Concordia

Winter 2021

Welcome

Concordia

Sandy Lodge, Northwood, Middlesex, HA6 2HT Telephone: +44 (0)1923 820644 Email: alumni@mtsn.org.uk www.mtsn.org.uk Editor: Jon Rippier editor@mtsn.org.uk Contributing editors: Nick Latham, Emma Bindloss, Jonny Taylor Photography: Patricia Rayner, Sonal Galaiya, Emma Bindloss, Steve Pearcy Designed & produced by: 3Sixty Creative www.3sixty-creative.com Front cover photo: The Triennial Service at

St Paul’s Cathedral, 15th October 2021

CCF Cadets take part in an adventure training summer camp in Rhos-y-gwaliau

Dear reader

I n this edition we begin with a feature on Brexit as three OMTs, all ideally placed, analyse its impact thus far. Our sincere thanks go to Raoul Ruparel, Duncan Edwards and Doug Rode for their insightful contributions. Our second feature focuses on Classics, in which Merchant Taylors’ has a proud tradition with luminaries such as Oxford scholar Gilbert Murray having attended the school. Professors David Phillipson and Martin Henig have written fascinating accounts of their careers in archaeology, both of which started at Sandy Lodge, and we hear from current MTS classicists who reflect on Latin and Ancient Greek’s status in the curriculum. We also celebrate in these pages the centenary of the House system as History Master JonnyTaylor delves into the Archive to explain its evolution. This is especially timely after the decision last year to rename Clive house after the war hero and brilliant sportsman, John Raphael. At the end of the magazine we remember those who have died in the last year and we pay particular tribute to two members of the SCR, Martin Drury and Joe Tyler. Martin was a brilliant classicist and Head of White who, over a lifetime of service to the school, inspired generations of boys and was a hugely respected member of the teaching faculty. Joe was an outstanding English teacher, Head of Spenser and rugby coach who had a profound impact on many areas of school life. Both will be sorely missed. Jon Rippier Editor

Do you know a missing alumnus? Add a friend to Concordia’s mailing list: alumni@mtsn.org.uk

Introduction

In this issue

Concordia Winter 2021

An introduction from the Head Master:

4-9 Doug Rode (1988-1993),

I t has been the most extraordinary year. In the course of the last 18 months, we have learned so much. Covid has made us rethink everything. We have reinvented school life, finding ways to continue to learn and play and discover together. In doing so, we have made immense strides forward. Now education has returned to relative normality, we can bring all those innovations into our familiar ways of teaching; we can also profit from our newly-learned capacity to make swift change. We are emerging from lockdowns and bubbles as an even stronger institution. The school was quick to adapt to online learning. The teaching staff worked incredibly hard to innovate, adapt and deliver the very high standards of teaching and learning that pupils and parents expect. Staff shared techniques, software, teaching approaches and resources. Above all, the positivity and ‘can-do’ attitude of the teaching staff made progress possible. Rather than focussing on last year’s ‘lost learning’, as is so common in the current political climate, it’s important to bear in mind the ways in which online learning developed independence, organisational skills and collaboration. The boys worked with fortitude and perseverance. Online learning was an opportunity for us to reaffirm the values the school holds dear while continuing our constant pursuit of excellence. There are examples everywhere. Perhaps the newest is our successes in VEX Robotics. Boys have to design and build a robot, which then must compete against other teams. It must be capable of being driven by a pupil and be programmed to operate autonomously. It is a hugely popular activity around the world and we are now national and world champions. Our school beat others from China, America, Australia and a host of other serious competition. So we are outstandingly successful in terms of academia and robot building. What about music and drama? We shifted into making movies. Senior actors were professionally filmed and a series of performances were a triumphant hit. In Music, our recorded performances have racked up several thousand views on YouTube. If we include last year’s online Summer Concert, our viewing figures rise even further. Further, we offered online enrichment to the whole Merchant Taylors’ community through talks and seminars via MTS Together. It was a great success with seventeen online events taking place and over 1,100 people registering for them. Nor did we stop fundraising for hardship bursaries to support families impacted by the pandemic. There were more individual supporters last year than in any previous year. Our grateful thanks go to all of our benefactors and a special thanks to the generous OMT who gave £1m – the school’s largest ever donation. We have even managed to do a little building, developing the Biology Department through the addition of two new labs and the refurbishment of the original four. There are also big plans for development of the Sports Department and exciting prospects in an even closer partnership with Middlesex County Cricket Club. We are, of course, under no illusions regarding the challenges ahead. But thanks to the dedication of staff, the determination of the boys and steadfast support from OMTs, parents and friends, we are in the strongest possible position.

