Cheeseman's letter

The establishment of The Old Frees' Association exactly 100 years ago was the result of this letter which Harold Cheeseman wrote in the Penang Free School Magazine of October 1922. It set in motion a series of meetings by the Old Boys which led to The Old Frees' Association a few months later.

(TO THE EDITOR, THE PENANG FREE SCHOOL MAGAZINE)

SIR,

October 21st. of this year has passed away almost unnoticed. Nothing took place on the anniversary of the foundation of the Penang Free School to suggest that it was a day of any particular importance to those who can claim the honour of being past or present boys of the school.

No one who has any acquaintance at all with the real facts of the case will be so foolish as to suppose that this omission indicates any lack of affection for or interest in the school. Past and present boys alike glory in its traditions, in its ancient foundation (for with the youthful institutions around us may not one hundred and six years be regarded as ancient?), in its splendid and stirring record. We have but to cast our minds back to the celebrations at the school centenary in 1916 and to recollect the scenes of devotion and enthusiasm that
were then witnessed to realise that there is a

strong feeling of loyalty and affection. We must not conclude from the absence of an Old Boys’ celebration that there is any lack of interest on the part of old boys, any more than we should conclude that present boys lack loyalty from the absence of any effort to organise a school celebration on the part of the Head Boy and his fellow prefects or on the part of the School Cricket and the School Football Captains (to whom it did not occur to arrange matches with Old Frees). The real reason for all this apparent apathy is to be found in the non-existence of an Old Frees Association. Such an association should undoubtedly be formed. There is not merely interest in its formation; there is keen desire that it should be started. But no progress is made because there is no one to take the initiative. I had the honour of serving on the Centenary Celebration Committee and the reason why that Committee did not proceed to the formation of an Association was because all the schemes put forward were grandiose and impossible. There were plans for a club house, for the acquisition of property. If I may venture the opinion, I would suggest that it would be most unwise to embark on any such hazardous undertaking. There are many excellent clubs in the town; it would be a mistake to start what could not but be a rival club. My suggestion is that a modest commencement should be made with an Association that would, for instance, have a register of members, keep old boys in touch with each other and with the school, and ensure a re-union at least once a year. This magazine might form an excellent medium for keeping members in touch with each other and with the School. Every member could receive a copy of the magazine and doubtless arrangements could be made by which the Association could be granted space in it so that the magazine would be its official organ and would also supply news of Old Frees, their whereabouts and doings. The Association would presumably arrange occasional matches, debates, etc., with the school (incidentally it is perhaps surprising that the Debating Society has never yet

arranged a debate with Old Frees
participating). The subscription would not need to be large, just sufficient to cover the cost of the magazine, the cost of keeping the register, and the usual incidental expenses. The reunions when held would be paid for by the subscriptions of those attending. From such modest beginnings as these we might venture later to more ambitious developments.

It is possible that there may be some initial expenses in connection with the formation of such an association, but it is well known that there are funds ample for this purpose with the Hon. Secretary and Treasurer of the Centenary Celebration Committee. That is money lying idle that might well be profitably employed. We have the interest, we have a scheme, we have money. All we require is somebody to take the initiative. Who is to make the move? I suggest that the proper body to make that move is the Centenary Celebration Committee. I would urge that members of this Committee should request the Honorary Secretary to call a Committee meeting to consider whether these funds may not be diverted to this purpose and also to consider whether the time is not ripe for requesting the Headmaster of the Penang Free School to call by advertisements in the local papers) a meeting of old boys to discuss the practicability of forming an Old Frees Association.

I make no apology for writing to the school magazine on this subject. I feel sure it will arouse deep interest among all your readers, not only among old boys but also among present boys particularly those boys who in a few short weeks will be leaving school.

Yours truly,
H.R. CHEESEMAN
Penang,
30th October, 1922.

An excerpt from History of Penang

In 1903, the Straits Echo ran an interesting series on History of Penang over several months. This extract from the copy of 16th November will be of interest to historians and possibly anyone who had studied in Penang Free School.

During the establishment of the Presidency in 1805 there arrived in Penang a schoolmaster named Thomas Callum, whose duties apparently appertained to teaching the children of the European and Government officials, while the general public was not provided with educational facilities.

The Rev. R.S. Hutchins, one of the first Chaplains of the Presidency, appears to have been much impressed with the state of affairs with reference to the non-education of native children, and on his representations to Government an influential committee was appointed to convene a public meeting to discuss the advisability of opening a school for the education of native children.

A meeting was duly held on the 10th of January, 1816, and on the 0th of the following month the following resolution was published in the form of an "Address to the Public," setting forth the advantages of education, and at the same time soliciting subscriptions for the founding of an educational establishment.

The public responded with $9,937 that year; the Government added $1,500 in the year following to $300 subscribed by the public; and Government gave an annual grant of $2,400.

The school was first opened on October 21st 1816 - the anniversary of Capt. Light's death - in a rented house in Church Street. It was called the Free School, as it was intended for the reception of all classes of children.

The fees, which went to the Funds, were finally fixed at three rates, i.e., $3, $2 and $1 per mensem, and hildren whose parents were poor and could not afford to pay were exempted from payment, but all children had to be nominated before they were admitted to the school.

The salary of Mr. Cox, who had charge of the establishment and who came over from Madras, was fixed at $80 per mensem.

Malays, Chulias, and Hindoos who did not desire that their children should learn English could have them instructed in their own language.

A Girls' School was started the following year, but was afterwards discontinued, owing to lack of support, and was suspended until such time as sufficient funds were available for establishing a female Orphan Institution for boarding and educating at least 20 girls, instead of a day school used by only a few girl pupils.

At the first annual general meeting, held in October 1817, it was announced that the Government, now under Colonel Bannerman, had granted to the School a piece of land adjoining the new Church (St. George's). Lieutenant Smith, of the Royal Engineers, drew a plan for a suitable building to accommodate 100 boys and 50 girls, but for economical reasons he was compelled to refrain from adding any architectural ornamentation to the central block of the present school houses, which were built by a Chinaman, whose tender for $6,500 was accepted in December 1819; the School houses, however, eventually cost $7,208.

Philip Mountbatten (1921-2021)

Today marks the death of Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, Consort to Queen Elizabeth II, in London two months short of his 100th birthday. Prince Philip was born on the Greek island of Corfu on 10 June 1921, the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. As a member of the House of Glücksburg and the ruling house of Denmark, he was a prince of both Greece and Denmark by virtue of his patrilineal descent from George I of Greece and Christian IX of Denmark. From birth, he was in the line of succession to both thrones.

Some people may remember the visit of Elizabeth and Philip to Penang in 1972. They arrived at Swettenham Pier on 8th March and were whisked away to visit the Supreme Court building and the newly constructed Dewan Sri Pinang. During their brief 11-hour stay in Penang, the royal couple were also taken to Penang Hill, Batu Ferringhi and the Botanic Gardens. 

What is lesser known is that on 31st October 1956, Philip had made a rare, even shorter hours-long visit to Penang as part of his tour of the Commonwealth countries in the Far East, including Australia and New Zealand. He was supposed to visit Singapore but that part of his itinerary was cancelled following some riots there earlier. However, his visit to Malaya proceeded as scheduled. 

In the Penang Free School Magazine of 1957, it was written that a motorcade bringing Philip, Sir Donald MacGillivray (the British High Commissioner) and RP Bingham (the Resident Commissioner) had driven into the school grounds on that day. After the Headmaster, JE Tod, had greeted them, the visitors proceeded to the school field where Philip planted a casuarina sapling near the flagstaff. He then walked up to the assembled masters and had a brief chat with them. As he was leaving the school field, the School Captain led the School in three rousing cheers. 

