O'Dell, CSM Barney (1942-?); took over Wolfe after CSM Arbuckle died on parade at Saunton Sands; pretty and much sought-after daughter Primrose
O'Donnell, CSM, Marlborough. [correct by another correspondent, who maintained that O'Donnell was CSM of Wolfe House.]
Ough, Capt. (pronounced 'Oof', but known to one and all among boys in the band as Capt Oh! as in 'Oh Gawblimey!');one maintains the Ough was pronounce Oh: BM of the main band, not the drum corps as earlier reported; nicknamed 'Bandy' as were his predecessors, Noble and Clancy; he had a strict policy when auditioning candidates for the band, which was to instruct those lined up to clench their teeth; those with a serious overhang had no hope of joining the main band; one respondent whose father was a bandmaster reported being consigned to the drum corps, his father being of the opinion members of drum corps being but pigskin bashes and not real musicians, was horrified; he conducted the concert band and the opera orchestra; in addition, Capt. Ough taught O level music to a small select group, composed of marches including The Headmaster and The Commandant, obvious choices of titles, which were played on parades; his marches were tuneful and melodious, but probably didn't survive his time at school; in short, a fine musician and gentleman, pompous at times, but friendly and encouraging; another reported Capt Ough's name was Ernest; boys used his band room telephone to call antique dealers in Dover offering to sell them an antique Ernioh [Ernie-Ough]. We'd also use his phone to call local pet shops and offer to sell them elephants & kangaroos. Mrs Ough was a house matron of whom little is known.
Ough, Mrs. wife of Capt Ough; house matron.

Page, Mr Fred; ‘Nutbrown’ (1947 -1971); (HsM Clive 1948-1959);commissioned in the Fleet Air Arm; served in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka); taught Latin until 1971 when he quit suffering from cancer and died in 1972; much-loved and driven by his enthusiasm for Gilbert & Sullivan productions, making wonderful leading ladies out of boys whose voices had yet to break; he produced a number of school plays such as Morning Departure and acted in many stage productions; thanks to Joe Brown (Wy/Ma 1962-1969), it is now known that Fred appeared in the banned film The War Game, which won the 1966 Documentary Feature Academy Award scheduled for transmission by the BBC on 6 August 1966, (anniversary or the nuclear bomb attack on Hiroshima), but not transmitted until 1985 because the BBC judged the film 'to be too horrifying for broadcast'; Fred appears in the opening shot as chairman of a local government committee convened to consider the imminent outbreak of nuclear war, the film having been shot in the Dover-Folkstone area using local actors; the film was highly successful and, though widely viewed on video and in 'art-house' movie theatres, did not have its début showing until 1985; deeply attached to his wife with whom he had three daughters - Angela, Diane and Alison; Alison married Dukie Bobby Brookes of Wolfe.
Parker-Jones, Major J. 'John'; keen skier, rock climber; taught maths; had a black Labrador named Jet and, ending a conversation, was often heard to say, 'Well, goodbye Jet. Come along... ' (naming with whom he was in conversation. His mix-up caused no end of merriment.
Parsons, Mr Dave. HsM Haig House (1993)
Perkins, RSM 'Polly'; ex-Grenadier Guards (1980- ); succeeded RSM 'Duggie' Haig (see Guston Cemetary).
Perryman, Capt. ‘Bo’ RAEC (1959-1970): HsM Kitchener until 1962 when he left; taught languages; had an Oxford Blue in athletics (middle distance runner, it is thought); he was hairy-chested and once tried growing a luxuriant moustache by leaving unshaven patches of hair under the cheekbone; this was not a success, for it made him look a prat according to the informant; his wife's name was Yolande, so they were known to the boys as Bo and Yo; keen on fitness and tried to instill boxing know-how into the boys of his house; later promoted to Major.
Pettyfer, QMS (1826-1830); originally employed as sergeant quartermaster at the Southampton Branch, to which the girls were removed and combined with the infants asylum on the IOW; replaced QMS Fair (see entry); Pettyfer later joined a long list of quartermaster sergeants dismissed for peculation (embezzlement or misuse of funds).
