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 THE HOUSE SYSTEM WITH
BECKET, MARLOWE, CAXTON, WOLFE



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 Simply Whitstable
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Background

 

One of the most fondly remembered features of the school is the house system. It is hardly surprising. After all, it played a major part in our daily lives and formed the basis for all sporting, academic and other competition.

But, when did it all begin? Well, we are not sure. The school's centenary booklet Bell, Book and Boys (1977) first hints at a house system on page 27. It is here that a former pupil (R J Hawkins) mentions a Sports Day held at the nearby Whitstable Cricket Ground during the reign of a headmaster called William Henry Metcalfe. This was the first time that Mr Hawkins had been  aware of the "houses" and he describes one as "Chaucer who wore yellow". The year was 1932.

Yellow will be familiar to our readers as a house colour but the name Chaucer almost certainly won't. Somewhere down the line, things were revamped and I wonder if the system was re-invented by a headmaster who assumed the reins at Oxford Street in 1935 - the imposing Frank Newsome.  

By the end of World War II, the school was using four house names that would be etched in our memories for ever.... Becket (Blue), Marlowe (Red), Caxton (Yellow) and Wolfe (green).

   

Those Names...

  

I am sure that our readers know that the names are those of famous people and they have been plucked from English history. However, it is worth a recap before discussing the selection...

   

BECKET Named after Thomas à Becket (1118-1170)

Becket was Chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury. He was murdered in the cathedral by four knights after a long standing argument with his "friend" King Henry II. He was born in Normandy, France. 
CAXTON Named after William Caxton(1422 -circa1491)

Caxton is acknowledged to be the first English printer and the publisher of the first book in English. He was born in the Weald of Kent (possibly at Tenterden) and died in London.
MARLOWE Named after Christopher Marlowe (1564- 1593)

Marlowe was one of England's  most celebrated dramatists and poets. He was born at Canterbury and died after being stabbed in the eye during a brawl at a public house in Deptford.
WOLFE Named after General James Wolfe (1727-1759)

Wolfe was a British army officer during the Indian and French Wars. He effectively ended French rule in Canada with victory at The Heights of Abraham. He was born at Westerham, Kent and died from injuries sustained at that battle in Quebec.

  

I have often wondered why these names were chosen. After all, school house titles usually adhere to quite close knit themes. Common threads are not so easy to find with the four gentleman above. For example, they lived in four different centuries. They achieved fame in very different walks of life. Three (Marlowe, Caxton and Wolfe) were English.... but Becket was not. Three (Becket, Marlowe and Wolfe)  met violent ends... but, as far as we know, Caxton did not. 

You would also struggle to argue that they were the four most influential characters of English history. 

Perhaps, it was the disparity itself that appealed. Perhaps someone wanted a quartet that spanned English history from the Norman invasion. Perhaps, someone wanted to draw characters from influential but very different aspects of national development.... the church, literature, publishing and the battlefield. 

But why not Shakespeare or Nelson? The answer is probably that neither Shakespeare nor Nelson had connections with the county of Kent. The four gentleman above all did... and that leads me to muse over the fact that the name of the school may have changed from The Whitstable Boys Council School to The Whitstable Boys County Primary School around the time the names were chosen. However, perhaps that is getting too intricate and pushing hypothesis too far! 

      

Strength of the System...

   

During the late 1940s and throughout 1950s, the house system established itself at the very heart of school life. There were even badges to identify membership. 

The one on the left signifies "Wolfe" house and it was embroidered on black cloth. My old mum carefully unpicked it from the jacket of one my older brothers in 1953 and it has remained carefully preserved in the family photo box for over 50 years. Photo albums? We couldn't afford those in '53. We 'ad boxes! 

The House system was particularly important on the sports field. In the late forties and early fifties, there were even house team photos. Take a look at the sample below. This was taken in 1949 and kindly sent us by Dave Jordan. Thanks to Ann Nash (Whitstable) and Denise Harris (Australia), we can name most of the boys.... 

  

Back: 

 1st.........?;  2nd Derek West;   3rd Dave Jordan;   4th Michael Laker;  5th Roger Harris
Front: 1st  Brian Foad;  2nd  Ron Shadbolt;  3rd Nigel Newman;  4th Malcolm Mount;  5th Ronny Revell; 6th Derek Marsh 

 

Denise has also solved another mystery because, initially, we weren't sure what the picture celebrated. She and Roger have  a copy of the snap carefully preserved on the other side of the world and it seems that the card proudly supported by Malcolm Mount contained the words "Marlowe for Athletics".  This is the only house athletics photo I have ever seen from the school.

Football team photos were more popular and the shot below records the Wolfe (green) House football team of 1955/56....

   

 

Back (L to R) 1: ????, 2: Cliff Cuttelle, 3: Mick Blagdon, 4: ????, 5: ????, 6: Billy Backhouse (possibly), 7: ????, 8: ????
Front (L to R) 9: ????, 10: ????, 11: ????, 12: ???? 13: ????

    

It was kindly provided from Thailand by Cliff Cuttelle. Cliff has added the names of three players... but can our readers name the rest? 

The Wolfe photo was taken alongside the garden quadrant of the headmaster's house (now the school office and staff room). It was a popular place for such shots.... and it also served as a backdrop for the Caxton (yellow) House football photo for the 1956/57 season..... 

   

  

This snap was kindly supplied from Deception Bay (Queensland, Australia) by David Harvey.

By the time I arrived at the school in 1956, house badges and photos were on the way out but house sporting competitions continued as strong as ever. 