The school magazine added: "Turning back, the Duke waved and then noticed some English ladies and gentlemen who were standing near the parapet of the first floor of the school building. Thereupon, the Prince smiled at them and upon his waving his hand again, a lady fell off her chair." 

Unfortunately, this sapling did not survive for long and there is no longer any trace of it on the school field. 

(Source: The Straits Times, 1st November 1956)

(Sources: Let the Aisles Proclaim and Penang Free School Archives)

(Source: David Hwang Hong Shi)

(Source: David Hwang Hong Shi)

(Source: David Hwang Hong Shi)

Founding of Penang in 1786

Without the founding of the Prince of Wales' Island by Captain Francis Light on 10 August 1786, there will be no Penang Free School today. In this story below, the events leading to Light formally taking possession of the island from the Sultan of Kedah are described. These extracts are supposedly from Light's Journal itself, and had appeared in James Richardson Logan's own scholarly Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia which he edited and contributed. In Penang, Logan is remembered through the naming of Logan Road in his memory and the Logan Memorial opposite the stately Supreme Court Building.

Extracts from Journal of Captain F. Light

Queda. 11th 12th and 13th July 1786. Embarking the people and provisions:- 14th at 5 p.m. sailed in company with the Prince Henry and Speedwell snow.

15th. Anchored off a small island on the north side of Pinang in 5 fathoms, sent a boat to sound, found no less than 2 fathoms close to the shore.

16th. At noon having a light breeze and flood tide got under sail, and run into the harbour, anchored in 13 fathoms within a musket shot of the shore. The Prince Henry anchored close to the Speedwell, I ordered to run further to the southward, until she got into shoaler water, they anchored about 1/2 mile from us in 8 fathoms soft ground; sent the boats to sound the bay, found good anchoring ground close to the eastern shore, and 11 fathoms within 2 miles of the beach.

17th. Disembarked Lieutenant Gray with the marines upon point Penagger, a low sandy point, covered with wood. Employed clearing the ground.

18th. Landed the Europeans; - the marines and lascars employed clearing the wood and pitching their tents. The Data of Qualla Moodoo came. He brought a fishing net and desired permission to erect a house, which I readily granted; - a prahu from Queda likewise arrived with Captain China and some Christians of India, - they also brought a net which was very acceptable.

19th. People employed clearing the woods: - some of the inhabitants of the island, who dwelt at the foot of the hills, paid me a visit and offered their service to assist me, I dismissed them with a present.

20th. Employed clearing and burning the woods. Snow arrived from Keddah, on board of which I had shipped paddy and Attaps; she is commanded by one Loundes. Dug several wells, found the water indifferent, but stained with the roots of the Penagger which dies red; permitted the marines and lascars to build huts as the tents were not sufficient to contain the half of them.

21st. This morning had frequent squalls with rain. In the afternoon cutting down the trees.

22nd. Rain for the most part of the day.

23rd. Pleasant day, the people from Queda erected a small Bazar near the cantonments, appointed Noqueda Catchee to superintend the bazar and prevent impositions on either side, ordered him a guard of marines.

24th. A fine day, all hands at work.

25th. The same, brought ashore the 2 field pieces with their carriages. Employed building cantonments as I intend despatching the Eliza to Queda: - removed the Company's Treasurer into the Prince Henry.

26th. Fine weather - landed the 13 pounders and tumbrils. Lieut. Halcombe not being acquainted with the Malay language requested of Captain Glass to go with him. In the afternoon the Eliza sailed; - the people all at work.

27th. Landed the 18 pounders and carriages, employed mounting the guns and clearing the woods.

28th. The Munster Lass, Captain Bett, arrived from Malacca. This vessel was run away with from Masulipatam by some Europeans, and seized by the Dutch at Malacca at the request of Lieutenant Stephenson; the people all at work.

29th. Fine weather and fresh southerly winds, every body employed, the Munster Lass returned to Malacca. In cutting the trees, our axes, hatchets, and hand bolts suffer much, the wood is so exceeding hard that the tools double like a piece of lead; requested of Captain Bett on his return from Malacca to bring some Chia axes and parangs from Malacca likewise a smith and washerman.

30th. A fine day - employed clearing the ground, employed as usual.

31st. The same.

1st August. This morning several squalls, with thunder and rain, people employed clearing the ground; several prahus arrived from Queda with several articles for sale, the bazar increases and we receive a constant supply of fine fish.

2nd. Fine weathe5r, marines and lascars constantly employed; - observing the Europeans to be very idle ordered them to make the Gabions. - An officer of the Siamese arrived, who informed me that they had conquered Poogul and taken above one hundred pieces of cannon, that their army was now against Sagar, and as soon as the monsoon served they would attack the Burmese.

3rd. A severe squall, with rain in the afternoon; - began to line off the ground for a fort.

4th. Squalls with thunder and rain, the people at work whenever the weather permits.

5th. Fair weather. - The inhabitants every day paying me a visit, I requested their assistance in cutting down the large trees called Bore. They cut down four but I could not prevail upon them to attempt any more, having broke two of their Bluongs (axes.) Contracted with some Malays to bring Neebons for a stockade at dollars 6 per hundred 12 feet long each.

6th. The people employed in clearing the ground; - ordered the Chinese to dig up the sand and saw the roots of the large trees. This proves a slow and laborious work, offered to the Malays a dollar for every four trees they should cut down.

7th. A fine day; - erected a flag staff. The Eliza returned from Queda - bought some chunam, planks, fowls and ducks, and paddy, with several Christian families.

8th. Fine weather, the lascars building a store house and the Chinese sawing down the trees, the Malays accepted the offer of 1 dollar for four trees and went to work with great spirit.

9th. Fair weather, every body employed. The marines have made frequent complaints of the hardship they suffer in being obliged to work, this at a time when they are indulged with full Batta and provisions is a proof of their ignorance and unworthiness.

10th. Fair weather, two boats arrived with officers from the Vansittart and Valentine, Honorable Company's ships; they brought letters from the Government of Madras. The ships were just in sight, I wrote to the Captains, and requested their company ashore for a few hours in the evening, the ships anchored in the outer roads.

11th. Captains Wall and Lewin came ashore with several passengers, saluted them with nine guns, thought this the most favorable opportunity for taking a formal possession of the island, at noon assembled all the gentlemen under the flag, who unitedly hoisted the flag, taking possession of the island in the name of his Britannic Majesty, and for the use of the Honorable East India Company, the Artillery and ships firing a Royal salute, the marines three volleys. The Sullivan, Captain Pounce, was barely in sight, he sent his letter by another boat and sailed for China, in the evening Captain Lewin went on board and sailed for China.

12th. Fine weather, Tonkoo Ia a relation to the king of Queda arrived, he staid a few days with me and particularly cautioned me not to let more than one or two Malays visit me at a time. I had from the first given directions to Noqueda Catchee to allow no Malays to come ashore armed and this has been faithfully complied with. - Captain Wall went on board and sailed for China.

13th. Fair weather, a boat from the General Goddard arrived with a letter from the Government of Madras. Captain Foxal requested if I had no particular service, he might be permitted to continue his voyage - accordingly on the return of his boat he departed. The Fort William, Captain Simson, came in and anchored under Ratt Island and saluted the fort with nine guns, which I returned.

