From Bemrosia 1930

On Friday, July 11th, Bemrose School was formally opened by the Rt. Hon.  Sir Charles Trevelyan, Bt., President of the Board of Education.

The ceremony at the school began at three o'clock, the School Troop of Boy Scouts providing a guard of honour. The hall was crowded, and most of the boys listened to the speeches by means of loud speakers in the gymnasium and lecture theatre. The audience was a distinguished one, among those present being the Mayor of Derby (Councillor J. Ferguson Bell), Brigadier-General Bemrose, Principal Stewart (University College, Nottingham), Rev. G. F. Fisher (Headmaster of Repton School), Professor Wortley, Aldermen Raynes, M.P., Sturgess, Good ere and Wilkins, Councillors Armstrong, Steer, Partridge, Moult, Wood, Domleo, Bates, Thorpe and Levers, Mrs. Wheatley, Mrs. Petty, Sir Henry Fowler, the Town Clerk (Mr. E. Trevelyan Lee), F. C. Smithard, H. M. Surtees, Macpherson, Richardson, J. Pinchbeck and J. Hume.

Bemrose School

"Bemrose School would set a new standard for secondary schools; it was in a delightful situation, and the boys who would work and play there began with every advantage."

The chair was taken by AldermanH. H. Bemrose, M.A., Sc.D., J.P., Chairman of the Governors. The Mayor of Derby, in a speech of welcome, said that Sir Charles Trevelyan had honoured them by consenting to open the school.  He was a distinguished holder of the office of President of the Board of Education, and came of a family renowned for its literary gifts and for its interest in education. Bemrose School would set a new standard for secondary schools; it was in a delightful situation, and the boys who would work and play there began with every advantage.

Alderman Bemrose, in seconding, spoke of the great strides that education had made in the last twenty-five years ; the child was the subject of greater study than ever before. The school building had many features of interest : the methods of heating and ventilating it were novel, and it was remarkable for the number of its windows. On behalf of the Education Committee, Dr. Bemrose thanked the architects, builders and all who had been concerned with the erection of the building for their excellent work.

"He was pleased with the fine refectory and with the excellent stage, on which, he hoped, there would be more plays acted than speeches delivered."

Sir Charles Trevelyan said that in going round the school he had been struck by the airiness and lightness of the rooms, and by the adequacy of the various rooms for their special purposes. He was pleased with the fine refectory and with the excellent stage, on which, he hoped, there would be more plays acted than speeches delivered. The surroundings of the school were indeed beautiful.

There was a surge of educational activity in the country. Fifty per cent. more schools were being built in that six months than in the corresponding months of last year, when a record number had been built. When they looked back on this period a few years hence they would see that it was a time of extraordinary, educational advance. In mediaeval and Tudor times education was only for a minority; now, they had a period of advanced education for the whole population in front of them. The school leaving age was about to be raised to fifteen, but they aimed not only at giving greater educational opportunities to more and more children, but also at improving the quality of the education given.  

" He wished first of all that it should be kept a school for all classes of the community. That was not merely because there were as good brains in the cottage as in the castle, but because boys ought to know no class distinctions."

"Secondly, he hoped that the school would provide for every type of mind."

"In the third place, he hoped the school would produce good citizens.  It might produce great men, but a great man could do little if his fellows were unworthy of him"

"Doing was as important as thinking, and it was as fine a thing to produce an engine or a ship as to write a poem or a history."

"They liked to think it fitting that his name should be borne by an English school, built for English boys, and carried on in the English way."