Phillips, Capt. RAEC; Clive; became a civilian during his time at school and remained on staff for an unknown period.
Phillips, Mr N. 'Neville', aka 'Froggy' 'Nutty Nev' HsM Haig, taking over from Pop Justice in about 1949; described as a 'dapper chap', a gentleman and always immaculately dressed with a handkerchief tucked up his sleeve; he had the habit of making odd announcements - for example, telling the class that next term they would be visiting the Amazon, so all boys should write to their parents seeking permission to undertake this arduous journey; he was excellent teacher who taught geography, but with eccentricities that caught the attention of his class: among his quirks was the repetitious use of 'typical' of which the class kept count; he also professed to have a pay-attention-meter, which he said went red when the class was no paying sufficient attention; the meter was, however, entirely imaginary; he was an active sportsman who played for the Hertford Football Club and, during his time became the school's head football coach; in his later years he was 'a bit wobbly' according to one who remembered him well; the same source reports that in about 1968, walking with him on the playing fields he stumbled and fell, which led to the suggestion, an unworthy one as it turned out, that he'd had too much to drink; he is believed to have retired to Farnham, Surrey, and was well enough thought of to be visited by a former pupil in 1975 or 78 by which time he was confined to a wheelchair suffering from what was thought to be Motor Neuron Disease; he died in 1978-9 and was survived by his wife Vera, a former professional actor.
Pike, H. Capt. RAEC; taught mathematics and may have become a housemaster in his time.
Potter, CSM 'Joe'; (1944-c1955); Storeman; returned to Dover, he took charge of QM Stores until the school post office was reopened when he became the Postmaster until his retirement; an extremely rotund man; in contrast, his son, a day pupil at the School, was beanpole thin.
Povey, Capt. RAEC; (Povey pronounced Puvvy, look you!); biology; domain a wooden hut on the Wolseley side of the asphalt square; hut note for odour of dissected frogs and remains.
Prescott, W.G. , MC, RQMS (1924-1943); he was for a time the CSM of D Company as houses were designated until 1928 when they were given names; D Co. became Wellington House; Prescott taught signalling (see Yankee Doodle Dukie).
Pritchard, Sgt. AEC (1941-1945) AEC; maths and science (physics) and music, but informally.

Rees, Mr R. 'Dai', 'Taffy' and 'Diarrhoea' (c1947-1972); head of art; good teacher and 'extremely' Welsh given to coloured shirts and knitted ties; good reputation and rated as one of the best teachers; unconsciously funny; short, round stature with almost purple complexion; boasted of being a good scrum half in his day; to those late for class he might say, 'Trouble with you lot is too much smokin' an wankin', isn't it?' [source said, 'How can you ever forget things like that?]; designed and painted backcloths for School plays; good slips catcher and opening bat for the White Rose Ramblers. seemed traditional in teaching art, but encouraged his pupils to experiment with acrylic paints and like new materials, to produce collages after Dali; recalled for a nice sense of humour; remote in many ways but a kind and attentive man; attended art school with Giles, the cartoonist, and was irked that Giles failed to complete the art course, yet nevertheless 'made good'; he was himself an accomplished artist and could pencil sketch a stemmed leaf in 30 seconds; he enjoyed kibutzing around during lessons, speaking like a Yiddish shopkeeper; his students would debate who was to be given first place each term, on reflection, to spur them to improve their work; a man of small stature, he taught boxing until this sport was removed from the sporting activities; his standard practice was to set a task at the beginning of a double period, clear off to the White Rose (public house) and return ten minutes before the lesson end to rant about his pencils being stolen; popular to some boys but not to others, he was not given to violence as was his next-door colleague, Captain Mabley, RAEC, aka 'Black Mabley, a king of corporal punishment whose weapon of choice was a blackboard set square, which he would apply with a slicing action onto his victim's backside. By this means he could inflict maximum punishment with minimum effort. Black Mabley was one of a triumvirate of terror he shared with Captain 'Flea' Lee and Captain 'Popsy' Blower; said to have been offended when the school magazine published a cartoon of him with the caption shortening the famous Latin quote to 'ars brevis'; he helped one informant produce the only decent drawing-painting ever done in his life so said informer 'wasn't even put off him when he belted the shit out of Chris Merry for singing "taffy was a Welshman"'; he let boys have the spare key to the Art Block and must have known they used it as their smoking den; he had two attractive daughters the eldest of whom became the girlfriend of one boy.