14th. Captain Simson with his passengers came ashore - supplied him with a bullock as I had done the other ships, and with fowls, fruit, and i received the greatest attention from the Captains of the ships which came in, and got a supply of such necessaries as I wanted. The sight of three large ships, the report of their guns, and the number of Europeans coming ashore, serve to raise us considerably in the opinion of the Malays.

15th. The Fort William sailed. Employed cutting down trees, and erecting a fort. Having received a letter from the Christians at Queda requesting I would provide them a conveyance to the island, as Captain Loundes had no use for his vessel I engaged him to go to Queda and bring them. In the afternoon he sailed.

17th. Arrived the Prince George, Captain Robson, from Queda, he has lost his main top-mast, and wanted some other repairs. Employed the Malays of the island to cut them a top-mast, and lent our carpenters to refit his vessel. The people employed in erecting the fort, and clearing the ground; the Eliza taking ballast and water.

18th. Showers of rain, the Malays felling the trees. Having promises the marines and lascars a present on the ceremony of hoisting the flag gave them pieces of gurrahs.

19th. Most part rain, with fresh gales from N.W.; - arrived some prahus from Queda.

20th. Frequent showers, and hard squalls from the N.W. the sea running very high upon shoals of Qualla Mooda, rebounded back into the north bay, and occasioned a surf upon the beach, which at high water broke over in some few places, this was soaked up by the sand, before it reached six yards, - the ships lay perfectly quiet and secure.

Such is the history of the birth and first few days of the infancy of Prince of Wales' Island as recorded by its founder Captain Francis Light.

It has been long and confidently believed that this Captain Light, having married the daughter of the king (or Rajah) of Quedah, (Kedah) obtained possession of the island of Pinang as his wife's dowry, and that he subsequently sold it to the East Indian Company for a sum of ready money and the appointment of chief of the settlement. This story, though widely circulated and fondly cherished by the descendants of that gentleman, has unfortunately no foundation in truth. The Government of India had been for some years desirous of obtaining possession of a suitable spot for a settlement on the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, and Captain Light, among others, was employed to look out for some eligible locality. This gentleman was connected with the Keddah trade, and resided a good deal at the capital of the Rajah, where he no doubt acquired considerable influence. Through hi, an offer was made to the Supreme Government, of the island of Pinang, to be ceded to the Honorable Company on certain conditions. The Supreme Government, then under the presidentship of Sir John Macpherson, moved by the representations made to them on the subject, decided on forming a settlement on that island. Captain Light, who had gone to Calcutta with the offer from the Rajah of Keddah, was sent back to that place with instructions to negotiate for the cession of the island, which having successfully accomplished, he sailed to take possession of Pinang as described in the above extracts.

The object of these "notes" is simply to amuse and interest those who have become acquainted with this beautiful island in these its later days, by a recurrence of the earlier scenes and events in its history. So far as may be practicable, the rise and decline of the trade of the island will be traced as also the rise and progress of the judicial system, which, as it now exists is somewhat unique of its kind; but for political matters, and especially for any discussion on the "vexata questio" of the relations subsisting between Siam and Keddah, the pages of the Journal of the Indian Archipelago are no proper receptacle.

The St George's Church

The Church of St George the Martyr in Farquhar Street, Penang, celebrates their bicentenary or 200th anniversary today. That's coming three years after Penang Free School had their own Bicentenary celebrations in 2016. Both institutions, the St George's Church and Penang Free School, have a common denominator in Robert Sparke Hutchings. While Hutchings was very well known as the man who founded the Free School, less is known about his role in the establishment of this Anglican church. But it was during his time in Penang that the Church's foundation stone was laid.

In May 1956, there appeared in The Straits Times, a long article about the St George's Church. As it is rather difficult to read the story from the picture, here it is reproduced below. J.G. at the end of the article would be the initials of the Rev. Jack Griffiths. He was the chaplain of the St George's Church from 1953 to 1956.

THE Great  Charter granted by King James I of England in 1609 had commanded the East India Company among other things, that the Company should maintain ministers and schoolmasters for their garrisons and factories in the East Indies.

It was not until two hundred years later that steps were taken to appoint a bishop and three archdeacons in India. Then in 1800, the then Governor Sir George Leith, appointed George Caunter as lay chaplain at Penang, a post equivalent to that of a lay preacher of today. Soon the Governor felt that without a priest there could be no sacramental life for the community and accordingly put up a case for the Court of Directors.

And so, the Rev. Atwill Lake was appointed chaplain, and one Thomas Cullen as clerk and schoolmaster at Penang. Orders had also been given that as soon as convenient work should begin on the erection of a church building.

Unfortunately there was some delay, however, as the seemingly more important projects of a jail, an arsenal and a garrison had to be completed first.

It is presumed that between 1800, and 1818 when the new church was built, church services were held at Fort Cornwallis, in a chapel there or in a 'convenient room.'

The real pioneer of the Anglican church in Penang was the Rev. Robert Hutchings. In October 1816, he opened a small Free School in Love Lane, thus establishing the oldest and one of the most important schools in Malaya.

It was during Robert's ministry in Penang that the foundation stone of the church of St George the Martyr was laid. The church cost the East India Company $60,000. It was built by convict labour.

The unfortunate results of having a church built for and given to the community were mentioned by the Rev. John H. Smith in a lecture during the centenary celebrations of its consecration.

"...she was by her official constitution more or less moribund, her operations were restricted, in a word, she suffered from an accentuated form of establishment," he said.

He observed that the personal activity of several of the chaplains in Penang, as in Singapore and Malacca, had overflowed the official cup.

In his Glimpses Into Life In The Far East, J.T. Thompson makes reference to St George's Church and its parishioners during 1838-41.

"Let us enter the church," he writes, "at Sunday morning service. The interior is in the finest taste fitted for the climate. The pews are not boxed in, but an open railing closes round each.

"The smallest breath of air can flow through the nave. It is fitted up with the most scrupulous care for the comfort of the congregation.

"Two boys pulled long punkahs overhead while another pumped air into the organ up in the gallery. Of the 300-400 seats, only 20 were occupied. A few men had come from the garrison.

"But now the organ peels forth its soul-inspiring strains and the clergyman and his clerk enter....the responses are read by the clerk with flippant air, nor do the congregation join in any way whatsoever.

"His insincere communication of earnest supplicants have no seconders. All is as silent as the sepulchure.

"The Psalms are given out; our clerk does not condescend to sing, nor do the congregation. The sermon is short, dull and impractical, sleepy and unattractive. This over, no charity is asked....the syces bring out conveyances underneath the portico, and we disperse.

"And does this curate of souls visit his people? No. What does he do? He plants nutmegs....He is the burra padre, a great man's priest...."

Many tablets and memorials were put up along the inside walls of the church before and after the erection of the Francis Light monument in the compound.

Amongst those whom they commemorated were Lord Cornwallis, Governor-General of India in 1786, Dr John Ross, one of the earliest private medical practitioners in Penang, and the Rev. L.C. Biggs, who founded the Chinese Mission.

One of the most interesting of these memorials, the Black Memorial, was in the chancel, and marked the only interment to take place in the church itself. It was to "Harriet, wife of Robert Fullerton, Governor of Penang Island."

In the centenary number of the Pinang Gazette, published in 1933, the late Rev. Keppel Garnier writes: "....she died in 1830, aged 48, and the story goes that she was not a kind mistress to the household slaves.

"In fact, they hated her so bitterly that they declared that when she died they would never let her bones rest in peace.

"This threat was taken so seriously that when she came to die, her husband arranged for a mock ceremony in the cemetery, and later, after dark the same night, the real coffin was lowered into a space dug in the chancel floor, and the service was held over the mortal remains by the light of a candle and in the presence of her husband only...."

