The person who had the vision to transfer Charterhouse School
from its old City of London home at The Charterhouse near
Smithfield Market to the countryside of the Surrey
Hills was Dr. William Haig Brown.
It was considered remarkable that a statue was erected
in his lifetime, but was not unsurprising as both a mark
of the esteem he was held in and his achievements in
reviving the school and dramatically increasing its pupil
numbers.
William Haig, son of Thomas and Amelia Brown of Bow Common,
Bromley St. Leonard's, was born on 3 Dec 1823 and baptised
16th Jan 1824 at Stepney Independent[1].
He was educated at Christ's Hospital School, then in Newgate
Street in London, and went on to study at Pembroke College,
Cambridge[2].
He applied to become the headmaster in 1863 and it was noted
that "unlike
his predecessors he was not educated at Charterhouse".
Apparently, when the governors raised this during his interview
for the post, his response was to pose the question "How
about the first headmaster?"[2].
Touché. He was duly elected. Several sources state
that he knew all of the 560 pupils by sight and also knew
something about each one of them.
Enlargement, showing the statue |
On his retirement in 1897 he returned to The Charterhouse
Hospital and it was then proposed to erect a statue at
the school as a memorial of his work as headmaster.
The Royal Academician Harry Bates was awarded the commission,
but he died in 1899 without completing the work. The task
of finishing the
bronze memorial fell to Bates' pupil Mr
Henry Poole who was supervised by Mr.
Onslow Ford[3].
The statue, erected
in front of the chapel, was unveiled on Saturday
28 July 1900 in the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Bishop of London and Lord Alverstone[4] as
well as both Viscount Midleton of Peperharow and the Rt.
Hon. W. St. J. Broderick, M.P.[5].
Mrs. Rendall, wife of the then headmaster, performed the
ceremony. The Archbishop made a speech, dwelling on Dr. Haig
Brown's devoted labours to the school[4].
"Dr Haig Brown was given an enthusiastic reception and,
in turn, he expressed gratitude for the kindness always shown
to him"[3].
The seated figure is wearing his academic gown and
in his right hand is a "rough" model of the school
chapel, to indicate that he had founded the buildings at
Godalming[4].
It seems to have been a ploy used by the artist as several
other Bates' statues have similar meaningful symbols in the
subject's hands. Haig Brown's obituary stated that the effigy
had been placed to face the playing fields which were "ringed
with oaks beneath which the boys muster for roll call on
summer afternoons"[2].
However, at least some of those fields had been replaced
by the War Memorial Chapel shortly before these 1927 images
were taken but it is still fitting that the first headmaster
of the Godalming School was now looking at a memorial to
former pupils. The chapel is on the left in the top image
and one of the boarding houses, Verites, is on the right.
In later years he was able to assist his old Alma Mater,
Christ's Hospital, and in 1891 was involved in a new scheme
in its government and that school's move to Horsham in West
Sussex[2].
He passed away at the master's lodge of The Charterhouse
Hospital on 11 January 1907, aged 83[2] and
was buried in the Godalming school's chapel. The service
was held on 16th January, with a memorial service held simultaneously
at The Charterhouse and another at noon on the same day at
Christ Church, Newgate Street attended by a number of people
linked to Christ's Hospital[6].
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