CHRIST'S COLLEGE AND ITS HISTORY

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28020, 14 July 1956, Page 11

CHRIST'S COLLEGE AND ITS HISTORY

OUR CITY’S SCHOOLS

A Project Dear To Founders of Canterbury [Specially written for “The Press" by DOUGLAS CRESSWELL] The early history of Christ’s College is interwoven with the founding of Canterbury. As far back as 1843 Edward Gibbon Wakefield conceived the plan of an Anglican settlement in New Zealand under the auspices of the New Zealand Land Company, and his first step to implement such ideas was to send his son Jerningham in 1845 to discuss the whole project with Dr. Hinds, chaplain to the Archbishop of Dubfin. Hinds was a scholar and must have broached the subject of an Anglican school, a matter that Edward Gibbon Wakefield was not able to consider until he was convalescing in the Malvern Hills.

Already he had met John Robert Godley. who, he knew, was interested in emigration, and now he wrote asking him to be his guest. He would hear of an interesting colonial plan to be distinguished from all others by its churches and church schools. Within 48 hours he had Godley half persuaded to devote himself to the scheme under discussion. More than that, he advised him to draw his friends into an association to be known as the Canterbury Association, and mentioned a salary of £5OO and a directorship. A lesser known but influential figure of these years of negotiation before the dispatch of the First Four Ships was Charles Buller, M.P. Buller died in 1848, and next year, to mark the assistance he always gave in the House of Commons to colonial settlement, it was suggested that the church school to be founded in Canterbury be known as Buller College. This idea never came to fruition, but it seems to have been the first naming of Christ’s College, which in the early days was variously known as Christ Church College, Christchurch Grammar School, the Grammar School. College of Lyttelton, and College of Christ. The present naming by James Edward Fitz Gerald, Provincial Superintendent and a Fellow of the College, was after his own college at Cambridge; but this was to apply to a university college. Until 1923 the school's official name was Christ’s College Grammar School. Early Start By Pilgrims It would be stretching a point to say that Christ’s College began when young Joseph Brittan was taught algebra on board the Sir George Seymour, but the pilgrims on their arrival lost very little time. A large room in the immigrants’ barracks at Lyttelton was converted to a classroom, and here 11 boys were taught. Soon the centre of the settlement moved from Lyttelton to Christchurch, and Christ’s College in February, 1852, was set up in a room near St. Michael’s parsonage. On the first day five pupils enrolled, some of whom could read and write a little—others scarcely at

That was not the only difficulty faced by Dean Jacobs, the first headmaster Progress was hindered bv unpunctuality caused by the eccentricities of watches when there was no public clock and no watchmaker. Roads in bad weather were utterly impassable. Boys to milk the cow chop the wood, herd the small flock and mind the new baby were at a premium.

The St. Michael’s Church site was never regarded as other than temporary. and next year suggestions were made that Christ's College should move to Hagley Park, or to Cathedral square ’half of which belonged to the school), or to a site near the Heathcote Ferry. It was not until the governing bodv was appointed in 1855, with Bishop Selwyn as first Warden, that the present site of 10 acres was determined—an area then part of what was called the Government Domain.

In 1856 Bishop Harper came to Canterbury. In 1857 Luck, the architect, was asked to give an estimate of the cost of the few buildings absolutelv necessary for carrying on the Christ’s College Grammar School—and just before the school year closed at St. Michael’s in 1857. the first schoolroom in the Domain was opened. Since then Christ’s College has gone from strength to strength. A school library was opened in 1862, an Old Boys’ Association was founded in 1867 with George Harper as president, and the school magazine. “The Register,” began its career in 1884.

Every school has its family associations, and here the Brittans are to the fore, for six were among the earliest

scholars, and Joseph, mentioned above, was sixth on the School list. W. G. Brittan was president of the Old Boys’ Association for four years and bursar for 27 years. Frederick, his brother, who at his death in 1945 was the last of the Canterbury Pilgrims, entered school in 1855, and was for 17 years an assistant master. As the family was represented at school in 1950, the" Centenary year, it may perhaps be said that its association is a record.

In 1868 the Oxonian, E. A. Worthy, was appointed housemaster, and for a quarter of a century he conducted the house that took his name. When he arrived. Rolleston avenue was a track, fenced with post and rails and almost treeless. The rough quadrangle contained no more than four buildings— Chapel, Big School, the Headmaster’s house, and the Somes dormitory block —named after Maria Somes, an illustrious benefactress. First Chaplain In 1877 the Rev. Francis Augustus Hare was appointed first chaplain, and known to all as “Parson,” lived his remaining 35 years at College. Young, handsome, and unassuming, he was a great cricketer and a firm disciplinarian. and he preached just the simple short sermon a boy liked to listen to. Another personality was A. E. Flower, known to several thousand boys as “Jack Fat.” Flower entered Worthy’s in 1886, pursued a brilliant scholastic career, and with degrees in both arts and science joined the staff in 1897. His lasting memorial is the raised, sloping, and tree-shaded bank of the river avon. Mr Flower worked at this improvement for many years, and to expedite matters, instituted a system of corvee. “Lines” and even canings became unfashionable. The boy who infringed was corveed and forced to work for an hour after school or perhaps for half a day. Naturally Jack Fat always had a pool of labour, but even he could not have realised at first the magnitude of his self-imposed task, though he lived to see the pleasure it gave to thousands who attended games and sports on Upper. The drawing shows part of the quadrangle round which most of the college is grouped. On the extreme left is part of the cloisters, a building now used in the main by the day boys of Julius and Harper Houses, but known for many years after it was built as the “new” classrooms. The College Chapel The Chapel next to it—now being enlarged for the second time —was built from designs drawn by Robert Speechley, then resident architect of the Christchurch Cathedral It was first used for worship in October. 1867, the year before its consecration.

At the south-west corner of the quadrangle stands Condell’s House to be recognised by its unusually large windows. It was opened in May. 1879, and named after T. D. Condell. for many years one of the assistant masters. Condell’s is now a day-boy house and contains temporarily the offices of the College bursar. To the right of Condell’s is Big School, the “heart” of College. Here every morning the school was wont to assemble before chapel, and here for many years, school concerts were held A vociferous audience, the boys piled up at the back on tiered desks. From this vantage point they looked over the heads of their- betters and seniors below. The walls of Big School are beautifully pannelled in wood, given by the old boys, whose names have been carved on it.

To the right of Big School is the Hare Memorial Library, opened in 1916 in memory of the Rev. F. A. Hare, who died at College, suddenly and unexpectedly, in 1912.