Reigate, Dennis Lieut., AEC; graduate teacher who joined the school in 1944 in Saunton Sands, North Deveon; rated an excellent English teacher and enthusiastic rugger player; as the school's main sport at that time was soccer, Reigate and Padre Metcalfe played for Barnstable at the weekends; played soccer energetically for the stafff soccer team in staff v school matches, frustrated at not ever being able to pick up the ball and run with it an intimidatingly firm manner, but a kind-hearted man as shown when he discovered John Bowler (1939-47) whose family were in Kenya, spent all holidays in school; thereafter, Bowler was invited to spend all holidays with the Reigate family in Brighton; died in 1988, having ended an illustrous teaching career in Civvy Street as headmaster.
Richards, WOII (1960-c1966); PTI; wife assisted Matron 'Doidee' Bean of Kitchener; son a Dukie.
Rictchie, Sgt AEC (1940-1945); conscript; pre-WWII play professional soccer; fondly remembered as an excellent English teacher with the precise diction and vocabulary of the best Scots speakers; his daunting sarcasm and superb football earned him universal respect; his previous professional career will come as no surprise to many not aware of his pre-military soccer career; as John Bowler (1939-47) wrote, 'he [Ritchie] played right-wing for the staff and his impeccable centre kicks into the goal-mouth were worthy of Stanley Mathews himself.
Ritson, Capt. 'Fritz'; HM Wolseley; reputed 'sadistic caner'; Frank Hartry, who joined the school in 1947 described Ritson as a bully and grossly unfair man; his evening caning bouts were planned sessions most evenings, Monday to Friday; during his morning inspections of dormitories after the boys had left for school, he listed boys to be cane the slightest infraction e.g. a toothbrush out of line when laid out on the bed; names of those to be punished were posted in the day room; canings took place after supper and before lights out; boys paraded in their night shirts (described by Hartry as 'night dresses') and were called one at a time when the HsM ordered 'Next!'
Robertson, E. Matron 'Elizabeth'; 1803-1806; first matron of the girls of the RMA, who had serious altercation with Lt. Col. Williamson, first comdt. of the Asylum; the matron was encouraged to leave; the board replaced Matron Robertson.
Robertson Mr R. 'Ron' (1963-1973); HsM Wellington; a soft-spoken family man who would blink rapidly and bounce his eyebrows when agitated; when Phil Roberts (1963-1969) thinks of him, he hears Ron saying, 'I.. I...I say, you chaps... do cut that out... There's good fellows...' in his cultured soft-spoken way; taught languages and devoted to his work as a teacher; an enthusiastic sportsman who played cricket and was particularly fond of rugby; good rating as a rugby coach (3rd XV); coached cricket and played cricket for the White Rose Ramblers; his daughter Joanna was married in the school chapel in 1977 and had the wedding reception in Nye Hall in many musical productions were produced; Jo Godfree (née Robertson) recalls James Jones (now Bishop of Liverpool) performing in Ruddigore or some other G $ S operetta, which her father loved; he retired to settle in Dover with his wife. [Ed note: Golly Robertson, un iversally admired for his gentlemany manner and as an excellent teacher, died in October 2010 in his nineties.] Of Roy Roberston, wrote one who was at Oxford with Golly's daughter Joanne, 'He was A kind, and solicitous man......who nonetheless wouldn't let you make assumptions about his goodwill. More to Roy than met the eye, there was irony as well as diffidence there, and certainly a wonderful artistic sensitivity.
