On Tuesday 24 September, we had a very special visit from Christopher Hodgson, a relative of one of our previous Headmasters, Rev Bernard Tower, and the grandson of a school master Arthur Hodgson. Christopher came to discover a bit more about his family connections with Churcher's College...

Christopher wrote to the Development Office to find out more about his family ties to the school. By looking through the school's archives using the information Christopher had supplied, we could see that he is not only the grandson of Arthur Bernard Laird Hodgson, teacher of Geography and French from 1920-1926, but he is also the great nephew of Stella Towers (née Hodgson) who was married to Headmaster Bernard Tower. Headmaster of Churcher's College from 1919-1923. 

We were able to show Christopher the school Staff Register, detailing both Reverend Tower's and Arthur Hodgson’s entries - depicting exactly the dates they held office here and recording that they both left to work at Hurstpierpoint. We were also able to show Christopher the school prospectus from 1920-1926, and some relevant pages taken from The Churcherian from 1922 and 1923 which were of interest. Stella and Arthur Hodgson had a younger brother called William Noel Hodgson who was a published War Poet - a copy of his 'Verse and Prose in Peace and War' is in the school archive. Sadly William, a great uncle of Christopher's lost his life at the Battle of The Somme in 1916 aged 23.

Christopher's great uncle by marriage, the Rev Bernard Tower was responsible for introducing 'rugger' to Churcher's College instead of soccer in 1922. Churcher's has been a rugby school ever since! It was also during Rev Bernard Tower's tenure that the school celebrated its Bicentennial, which included a visit from Princess Beatrice in December 1922. It was also said in 1922 that the school had the finest Chemistry laboratory in the country - photos show the laboratory was situated where the Assembly Hall now stands.

To commemorate Rev and Stella Tower's tenure at Churcher's a pair of gates were donated to the school situated near the Assembly Hall and the old Quad. The gates no longer exist, but there is still a commemorative plaque which reads,

'These gates are in memory of Bernard and Stella Tower, The Rev. H.B. Tower, M.A., was Headmaster of Churcher's College from 1919 to 1923.’

After leaving the school both Stella and Bernard Tower stayed in touch with Churcher's College until their passing.

During our meeting with Christopher, we discovered he had another connection to Churcher's College. His family was gifted some artwork by Arthur Hoggarth - who joined Churcher’s in 1911 and served under three Headmasters including Rev Tower before finally becoming Headmaster in 1927. Hoggarth was a celebrated landscape watercolour artist as well as being Headmaster of Churcher's, we believe the artwork was gifted to the Towers and his grandfather Arthur Hodgson when they departed Churcher's College for their work at Hurstpierpoint.

All in all it was a fascinating afternoon looking back at over some 100 years of Churcher's History and discovering Christopher's family links to Churcher's College.