He had three wishes for the school. He wished first of all that it should be kept a school for all classes of the community. That was not merely because there were as good brains in the cottage as in the castle, but because boys ought to know no class distinctions. They could be good friends no matter what class they came from, and only if children were brought up together would there be an adult society without social severances. Secondly, he hoped that the school would provide for every type of mind. Education in the past had been on too narrow a basis, and though he had nothing to say against any part of the field of knowledge as a subject for study, he thought that the fullest choice should be given to the individual boy. Doing was as important as thinking, and it was as fine a thing to produce an engine or a ship as to write a poem or a history. To be a success down the generations a school must possess a wide conception of its mission and possibilities. In the third place, he hoped the school would produce good citizens.  It might produce great men, but a great man could do little if his fellows were unworthy of him ; the level reached by the average man was all-important, and a school should be judged by what it did with the average boy. The country needed citizens of high and simple character, vigorous intellect, daring thought, and high patriotism. By high patriotism he meant not only their duty to their own country, but their duty to the world at large, for without this larger patriotism the world would come to an ugly end. A school which had those ideals and kept those conceptions ever in mind would not only be good in itself, but would also be a school of no mean city.

Sir Charles Trevelyan then declared the school open, and was presented with two books instead of the usual golden key. The books, he said, he proposed to present to the school library.  

Alderman Goodere, in proposing a vote of thanks, said that during Sir Charles Trevelyan’s tenure of the office of President, a new spirit had been running through the Board of Education. Local Authorities were being stimulated to make greater efforts to provide educational opportunities for all. He rejoiced to think that the high patriotism of which Sir Charles had spoken was being fostered by the League of Nations, and that so many boys of the school were members of the organisation which was striving to make the ‘federation of the world’ feasible. Alderman Wilkins, with Alderman Bemrose an original member of the Education Committee, seconded. Alderman Raynes, M.P., in supporting the resolution, referred to the remarkable development of Derby, and emphasised its need for well-equipped schools, both secondary and elementary. The resolution was carried with acclamation, and Sir Charles Trevelyan replied: “I wish Bemrose School good luck and a great future.”  

Councillor W. B. Steer moved a vote of thanks to the Chairman. He was pleased that they had been able to honour Dr. Bemrose and to show something of their appreciation of his work for education by giving his name to the school ; and at the same time it was an honour for the school to bear that name. He greatly regretted the unavoidable absence of Mr. Constable, who had done so much to make the school possible.  

The Headmaster (Mr. W. A. Macfarlane, M.A.) said that to second that motion in that place, before that distinguished assembly, was a task that moved him very deeply. Dr. Bemrose, whom they honoured that day, stood in that long line of public-spirited Englishmen to whom the government of their schools had owed so much. As a businessman he had linked science with industry and both with the public service, while in his leisure, science and the service of others had always known his unflagging. devotion. He had been one of the first to grasp the importance of the Scout movement, and after twenty years of faithful work he had been able, as County Commissioner for Derbyshire, to take part in that fundamental event in the international life of the world—the Birkenhead jamboree. To him that school had owed its origin, and to him it now owed its name. He could assure him that not the least thing he had done for them was the link which would for ever connect them with his family traditions. They liked to think it fitting that his name should be borne by an English school, built for English boys, and carried on in the English way. Everyone in that hall must have felt that however baffling English education might be to the foreign observer, or to their own legislators, it had a unity and a continuity. As he looked at the platform and the audience it encouraged him to feel that they were all partakers in their enterprise, because they had come to wish them Godspeed. This was a civic school, drawing its life-blood from the town and sharing in its fortunes. He welcomed, therefore, the presence of the Corporation, and particularly of the chief magistrate. He welcomed too, those partners in the educational dyarchy—not only Sir Charles himself, but his valued colleagues from the Board who represented him in that district. He was glad to see so many members of the teaching profession in all its branches, and so many fathers and mothers and friends of the school.  

Among the latter he was pleased to include the architects and the builders, the clerk of the works (Mr. Gregory), and the foreman builder (Mr. Sharp). They had shown them what British workmanship could do.

He and his colleagues fully realised their responsibility : the town had given them their opportunity—it was for them to use it.  

Dr. Bemrose briefly replied, and the proceedings closed with the singing of the National Anthem.

 ~ Article kindly sent in by James Innes.

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