The tribunal’s decision was given in November after her husband, William Michael Byrd, had been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment at Winchester Assizes for assaulting and cruelty to boys at Cholderton College. On appeal the sentence was reduced to two years. He was headmaster and equal shareholder and director with Mrs. Byrd in the company owning the school. On his conviction he automatically lost his position as director.
The hearing of the tribunal was an appeal by Mrs. Byrd against a notice of complaint by the Secretary of State under section 71(1) of the Education Act, 1944, requiring the notice to be served “together with full particulars of the matters complained of.” The particulars relating to Mrs. Byrd were that “as a director… she was responsible for the employment of [her husband] at the college and for his conduct as headmaster.”
