PEER AS SCHOOLMASTER

Southland Times, Issue 21872, 25 November 1932, Page 11

PEER AS SCHOOLMASTER

LATE MARQUESS OF NORMANBY. STRICT RULES FOR PUPILS. The Rev. the Marquess of Normanby, best known, perhaps, as “The Marquis Schoolmaster,” died at his home in London recently. He had been gravely ill for several weeks. If he had lived until August 29 he would have been 86. Besides being a peer and a Canon of Windsor, Lord Normanby was the pro-prietor-headmaster of a school where many eminent men received their early education. He was a man of remarkable personality. As the Rev. Constantine Charles Henry Phillips he was, at an early age the hard-working incumbent of St. Marks, Worsley, a populous parish near Manchester. From 1872 to 1890 he was a well-beloved priest there. Lord Normanby’s zeal and energy in his work for the Church brought him to the notice of members of the Royal Family and in 1891 Queen Victoria made him canon of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, where his eloquent sermons made a deep impression. He was also a chaplain at San Remo, where occasionally he spent a well-earned holiday. When his father, the fifth baron and the second marquis—Governor of New Zealand from 1875 to 1879—died in 1900, Lord Normanby resigned his living and started a preparatory school in Mulgrave Castle, near Whitby, the great Gothic home of his family. This school became one of the most famous preparatory establishments in the country. Lord Normanby began with nine pupils, but in a few years the number had grown to thirty. Parents were given to understand that this was a school which concentrated on their son’s character and that the two P's— Politeness and Probity—were regarded as being of greater importance than “The Three R’s.” The Marquess knew how to deal with boys. No hampers were allowed at his school. He gave his pupils good, plain food and would not permit parents to supply luxurious “extras.” And it was a very strict rule that pocket money should not exceed threepence a week. The pupils always had to dress for dinner. Once the wife of a well-known mil—lionaire wrote to Lord Normanby about her son and asked if he were particular about the social position, of parents. His reply was typical of him. “Madam,” he wrote, “for so long as your son conducts himself well and pays due attention to his work I shall make no inquiries as to the antecedents of his parents.” All his friends used to think that Lord Normanby was a confined bachelor. He fitted up Mulgrave Castle as bachelor quarters, with smoking rooms and libraries, and spent much of his time in shooting and gardening. Then suddenly, at the age of 58, he decided to marry, and his wedding to Gertrude Stansfield, daughter of the late Mr Johnson J. Foster, of Moro Park, Ludlow, was a brilliant function. After his marriage he gave up his school. He leaves two daughters and his son and heir, the Earl of Mulgrave, who is 20.