“In 1967 with I.M. MacGregor’s death Haileybury lost a prime mover in the Keysborough project, and an influential English teacher. His nickname of ‘Jock’ was hardly original, but fitted the broad Scottish accent, craggy appearance, and dry humour. An avaricious reader of English classics, he was especially fond of Chaucer and Shakespeare.

“The ordered march to Brighton was replaced by a trip to North Brighton Drill Hall when R. Nicholl and K.K. Garnock were the school’s only Senior Cadets: ‘We used to buy a packet of “My Darling” cigarettes and smoke them going to and from the Drill Hall’. They would have been sore had Dickinson known.” […]

“There were English precedents for Rendall’s reputation as a disciplinarian. Dr. Bradby, aided by ‘The Old Man’ and housemasters like Ash had the onerous task of restoring discipline at England’s Haileybury College shortly before Rendall attended. The cane was used effectively to restore Haileybury’s reputation.” “When young Dick Durance began school at seven years of […]

After Cumbrae Stewart’s unjust caning, Rendall patted his head and said how well he had taken his punishment – while the boy fought a strong desire to kick the Headmaster’s shins. The justice of the caning was probably less significant to Rendall than how it was taken. When tackled about the incident in later years, […]

Others maintained that Rendall could pin a boy’s head between his big knees while he repeatedly caned the posterior. One teacher never forgot his revulsion at having to be present during canings, probably in case of parental complaint. Such behaviour today would be sadistic. In the British Public Schools, training in the unflinching acceptance of […]

An occasional Old Boy has described Rendall as sadistic, but that is unfair in the context of school norms in that era. Rendall appears usually to have kept the cane for serious offences, but to have done a thorough job. However, his ‘moodiness’ sometimes brought allegations of injustice, and R.G. Cumbrae Stewart could never forgive […]

Haileybury College (named after the school of the same name in Britain). This history is ‘Haileybury College: The First 100 Years’ by Don Chambers, published in 1992. Mr Charles Rendall, Headmaster: “With recurring illness, good humour became less evident. Eric Marshall observed that ‘to differ from him was to sin against the Holy Ghost’. Several […]

“In class a form of educational Darwinism emerged in junior and middle secondary areas. Bright boys survived and did well as they captured teacher attention, but, in those massive numbers, many boys floundered along, anxious to secure a minimal qualification at Form 3 level so they could leave. Teachers’ nerves frayed and cracked, so the […]

“There was the intriguing “Major” Bill Jordan, reputedly an ex-secret service man who had worked behind enemy lines during the war. In his short time at St Bede’s he taught middle-school English with fastidious attention to detail and extreme annoyance at the excessive use of corporal punishment around the school. On one occasion he burst […]

“Brother Camillus, a likeable man, had experienced problems in controlling the sizeable junior secondary classes. His mistake was in trying to have jokes and fun in classes full of rather insensitive adolescents who took the opportunity to release pent-up energy with noise and unruly behaviour. Brother Camillus would respond with the strap, become very unpopular, […]