Rowe, CSM; 'Cookie'; in charge of school kitchen; when he joined the school is not yet known; served the school until his death in about 1957.
Rowe, Mrs; wife of Cookie; worked as cook and did light cleaning at the officers mess.
Rowson, CSM 'Tubby' c1922-40; 21st Lancers, Queens Own, CSM Kitchener; Colonel's trumpeter at Charge of Omdurman; (see Last of the CSMs).
Rudd, Mr H. 'Hillary'; supposed to teach Eng. lit., but eccentric to the point of being 'whacky'; obsessive collector of 'Mucha posters' [Alphonse Mucha, neoclassical artist and illustrator of art nouveau style similar to Aubrey Beardsley] to the point of enlisting boys to transform a room of Sarah Bernhardt posters into an Egyptian tomb with the aid of gold foil; described as highly judgmental and petulant; given to disliking plain, spotty boys, showing favouritism to particular boys; declined to teach 'Twelth Night' and 'Time and the Conway' (J.B. Priestly) for O level examination [no one passed that year]; reported to have committed suicide; that said, he was a tragic case, said one commentator and 'I would never wish the depression he suffered on anybody, I believe his gender preference was confused; in an era where such things were the undoing of many school masters; of him, Peter Sampson wrote, 'he laughed his head off whenever we accidentally left "Monty Python's Big Red Book" open at the story of "Jean Zattapatticque, la Pouffe Celebre" as he walked past; he talked to us as one adult talks to another and was a decent bloke; I agree that he was a tragic character, but I do not recall the "nobody passed that year" episode mentioned in this bio.'

St. John Williams, Major N. 'Noel' RAEC; HsM Kitchener.
Sampson, P. Mr 'Peter' (c1966); HsM Wolesley; taught technical drawing, held in high esteeem as housemaster; once heard called Delilah; enthusiastic cricketer; was 'quickie' for the White Rose Ramblers. a Yorkshire man remembered for shouting 'Honeeeey!' to call his bounding Labrador dog back to his quarters.
Sherry, Major T.C. OBE; RAEC: HsM Kitchener (1972-73): Housemaster of Kitchener during one writer's first year (1972); followed by Pete Sampson (1973); of Hsm Sherry, among a number who remembered him with aversion and expressed themselves strongly in writing, one wrote, 'There had been some messing around. I can't remember if it was a dorm raid or not, but something like that. I am not sure if we were given a warning or not. Major Sherry lost his patience and decided to cane the whole house, although it may have been the two dorms involved. We were duly lined up and in we went for punishment, one by one. Afterwards, my friend David Love and I met in the toilets to inspect each other's stripes.' While the two boys were inspecting their wounds, Billy Brooshooft walked past, looked in and, smiling ruefully, shook his head and continued on his way. Obviously, Major Sherry is another candidate who, in contemporary society, would be charged with child abuse.
Singer, Sgt. Major (A Div Band)
Snooks, WO1 RAEC; taught map reading and weekly tested the class to decide where boys would next sit in his class - best in the back row, worst in the front; served in the West Yorks in Malaya and had a high reputation for teaching his subject.
Stibbon, Major R.G. RAEC: remained as a teacher after leaving the RAEC; rated a 'good teacher' and a 'highly decent bloke.'
Swift, Major Keith, RAEC 'Swarft' [from strong West Country accent] (c1963-1965); HsM Haig; taught physics; reputed to have been an extra in the film Rob Roy; a vigorous, handsome and firm but fair man with wife to match; Martin Fuller, an oddity of sorts, roamed the school grounds during Sunday 'free time' collecting bits and pieces and returned one day with a 'lump of metal', which he took everywhere and with others played footsie with it in the boot room; during a locker inspection, gasping at the sight of Fuller's lump of metal, Swarft ordered immediate evacuation of the house, the lump being an unexploded hand grenade with a rusted-in pin, later detonated by a bomb disposal unit; the unit then conducted a four-month clearance and disposal search of the playing fields; when it was over, Fuller returned with yet another live grenade and more bomb disposal followed; the informant of this incident won 10 shillings writing about it in Hotspur magazine; another wrote 'Keith Swift was my housemaster in Haig, '64-'67, and was one of the nicest and fairest people I can remember (despite unjustifiably caning me - unjustifiably, to me that is).

