The address by Pat Cox Summer 1974

I am just going to try and give you a small history of the School, which is 71 years old. I shall be quoting from the Durlston song, which was destroyed in the Fire and so hasn’t been sung since 1947.

Nineteen hundred naught and three,
Edward was King o’er land and sea,
To Durlston Hill with its bay below,
The place where the breezes always blow,
Came the first of the Courtiers O!
Courtiers O! Courtiers O!
Came the first of the courtiers O!
Three and twenty Courtiers O!
 
Yes, in 1903, Atkinson, our founder, who was affectionately nicknamed ‘Banger' (because he occasionally used the cane) moved twenty three boys, mostly Doctors’ sons from Highgate Junior School, where he had been Head to Swanage, to a building which he nicknames ‘Durlston Court’. The name being taken from the famous headland between Swanage and Weymouth. G.T.A. was a great character, a Scholar at St. Pauls and Magdalen, Oxford, with a terrific sense of humour and he took as the School motto, 'Erectus non Elatus', Which means" Upright not swanky’, though he said the best translation was ‘Chests not Tummys .

Nineteen hundred naught and four,
Greyband white and well to the fore
With bat in hand and ball at toe
All falling in when the bugles blow.
Cheery Sportsmen on we go!
On we go! On we go!
Whether our side be winning or no
Always ready to face the foe.
 
The School was enlarged now to take about sixty. And then came that terrible  ’14 - 18 War’ and Mr. Atkinson’s only son, who had been Head of Marlborough, was killed at Mesopotamia. The east-end window at St. Aldhelm’s Chapel, now in the Swanage Parish Church was put up as a memorial to him and to the other Old Durlstonians who lost their lives in the War. About half the School was killed in this War.

In 1926, I joined 'Banger' as Joint Head. Now, my six brothers and I had very little brain and all but one of us had to go to Choir Schools, where we tried to win Senior Scholarships. I had a public beating at Magdalen Choir School. I am going to tell you this story because it shows you how different Schools are today from what they were then.  I was a very small ten year old and I had just started Latin and on a lovely day I was kept in a whole afternoon trying to put into English ‘Reges amant Reginae’ and I couldn’t do it; so I was put down for a whacking on the Monday afternoon. Now there were boys from 8 to 19 in the Choir School those days and 120 were present at my execution. And the Headmaster, I remember, took off his gown and waistcoat. I can't remember whether I had six or eight but they were jolly hard ones, I can tell you that! My next elder brother waited for me outside Tuck Shop in the High Street at Oxford treated me to a penny worth of Pear Drops, which produced twenty!  And suppose that today they would give you about half of one!

I joined Mr. Atkinson in 1926, as Joint Head and Mr. Ellis became my partner when G.T.A. left. Mr. Ellis became my partner and first class colleague for nineteen years until he became Headmaster of Orley Farm. Mr. Fawces, who had been with me at Bradfield, then became my partner until he became Headmaster of Winton Church Hall.

Our famous picnic at Swanage was held at Studland. Every boy in the School took a piece of string with a bit of raw meat on the end, weighted by a stone and we went and caught crabs. Ten prizes were given for guessing how many we were going to catch, usually between eight and nine hundred. Visitors were terribly intrigued as “to what we were doing”.

'Banger' retired in 1928 but he went on correcting all our Common Entrance Papers, until he was over eighty. In memory of the founder we added a new wing, the Atkinson Wing, two dormitories: and a large Playroom. Our numbers went up from 49 to 82 in between the wars, despite the fact that we were a School in a road and that about half the Schools of England closed at that time.

Miss Dawson joined us in 1936 and in my humble opinion, was the best teacher of English and History we ever had. She is the only lady member of the I.A.P.S.
Those of you who are keen on Sport may like to know that just before the Second World War, we played twenty-four matches at Soccer, Rugger and Cricket and won the lot! Very bad for us! There were five of' the same boys in all those three teams and one of' them, Mr. Croll, who owns the Sports Shop here at New Milton, had an average of' 93 for his last term at Cricket, before he went to Charterhouse.

Mr. Ellis’s nickname was very easy. Ellis became Eli. We couldn't have the lesson about Eli and Samuel from that day forward. Mr. Hawkend, our Maths master became ‘Hawkeye’. But it is a curious thing that the boys took ten years to see that my name was far the best of all – ‘Cockeye’! I had often used it as a nom de plume; so from '36 onwards that was what I was called.

Then came the Second World War and Worth near Swanage became a special Radar station. 75% of our parents voted that we should move – 25% that we should stay. We moved to Earnshill near Curry Rivel with Mrs Combe, whose husband had been killed with the Coldstream Guards at Dunkirk. We had a marvellous time there. No one could have been kinder than she.
We were the first school in England to have a 'Spotters' Club'. We never lost a match against the Observer Corps. One of our boys, Wolley Dod, who, I think got a Scholarship to Rugby, could take 600 planes from any country in the world and in three seconds he would guarantee for a shilling that you couldn't defeat him. He was never defeated. It was incredible! Russian, Japanese, the lot... he knew them all. He actually taught me to spot 200!

We used to send a bus round to collect boys and girls. Meanwhile Durlston Court, at Swanage, was taken over by the army. By the end of' the war they had done about £4,000 worth of damage. Suddenly we heard of' Furze Close, from Mr. Stubbs. So in September '45 we all moved here. Durlston Court, Swanage, became a Miners' Convalescent Home and it is now a Hotel.

