Clifford Hicks (principal)

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Clifford Hicks was the principal of Calcutta Boys' School, India from 1952 to 1975, and he remains its most famous principals. He had been nominated to the upper house of the West Bengal Assembly. He later worked as Principal at Welland Gouldsmith School at Calcutta. Mr Hicks was also Principal of Baldwins Boys in Bangalore till the 1970's He died from a heart attack on Saturday 16th February, 1980. Mrs Hicks and her sister Ms Fritchley were staying together at the Senior Citizens Home in Bangalore till the turn of the century.

Mr. Hicks was born the youngest son of an Anglo-Indian family in a small village in the Madhya Pradesh province, where his father was employed by Indian Railways.

Hicks indicated a scholastic tendency early in life, and he was later sponsored through school by Miss Wyse (a lady divine of the Pentecostal Church). He was subsequently educated in Divinity and Theology at Serampore Theological Institute and St. Xavier's College. His discourse for his B.D was entitled The Presentation of Christianity to the Hindus (dated 1st March 1938) which he presented at Bishop's College, Calcutta.

Hicks worked as a teacher at Calcutta Boys School under principal H.C. Fritchley. He later married Mr. Fritchley's eldest daughter Ruth and became principal of the school in January 1952.

Under Hicks's leadership, the school ceased using the matriculation examination and affiliated itself to the GCE Cambridge system. CBS as it was popularly known turned out several toppers in the Senior Cambridge exams. Their coaching and preparation was extensive, starting from the 10th standard when the question spapers for the 11th standard boys would be passed down to be tested on 10th standard students as preparation for the next year.

The staff composition gradually included men like Mr. B.K. Pal to teach science, Mr. S.K. Guha (from Burma) to teach mathematics and Mr. Roy Chowdhury to teach Hindi. Mr Ivan Sassoon was an English teacher along with Mr Auddy (Shakespeare) and Guha from Jadavpur University (Tennyson). Mrs. Hicks was also a teacher at Calcutta Boys School, her subjects being music and dramatics.

Mr. Hicks was succeeded as principal by Alfred Martin in 1975.

[edit] References

Clifford Hicks, an obituary, by Alfred Martin, Pulse, Calcutta, February 1980.

Observations of former students who were boarders when Hicks was in his glory days.