A Bishop Feild College Staff

Sometime last year Ms. Lenora Stanford(Music) came to The Archive to see me and she had a packet of materials with her that she wished to donate to our Archive. Amongst that material was an excellent photograph of the staff as I remember them when I graduated in 1962. Also there were many black and whites of Speech Night Plays that she and her choirs and classes had staged for the annual prize giving. I was delighted to receive them on behalf of The Archive and have most of them on the Flickr site.

While she was there with me we had a chat about how she came to teach at Bishop Feild seeing that she was from Wales and her story was quite interesting.

In the photograph in the back row is Mr. Ish Humber. I can remember him teaching us about perspective and vanishing points, making a good plan and executing it. The manual training room was always a mysterious place with that smell of sanded wood and spinning augers and the like. I made a cutlery drawer for my mother which is still in the family. It took me a year from conception to finished product but I learned a great deal from him about woodworking. Why the board of the day allowed that facility to be dismantled still rankles me.

In the front row is our headmaster Mr. Anderson. Behind his back we called him 'Bull' because of his booming voice which rang through the corridors and bounced off the marble floors of the building. I always felt a shudder of fear when I heard that thunderous voice boom through the hallways of the school. He was a tall man and as we stood to attention every morning for assembly he would come striding up the middle aisle, cloak sleeves billowing out until he reached the stage and stood in front of the lectern which always had the hymn number on the front. You could hear a pin drop.

This photograph was taken in 1965 three years after I had graduated so I did not know all of the teachers there. The lady to Mrs. Penney's left and the lady to Ms. Halfyard's left are unknown to me. Probably one of you boys may know them. Who is the lady standing next to the crew-cut Mr. Cooze? Speaking of Ms. Halfyard, when I was at Feild, Ms. Halfyard taught Grade VI and a tough disciplinarian she was. While reading she would walk up and down the aisles of desks with an eighteen inch long Confederation Life ruler in her right hand and woe to the lad who was not sitting erect with legs out of the aisle. That ruler would fall with lightning speed on the offender's leg. Although strict, in hind-sight, to me she was a wonderful teacher. She was tough and fair. Later on when she retired and became seriously ill I had the good fortune to sit with her during her last days which she faced with the same strength of character that was the backbone of her teaching.

Boys can you remember any events or stories from your time at Feild?

Feildians and Beaumont Hamel

Some time ago Senator Bill Rompkey was attending a ceremony at Beaumont Hamel and noticed a plaque commemorating the lives of those boys from St. Bonaventure's College in St. John's who paid the supreme sacrifice at that battle and others during two world wars. He thought that it would be appropriate to have a plaque there honouring those Feildians who made the same sacrifice for King and country. He contacted Dick Cook ('56) and myself ('62) and asked if we would spearhead a committee to ensur that a suitable commemorative plaque or piece of artwork graced the walls of the museum at Beaumont Hamel.


Dick and I contacted our own Gerry Squires who has a history with Feildians as he designed the ceramic plaque of our founder, Bishop Feild, for our 150th. anniversary held in 1994. That plaque now hangs in a prominent place in his Cathedral in St. John's. Mr. Squires enlisted the help of Mr. Boyd Chubbs, designer and calligraphist and after several months of effort proposed a number of drawings to Dick and myself. It needs to be said that we had immense help from Bill Rompkey and Bill Steele. Both suggested wording and the use of our own symbols for the final result.



This is a picture of the finished product. In my next blog I will ask you if you are able to make a donation to this effort and where to send it.

The Bishop

Bishop Edward Feild was a man of single-minded determination. He was appointed to the See of Newfoundland and Bermuda and arrived here from England in 1844 to some pomp and circumstance arranged by the governor of the time Maj. General Sir John Harvey. Boats greeted him in the harbour and he was taken by carriage to meet the governor at Government House with flags flying. This was not Feild's style and he regretted that such a display was caused by his coming to Newfoundland. He was going to need all the detrmination he could muster as he found the state of the church and the education system wanting.

One of the first things he did was to establish a school for boys which he called The Church of England Academy. He procured a building on what is now Forest Road and set up the school and enlisted the help of his friends in England to send masters out to teach the boys along with money. This was the beginning of Bishop Feild College as we know it to day. Not only did he set up the boys' school but also established a school for girls as he was a staunch believer in the education of women. That school was named after his friend Aubrey Spencer.

During the following years of his episcopacy he revitalized The Church of England in Newfoundland and established Queens College Seminary to provide priests for the church. Education improved during his time also. Schools were established and built outside St. John's and through his and Bishop Mullock's work denominationalism was rooted strongly in Newfoundland. Feild persuaded the government of the time to split the allocation of funds to protestants into amounts for Anglicans and Methodists thus getting the same treatment as The Roman Catholic Church.

After years of unstinting work and a climate that was harsh and unforgiving Feild contracted a severe illness. He took a journey to Bermuda to recuperate. There he died and is buried in Hamilton cemetery.

His beloved Bishop Feild School lives on in St. John's and in Kidlington, England where it is called The Edward Feild Junior School. Queens College at Memorial University is still educating priests for the church.

"Floreat Semper Bishop Feild"

Hello boys!

In the next little while I will be publishing articles to this blog site so that you can be aware of the efforts being made to preserve the history of the old school. Many of you have been viewing the photographs on Flickr and the comments have been favourable. I will continue to add photos to that site for your enjoyment. All you have to do is e-mail me and I will invite you to register. This costs nothing and will allow you to see the photos.

My next blog will be about our efforts to commorate those Feildians who made the supreme sacrifice during two world wars and especially those who died at Beaumont Hamel.

Non Moritur Cujus Fama Vivit