The Court of Governors and McClure

The Court approved a number of CapEx projects in quick succession; a project to provide heating in the chapel along with a budget of £20 for repairing the organ; an extension to the kitchen and construction of a new pantry; a hot water system for School House.

At the 19 November 1895 Court meeting, the Governors congratulated McClure on his election to the Headmaster’s Conference and approved a budget of £100 for advertisements to promote the School.

At the 21 January 1896 Court meeting there was much to celebrate. Pupil numbers were up to 168 and the School had made a surplus of £850.

Sir William offered to lend a sum to build a new dwelling house for the McClure family. A Special Committee of the Court resolved to meet with a local landlord to discuss the possibility of leasing a new building and to meet with Sir William regarding the possibility of him contributing to the construction of a new chapel – the one we all know and admire today.

At the meeting of 30 March 1896, Sir William Henry Wills was elected as the first Chairman of the Court and so began a period of unprecedented expansion of the school estate.

A Finance Committee and Buildings Committee were established to review a number of important projects for repair, to maintain the estate and outline plans for a dwelling house for McClure and the new School chapel. Sir William agreed to lend up to £4,000 at 5% over seven years so that the School could meet sundry creditors and pay off a few small loans on the Balance Sheet. By April, plans for the new chapel were approved and a tender process was initiated. In June, Sir William advised the Court that he had purchased land adjacent to the School and offered to present a piece of it to provide a dwelling house for McClure.

Compared to the relative calmness of his first four years as Headmaster, McClure’s feet never seemed to touch the ground during the Wills era. The pace of change was rapid by any standards.

July 1896: Tender for new chapel approved at maximum cost of £4,200. McClure confirms £3,000 donations already committed. Sir William offers a further £500.

October 1896: chapel stone laid by Sir William

November 1896: Sir William purchases a cricket field for lease back to the School.

July 1897: Sir William pays for heating of chapel and swimming bath.

February 1899: McClure is elected to the Parliamentary Committee of the Headmasters Association.

June 1899: Sir William offers to donate £1,000 to enable Chemical Laboratories to be built and Music Rooms to be upgraded.

February 1900: approval for new Tuck Shop (completed September 1900).

October 1900: new Boarding House proposed; new library building completed.

December 1900: new laboratories completed; fit-out of library completed.

But rapid expansion came at a cost. In November 1900, Sir William declined to advance any more to the School and recommended that existing debts be reduced. Despite a pupil population in excess of 200, the Finance Committee decided to freeze 1901 CapEx and undertook a detailed review of the School’s cost structure, including the sale of cows on the School farm to Friern Barnet Dairy Farm! The pressures to contain costs lasted until April 1902.

Rapid expansion also took a toll on McClure personally: in October 1901 he resigned as Headmaster of Mill Hill on grounds of ill health.

Uncharacteristically, he handled his resignation in a very clumsy way. He made his intentions known to staff before advising the Governors – for which he was reprimanded and subsequently highly apologetic. Unsurprisingly the Court intervened and succeeded in persuading him to change his mind. At a special

Court Meeting on 5 November 1901, the Court accepted his withdrawal of his resignation.

In April 1902, the Court set up a Special Committee to consider and report on a Scheme of Enlargement of the School. In July, the Committee recommended building a new boarding house to accommodate 40 pupils. In October, the Court sanctioned the purchase of two plots of land to give significant additional frontage to the School.

At the Court Meeting of 25 March 1903, the principles of the House system were laid in a report from the Treasurer. Finance was as much a factor as the boarding environment. A school of 300 boys was envisioned – 100 in School House (reduced from 123) and the remaining 200 accommodated in houses each designed to take about 40 boys. The question arose as to whether the houses should be Hostels or Boarding Houses. In the former, the Housemaster received a fixed salary and his duties were magisterial. He had nothing to do with the boarding of the boys and got no profit from it. A Matron was in charge of all domestic arrangements and the fees were paid to the Treasurer. The Boarding House system was more entrepreneurial, whereby the masters undertook the risk of building and furnishing the houses at their own expense. Tuition fees were paid to the Treasurer and Boarding Fees to the Housemaster. This business model evolved whereby ‘the Governors owned the house and rented it to the master, who would pay the tuition fees and earn a profit out of fees charged to parents’. Food for thought!

The Governors decided to run the two systems concurrently and, following input from other Headmasters (including Rugby, Charterhouse, Repton and Marlborough), drew up a set of rules for a Boarding House system. The Headmaster was to have absolute discretion as to which House a boy was allocated, and School House was the priority to fill. No switching between houses was permitted.

The Housemaster was responsible to the Headmaster for the regulation and good management of the house. Collinson House was the first new house in 1903 Mr Hallifax was offered the tenancy at £400 per annum with a guarantee of 40 boys at a boarding fee the same as School House – 22 guineas per term – and hence an income of about £2,700 per annum (£334,000 in 2021 money).