Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

DazedandConfused wrote: Sat May 04, 2019 8:05 am Not that it matters, but I don’t even remember GWD and JAH being particularly close at school. They weren’t an obvious pairing where guilt by association may naturally occur.

Exactly - I too recalled this as odd. Vey different cliques, or so I thought at the time. Shows how effective they were in enabling the abuse.

Bob wrote: Sat May 04, 2019 7:01 am

did GWD live at Whites at a certain time?

Yes, Dobbie lived at Whites in the 90s (at least up until '96 when I left).

Reverend Murdoch and his 6 kids lived at Whites between 92-94 - did Dobbie move in after for a couple of years before he became housemaster?

Wasn’t he housemaster by 1994?

Great Plum wrote: Sat May 04, 2019 8:17 am

Bob wrote: Sat May 04, 2019 7:01 am

did GWD live at Whites at a certain time?

Yes, Dobbie lived at Whites in the 90s (at least up until '96 when I left).

Reverend Murdoch and his 6 kids lived at Whites between 92-94 - did Dobbie move in after for a couple of years before he became housemaster?

Perhaps he moved for them, I don't remember him moving, but he could have after I moved to the other end of the Avenue. I remember taking a very intoxicated pupil to him for help around '92 at Whites, he sent me on my way and said it would be ok. I have been feeling sick about it since he was revealed to be an abuser.

Bob wrote: Sat May 04, 2019 8:46 am

Great Plum wrote: Sat May 04, 2019 8:17 am

Bob wrote: Sat May 04, 2019 7:01 am

Yes, Dobbie lived at Whites in the 90s (at least up until '96 when I left).

Reverend Murdoch and his 6 kids lived at Whites between 92-94 - did Dobbie move in after for a couple of years before he became housemaster?

Perhaps he moved for them, I don't remember him moving, but he could have after I moved to the other end of the Avenue. I remember taking a very intoxicated pupil to him for help around '92 at Whites, he sent me on my way and said it would be ok. I have been feeling sick about it since he was revealed to be an abuser.

He’d have been the logical choice to take someone in that state to, most likely to help without getting them into trouble.

I think he became housemaster as the Murdochs arrived so would have moved from Whites into the house master’s flat in Mid A. I’ve never been inside Whites, but it sounds like it was a pretty big house for a single master if it then went on to house a family of 8.

Did any of these parties take place at East Lodge?

He was definitely at Whites when I started in 89. Makes me shudder to think about the times I went round there alone. I now wonder how many of us had a lucky escape & thoughts are with his victims.

My recollection (which let's face it dims further with each passing day so apologies if this is incorrect) is that there was unhappiness amongst the SMT that the previous Mid A housemaster (Grieg?) lived in Horsham and not on site. I always thought Dobbie moved in to the Mid A flat when he became housemaster to solve the issue of there not being a permanent member of staff in the house. The phrase “wolf in sheep’s clothing” regrettably springs to mind.

Whites was a sort of go to refuge wasn't it. It was indeed a very sizeable property, remote and detached from the rest of the school. There was also a small room which was a Catholic chapel (not sure if officially consecrated as such) with icons etc, which I think was to officially provide a catholic place of worship, which wasn't retained when the Murdochs moved in.

I wonder if there is any correlation between the sequence/chronologies of Dobbie's convictions and the years he lived at Whites.

Does anyone have a photo of it.

I also recall Dobbie, after I left, living in Graftons (?) which was accommodation for single teachers where Michael Carrington also lived after his wife sadly passed away I think. I assume this is before he moved to the Mid A flat.

All in all, Dobbie cannot have been very pleased to move from Whites, for all sorts of reasons, can he? It would be good to know more about this.

richardb wrote: Sat May 04, 2019 9:09 am Did any of these parties take place at East Lodge?

A good friend of Dobbie’s lived there in my time, I think with his wife and family.

On a more general point, I’d never given much thought as to who lived where and who made those decisions. It’s interesting though.

Whites is a large house (the avenells moved in after the murdochs I think). I don’t remember Dobbie living there really (I came in 1992) - he may have lived elsewhere before becoming housemaster of mid a. Graftons is a block of 4 flats that was built in the extensive grounds of Whites in the 80s I guess. In the 90s, single members of staff lived in there...

DazedandConfused wrote: Sat May 04, 2019 8:05 am Not that it matters, but I don’t even remember GWD and JAH being particularly close at school. They weren’t an obvious pairing where guilt by association may naturally occur.

Grecians History trips.

Janey Jam-Jar wrote: Sat May 04, 2019 10:32 am

DazedandConfused wrote: Sat May 04, 2019 8:05 am Not that it matters, but I don’t even remember GWD and JAH being particularly close at school. They weren’t an obvious pairing where guilt by association may naturally occur.

Grecians History trips.

Ah, I didn’t know GWD went on those. Makes a lot of sense.

Dobbie was in Whites during the 80s.

Gunning was housemaster of Mid A mid?-late 80s. By 1990 it was Chapman who lived out of house with his family in West Gun Copse. It was always problematic in my mind having houseparents not in situ. I had cause to report something to Chapman in 1990 and he had no idea about it as he wasn't there. Ideal position for Dobbie to slip in to.

Janey Jam-Jar wrote: Sat May 04, 2019 10:32 am

DazedandConfused wrote: Sat May 04, 2019 8:05 am Not that it matters, but I don’t even remember GWD and JAH being particularly close at school. They weren’t an obvious pairing where guilt by association may naturally occur.

Grecians History trips.

Aka grooming trips.

Gunning was assistant housemaster in Mid A until about 87? Then Frank McKenna took over as assistant. Mike "Taffy" Williams was housemaster at least all the time I was in Mid A (85-89) and probably a year or so before that. Dr Chapman (from South Africa) took over, but not sure for how long.

These were all decent men, and not implicated in any way. Some of course were stronger characters than others.

What was "Whites"? The chaplain's residence?