Reg Little meets the former history master of St Edward’s School, who retired in 1999

When history master Malcolm Oxley retired in 1999 after 37 years’ service at St Edward’s School, the school Warden David Christie predicted that Teddies had not heard the last of the school stalwart.

“When a new history of the school comes to be written he will bulk large in its pages. Unless, of course, he writes it,” saidobserved Mr Christie.

The then Warden’s words have proved prophetic, with the publication of a new history of the famous Oxford independent school, charting the school’s 150 year history from 1863 to 2013.

Mr Oxley, as well as teaching history and other subjects at St Edward’s between 1962 and 1999, was also a housemaster, director of studies and Second Master.

Yet despite the depth of his knowledge about the school, he admits to hesitating on being asked by the governors to tell the story of the school and the many remarkable people associated with it.

“Not only was I a septuagenarian, but I recalled the state of the school’s archives back in 1988, when I had last made use of them, for an exhibition that marked the 125th anniversary,” he recalled. “I quailed to think of the time it would take to sort the material even before I could begin working on it.”

But To his delight, he discovered that the present school archivist Chris Nathan had brought about a “glorious transformation”, with the archives brought to order and everything carefully catalogued. Mr Oxley was soon viewing the mammoth task as a labour of love.

The book, A New History of St Edward’s School 1863-2013, features old photos of the school and famous former pupils, including heroes of the Second World War, Wing Commander Guy Gibson and Group Captain Douglas Bader CBE. Mr Oxley interviewed former staff and current pupils and was also given access to governors’ papers.

From the outset, he was determined to offer an honest portrait of school life down the years.

“I was conscious that, in general, school histories paint a picture of unremitting positivity and progress – ever onward and upward. Everything is depicted as wonderful.

“I wanted this new book about St Edward’s to be more realistic than is the norm. As a consequence, there are sections which some might find controversial. There are personal opinions on Wardens, for instance, and there is a degree of commentary on sexual activity in school, and on the widespread practices of fagging and flogging."

“It is important to remember that the culture of St Edward’s, then and now, is a reflection of the culture of similar schools and of wider society.”

School governor Chris Jones said: “Writing a new history seemed an obvious thing to do as the school reached its 150th anniversary. The first history of the school was written by Desmond Hill at the time of the centenary in 1963; there have been 50 more years of history since then and they deserve to be accounted for.

“Furthermore, Hill’s history did not fully explore the role that the great upheavals taking place in 19th-century society played in the foundation of the school.”

The first advertisement for the school appeared in 1865. A “first-class, modern education”, was offered at the new establishment in the centre of Oxford, featuring: “Classics, mathematics and book keeping, drawing, French, music and the elements of physical science, 25 guineas per annum; washing and the use of books, two guineas extra; there is an excellent playground.”

It was founded by the Rev Thomas Chamberlain, vicar of St Thomas the Martyr in Oxford and Senior Student at Christ Church.

But The historian, setting the history of the school against its wider social context, shows it was born of the Oxford Movement, the famous movement of High Church members of the Church of England which eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism.

As well as placing renewed emphasis on the rituals of worship, the needs of the poor and religious communities, the movement also concerned itself with schools. The education at St Edward’s was to be as much about Christian morality as academic work, an ideal that originally provoked much suspicion and even hostility.

For people who associate Teddies – as the school is widely known – with one of the grandest quads in Oxford and magnificent playing fields on Woodstock Road, it may come as a surprise to learn its early home was in New Inn Hall Street. The original school building – Mackworth Hall – was little more than a rat infested slum, with some masters reduced to sleeping in cupboards. For Mr Oxley, the most fascinating period ran from the Victorian age until the First World War.

“There were moments in the 1880s and then again in 1900 and 1905 when it seemed it wouldn’t survive. It was not until the Wardenship of John Millington Sing that finances were stabilised. Along with Sing, key figures in securing the school’s future and steering it through these rocky times were supporters Lord Beauchamp, Lord Aldenham and Lord Halifax. They gave the school influence, prestige and money, the latter enabling the school to ward off such threats as the Duke of Marlborough’s desire to build on what is now the vast sweep of playing fields.”

There is no shortage of humour either. Legislation during the Great War required the turning off of lights, so that pupils kept bumping into each other in the Quad. Before long, headlong collisions were staged simply to annoy the masters.

We learn that "bashers", the straw boaters compulsory until 1965, were used to hide ice cream, and fish and chips. Though almost certainly not humorous to its enactors, The 1940s practice of "crow-hopping" must also have been quite a sight. Prefects were allowed to enforce this punishment for such trivial offences as looking at a senior pupil. The offending boy was required to "squat on his haunches, with the Bible in one hand and a complete Shakespeare in the other, and hop up and down the day room".

Mr Oxley said that covering recent times was the most difficult section, touching on “live issues and live matters of policy”, making it difficult to offer a detached view.

So what are his own fondest memories?

“I was among the last generation of schoolmasters for whom a teaching post was a way of life. Many teachers of that era never moved on, or if they did so, they moved just once or twice."

“St Edward’s provided me not just with employment for 37 years but a home and it is this near perfect combination of life and work I remember most fondly.

“The school was in no way snobbish. It was, in fact, grounded and unpretentious.”

For him, the pupils have always been at the heart of the school’s success.

He said: “They love the opportunities, the location, and the fact that they live in a virtually autonomous, vibrant teenage community.

“Whatever the management, whatever the strategies, whatever the marketing it is the happiness and success of the pupils that will give the school strength and secure its future.”

A New History of St Edward’s School, Oxford, 1863-2013 is published by St Edward’s School (£25).

It is available from ose@stedwardsoxford.org or call 01865 319362.