The story of Bradfield's history: Prosperity Past our Deserving

The Bradfieldian interviews Stuart Williams, recently retired from the classroom and author of the latest history of the College, that brings readers up to date on the last fifty years of Bradfield’s history as well as re-examining and interpreting the work of previous histories by Blackie and Leach. Be prepared for a classically understated pitch…

My first point of enquiry was the title, ‘prosperity past our deserving’: it seems very humble, self-deprecating and not remotely ‘salesy’. Stuart agreed. The line is taken from the College hymn, written by Dr Gray, one with a tune that for him is very emotionally charged and the quoted line speaks to Stuart of Bradfield’s wonderful ability to survive against the odds.

30 years after the founding of the College, Rev Thomas Stevens, Bradfield’s warden and squire of the Manor of Bradfield, went bankrupt. Leaving immense debts, the trustees appointed Gray as both Warden and Headmaster, saddling him with the burden of responsibility for those debts. Somehow, Gray secured the College safe passage for his 30-year tenure and gave Bradfield a nationally significant reputation. Even so, economic insecurity persisted right up to the arrival of Quick in the 1970s.

My suggestions of analogies with ‘who dares wins’ and ‘fortune favours the brave’ were quickly dismissed by Stuart: in his opinion when things happen against the odds there should be a sense that it is somewhat undeserved, hence he believes his subtitle apposite. He did, however, add that Bradfield had deliberately become much more adventurous than most schools in the latter years of the twentieth century, particularly in the way that it was prepared to engage in borrowing and embrace the risk of debt in order to reposition the school.

IT HAS BEEN A BOLD SCHOOL AND I THINK THAT THE BOLDNESS HAS PAID OFF

In researching the book, it became apparent to Stuart that there was a lot to say that went beyond events in the history of Bradfield. In particular, when he started thinking about the Founder’s intent his interpretation parted company with that of Blackie and Leach, authors of the previous histories. When reading with 20th or 21st century eyes that the school was founded ‘to make loving sons of the Church of England’ we understand this as being about religion and religious instruction. Stuart however takes this to refer to Stevens’ commitment to the sort of nation he believed that England should be. Leach and Blackie attack the view that Stevens was interested in the ritualist side of the Church of England and underplay his interest in the Oxford Movement. However, Stuart believes that Stevens’ interest lay in the other side of the Oxford Movement – in its assertion of the independence of the Church from the State and hence a key theme in the book is the independence of the College from the State.

It was important to Stevens that Bradfield had an independent educational philosophy and that wish has been repeatedly revived. Not wanting to overstate Bradfield’s case, not least because the College is renowned for being understated, Stuart believes that Bradfield is quite an important school because of this insistent tradition of independence.

Bradfield’s determination to not follow the crowd has been manifest throughout its history, not least when doing something unique when compared to other independent boarding schools; the Greek Play and Faulkner’s present immediately obvious examples of this. Stuart also explores the idea of boarding school as ‘total institution’, aiming to mould young people into a ‘type’. For him, Bradfield has always had the reverse approach. Where other institutions might seek to emphasise cohesion and marginalise difference, Bradfield has increasingly held individuality aloft and celebrated it.

In writing the book Stuart feels that he clarified his thoughts on of the purpose of education, on what it should aim to achieve and what schools like Bradfield should aim to be. Although the book is about Bradfield, it is also about the value of a distinct type of education that exists in the British Isles – the independent boarding school – which, if allowed to continue unstifled, has a lot to contribute to the way that our national life might be enriched.

One of Stuart’s concerns is that education, as it has evolved in the last 30 years, has become about ‘delivery of the curriculum’, in his view a rather Orwellian understanding of education, obsessed by instruction, examination, measurement and testing. When he reflects on what he learned at school, he finds he has used almost nothing of what he was tested on in his final exams; ‘What mattered in my education was that I learned how to think and to do things for myself.’

THE GREAT BENEFIT OF SCHOOLS LIKE BRADFIELD IS THAT THEY ARE STILL FREE IN MANY WAYS TO DEPART FROM THE STRICTURES OF THE STATE; EXCITINGLY, THE NEW FAULKNER’S CURRICULUM IS CLEARLY TRYING TO SAY SOMETHING FRESH ABOUT WHAT A 13 YEAR OLD SHOULD BE LEARNING

So far, so fascinating. How would Stuart recommend that a reader should approach his book? Not cover to cover was his reply, whilst suggesting that this might be an excellent cure for insomnia or cause of insomnia, depending on your disposition. The book was written as something to ‘dip into’.

Whereas Blackie deals with sport, for example, in a few paragraphs under each successive Headmaster, Stuart has collated topics and this allows readers to fast forward to the areas of the book that interest them whether that be sport, co-education, Faulkner’s or overseas engagement. The comprehensive index enables readers to pick up key themes of the last 50 years quite easily. If, on the other hand, you are interested in the things that Headmasters do with their days, there is a historical narrative on that and, if you have particular heroes and villains, you could start on their chapters and work your way into the book from there.

Pushed to move onto something that approached being ‘a sell’, Stuart mentioned the significance of the 30 images included in the book. He is delighted with them but can take no credit – they are the work of Steve Wallace, former Editor of the Bradfieldian.

THE PICTURES CAPTURE THE QUINTESSENCE OF BRADFIELD WHICH, ARGUABLY, IS ULTIMATELY GEOGRAPHICAL RATHER THAN PHILOSOPHICAL

Stuart suggests that there is something extraordinary about how the appearance of the school and its hinterland remains almost entirely nineteenth century even though ‘it is only eight miles from Reading and two and a half miles from the M4’. Its preservation is a miracle and, part of Bradfield’s DNA, an aspect of the ‘prosperity past our deserving’…

When he arrived at Bradfield in the 1990s, Stuart had a life plan to stay only for three years, ‘at that time I was much more delighted by the setting I found the school in rather than the school that I found in the setting’. However, since then College has moved in the direction that he would have wished, with a steady trajectory towards academic excellence and he is glad that he changed his initial plan. Due to this, he appreciates the synchronicity of this history being launched alongside the opening of the St Andrew’s Study Centre for he sees this not only as a nod towards the creation of history for the next 50 plus years of Bradfield but as an important statement of vital educational purpose.

He ends our conversation by referring back to the title potentially underselling the College story: he believes this to be reflective of Bradfield’s approach.

A SCHOOL THAT HAS HISTORICALLY UNDERSOLD ITSELF, BRADFIELD IS IN MANY WAYS A HIDDEN GEM AND IN MANY WAYS THE HIDDEN GEMS ARE THE BEST

So I think you might agree that despite his best efforts Stuart is indeed the master of the inadvertent sale.

Now how can you resist that kind of non-sales pitch?

Bradfield College: Prosperity Past our Deserving is available to purchase in the Bradfield Society online shop

The story of Bradfield’s history: Prosperity Past our Deserving

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