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)