Douai School

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Douai School
Motto Dominus mihi adjutor (Latin: "The Lord is my aid")
Closed 1999
Type Independent
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Founder St. Edmund's Monastery (Paris)
Location Upper Woolhampton
Berkshire
England
Gender boys
Ages 13 to 18
Houses Faringdon; Gifford; Samson; Walmesley
School colours Blue and gold
Publication Douai Magazine
Former pupils Old Dowegians
Song Ad multos annos
Website Former Douai School
For the sixteenth-century seminary, see English College, Douai.

Douai School was the public (independent) school that was run by the Douai Abbey Benedictine community at Woolhampton, England, until it closed in 1999.

Contents

[edit] History

The monastic community was founded in Paris in 1615 and moved to Douai after the French Revolution. The monastery provided educational opportunities from the beginning, but had no formal school in its first decades of existence.

The modern school was formed by the site's pre-existing St Mary's College merging with the school of the incoming Benedictine community that moved from Douai in 1903 due to Waldeck-Rousseau's Law of Associations (1901).

Its long history in France and its monastic influence meant that Douai, although an independent boarding school, had in large part escaped the influence of the public school ethos that had developed in 19th-century England. In the 1930s David Matthew, later Apostolic Delegate for Africa, congratulated the headmaster, Ignatius Rice, on the fact that: "no Catholic school has been so free from the influence of Arnold of Rugby as Douai has been."[1]

The school became co-educational in 1993.

[edit] Headmasters

The first headmaster was not appointed until 1909, replacing the older system of a Prefect of Studies and a Prefect of Discipline jointly managing the school under the oversight of the Abbot. A series of headmasters followed in quick succession, before stability was provided by Fr Ignatius Rice (headmaster 1915-1952).

Ignatius Rice was a friend of GK Chesterton whose Father Brown novels were based on Father O'Connor, a mutual friend, and he was influential in Chesterton's conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1922. In his younger days he played cricket for Warwickshire during the summer holidays and for some years enjoyed the distinction of being the only monk whose cricket performances were chronicled in Wisden.[2]

In 2005, Edmund Power (headmaster 1993-97) was elected Abbot of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.

[edit] List of Headmasters

  • Ignatius Rice OSB (1915-1952)
  • Alphonsus Tierney OSB (1952-1975)
  • Wilfred Sollom OSB (1975-1988)
  • Geoffrey Scott OSB (1988-1993)
  • Edmund Power OSB (1993-1997)
  • Dr Peter McLaughlin (1997-1999)

[edit] Buildings

In 1786 the Earl of Fingall, the squire of Woolhampton sold his Woolhampton estate and moved to Ireland. His family had been recusant Catholics and had maintained a chapel and chaplain at Woolhampton House (now Elstree School). On leaving the neighbourhood he left his chaplain to minister to the local Catholics and endowed him with some seven acres of lands and some cottages. Three of these cottages stood on the site of the entrance tower, and in one of these, Woolhampton Lodge, the priest lived and had a chapel.

The oldest part of the current buildings date from around 1830. The main entrance and tower were constructed in 1888 in the Tudor Gothic style; the architect was Frederick Walters. In 1829 Fr Stephen Dambrine was appointed to Woolhampton. He embarked on a building programme which included a chapel in the Gothic style opened in 1833 to replace the chapel in Woolhampton Lodge, and which itself was replaced by the present St Mary's in 1848.

Haydock Hall, the study hall, was briefly converted into a film set for the shooting of the dormitory scenes in the 1990 film Three Men and a Little Lady.[3][4] The former school buildings were also used as a location for the 2002 television film of Goodbye, Mr. Chips.[5]

Since its closure, the school's buildings have been redeveloped as private housing.

[edit] Former pupils

Former pupils are known as Old Dowegians and can join the Douai Society.

Those educated at Douai School include:

See also Category:Old Dowegians.

[edit] Sport

The school had a rugby union team which played fixtures against other schools. A group of spectators (at Twickenham) associated with the school is credited with introducing the song Swing Low, Sweet Chariot as an English rugby union anthem.[8][9][10]

[edit] Junior School

In 1948 a preparatory school (Ditcham House) was begun at Ditcham Park, near Petersfield, and in 1976, the boys from Ditcham moved to the Woolhampton site.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ The English Benedictine Community of St Edmund King and Martyr. Paris 1615 / Douai 1818 / Woolhampton 1903-2003. A Centenary History, edited by Geoffrey Scott (Worcester: Stanbrook Abbey Press, 2003), p. 149. ISBN 0900704438.
  2. ^ Cricinfo - Players and Officials - Father Ignatius Rice
  3. ^ The English Benedictine Community of St Edmund King and Martyr, edited by Geoffrey Scott, p. 149.
  4. ^ Locations in Three Men and a Little Lady listed on idmb.com. Accessed 5 March 2008.
  5. ^ Goodbye, Mr. Chips on imdb.com. Accessed 5 March 2008.
  6. ^ Kavanagh gave an unflattering account of the school in his autobiographical The Perfect Stranger (1966).
  7. ^ Mayr-Harting wrote a personal memoir of the school (1949-54) in The English Benedictine Community of St Edmund King and Martyr (2003), pp. 174-193.
  8. ^ Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. rfu.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-01.
  9. ^ Oliver Price Blood, mud and aftershave in The Observer Sunday February 5, 2006, Section O is for Oti
  10. ^ The story behind "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" and how it became a rugby anthem.. everyhit.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.

[edit] External links