It was the Bishop of Calcutta, Bishop Middleton, who consecrated St George's Church on May 11, 1819.

In 1858 the old East India Company ceased to exist, and India became subject to the Crown. In 1867 the Straits Settlements were detached from oversight by the Indian Government and became a Crown Colony.

In 1869 Penang severed its ecclesiastical ties with the Indian Government and came under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Bishop of Labuan. In the following year St Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore, was declared the Peninsular Cathedral of the diocese.

St George's Church was the first Anglican Church in Malaya despite the fact that Christ Church, Malacca, is fifty years older. The latter, however, belonged originally to the Dutch Reformed Church, only later becoming Anglican.

The life of St George's Church went on with little change until its was disestablished in 1916. And as such, it continued for another 25 years....

Then came the dark day when the walls of the church were to stand battered and unused, and pillaged furnishings were to be scattered and lost. From long after that day worshippers came no more to where their predecessors had worshipped God for over 125 years.

But stones and buildings do not make a church. So while the visible structure stood gaunt and ruined, the spirit of the church of St George the Martyr lived on, moving the site of its worship from place to place as necessity commanded.

Its building was looted and defaced, but its soul, vigorous and inspired by adversity, retained its identity. On the day the Japanese arrived, six bombs were dropped into the church compound, but only one hit the church. It was the only church in Malaya to be bombed.

The bomb damage was small, but the church as well as the then completely unharmed parsonage and mission hall were wrecked and pillaged by looters.

Mr Victor Lunberg, who was licensed as a lay reader on Dec 18, 1942, and received his licence, which had to be smuggled to him on Christmas Day, rescued the church records and other articles eventually to be destroyed by the Japanese.

When the war reached Malaya, the then Vicar of Penang, the Rev. R.J. Thompson, who was nearly sixty years of age, left for active service with the Volunteer Corps, to which he was chaplain.

Thereupon the Rev. Eric Scott, Vicar of Butterworth, moved boldly about Penang in company with Mr Lunberg. It was suggested to Mr Scott that he should say he was Irish so that he could enjoy certain freedom of movement as a comparative neutral . He refused. As a result, he was confined to St Nicholas' Home where the church services were held for the next twelve months.

Then services were held at the Chinese parsonage, where now stands the St Paul's Church. Sometimes Japanese soldiers and officers attended these services.

After the liberation, the Government allowed the Anglicans to use the Methodist Church in Burmah Road.

In 1948 the original church building was restored and entirely refurbished. The time of ease and comfort for the church in Penang had ended on the day the Japanese arrived.

But the courage with which its people faced persecution augures (sic) well for the condition of its future. The restored church building is now the people's own church. They remade it with hands ready for love and service as the Jews rebuilt the battered Temple at Jerusalem.

Already a small but not insignificant happening has taken place which shows how its spiritual strength might move into an even more influential position.

In March this year a new aspect of its history was begun when litigation was brought to an end by an oath made upon the Bible in the church.

A newspaper account states: "It is not unusual among certain litigants in the courts to accept a challenge by cutting a cock's head in a temple to settle an issue under dispute, but for the first time an oath taking took place in a church without the decapitation of a rooster.

It was during the hearing of a civil suit in the Penang First Magistrate's court when the defendant challenged the plaintiffs, a trading firm, that if the firm's representative would swear an oath in a church, he would consent to judgment in respect of a claim for $200 being the balance due for cash advanced and for goods supplied.

"When the plaintiff's representative accepted the challenge, the court adjourned and the parties went to St George's Church. In the presence of the court's Chinese interpreter, the firm's representative swore to the validity of the claim.

"On the parties returning to the court, the Magistrate gave judgment for the plaintiffs after being assured by the defendant that he was satisfied with what had taken place."

J.G.

Annual report of the School Committee, 1817

(This account of the Report of the Prince of Wales' Island Free School Committee to the Subscribers first appeared in Marcus Langdon's book, Penang the Fourth Presidency of India 1804-1830, Volume 2, Marcus Langdon is a noted historian, writer and publisher. Currently, he resides in Penang.)

PUBLIC SCHOOL, WEDNESDAY, 22nd OCTOBER 1817.

Report of the School Committee.

1. The Committee, to whose hands the confidence of the Government had delegated on behalf of the Public, the interesting and important trust of introducing and carrying into practical effect at this Presidency, the Institution of a Public Free School, on principles similar to those upon which the invaluable blessing of Elocution has been dispersed to our fellow subjects in other parts of India; judging the period to have arrived, at which, the progress and actual state of the Institution make it proper that the Committee should submit a Report of its past proceedings & should resort to the wisdom and judgement of the Public for the future management of the School – has the honour to lay before the Meeting now assembled the following statement in the preparation of which it has been judged the most eligible course, in order to afford the fullest information to the Subscribers at large to exhibit a succinct review of all that has been done toward the Establishment of the Institution, from the period that its introduction was first proposed at this Presidency.

2. To the pastoral and benevolent views of our respectable Chaplain Mr. Hutchings we owe, under the countenance and fostering Patronage of a liberal and enlightened Government, the immediate origin of this Institution; which, munificently endowed as this has been, and zealously supported by the Settlement at large, will remain a proud and imperishable memorial of the beneficent spirit by which the British Character is so eminently distinguished, and its influence marked in every quarter of the Globe; a memorial which, fixed as we may justly hope this will be, in the hearts of the rude and unlettered nations amidst whom we dwell, will prove more lasting than any monument of marble or of brass.

3. The Reverend Chaplain having submitted to the Government his suggestion for founding a Public School, and the Government with its wonted beneficence having cordially concurred in the object, this Committee was nominated to consider and report upon the Plan.

4. The Committee accordingly met, and after a most careful examination of Mr. Hutchings' plan in all its details, submitted its fullest and most unqualified approbation of it, and warmly recommended its adoption.

5. The Committee begs leave to refer to its Report dated the 10th January 1816 in which its opinion of the General Plan, of the details for giving its effect, and the estimated expences calculated to attend it, were fully exhibited.

6. The Government having expressed its entire approval of the Plan, and signified its intention of affording on behalf of the Honorable Company their liberal support towards giving it effect, the public Address of the 9th February 1816, was submitted to the Community at large, which it is almost superfluous to state, was immediately answered by that prompt, generous, and spirited liberality which never fails to animate a Briton's bosom when his Charity is invoked in behalf of his fellow creatures, or an object for the exercise of philanthropy presented to his view.

7. The first Report of the Private Subscriptions for the Institution of the School, stated the amount that had been subscribed within the first month, at Spanish Dollars 5601; and it is most satisfactory to the Committee to have it now in its power to state, that many additional contributions have since been made, and that the Funds in the Treasurer's hands amounted on the 30th April last, to the sum of Spanish Dollars 11,936. Pice 02.

8. A reference to the Committee's Report of the 10th January 1816, and to Mr. Hutchings' original Plan, will shew, that it was considered one of the main objects of this Institution to receive as Boarders, and to place on the foundation of the School, Orphans and poor Children, who were to be educated, fed, and clothed; and the Estimates framed by the Committee accordingly proceeded upon these views.

9. It was also intended, to Educate in their own national languages, a certain number of Day Scholars, the Children of Malay, Chinese, Hindoo, and Chuliah Parents, for whom Native Teachers were to be provided.

10. Neither of these objects have yet been attained, nor indeed put in progress; the Committee having found it most advisable to limit its first measures to the Introduction of a system of Education in the English Language, and to hold out to the Community the encouragement to submit their Children to a systematic course of Instruction, which a Day School so readily afforded.