    

Allocation to a House

   

I am not sure how pupils were allocated to houses in days gone by. It may have been a simple alphabetical split. Certainly, boys from the same family found their way into the same house to allow "hand me downs" and reduce costs. As the third son of the Taylor family, I was blamed for wearing out "the hand me downs"!

Once "allocation" had been accomplished, there was immense pride in belonging to a house and many boys argued the case for their house being the best. In my case, it was an easy task. Wolfe was a combatant in keeping with boyhood hero worship. It didn't matter that Caxton changed the course of English history by helping to create the internet of his day.... or that Marlowe was arguably better than Shakespeare... or that Becket sacrificed his life for his principles. Wolfe was the man... primarily because I had been conscripted to his army in 1956. The Heights of Abraham awaited and scaling them would take 4 years.

  

Inter-House Sports Day - 1956 Style

  

Sports Day was one of the highlights of the year and the excitement started some weeks before the event....

 

I was introduced to Sports Day during the summer of my first year at the school. That was in July, 1957.

Some time before the big day,  we were dispatched en masse to our respective house teachers. In my case, that meant crowding into a room to be briefed, processed and organised by the General of Wolfe himself... Mr Len Hake.

The main item on the agenda was the allocation of boys to events... and there were a fair number of events to which boys could be allocated. These included sprints, wheelbarrows, sacks, obstacles, relays, ball dribbling and "egg and spoons". You know the sort of thing..... anything that fitted nicely into the definition of a modern Olympics.

Such was the magnitude of Sports Day that no boy remained unallocated... and I was chosen for the Under 7 sprint. It was a heavy responsibility. After all, I had to maintain the reputation of a guy who had freed an entire country from the French and I had to achieve it against a friend who was both marginally faster and in the employ of an Archbishop who had been murdered in a cathedral. I wasn't worried about a playwright or printer..... but the Archbishop remained a concern.

The big day arrived and the whole school congregated at Church Street playing fields. A straight track had been marked in a North-South direction by the admirable Mr. Munday (the groundsman) and four roped "pens" had been established on the eastern side to accommodate the competitors. The western side was populated by smiling parents. (Why... oh why... did they have to smile through everything... including success, failure and the capitulation of an egg 30 yards short of its ultimate omelet. Did they have no sense of occasion?).  

The moment came..... the Under 7 sprint between the General who had liberated Canada and the Archbishop who had merely suffered four restless knights in a cathedral.

I got off to a flying start. The Archbishop was behind me.... as were the hapless  printer and a poet. By halfway, no-one had appeared and I was hurtling past the blur of smiling faces to glory... cheered on by the contents of the distant Wolfe pen.

I burst through the tape and ploughed into the chest of a lady teacher. (Just as well really. I was so "pumped up" that I would probably have careered down South Street if there hadn't been buffers). Breathless, I garbled my name and returned to a rapturous reception from the Wolfe pen. 

Three points were safely in the bag and the General was adding Church Street to his list of territorial conquests. Gaywood's massive loudspeakers announced the result.... "In first place... David Turner"! 

You know... I have never forgiven the teacher for that!

It wasn't until the homeward journey that I discovered the secret of my success and the explanation came from the mother of my great adversary. Victory had been earned by my superior technique. The Archbishop's envoy had placed his plimsoles on the wrong feet! 

I reckon that the Archbishop would have escaped unscathed from the four knights of Henry II if he hadn't made the same mistake with his plimsoles. But there again, he probably wouldn't have achieved the fame necessary to make him a "house" at the Whitstable Boys School!

Dave Taylor
Whitstable

    

Swimming Too!

 

Inter-house sporting contests extended to the water. Although the school did not acquire a swimming pool until the 1960s or 1970s, Tony Stroud received the following certificate from  headmaster, Frank Newsome, in 1946....

 

    

Of course, the school used a seawater swim pool located in a caravan park at West beach. If you have not seen our separate article on the pool, take a look at our "Days Gone By" menu or click here.

  

A "Universal" System... of House Points... 

  

It wasn't just the sporting exploits that added to the reputation of Messrs. Becket, Marlowe, Caxton and Wolfe.... 

 

I arrived at the school in September 1956 and I was placed in the charge of Mr. Lawrence -  one of of the kindest guys you are ever likely to meet. That meant Class 1A - located in the separate eastern block along with Classes 1B and 1C.

Within a few days, Mr. Lawrence introduced us to space travel. Four strings were stretched from wall to wall at the front of the class and each was subdivided into sections by ink spots. 

A flying saucer was attached to each string by means of a large bull clip. The UFOs were constructed from blue, red, yellow and green card.

Mr. Lawrence was clever (and ozone friendly) because the craft were driven by house points rather than rocket fuel or atomic energy. Each house point moved the saucer along one ink spot.

Points were awarded for all manner of deeds..... including good behaviour, academic achievement and art worthy of a wall slot. On the downside, house points could be deducted for misbehaviour, poor work and art worthy of a Turner Prize.

If you ever spot a UFO and notice it zip into reverse, beware! The aliens have just been very naughty.

Dave Taylor
Whistable  

    

And on to Today...

  

A year or two ago, I was tending the garden when those immortal names of Becket, Marlowe, Caxton and Wolfe wafted on the breeze from a loudspeaker on Church Street playing fields. All was indeed "well with the world". The traditions of friendly competition live on.... forging links with the past and uniting children with parents who also served those famous names on that green swathe alongside the Old Thanet Way. 

The house system  is not just an integral part of a school. It is embedded in the history and memories of a town.. 

Long may it continue!   

 

IF YOU CAN ADD MEMORIES TO OUR RECORD OF THE HOUSE SYSTEM, PLEASE LET US KNOW.

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