Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

For what it is worth - OUP's Oxford Latin Dictionary talks about Buck and the manner of his departure from CH. http://www.oxfordscholarlyeditions.com/fileasset/assets/files/Oxford%20Latin%20Dictionary%20A%20Historical%20Introduction.pdf Another learned eccentric who read the proofs of the dictionary...

And evading complaints would be an entirely improbable reason for departing?! During some of the gatherings boys were rated in order of their attractiveness, a girl was given alcohol and opened the bathroom door to find Dobbie "grinning at her" with his trousers undone. Fearing he wanted t...

A characteristic of 'sudden departure syndrome' is that recollections as to whether this was voluntary or involuntary become institutionally and discretely hazy...

...however, Reid has seen 'sudden departure syndrome' at CH close-up and personal, at least twice.

Karim was allowed to resign in 1993. Husband was dismissed in 1994. Reid's stint at CH began in 1993. So, Reid is fully aware of boarding school teacher 'sudden departure syndrome' and its institutional implications.

The problem with the current CH administration is that its behaviour (blocking and obscuring) is no different to the behaviour of previous CH administrations. Given the damage that that institutional behaviour has caused over the years, it is strange that anyone would seek to defend it. In my view, ...

In the 1970s there was a fair amount of vaccinating, experimenting, and observing going on - the school doctor, Hoskins, was responsible. On one occasion Hoskins noted that 15% of those vaccinated suffered reactions: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1689407/pdf/brmedj00542-0051a.pdf Here...

Well - there were some questions about a refund of fees - here is what I would suggest. Return to pupils or their parents the average fees paid for their time at the school (this takes care of the variable nature of fees). The school can then say they have done something concrete. This would not cos...

The letter is very good - thank you for putting it together. I would ask: n) Please comment on the fact that Webb's duties/responsibilities were changed around 1979. The 1976-1977 and 1978-1979 Blue Books both list Webb as the Deputy Dining Hall Warden. However, after hundreds of boys in the Dining ...

The 1970s school doctor published a paper in 1979 in the 'Practitioner' titled 'Collaboration between psychiatrist and doctor in a boys' boarding school' (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/482232) Hoskins was an Old Blue, of course, and familiar with boys boarding school matters and masters. It wo...

Every single person in the Horsham school in the 1970's knew that Webb was not the sort of person to put in charge of a house and yet he became a house master. As I noted earlier in this thread, the entire school united in a chant of 'Pedo', 'Pedo' on one occasion in the dining hall. Webb's 1970s ni...

It is straightforward to analyze this issue: List the staff employed by the school in the 1970s and 1980s, note starting and finishing dates for each employee Then check for: -Short residence times -Mid-term departures -Column inches in 'The News of the World' (etc.) ...and report on what appears to...

According to the 1976-1977 Blue Book, the CCF Naval Section was the responsibility of Lt. R.C. Durrant. If you google R.C. Durrant you find that a teacher by that name, who taught at Christ's Hospital, was found not-guilty in Wales in 2008, see: https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/ex-n...

It depends how you define who, knew, and what. On one occasion, probably in 1978 or 1979, the entire dining hall united in a chant of 'Pedo!, Pedo!, Pedo!, Pedo!, ...' while Peter Webb attempted to officiate at tea. This was extremely loud with a lot of shouting, banging of cutlery on tables, etc. w...

Some additions for the '1977' photo...

front row: 1: Paul Collins 3: York Membery 5: Nick Samuel 6: Richard Robinson 7: Nick Hillier 8: Clive Freeman