11. A further objection to the immediate institution of a Boarding School, arose out of the difficulty of procuring at the time, a suitable Building, as well as the delay that long intervened, before a proper Master and Mistress could be procured.

12. But as the provision for Boarding both Boys and Girls forms a main and leading principle in the prospectus on which the Institution has been founded, and that to dispense the blessings and comfort of food, raiment, and education to Orphan Children left destitute, or those whose Parents & Friends cannot maintain them; the Committee very earnestly recommends that this benevolent purpose be kept readily in view, and that at the earliest period which will admit, it may be practically introduced, together with that of furnishing Tuition in the Native Languages.

13. The delay and difficulty above stated in procuring a proper Master prevented the opening of the Free School at an earlier date than the month of October last year, on the 21st of which the Committee met for the purpose of admitting Scholars, and did on the date accordingly receive and admit 25 Boys.

14. The Girls' school was not opened in consequence of the School-Mistress not having arrived until the 1st July last.

15. The Committee has the gratification to report that there are now on the School Register at this date:-
Boys............................ 49
Girls............................. 11
Of which number there are, for whose Tuition Payment is made:-
Boys............................ 13
Girls............................   7

16. The rate of payment to such as can afford it, is One Dollar per month.

17. The Committee was induced by the respectable testimonies to his Character which he brought with him, to engage the present Master, Mr. W, Cox, at a Salary of Spanish Dollars per month Eighty; and subsequently to confide the charge of the Girls' School, to his wife, Mrs. Cox, at a Salary of Spanish Dollars Fifty.

18. The Committee further considered it equitable to defray the expences of Mrs. Cox's Passage from Madras, and accordingly paid the same.

19. The accommodation contained in the Premises in which the Meeting is now assembled, induced the Committee to engage the same for the School, at the monthly rent of Spanish Dollars 50 on a lease of 12 months from the first of May last.

20. It is in this place proper to bring under the special notice to the Subscribers, the additional mark of the liberality and favour of the Government, which in the same spirit of benevolence that prompted its splendid donation towards the foundation, and its liberal Monthly Subscription towards the maintenance of the Institution, has recently conferred upon the School, the free Grant of a very eligible and conveniently situated piece of Ground near the Church.

21. It is the pleasing office of the Committee to record its own sense, and it ventures with confidence to anticipate the concurring sentiment of the Community of the deep obligation the Public owe, for such wise, beneficent, and liberal Patronage on the part of their respected Rulers.

22. The Committee desires to present the letter from the Secretary to Government announcing this Grant, and as it appeared to the Committee to be proper to defer replying to the Communication, until the same should be submitted to a Meeting of the Subscribers at large; the Committee would now suggest the propriety of its being authorized by the Meeting before finally relinquishing its trust, to acknowledge this letter from Government, and to state in whose names, as Trustees, the Subscribers would recommend that the Grant should be made out.

23. In reference to the same object, the Committee has the honour to acquaint the Subscribers that, pursuant to a resolution recorded on its proceedings of the 11th instant, an application has been addressed to Lieutenant Smith, the Superintending Engineer, soliciting in the name of the Committee, the favour of his framing a Plan for a suitable Building as a School House, calculated to accommodate not less than one hundred Boys, and fifty Girls; and accompanying the same with Estimates of the probable Expense that will attend its erection.

24. The Committee would suggest, that when the Plan shall be received from the Engineer, no time should be lost in deciding upon the erection of the School.

25. The Meeting will naturally participate in the regret felt by the Committee, at having been deprived, by the impaired state of his health which rendered a change of climate necessary, so early after the Institution of the School, of the aid of the Reverend Gentleman to whom its origin was so largely owing, and to whose experience, judgment, and active personal superintendence, the Public hopes were necessarily turned for its success. The Committee has been deeply sensible of the disadvantage under which it has laboured from having been thus unavoidably deprived of Mr. Hutchings' assistance; and therefore relies with confidence, that the Subscribers at large, justly appreciating these disadvantages, will make liberal allowances for any deficiencies they may perceive in the management or actual condition of the School.

26. Although thus left to introduce unaided and to establish a new Institution which, like all new Schemes, requires experience and practical knowledge to direct with success, the Committee indulges a hope that on reference to its recorded Proceedings, the Public will be satisfied that it has not been inattentive to the high trust confided to its charge; but that in their directive and individual capacities, the several members have applied their best and earnest endeavours to promote the advancement and prosperity of the School, and to introduce and establish order, method, regularity, & proper discipline.

27. The Committee is desirous of drawing to the notice of the Subscribers to the Proceedings recorded on the 30th April, 19th June, 15th August, and 11th October, with the several memorandums of the individual Members of the Committee, as these records afford the most full and complete view of the Acts of the Committee, and of the state of the School, whilst they also detail the system of Tuition it has been the endeavours of the Committee to bring into practical operation.

28. The printed regulation for the management of the School, a copy of which will be furnished to each of the Subscribers, are those, which the Reverend Mr. Hutchings prepared and submitted to Government, and which having been approved, were passed and adopted for the management of the Institution from its first commencement.

29. The Subscribers will perceive that conformably with the Provisions thereof, exclusive of the President and Vice Presidents, "Nine Gentlemen, Resident on the Island, are to be constituted Directors of the School" for the purposes fully set forth in the 3rd, 4th and following Rules; and the Committee, in proposing with the sanction of Government now to relinquish its present trust, takes the liberty of respectfully submitting to the Meeting the propriety of immediately electing nine new Directors, with a Secretary; and the Committee feels that in giving up its charge it cannot perform a more important duty nor render a greater service, than by endeavouring to press upon the minds of the Gentlemen who may take upon themselves the office of Directors, the conviction so deeply impressed upon every individual of the present Committee, that upon the zealous, earnest, and efficient discharge of the duties prescribed by the Regulations, must depend the due management and good order of the School; and the Committee entreats the friends of the Institution to whom this report is addressed, to be persuaded, that to the personal vigilance, punctual and active superintendence of the monthly Visiting Directors, the progress of the prescribed system of Education must be prospectively referable.

30. The Committee has furnished the Master, Mr. Cox, with a valuable Treatise, amply detailing the whole course of Dr Bell's admired System, and on reference to the Proceedings of the 11th Inst, it will be seen, that no pains have been spared to awaken in Mr. Cox a lively interest in the important charge entrusted to him.

31. On the same Proceedings the Committee has recorded the opinion it entertains, that great benefit could not fail to result from the Ladies of the Settlement bestowing their countenance upon the Institution and taking upon themselves the superintendence of the Female Branch of it an arrangement which, sanctioned be the example of a similar practice at the other Indian Presidencies, the Committee wishes respectfully to recommend to the Ladies of this Settlement.

32. Appended to this Report is a Return, exhibiting the various Articles of School Furniture, the School Books, Stationary, &c. which have been provided, as the same remain on this date.

33. The Committee has submitted an application to Government, that the indulgence of obtaining the Stationary required for the use of the School, may, in order to diminish expence now incurred for that Article, be granted on paying for the same at the Invoice cost.

34. The last statement with which the Committee proposes to conclude its reports is the state of the School Funds; and it is most gratifying to the Committee to have it in its power to exhibit so favourable and flattering a view of these. By the last Account Current of Messrs. Carnegy and Co. the Treasurers, the Balance on the 30th April at the Credit of the Institution, was Spanish Dollars 11,935, Pice 02.

35. By an open account foom the Treasurer, dated yesterday, it appears, that the Balance on this date may be stated at Dollars 12,336.