Striving all to play the man,
Trying to finish what others began,
We'll aim at high and scorn the low,
Hating swagger and vulgar show.
What's your motto Don't you know?!
Don't you know? : Don’t you know?! -
Erectus non elatus O!'
Quoth the Durlston Eagle O!

This is the story of one boy was recommended for the Victoria Cross. Mark Hollis was a big boy of twelve - a very doubtful Common Entrance Candidate. His father, Sir Claud Hollis, was Governor of Zanzibar and he asked if Mark could: go out to Zanzibar with a Tutor a term before Mark took Common Entrance. We were a bit nervous but we let him go. His first postcard to me was:

Dear Sir, Having a super voyage.
There was a Derby sweep stake yesterday.
I won it! Drinks all round!

He passed the exam and had a most distinguished career. He was Head of the Corps and had three years in the Rugger team. Afterwards he got a Junior International cap for Scotland.

When the Sultan of Zanzibar came over to England, Mark wrote to him and asked him to come and inspect the Corps. The Sultan brought a gold studded cane for Mark, as his present. At the end of the inspection Mark said, "It is usual for royalty to ask for a weeks holiday. Whereupon the Sultan asked for it and they got it. So you can imagine that Mark was pretty popular.

When Mark left Sedburgh, he joined a Highland Regiment and went out to North Africa where he had a most distinguished career. In the Battle of Mount Keren, where the Italians put up their greatest fight of the War, Mark Hollis was the first person on the top of the mountain. He was mortally wounded. When his sergeant wanted to carry him back he said, “No, I'd rather be buried where I am.” Well, that’s a Durlstonian!

In 1947, Sunday, May 17th. Evening Chapel. After it some boys said, "There’s smoke coming out of the top of the School! Twenty minutes later the School was burnt to the ground. Apart from the Private End, most of Bradfield Dormitory and the far end of the Dining Room, the rest absolutely flat. Today it would have cost at least £100,000 to rebuild it; then it cost over £2,700. The worst tragedy was that one of our very nice domestic staff suffocated in the smoke. The local fire engine  - wouldn’t start and instead of taking four minutes it took twenty minutes to come.
It looked like the end of the world, but thanks to our Parents and Old Boys, we were rebuilt within a year, almost to the day.

During the rest of the term we paid back two thirds of the fees to every parent. Mr. and Mrs. Roper of Forde Abbey, whose boys were here, took seventeen boys and a master and Matron. The Radlett parents did the same, with Mr. Nelson Wright in charge. I had about seventy boys at the Grand Marine for the rest of the year. We walked to and fro twice a day. The boys worked it out as twenty-two miles a week! I never heard a complaint.
 
Mr MacLellan, who, fortunately for us, was very well insured, added two classrooms, two dormitories and doubled the size of the changing room.

Sad to say my book of funny stories was burnt in the fire but I am going to tell you one or two that I can remember. The first one happened at St Cyprians and all the staff had to teach Scripture on Sundays and usually the boys had to learn the Collect off by heart. But, on this occasion Mrs. Vaughan-Wilkes said to me, “Pat, I want your boys to write something". So I said, "Write a few lines on the Pharisees". This boy, aged ten, who afterwards became a famous racing motorist; and was killed at Brooklands wrote “The Pharisees were a mean and stingy lot. One of them showed our Lord a penny and our Lord said, "Whose subscription is this? ". I gave him full marks and underlined the word subscription. He said, on Monday, “Oh Sir, frightfully decent of you but why have you given me full marks?  "Well, honestly ", I said,” If Jesus had been correcting it I think he would have given you a bonus”.

The other story was connected with this School. A tiny boy, nicknamed very aptly 'Burrow Beetle' was chosen by Miss Dawson to read the first lesson in the Carol Service. But as he was so small we had to get a special stool to raise him high enough. He read the lesson extremely well. At the end he bowed to the altar and said," Thanks awfully God”. 

In 1953 the Jubilee Entrance was built. It was our fiftieth birthday, our Jubilee. Mr. Sheffield did the architecture as his gift and many others helped.
In 1965 I retired after one term short of forty years. We had had three homes and we had been happy in every one of them.

Mr. and Mrs. Onslow joined me in 1953: Major Bevis in 1959 and Miss Mills in between those two.

Many a minster* far renowned
Sprang from stone of Durlston ground,
And Durlston boys as the ages go,
Shall build up a name that will always grow,
See to it! Durlston Courtiers O!
Courtiers O! Courtiers!
Loyal and true through weal or woe
Are the Durlston Courtiers O!

^{(* Swanage is famous for Purbeck marble and a tremendous number of churches in this area are built of Purbeck marble.)}

You can imagine what a joy it is for me to see the School going from strength to strength. As you look round this dear little Chapel make up your mind when you leave that you will never let England go in for another war. I have lived through three! You may say, “What's the first One?” It was the Boer War. I can remember my father giving me two shillings after the Relief of Mafeking.

I wish you all the best of luck.  I have tried to do a fifth verse for the Carmen but I am asking you to finish it.

Nineteen hundred and seventy four,
Grey and white, still well to the fore.
With Pre-prep now and kindergarten
Our rebuilt home is here at Barton.