Taylor, CSM RAEC; (1946-late 1950s); a good teacher, but feared for rapping one's knuckles with the edge of a ruler.
Taylor, Sid; (c1940-55); said to have joined the school in the 1940s doing general duties; an excellent pianist who led the school dance band for the winter dances; as school driver, he had many duties from picking up pupils and their luggage at the Braunton Railway Station to scouring the local villages to collect willing girls for the aforementioned dances; for these duties, his truck was known as 'the Passion Wagon'; he was also the school laundry man and at all times sported a sodden Wills Woodbine cigarette from the corner of his mouth (he must surely have dispensed with this when playing the organ in chapel - although the correspondent would not care to bet on this); Sid had a wicked sense of humour, which did not desert hm when playing the organ for he is distinctly remembered weaving into the otherwise solemn strains of the ingoing voluntary as popular melody of the day. Money is the root of all evil; in the eyes of many, Sid Taylor was the unsung hero of the school.
Tidmarsh, Mr W.T. '(Oscar) Tommy' (1960s); taught geography, French & German extremely well; believed to be Swiss; twenty-five years later, the respondent found that he was still able to hold a rudimentary conversation with some French people he met and, he adds, 'if only I'd had him for German as well [instead of the pretty useless but well-meaning Dotty Morse]; wrote another 'the Tidmarsh I remember was my German teacher, a prissy and bullying bastard who argued vehemently against the wearing of seatbelts in cars.'
Travis/Travers, Capt 'Johnny' RAEC (mid to late 50s); taught music to the unwilling and unbelieving; a music snob and probably a racist utterly scornful of youthful enthusiasms for rock and roll; known for his derogatory impersonations of Little Richard and his 'jungle music'; despite his best efforts, many boys retained a love of music of all genres.
Trewhella, Lieut. T.H. RAEC: (of Cornwall) mocked by half-witted piratical noises whenever mentioned 'Oooh-arrrr' etc.
Tritton Mr N. 'Norman' aka 'Boney; HsM Marlborough; ex-RAF Squadron Leader; brilliant and inspiring teacher of maths and meteorology; the quality of mathematics taught during the 1959-1965 era was on the whole dismal with, that is, the exception of Nigel Tritton's teaching, which some rated superb; a teacher with a sound reputation, he inspired his boys and gave them confidence for when they left school; in contrast, his peers, Major Parker-Jones and Crapper Cleaves caused a many a pupil to struggle mightily to pass his O levels; one summer up his rating as a teacher, a 'bloody marvellous teacher and a bloody marvellous bloke.'
Trotter, Sgt RAEC; remembered as having taught English, well regarded by the correspondent who, described as a cheeky bugger, addressed the sergeant Mr. Pigsfoot
Tucker, Mr; (1948- ?); School pioneer doing general duties.
Tuite, Miss; Matron of Wellington; described as a 'spherical lady' who taught boys how to darn their socks and do needle work; one corresponded wrote of tailoring his own greatcoat and battledress when he enlisted, thanks to the instruction received at the hands of Miss Tuit.