36. Messrs. Carnegy and Co. have intimated by letter, that they cannot continue the same rate of interest hitherto allowed for the current year.

37. It is also satisfactory to the Committee to have to report, that the current Expences of the School are kept considerably within the current Monthly Receipts (not including the interest on the Funds) as the subjoined sketch exhibits.
Monthly Receipts.
The Government Subscription.................................200
Payment received from 13 Boys & 7 Girls..................20
Rent for the Press-room.............................................10
                                                                                            230

Current Monthly Expences
Rent of the School.....................................................50
Salary of Master and Mistress.................................130
Fixed Expences........................................................180
Balance to meet Contingent charges and saving
(besides the interest accruing on the Funds)...........50

38. This Committee is not aware that it has any further observations with which to trouble the Meeting, and therefore proposes, so soon as it shall have obtained the sanction of the Government, to dissolve, and accordingly recommends the nomination of the new Directors.

(Signed.) R. lbbetson, J.M. Coombs, J. Maclnnes, D. Brown, J. Carnegy, R Caunter.

Hutchings' annual dedication

First dedication ceremony on 21 Oct 1948

This year will be remembered as the 70th anniversary of the annual dedication at the tomb of Revd Robert Sparke Hutchings, founder of Penang Free School. In 1948, Dennis Roper who was then the  Headmaster of the Free School had urged the School Trustees to approve funds for repairing Hutchings’ tomb at the Protestant Cemetery in Northam Road. The repairs were carried out by Yeang Kah Chong, an Old Boy of the School.

On the morning of Speech Day on the 21st of October 1948, a group of teachers and prefects, accompanied by Roper and the Director of Education, Harold Cheeseman, gathered to lay a wreath that bore the school colours of light blue and white at the tomb.

The short ceremony, the first of its kind since the School’s Centenary in 1916, was conducted by Archdeacon Stanley Collier from the nearby St George's Church. Roper later expressed hope that this meaningful act of remembrance should be observed annually.

18th dedication ceremony on 21 Oct 1966 (Sesqui-centenary year)

68th dedication ceremony on 21 Oct 2016 (Bicentenary year)

The great move

On this day 90 years ago, Penang Free School opened its academic year at its new premises in Green Lane on the outskirts of George Town. The planning had begun eight years earlier with the Straits Settlements Government purchasing a 30-acre piece of land in 1920. Tenders were called in 1925 for the erection of the main school buildings and the job was awarded to the construction company of JC Gammon Ltd.

It was reported then in the Pinang Gazette that: "The new Government School, when completed, should be an imposing one, not so much, perhaps, for its generous proportions, but for its setting and the immense area in which it is accommodated. Government has altogether set apart 31 acres for its new school, and of this no less than 12 acres are for a playing field. This playing field will be the biggest in the whole of Malaya and will be more than sufficient for a cricket field, two football grounds, hockey ground and tennis courts. The local Esplanade will offer no comparison and even the two combined esplanades in Singapore (the S.C.C. and S.R.C. grounds) will still be smaller than the new Free School esplanade. The school building itself, which will be a two-floor structure, that is, a ground floor and upstairs, will occupy a space of 20,000 square feet and Messrs. Gammon and Company, it is understood, have undertaken its construction at a cost of 260,000 dollars."

So it was in Dec 1927 that the Free School at its old premises in Farquhar Street, under the stewardship of their headmaster, David Swaine, began busily packing up almost everything for the eventual move to Green Lane. "Almost everything" because only the staff and boys from the upper Standards VII to IX were involved in the relocation. The transition must have taken several weeks to complete, especially to meet the deadline of a new school year on the ninth of January 1928. But succeed they did and on the ninth of January 1928, the new buildings were formally declared open by the Resident Councillor of Penang, Ralph Scott.

According to an editorial comment by Yeoh Bok Choon in the Penang Free School Magazine of August 1930: "When the building at Green Lane was nearing completion, it had to have a name and the task of choosing one fell on the School Prefects of that time. They decided that it should be called the Penang Free School", thus perpetuating the name of an institution that had began 112 years earlier. Perhaps it was a no-brainer decision but one wonders what would have become of Penang Free School if the School Prefects had decided on an entirely different name!

So what became of the old school premises in Farquhar Street? The same issue of the school magazine said that the School Prefects proposed to rename it as Hutchings' School "in honour of the prelate who had much to do with the founding of the Free School." At the request of the School Trustees, the members of The Old Frees' Association then convened a meeting to accept the proposal and thus Hutchings' School, with the classes of the lower Standards that remained, came into being on the same day, that is, 9 January 1928. It was to be a feeder school to Penang Free School. Hutchings' School's first headmaster was a familiar name, Leslie W. Arnold, who transferred over from the Northam Road Government English School.

Ironically, the Hutchings’ School was immediately to become a direct competitor of Penang Free School in several aspects of school life.

Bok Choon again: "In many areas, the two schools drifted apart and the parent soon had to compete against its branch school. In Cadet field operations, in musketry contests, in Scout Sports and in the Glugor Shield Sports the Free School found itself opposed by its branch school. Even the old Farquhar Street building was overhauled and the monograms that had for so many decades adorned the arches and front of the building were erased by vandal hands. A stranger would think that the Free School and the Hutchings School had no connection with each other."

But at least we know now that on the top of the old building in Farquhar Street, far away and out of reach from the vandals' dirty hands, the original emblems of Penang Free School lay untouched and can still be seen today. Together with three marble pieces inside the building, these are the last remaining vestiges of evidence that the Free School had once occupied this old colonial building.

School motto and arms

The Bicentenary Crest of Penang Free School

SCHOOL MOTTO: 

Fortis atque Fidelis (för’tiz ud’kway fï’deliz)

SCHOOL COLOUR: 

Sky blue

ARMORIAL BEARINGS: 

White Tower, Palm Tree, Lion

THE BLAZON OR DESCRIPTION OF THE ARMS: 

Azure, in chief a white tower between the gold numerals 18 and 16; in sinister base a gold lion rampant guardant supporting a flag; in dexter base a gold palm tree proper

MOTTO: 

Fortis atque Fidelis (Translated as: Strong and Faithful)

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SYMBOLS USED:

WHITE TOWER: Signifies the qualities of strength and truthfulness

1816: The year that Penang Free School was founded

LION: Signifies the preservation of the traditions and high ideals of the School

PALM TREE: Signifies Penang and fertility of the mind

HERALDIC DESCRIPTION OF THE FLAG OF PENANG FREE SCHOOL:

Azure, per pale embattled; in dexter argent a lion rampant azure with numerals 18 and 16 on either side

The Free School spirit

While the Occupation of Penang by the Japanese military ended officially on 15 August 1945 with the surrender of the Japanese in the Pacific basin, Penang Free School reopened only on the fourth of October. The first post-War Speech Day passed by without the usual ceremonies associated with the occasion but for the School's 130th anniversary in October 1946, Sir Edward Gent, who was the Malayan Union's first Governor, attended together with Harold Cheeseman who was by now the Director of Education. In his speech, Cheeseman reflected on his experience during the Occupation and delivered an address which could perhaps be his most personal tribute to the Free School:

I am down, on the official programme, to speak as the Director of Education. Twenty years in Penang, 15 of them at this School, forged for me enduring links of service and of affection and during the 19 years that have passed since I was transferred from Penang these links have been strengthened rather than weakened by the passage of years. So I make no apology for addressing you today not in my official capacity but as one who belongs to the Penang Free School.

It gives me a great thrill to be enjoying a privilege. I little thought I should again enjoy, to be speaking once again to Free School boys on a Free School Speech Day. The first 21^st October I had in Penang was the 21^st October 1907 and from that day to this wherever I have been I have never failed to celebrate this anniversary. Wherever I have been. Even in Changi Prison. Old Frees did not forget the 21^st October. And year by year they celebrated it with a never-failing, indeed an ever-growing, confidence that the day would come when the School would again be in a very special sense the Free School with all its ancient rights and privileges restored.

I shall never forget the march of the internees in Singapore to their place of internment. A little group of Old Frees collected, seeking to help me with my baggage. They were fiercely repulsed by our guards. But throughout that march the little group kept appearing and re-appearing on the route, silent messengers of sympathy. And when we were in prison, Old Frees by underground channels effected contact with us and until the Double Tenth in 1943 smuggled in food, money and clothes for us.

And after the Japanese surrender, when visitors came to our internment camp, a contingent of Old Frees arrived and took part in those reunion scenes of indescribable enthusiasm. It seemed to me that every Old Free in Singapore must have come, each one bearing a gift. Some of them had a little difficulty in recognising me: they were looking for 15 stone, not seven.

What accounts for this Free School spirit that so influences and binds together those who have been in this school? It is not due to this building or this site for it existed long before these. It is not due to its large enrolment for we know that mere numbers mean little. It is not even due to its wonderful record of examination success. It is due to a variety of factors that I do not propose to attempt to enumerate. But it is fitting that we should remember today one who exercised a very powerful influence in the creation of the Free School spirit.

We know the driving force, the man who was behind that little school founded on October 21, 1816 in that insignificant building in Love Lane, abutting on the playground of the present Hutchings School. It was the Rev. R.S. Hutchings. He was a man of great educational vision. He wanted not merely an English School but a school in which boys could learn their mother tongue.

He introduced practical subjects into the curriculum and even had a trade school section. He was so far in advance of his times that his programme sounds more like a post-war programme for 1946 than a programme for 1816. Only one part of his programme was fulfilled, only one part was final and enduring – the English school, the Penang Free School.

Years ago as I pieced together from our scanty records, now unfortunately destroyed, the fascinating story of the growth and development of this school, I felt that the influence of this man was beyond measure. It was largely due to him that this school started with a background of high ideals and of a noble purpose. It was so started. It has so continued. We must be worthy of this great heritage and with a purpose born of pride and an effort born of determination seek to ensure for our School a future no less glorious than its past.

Dr Ong Chong Keng

From the Penang Free School Magazine of November 1931 (Old Series, Volume XI Number 4), there was published this speech by Dr Ong Chong Keng, the representative of The Old Frees' Association, who was speaking at the Free School's Speech Day on 21 October 1931. Ong was a medical doctor who later turned politician and sat in the Federal Legislative Council of Malaya, For his very vocal views that the Chinese would be loyal to the future Federation of Malaya, Communist elements ambushed and killed him somewhere in the Perak Road area of Penang island on 31 August 1948. Nine years later on 31 August 1957, Malaya would achieve her Independence from the British. Ong Chong Keng would have been visibly chuffed by that.

About a week ago, when I was invited to be the speaker for the Old Frees, I felt at first that I was not sufficiently distinguished to assume such an important role. But on subsequent thought, I discovered that I possess one great distinction: a distinction which took me a decade of sustained perseverance to earn, and that was, the distinction of having studied at the Penang Free School. (cheers). That distinction of being an Old Free was not the monopoly of a selected few. Our school is exactly 115 years old today. And, as each year, for 115 years, boys passing out of the school into the ranks of the Old Frees, the distinguished company of Old Frees is an exceedingly big one. Indeed, it might almost be said that the sun never set on an Old Free. (cheers). But it is the distinguished company of Old Frees, not the company of distinguished Old Frees, which is a big one. (applause). I am addressing you from that platform - not as one of the distinguished Old Frees, because I am not distinguished, at least not yet, (laughter and applause) - but as one of the distinguished company of Old Frees. 

During this time that I am privileged to inflict my speech on you, I hope to be pardoned if I should show a strong partiality for “those brave old days beyond recall”, and indulge in reminiscences of my old school days. 

I left school one day in March 1923, and as this building was not occupied until 1928, I was one of that last batch of Old Frees who had all our schooling in those old buildings which now house Hutchings School. More than eight years has elapsed since I first became an Old Free, and there is not the slightest doubt that the school has progressed in every direction during the past eight years. Perhaps the great progress was noticeable in the additional facilities now provided for study and for play. 

The school now has a beautiful meeting hall where the boys meet every morning. In the old days the tiffin shed functioned as the meeting hall on those occasions when Mr Pinhorn, the then Headmaster, wanted to address us and to warn us from committing any of the three serious crimes – (1) jeering at our rivals in the Inter-school athletic competitions for the Glugor Shield, (laughter); (2) throwing fruit skins all over the school playground during the fruit season, (loud laughter); and (3) giving vent to our artistic and other less commendable feelings by caricaturing our enemies, usually the masters, on the walls in the seclusion of the closet. (renewed laughter). 

You now have well-equipped laboratories, which you can conduct your experiments in Physics and Chemistry. Those days we had no laboratories and our practical Chemistry was chiefly, if not solely, confined to the mixing together of various coloured solutions in test tubes. Now you have new desks with unblemished tops. The old desks had holes, through which we read surreptitiously those doubtful but exciting classics which had gone, and still went, under the picturesque name of Penny Dreadfuls. 

In the field of sports too, there have been vast improvements. The playing field of today is many times the size of the old one. All the present footballers of the school wear boots, while most of old brigade prided themselves on our invulnerable feet, and played all our games bare-footed. (laughter). The cricketers today present a striking and stylish picture as they go in to bat, complete with cap, gloves, pads, and flannel trousers. Their predecessors wore the thickest sun helmets they could find to give their heads protection from the ball. (laughter) They never had any gloves on, and if they did put on pads at all, they usually put on one only, and more often than not, that one pad was put on the leg farthest removed from the bowler. (loud laughter). 

You may laugh at our backwardness and you may be amused at our primitivity. I have endeavoured to give a few glimpses of what school-life was like in my time. Recollections of pleasant incidents always give rise to a feeling of sadness, of regret that they can now be nothing more than just pleasant memories; and we treasure every little memento which reminds us of those happy days which had been, and every little souvenir which links the present to the past. 

An old boy revisiting his old school take only a superficial, if indeed any, interest in the new building, the new laboratory, and the new gymnasium put up since his day. What he wants to see are the same old building, the same old classrooms, and of course, the same old masters. When he roams round the school, his eyes would want to rove over the school walls in the effort to discover that particular patch of ink smudge for which he was responsible, and for which he received three strokes. 

He would prick up his ears to hear the same old school bell, the tones of which, could he but hear them, would at once recall to his mind that old, almost ancient servant of the school, Imam, who served the school so faithfully and so well for so many, many years. Imam had gone the way of all flesh, and though a snobbish world will not dream of erecting a memorial tablet to the memory of a mere peon, he will always lie enshrined in the heart of every Old Free as the typical example of Loyalty itself.

The heavy hand of death had also removed the most important figure that has ever appeared on the local staff of the school. The number of Old Frees who have sat at the feet of the late Mr Koay Thean Chin must be legion, and the death of one whom we have learnt to regard as a permanent fixture of the school was a great blow to us all. A schoolboy, whilst still attending school, regards his master as a mixed assortment of tyrants and freaks. (laughter). But no sooner had he left school, than the soft haze of retrospect puts a halo round the head of every teacher who taught him.

Mr RH Pinhorn was a terror to us all. Every approaching thump of his foot on the school stairs- it was a characteristic thump to those who heard it – put the fear of death into our juvenile hearts. (laughter). We now know that Mr Pinhorn was a perfect gentleman in every sense of the word. Mr Heng Kok has given you a full account of his services to the school, and I shall not weary you by repeating this year what you heard last year. (applause). 

Mr Hamilton looked so ferocious to us that we christened him the Old Tiger. Whenever we heard hisorder ‘Stand on your hind legs,” we knew that we were in for a grueling mathematical catechism, which was frequently enlivened by resounding slaps on the cheek. Now we marvel at the forbearance and patience which Mr Hamilton showed us, and we likened his slaps unto the kisses of the saint on the cheek of the leper. (applause). 

Mr Eckersall was another forbidding schoolday figure, and his sharp tongue used to lash us like a whip. He taught us mathematics, but I learnt a good many expressive English words from him. For example, I never knew what a “lout” was, until I came under him. He used few words, but he chose them well. (loud laughter). When he wanted to put one of us up on the bench, he merely barked out the one word “mount.” Now, whenever we think of Mr Eckersall, our hearts well over with thankfulness for all the kindness that we have received at his hands. (applause). 

Mr Swaine taught us History and Latin. As a medical man, I have not come across a more potent soporific than Latin, (laughter) and even as a school boy, I was grateful to Mr Swaine for permitting me to slumber peacefully in his class (laughter). What Latin I knew (I know none now) was learnt by my subconscious self. His long association with the Free School was rudely interrupted, we hope not actually terminated, a few years ago. We regard Mr Swaine as the property of the Free School, and we shall deem it a gracious favour if the authorities will return him to us one day, as our Headmaster. (applause). 

Mr Arnold taught us French and Geography. He was always very polite, and his unruffled smoothness was sometimes the exasperation of us all. I was not noted for my punctuality, and one morning I arrived late at Mr Arnold’s French class. He greeted me with these words, uttered with a smiling face and with all the suavity conceivable, “I was afraid that I would not have the pleasure of seeing you this morning. And, if you persist in keeping me in this suspense every morning, I regret that I shall be forced to deny myself the pleasure of ever seeing you again in my class.” (loud laughter). Needless to say, if I ever failed to come early again, it was not for want of trying. Mr Arnold now stands high in the educational world of Malaya, and for every success gained, he has the heartiest congratulations of the Old Frees. (applause). 

What English I know now, I owe to a lean, young Englishman whom we called “Orang Keju.” (cheers). He left us about 10 years ago, but Cheeseman House perpetuates the memory of a name which is synonymous with the progress of the school during the first 20 years of the twentieth century (applause). 

Mr Hamid Khan was another of the old masters who had been taken away from the Free School. His name was always coupled with that of the late M. Koay Thean Chin for honorable mention by Mr Pinhorn at every prize-giving day. He is still going strong, and apart from a slight whitening of his moustaches, he looks today exactly the same as he did 20 years ago. On behalf of all his old pupils, I wish him “panjang umoh.” (applause). 

Two native masters who have taught me, still remain on the present staff of the school. They are Mr Koay Kye Teong and Mr Ng Cheong Weng. It is a source of great gratification to us that they are both drawing super-scale emoluments. These two masters together with a few other native masters of the school provide the only link which connects this Free School of Green Lane with the old Free School of Farquhar Street. 

An old boy who had spent all his school career at Farquhar Street will look in vain for a familiar face in the entire European staff of the present school. “All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.” Father Time has removed a few of them. We cannot help that. The Educational Gods have transferred the rest to other places. 

We are always proud of our tradition. We flatter ourselves that a boy in going through the Free School acquires certain individuality, a certain outlook on life, a certain bearing and behaviour, which is characteristic of the Free School. We believe that every boy who passes through the Free School mill must be impressed with the Free School stamps. But, if the European staff of the school is always changing, if it undergoes a complete metamorphosis every five years, if it is composed of masters whose longest connection with the school is a paltry period of four to five years, when they have boys under them who have been in school for a longer length of time, where is that continuity without which tradition is as empty as a shadow. It is a pity that we could not transplant the old school buildings from Farquhar Street to Green Lane but surely, the authorities can, if they only want to, allow us to retain a fairly constant staff. An absolutely constant European staff, I am aware, is an impossibility due to the exigencies of leave and promotion. 

Our past history of 115 years outshines that of any other school in Malaya and equals that of any other school in the East. We have a unique foundation of tradition and the educational authorities will be failing in their duty if instead of building on it, they destroy it. We studied at the Penang Free School as our fathers and our fathers’ fathers did before us; and this great Free School tradition is as real and means as much to us as the Oxford or Cambridge tradition to Oxford or Cambridge graduates. We consider it nothing short of sacrilegious that this school should bear the venerable, almost sacred, name of Penang Free School, when no attention is paid to its glorious past and no attempt is made to foster its individuality. 

You, boys, are the heirs of this great tradition. You have inherited a ready-made past, more wonderful than any you can have made to order. The responsibility of fashioning the present and to a less extent, the future, lies in your hands. I am confident that you will make a good job of it. In concluding I want to ask every one of you to be proud that you are a Free School boy. “I am a Roman, a citizen of no mean city,” was a proud Roman boast. May everyone of you glow with equal pride when you say “I am a Free School boy, a member of no mean school.” (loud and prolonged applause).

Straits Times, 29 August 1863

This news item is extracted from The Straits Times of 29 August 1863, more than 150 years ago, when the Penang Free School was barely 47 years old then. It highlighted the remuneration of junior teachers (or who were then called Stipendiary Monitors) at the school, who were paid 15 Straits Dollars per month.

We extract the following from the Pinang Gazette, of the 8th instant.

For some reasons, we are sorry to hear that both of the Stipendiary Monitors who accepted service in the Free School a very short time ago, have now left their employment for a more remunerating, agreeable, and promising one, even forfeiting their pay for the period they have served rather than continue at their posts for the twelvemonth. We say we are sorry for some reasons, and chiefly because it is very unsatisfactory for the institution to be unprovided with a permanent staff of teachers. So far as the lads themselves may benefit their prospects, we of course cannot be sorry on their account; and we would remind the subscribers that so long as intelligent youths who may be engaged as teachers in our Free School are not remunerated at least as well as they would be were they employed in Beach Street or Government Offices, they will make but short stay in their uninviting situation. Several lads who leave the Free School obtain employment even here, after gaining a little experience, at $15 and upwards per mensem; while in Singapore, Burmah, China, Saigon, &c., they command yet higher pay. There seems to be no means whatever or supplying our school with anything like willing and proper junior teachers except by offering higher pay or binding the youths by legal Agreement. We are not sorry that the failure of the Stipendiary Monitor scheme (solely on account of the lads services being more highly valued elsewhere), has made it fully apparent that the assistance of a Second Master should no longer be withheld. The Singapore institution will have one in a mail or two, and we think that the time has fully come for the carrying out of the measure of organizing the Free School classes as we have already suggested. The plan, we think, would meet the wishes of many European parents, and would probably tend, in time, to restore the balance in the school funds lessened by the expense of a Second Master from Europe. The Committee, in its Annual Reports, has long recommended the employment of proper assistance: and we hope they no longer withhold it. The school-fees might be raised in the Upper school and the Higher Remove; and as the expenses of the Boarding school are rapidly dwindling away,since Heathens are no longer admitted to it, some further adjustment of the finances may be expected. The community, Native as well as European, moreover, is always willing to respond to a Special Appeal.