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.

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.

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.

Sesqui-centenary, 21 October 1966

The morning of 21 October 1966 at the Protestant Cemetery in Northam Road. Sequi-centenary visit to the grave of the Rev. Robert Sparke Hutchings, founder of the Penang Free School, by representatives from the Board of Governors, Old Frees' Association, staff, prefects and other well-wishers. Commemoration presided by the Rev. ACH Peatfield, the Archdeacon of North Malaya.

Back at the Penang Free School later that morning for the Sesqui-centenary Speech Day: