FROM THE ARCHIVES When did it all begin?
It has always been a conundrum - did Christ’s College begin in 1850 or 1851?
What exactly constitutes a beginning? Is it the idea of a College or is it lessons for individuals on board ship or is it the gathering of a number of pupils in one place to be taught? The corollary of this is the inevitable question – is Christ’s College celebrating its 165th or 166th anniversary in 2016? The idea of a College was firmly established by the Canterbury Association Scheme for the Establishment of a College in or near the Capital City of the Settlement of Canterbury, New Zealand and to be called the Christ-Church College , dated 21 May 1850. A Public School and a Collegiate or Upper Department was planned. The subjects to be taught in the public school (College) were clearly laid out, as well as the foundation of scholarships, and the plans for two examinations each year. Model, landscape and figure drawing were to be taught to all, as well as vocal music “especially that which will enable them to take part in public worship”. ¹ Each of the Canterbury Association ships included a school teacher, but what is needed is proof that teaching of some kind was carried out on board by a person associated with the Collegiate Grammar School between early September (when the first four ships left Gravesend) and December 1850 when they arrived in Port Cooper. The often touted record in the Attendance and Behaviour Book of Joseph Brittan having begun algebra
Lyttelton Times, 25 January 1851.
on the voyage out is unable to add any further information. Joseph Brittan came to Canterbury with his family on the William Hyde . This ship did not arrive in Lyttelton until 7 February 1852, and Joseph did not actually enrol at College until 30 June 1852. ² The clues that will enable a decision are few and far between. Henry Jacobs, Chaplain on the Sir George Seymour and College’s first Headmaster, in his Introduction to the 1877 School List , wrote “I cannot distinctly remember having made a commencement of the Grammar School Department on board ship, but very little time was lost after our arrival.” ³ Yet his obituary in the Christ’s College Register indicates that he “held classes for the boys on board” and John Hewland, his son-in-law, notes that he wore his mortar board on the voyage and was known as “squarehead”. 4
More published evidence comes from the Lyttelton Times of Saturday 25 January 1851. Is 27 January 1851 the first day on which classes were held on land at the school that would become Christ’s College? 5 The arrival in Port Cooper (Lyttelton) of George Augustus Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand and first Warden of Christ’s College in the Undine on 14 February 1851, enabled clergy that had already arrived to be licensed to positions of responsibility. Jacobs’ licence was dated 20 February and gave him charge of the Collegiate School and the “pastoral charge of Port Levy, Pigeon Bay, Akaroa and the adjacent Native Settlement”. 6 The next report in the Lyttelton Times of 1 March 1851, following a meeting of the Bishop of New Zealand with the Bishop Designate Thomas Jackson and the resident clergy to make provision for
52
Christ’s College Canterbury
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs