Born
in Yorkshire in 1878, John was Senior Master at Kent College for most of the years
1903 – 1936. Later, he took over the Junior House, accompanying it to exile in
Truro. He died in Rough Common on 12 July 1947.JOHN THOMAS HARGREAVES (1878-1947)
Born
in Yorkshire in 1878, John was Senior Master at Kent College for most of the years
1903 – 1936. Later, he took over the Junior House, accompanying it to exile in
Truro. He died in Rough Common on 12 July 1947.
In his early days he was the plain-speaking, blunt Yorkshire man whose code of behaviour was narrow and strict and, consequently, a man to be feared, but his essential integrity and his unbounded knowledge and enthusiasm for all forms of sport steadily gained for him, first, the respect and admiration and, later, the very genuine affection of all.
His success as a natural games coach is best seen in the remarkable hockey and cricket XI’s of the 1920’s. Tulse Hill Hockey Club paid him the compliment of making him guest of the evening in 1929; five of his pupils played in the South of England trial in 1928.
A painstaking and thorough teacher, a reliable Second-in-command in the cadet corps, a keen scoutmaster, walker and camper, he mellowed with time. He ‘warmly welcomed and fully supported’ the new more liberal regime of 1934. ‘Tyrannical but lovable Yorkshire man’ one OC called him. He must rank as the legendary schoolmaster of the first hundred years.