Exeter College from the Channel Islands can be appreciated fully only by those who have benefited by it, and has been a support and an encouragement to many a lad, who was feeling a little lost, home-sick, and bewildered. I have as much cause as anyone to remember it with thankfulness. He delighted in conversation and was ready and brilliant in it, prepared to meet all comers and full- of marvellous stories. His carriage and his movements all betokened great energy. He was a man of indomitable spirit, and Lord Portsea in writing about him to the Times rightly applied to him the well-known words of Emily Bronte : " No coward soul is mine, No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere."
He had achieved much but he was entirely free of any pride, which would have set up any barrier between him and his fellow men. He never lost the common touch, and his magnificent vitality and youthful spirit enabled him to understand and to command the confidence and the friendship of young men to the very end of his life. He was the staunchest of friends, and I speak for all who enjoyed the privilege of his friendship, when I say that they will always remember him with affectionate gratitude.
Cyril Thompson Elliott.
Cyril Thompson Elliott (2468) died on January 3rd, 1943, at his home in Johannes-burg. He entered in 1894 and left in 1897, and in his last year captained the Cricket XI, when Victoria College defeated Elizabeth College by an innings in both matches. Becoming a schoolmaster, he migrated to South Africa and joined the staff of St. John's College, Johannesburg. He was for many years Secretary of the Transvaal Golf Club, and in 1921 won the Open Championship of the Transvaal. In the Great War he served as a subaltern in the East African Force. He leaves a widow, a son and two daughters.
Frederick William Mackenzie Skues.
Mackenzie Skues (1674) was at College from 1878 to 1884. He served with the South Rhodesian Volunteers in the South African War. He became a Lecturer and Instructor in Surveying at the Crystal Palace Engineer-ing School, and a Member of the Council of the Society of Engineers. He died on May 27th, 1940, at his home in South Croydon.
O.V.'s Here, There and Everywhere
I'm a bit too old for any regular war work, and it has gradually become clear that my job in this war is to collect, co-ordinate, and distribute news of all kinds from Jersey, from Germany, from and concerning O.V.'s of all generations, wheresoever they may be, I receive a great number of most enjoyable letters, and write considerably more.
The late Jurat Payn, who had a gift of caustic utterance, once remarked at a Governors' Meeting, " A good deal of correspondence seems to emanate from that quarter."
"Well, anyhow," as A. P. Herbert says, " the News Letter seems to have its mission."
It goes to between six and seven hundred O.V.'s, and, the stone having been dropped into the pond, the circle widens steadily. To a man fighting grimly in the desert, or watching in loneliness on a vital frontier, or cheerfully sticking every kind of hardship on inhospitable seas, hunger-ing always for scraps of news from home, its coming is welcome. I forbear to quote from letters of appreciation, but they verge on the enthusiastic. War is a powerful harmonising and unifying agency. Consider what it has done and is doing throughout the world.
And in the tiny O.V. sphere it is doing more than anything else could have done in renewing thoughts of and devotion to the old school. I, at any rate, have been provided with an absorbing and delightful occupation, which is not without its usefulness.
Addresses wanted. —My address list is steadily deteriorating. O.V.'s serving leave one station for another, or go overseas, and forget to send me a new address.
AND EVERYWHERE
Rooms can't spare much time for forwarding. Enemy raiding, too, causes changes and the News Letter arrives at an unoccupied house. I shall be grateful for information as to any of the following :
H. N. Adair, H. B. Andreae, A. J. Anido, G. S. Le C. Balleine, S. N. Benest, C. A. Buxton (Malaya), C. S. Butterworth, R. H. Carter, G. H. J. Chapman, R. R. St. V. de Visme, E. W. P. Fulcher (late of Singa-pore), J. W. L. de G. Harris, C. P. Harley, R. C. M. Hodge, C. G. Holmes, C. P. Hunt, H. F. Hunt, F. H. Hutton (R.A.F.), W. R. Kidd, A. W. Le Bas, A. D. C. Le Sueur, H. H. Livesey, W. McGrath, J. B. Mackintosh, A. H. V. Muirhead, C. G. Pallot (R.A.F.), E. Le G. Partridge (Malaya), P. M. Pearce, H. Perree, J. M. Phillipson, H. R. Plvmen, D. W. Reynolds (South Africa), H. G. Rice, D. A. Rochfort-Luke, G. F. Roads, A. L. Sayer, A. F. A. Stamberg, W. P. J. Thomson (R.A.F.), V. H. Valpy.
Thanks to the generosity of O.V.'s and others, finance continues satisfactory. In addition to meeting the considerable cost of printing, stationery and postage, I have been able to send 4:10 to each of the following : The Clifton College Bricknell Fund, the Channel Islands Refugees Committee, the Jersey Society, on whose funds these much valued reunions are a heavy drain, and Mr. G. Vibert, whose hostel, " Ma Cabine," in Gideon Road. Battersea, gives welcome accommodation to hundreds of serving Channel Islanders passing through London. Contributors since the last issue : Rev D. C. Bailhache, R. B. Baseley, 0. D. Bennett, J. Bevis G. R. F. Bur Chichester, E Crill, Mrs. C G. E. de la Rev. A. Erea R. J. Guppy, R. H. Le Mas Rossignol, Mrs. Malet d dell, Mrs. II J. C. Normar Parlett, L. Barbara Piro Mrs. Rivet t D. S. Simps Stevens, H. Mrs. Doreen Vincent, L. Haffenden.
H. N. Adair, H. B. Andreae, A. J. Anido, G. S. Le C. Balleine, S. N. Benest, C. A. Buxton (Malaya), C. S. Butterworth, R. H. Carter, G. H. J. Chapman, R. R. St. V. de Visme, E. W. P. Fulcher (late of Singa-pore), J. W. L. de G. Harris, C. P. Harley, R. C. M. Hodge, C. G. Holmes, C. P. Hunt, H. F. Hunt, F. H. Hutton (R.A.F.), W. R. Kidd, A. W. Le Bas, A. D. C. Le Sueur, H. H. Livesey, W. McGrath, J. B. Mackintosh, A. H. V. Muirhead, C. G. Pallot (R.A.F.), E. Le G. Partridge (Malaya), P. M. Pearce, H. Perree, J. M. Phillipson, H. R. Plvmen, D. W. Reynolds (South Africa), H. G. Rice, D. A. Rochfort-Luke, G. F. Roads, A. L. Sayer, A. F. A. Stamberg, W. P. J. Thomson (R.A.F.), V. H. Valpy.
Thanks to the generosity of O.V.'s and others, finance continues satisfactory. In addition to meeting the considerable cost of printing, stationery and postage, I have been able to send 4:10 to each of the following : The Clifton College Bricknell Fund, the Channel Islands Refugees Committee, the Jersey Society, on whose funds these much valued reunions are a heavy drain, and Mr. G. Vibert, whose hostel, " Ma Cabine," in Gideon Road. Battersea, gives welcome accommodation to hundreds of serving Channel Islanders passing through London. Contributors since the last issue : Rev D. C. Bailhache, R. B. Baseley, 0. D. Bennett, J. Bevis G. R. F. Bur Chichester, E Crill, Mrs. C G. E. de la Rev. A. Erea R. J. Guppy, R. H. Le Mas Rossignol, Mrs. Malet d dell, Mrs. II J. C. Normar Parlett, L. Barbara Piro Mrs. Rivet t D. S. Simps Stevens, H. Mrs. Doreen Vincent, L. Haffenden.
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