Colonel H. C. Scott IP

professions than the one from which he never swerved. As an author, playwright, producer—all of which he practised very successfully as an amateur—he may well have gone far. It is, indeed, fortunate for the teaching profession that one so gifted should have followed what he always felt was his vocation.

Leslie Burgess died on 9th August after an illness which began in April. During this period he was supported, as throughout his married life, by his wife's loving care and attention. Until two days before the end he was always hopeful of recovery, and I cannot but feel that there is in such cases some natural compensating hope— divinely inspired—which hides from a dying person a full realisation of his fate.

His presence at Commemoration last term was a great joy to him, and I know his family, as well as ourselves, are grateful that he was vouchsafed the strength to be present once again on an occasion which had always meant so much to him.

I saw Leslie Burgess three days before he died, while he was still hopeful of recovery. The following day he realised the true situation, and with characteristic precision and courage dictated the manner of his funeral and Memorial. Mercifully he was thereafter spared further suffering. He had a distaste for monuments or meaningless physical memorials, as I very well know. But in his memory and in carrying out what would have been his wish, Mrs. Burgess is presenting to the School a Litany Desk for use in this Chapel—and this will be inscribed to his memory. There could be no more suitable memorial—for Leslie Burgess, though far from being a ritualist, was a devout Christian. He knew his Bible far better than most, and his Faith can perhaps best be summed up in the last words he heard in this Chapel, sung by the whole School as a rousing climax to our Commemoration Service, "In Thee, 0 Lord, have I trusted. Let me never be confounded".

Let us then leave him with that thought in our minds. Of him it can truly be said "The many who have come into contact with him have come away better for it, and his influence has made on our community a mark for good, which will remain long after he has been forgotten".

No-one could wish for a better epitaph. * * *

COLONEL H. C. SCOTT

It was with great regret that we heard of the sudden death of Colonel H. C. Scott on 3rd October. He had continued his many activities right up to the last hours of his life, and died as he would have wished.

Colonel Scott was educated at St. Peter's School, and had been closely connected with us all his life. For over thirty years he was Honorary Secretary of the Old Peterite Club, resigning in 1949 and becoming a Vice-President. The continuity of his interest in and 3

activities for the Club has been invaluable, and he can indeed go down to history as its principal architect. He was known to practic- ally every living Old Peterite, and loved and respected by them all.

The School was fortunate when the Archbishop of York appointed Colonel Scott as one of his two representatives on the Board of Governors in 1941. Later, when it was decided to appoint a ViceChairman, Colonel Scott was selected for that office. The Board depended much on his wise counsel and he was a particularly helpful Chairman of the Building Sub-Committee. 'Colonel Scott was ever mindful of the desirability of interesting potential benefactors in the School, and through his good offices the circle of our practical friends has considerably widened. Many are the instances which come to mind of his helping hand behind the scenes. In Alexander Pope's words "he did good by stealth, and blushed to find it fame". To me he was a constant source of encouragement and inspiration. He set for himself a high standard of service, and looked for the same in others. He was just, fearless, and absolutely impartial—a man of integrity who will be much missed. His passing seems like the end of an era in the School's History, but his example points the way for the future.

We offer our heartfelt sympathy to Mrs. Scott and the family, and mourn the departure of one of our greatest Old Boys. * * * J.D.

REV. F. H. BARNEY

As reported in the last issue of "The Peterite", the Rev. F. H. Barnby died at St. Mawes in May, 1958, at the age of 81.

Gerald Pawle, who was in the School House from 1927-31, lived near to Mr. Barnby at St. Mawes during the last five years of the latter's life, and wrote the following tribute to him for "The West Briton", whose editor has given permission for its reproduction in "The Peterite" :- "With the death of the Rev. F. H. Barnby, St. Mawes has lost one of its best-known and most loved personalities and the memorial service at St. Just-in-Roseland Church, at which the Lord Bishop of Truro (Dr. E. R. Morgan) gave the address, paid moving tribute to his devoted work for the parish where he had been Assistant Curate for the last 18 years of his life.

Frederick Harcourt Barnby went to live at St. Mawes at the outbreak of the last war, when he retired after 26 years at St. Peter's School, York, where he was Chaplain and Sixth Form Master, but he had been a constant visitor to the village ever since he first spent a holiday there as a boy well before the turn of the century. Although London bred and spending most of his working life in Yorkshire, he regarded St. Mawes as his real home, and for many years before he became Assistant Curate of the Parish of St. Just he used to take services there during the summer holidays. 4

Born in 1879, he was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and gained a scholarship to St. John's College, Oxford, in 1898. From 1903 to 1907 he was Assistant Master at Lincoln G.S. Then followed a brief spell at a private school at Buxton before he moved to Richmond. Ordained at Ripon in 1909, he became Curate at Richmond Parish Church and in 1913 he was appointed Chaplain to St. Peter's, York—he was actually licensed by Cosmo Gordon Lang, then Archbishop of York, in March, 1914. At the same time his distinction as a Classical scholar led to his appointment as Sixth Form Master and House Tutor.

At St. Peter's he remained for more than a quarter of a century, taking an abiding and vital interest in every aspect of the life of Britain's oldest public school. He held a commission in the school Officers' Training Corps in the first world war; he fired generations of boys with his own love of the Classics; and until well into his fifties he was a familiar figure on the cricket field, helping to coach a host of young players, among them A. B. Sellers and N. W. D. Yardley, both later destined to captain Yorkshire. A skilful slow bowler himself in his younger days, Barnby had a deep love of cricket and knowledge of its history, and although he rarely left St. Mawes after the second world war he followed the progress of every Test Match with intense interest. He was a proud man when one of his former

Colts became captain of England. And when nearing eighty he could still take a boyish delight in discussing cricket tactics with a much

younger visitor to St. Mawes in Denis Compton.

In 1929 he was invited to become Senior Assistant Master at St. Peter's and for a further decade his happy and useful life continued at York. When the time came to retire it was inevitable that he should return to Cornwall, and in 1940 he became Assistant Curate there. He had long been a student of Cornish history and wrote a series of absorbing articles for the parish magazine on the Cornish saints. His knowledge of local church lore was profound and he became a voluntary guide to many visitors to Truro Cathedral during

the summer months.

It was only in the last six months or so that Barnby's health began

to fail, and he died in hospital at Hayle after undergoing the second

of two severe operations.

In his address in the church where Barnby had preached so eloquently the Bishop of Truro spoke of 'this magnificent life', dedicated to the service of others. 'What a wonderful thing it was

that Frederick Barnby should, at the end of his distinguished career as a schoolmaster, have been given eighteen more years to devote to parish work of such a high order.' "

At the memorial service, conducted by the Rev. A. E. Coulbeck,

Rector of St. Just, Pawle represented the School. It is planned to create a Fund which will enable some permanent memorial to Mr. Barnby to be placed in the church at St. Mawes, and donations should be sent to Mr. Coulbeck at the Rectory, St. Just-in-Roseland, near Truro, Cornwall.