Upton, Major J. 'John' aka 'Uffers' RAEC (1959-1970); HsM Wolfe; well-liked; taught history; played a good game of rugby at fly half; once played for a leading club, Blackheath or Richmond [source unsure]; history and English; had the habit of answering a question with a high-pitched and drawn-out 'Well!'; noticing that a boy near the end of his time had started to grow a moustache, said, 'I think you should stand closer to your razor tomorrow morning; collections for Lent began one year in Clive, Chaplain Davies would announce in church how much each house had raised or collected; every house except Wolfe, which rebelled against the practice; the HsM obliged the boys of Wolfe to contribute their meagre allowance for a charity of their collective choice; a chance to strike back, they chose 'unmarried mothers'; at the next house meeting, head of house 'lost his bottle' and told the HsM the money collected would go to Oxfam, but mob rule took over when one boy, Woolfrey, leapt to his feet with cheers of support that the house had agreed to give the collection to an unmarried mothers organisation; no announcement was made in Chapel that year of which charities would benefit; yet a few weeks later, Woolfrey had an entertaining afternoon tea in the Headmaster's house with the unmarried mothers of Dover to hand over the collection; one memory of Major Upton was of him being upset when someone, reading aloud, mispronounced the word 'whore' - difficult to image books for reading involving whores, it was recalled, but this was probably the classic Moll Flanders

Wagstaff, SM;Mr 'Waggie'; a ruddy, round-faced Devonian, believed to be ex-Royal Marine; brisk, humorous, no-nonsense master who dealt easily with aggressive boys and defused many a difficult situation with a quiet word of authority; he umpired cricket matches in ebullient style and was the salt of the earth, a West Country yeoman of exceptional worth and commonsense; said another respondent, 'the ex-RM landlord of my local had me deliver messages to him - 'Waggie' - whenever I went back for the Armistice Day reunions.
Waite, Major; HsM Kitchener; taught music (to no great effect because students learnt rudiments of music in the band; aat an earlier time, Waite was Assistant HsM of Haig; handlebar moustrache, upper-class twang; would sit on my bed before lights out and encourage me to talk in my Geordie accent, since abandoned..
Watts, Mrs M.; Matron Kitchener; also known as Maggie, but not in her hearing; not a great lover of all boys, though she had her favourites; 'Sadly,' noted the contributor of this snippet, 'she did not like me at all.'
Webber, Mr W. 'Bill'; (1945/46-1957); following demob from the Devon and Dorsets Regt. joined the staff as cook; after the school's return to Dover, he became a Storeman until his retirement in 1957 when he returned to Braunton, Devon: daughter Barbara married CSP Augustus 'Gus' Bainger (1945-1953).
Webber, O. Mrs 'Olive'; (1945-1957); wife of Bill Webber; served as cook in school kitchen and did light cleaning at the officers mess.
Wellans, WOII [could be Welham]'Les'; PTI; succeeded WOII Richards; a respondent believed that the PTI in 1970 was called Les Welham; he certainly does not recall the name Wellan, but could be wrong (wouldn't be the first time) but, together with Tony Felton, I was one of 'Captain Sensible's' heroes (a school gymnast, half colours); Captain Sensible was known for telling lined up PE students to 'face forward, 'Don't look at me, I'm no Rembrandt!'; after he left the school, he owned a boarding house or hotel on London Road in Dover c1971-2.
Wilson, Capt. RAEC; taught geography; reported to be more interested in neat and tidy lay outs than facts.
Windebank, Ms Sheila, Matron Haig House 1993.
Winn, Sgt. 'Jock' AEC; taught maths.
Winterburn, Sgt. AEC (1940-1945); WWII conscript; very small, 'Wet'; taught English, music; ran debating society; when an orator thus began, 'My good friend, Mr Winterbottom etc.' he would stamp his foot and say in a mincing effeminate voice, 'My my name is Winterburn, not Winterbottom, then wondered why the class laughed.
Wortelhock, Capt. AHsM, Kitchener, taught French.
Wright, Captain; QARANC; Nursing sister.

Unknown persons recalled:

Perry, Mr and Mr 'Sweeney Todd' (Snr and Jnr) of Dover had the School's haircutting contract for at least ten years (1951-61). Sweeney Todd Snr reported to have unbelievable expertise with hand clippers. For every two hairs he cut another ten were pulled by the roots. His left hand was a vice-like, so each head went where directed. Mr Perry reputed to have begun his career as a sheep shearer; this barber reported to have left a correspondent the legacy of a permanent scar on the nape of his neck after beheading a zit.
Watch repairer: Ex-RAF air crew of Whitley bomber downed on raid over Germany; had watchmaker's shop in alley off Biggin Street; maintained the school tower clock for which he was paid, but not for repairing boys' watches.