100 THE REEDER 2020
REED’S HERITAGE
Spotlight on... We have many interesting and inspiring characters amongst our alumni, going back over 200 years. In this regular feature, OR Andy Wotton (Mullens 1975), points the spotlight on one of those characters… Thomas Burke. It is a fascinating read! The Burke Society In 1958 the School’s Headmaster, Robert Drayson, announced the creation of the Burke Society, ‘to encourage debating, literary activity and the art of discussion’. Its membership was drawn from the Sixth Form initially but it was seen, by some, as elitist and slightly mysterious. Whether these views were fair or not, the perception continued, on and off, for the duration of its existence. The last mention of the Society was made in the Reedonian magazine in 1997. Throughout its life, however, the Burke Society had many outings, debates and discussions and, occasionally, attracted a distinguished guest, arguably the most prominent among them being Sir Barnes Wallace, the inventor of the ‘Bouncing Bomb’. The Society was named after Old Reedonian, Sydney Thomas Burke (to use his full name), a very prominent author of his time, but whose personal story was never known or told. Indeed, when he died in 1945, the Times obituary used material taken from one of his books (The Wind and the Rain) which was believed to be (but was not) autobiographical… now is our chance to shine the spotlight on the life of this fascinating individual. The boyhood of Thomas Burke Thomas Burke (he dropped the name Sydney) was born at 9.15pm on Thursday 29th November 1886, and how do we know this? James, his father, wrote the details down in the family bible. James was married to Emma Williams, his second
