A Character of Its Own: Ashbury college 1891-1991

328 Pages·1991·17.6 MB·English

by  Tony German

A
Character
Own:
of
its
\
\
\
\
A
Character
of its Own:
Ashbury College 1891-1991
By Tony German
Forewordby
The Honourable RobertL.Stanfield
A
Celebration of 100 years of
Memories and Traditions
In1891anenergeticyoungEnglish immigrant,
George Penrose Woollcombe, started, as his
Ottawa Journal advertisement said "a private
school for a limited number of gentlemen's
sons" in rented rooms on Wellington Street.
Woollcombedreamedof amuchlargerprivate
boarding school, its prime aim: to promote in
hisstudents"thegeneralculture,theall-round
developmentthatpromisesthehighesttypeof
character." He won the support of Ottawa's
tough-minded lumber barons and in twenty
years had Ashbury College settled in its
RockcliffesitewherehepresidedasHeadmaster
until 1933.
ACharacterofitsOwn:AshburyCollege1891-1991is
about people - students, staff, Headmasters,
Governors-overahundred yearsofgrowing
up with the City of Ottawa. Ashbury alumni
havefilledrolesfromPrimeMinisterofCanada
toprofessionalmagician.Butthisisathoroughly
candid account. Along with achievements it
tells how:
0TheBoardpaidtoolittleattentiontochoosing
Headmastersand the school lost itsbearings.
0 SomeprominentGovernors,onthevergeof
subdividing the 10-acre Rockliffe property to
recover their loans were forestalled by the
sudden arrival of a schoolful of British war
evacuees.
0 Itcamewithinanaceofhavingaunionized
teaching staff.
0Itharbouredsomehilariouslyeccentricstaff,
many ofits finest teachers among them.
continued on backflap
. . .
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2014
in
https://archive.org/details/characterofitsown1991ashb

A
Character
Own:
of
its
Ashbury College 1891-1991

A
Character
Own:
of
its
Ashbury College 1891 1991
-
Tony German
Foreword By
The Honourable Robert L. Stanfield
P.C., Q.C., L.L.D.
RE—ATIVE
—
**
""l
Published by Creative Bound Inc.
Box 424
151 Tansley Drive
Carp, Ontario, CANADA KOA 1L0
[phone]
ISBN 0-921 165-15-3
Printed and bound in Canada
©1991 Tony German
Allrightsreserved. Nopartofthisbookmaybereproduced,storedinaretrieval
systemortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeanselectronic,mechanical,photocopy-
ing,recording orotherwise,except forpurposesofreview, withoutthepriorpermis-
sion ofthe publisher.
Edited by Jenny Wilson
Book design by Wendelina O'Keefe
CartoonsaretakenfrompastissuesoftheAshburianandAshburyCollegeyearbooks
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
German, Tony, 1924-
A character ofits own: Ashbury College, 1891-1991
Includes bibliographical references and index
ISBN 0-921165-15-3
1. Ashbury College (Ottawa, Ont.)-History.
I. Title.
LE3.A83G37 1991 373.713'84 C91-090343-3
Table of Contents
Foreword 5
Preface 7
A
Chapter 1 PrivateSchoolfor Boys 9
Chapter 2 Argyle 17
Chapter 3 Rockcliffe 23
Chapter 4 TheGreatWarYears 33
Chapter 5 TheWakeofWar 58
Chapter 6 TheRoaring Twenties 65
Chapter 7 TheEnd ofan Era 75
Chapter 8 NicholasArchdale 83
Chapter 9 AbingerHill 107
Chapter 10 TheWarYears 115
Chapter 11 C.L. OgdenGlass 124
Chapter12 Ronald Perry 134
Chapter 13 TheImage ofAshbury 142
Chapter 14 HierarchicalDifficulties 150
Chapter 15 WilliamJoyce 173
Chapter 16 TurningPoint 186
Chapter 17 TowardsExcellence 196
Chapter 18 The Forum forYoungCanadians 203
Chapter 19 A SpiritofPurpose 209
Chapter20 AnthonyMacoun 218
Chapter21 TheChallenge ofChange 239
Chapter22 RoyNapier 246
Chapter23 Termsand Conditions 252
Chapter24 ACharacterofitsOwn 258
Appendix A Presidents and Chairmen ofthe Board ofAshbury College 267
Appendix B TheHeadmasters 267
AppendixC The Captains ofthe School 267
Appendix D Governor General'sMedal, Southam Cup, Woods Shield 268
Appendix E The GuildPresidents 271
Appendix F Forumfor Young Canadians 271
AppendixG WarLists 272
Appendix H Ashbury College Teaching Staff 283
Bibliography 293
Index 297
Dedication
To those memorable and
specially dedicated teachers
who leave their imprint on our lives.