Duncan Edwards (1977-1981) and Raoul Ruparel (2000-2005) analyse the the effects of Brexit. 10-11 Hugh Koch (1964-1969) reflects on a life spent in the field of psychology. 12-21 Classics feature: David Phillipson (1953-1961) and Martin Henig (1955- 1960) write of their careers in archaeology and current MTS classicists Philip Harrison , Edmund Gazeley and Maria History Master and Registrar, Jonny Taylor, reflects on the centenary of the House System. 26-29 Second Master Michael Husbands gives an account of this year’s Triennial Service and Senior Master Caron Evans- Evans reflects on organising the previous five Triennial Services. 30-31 News fromMerchant Taylors’ and Merchant Taylors’ Prep 32-45 Development Director, Nick Latham , gives an update on Development and Alumni Relations and an article by Head Master, Simon Everson , making the moral case for bursaries. 46 Class Notes 56 Obituaries Bergquist reflect on how Classics is taught today. 22-25

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We have made every attempt to locate copyright ownership of archive photography but have not always succeeded in doing so. Any owner of copyright of individual images is invited to contact the editor.

Supporting MTS To find out more about how you can support the school, please go to: https://development.mtsn. org.uk/supporting-MTS

Concordia Winter 2021

Brexit

The Effects of Brexit Doug Rode (1988-1993) is Managing Director of international recruitment firm Page Group. He analyses the effect of Brexit on key sectors of the UK jobs market. R ecruiters such as Page Group and our listed competitors, are often closely tracked by City Analysts, who see jobs to be created in the following months. However, this is far fewer than the 10,000 he had predicted the day after the Brexit referendum in June 2016.” In fact, there has not been a ‘super

our performance as a key bellwether on the economy and jobs market. While in recent months they will have seen our results bouncing back strongly, it is common that analysts also want to understand the impact that Brexit has had on the UK jobs market and what the future may hold. In truth, it is very challenging to dissociate the impact of the pandemic from the impact of Brexit in many cases, and some of the consequences have yet to be fully seen. However, in this article I shall attempt to identify what’s really going on in the jobs market as a result of Brexit in three core areas of the UK economy that have had their fair share of headlines about the challenges they may face. Financial Services Making up 6.9% of our total economic output in 2019, there were very public fears as to how the financial services sector would respond to Brexit, and what it would mean for the City of London. The think tank New Financial identified 440 firms who, post Brexit, had moved part of their business to the EU, with banks moving £900bn of assets, and insurance firms and asset managers transferring over £100bn more in assets and funds. Interestingly, only three of those 440 identified had left the UK completely, with most just relocating the parts of their business required to ensure continued access to the EU. EY reported in October 2020 that this was equivalent to 7,500 jobs. Our European neighbours tried hard to capitalise on the roles moving to bolster their own financial services sectors – Germany relaxed labour laws, French President Emmanuel Macron invited banking bosses to the Palace of Versailles and urged them in English to ‘choose France’, and Italy, the Netherlands and Spain looked at special tax breaks. According to a House of Commons briefing paper “Hubertus Väth, head of the Frankfurt Main Finance lobby group, said in December 2020 that Brexit had created around 3,000 extra jobs in Frankfurt by June 2020, and that he expects another 1,000

centre’ created in Europe as a result of roles leaving the UK. Dublin appears to have been the main beneficiary, and the exodus of jobs is not as bad as was initially feared. We are also starting to see investment in headcount from businesses that have retained their structures in the UK as they adapt to new market conditions and opportunities, and the Chancellor appears to have a plan to support, not least to ensure the UK is more compelling as a listing destination for the biggest new firms, and to ensure that the City can capitalise on the changing markets for digital currency, the Sustainability agenda, and the growing FinTech sector – a market where the UK is earmarked for considerable expansion. Undoubtedly, Brexit has cost jobs in financial services. However, perhaps not as many as was once feared, and the worst of that could now be over. The jobs that we’re now seeing are focussed in new areas as the sector continues to evolve, and, managed correctly, opportunities may well present themselves for the UK to be ahead of the game in some key emerging spaces. Logistics / Supply Chain As we build up towards Christmas and the peak time for many logistics businesses, the shortage of drivers post-Brexit will undoubtedly still be making headlines. Beyond driver shortages though, the impact of Brexit on supply chains and the jobs within them is enormous. Many organisations, from manufacturers through to retailers, have been grappling with planning for Brexit scenarios for years, never quite sure how things would unfold, creating an increase in demand for supply chain professionals across the spectrum. One key area of jobs growth has been the increase in demand for candidates with customs and import and export knowledge. Page Group recently hosted a webinar on this topic where Jaap Bruining, SVP and Head of Logistics at the

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access to pooled European funding. This all called into question whether the UK could still play a role on the global stage of life sciences, or whether the UK sector would become more introspective, with smaller companies focussed on UK research and development to innovate products, rather than playing a global role. The impact on jobs was unclear. Government investment and its ambition for the UK to be a ‘scientific superpower’ will hopefully do much to safeguard the UK’s importance in this space and the jobs within it. The UK has a unique blend of industry, academia and the NHS, with all the data that that brings, which helps to keep the interest of global companies. The Science Industry Partnership has identified that the UK needs to create another 133,000 jobs in life sciences by 2030, in addition to the existing 260,000, many in newer skill areas such as digital, complex manufacturing and advanced therapies. The recently-published Government Life Sciences Vision document recognises that this presents a large training requirement to develop these skills that are not currently available at these scales in the UK, as well as committing to the free flow of international life sciences talent through the Global Talent Visa. Brexit has clearly caused challenges for larger life sciences organisations that relied on more seamless cross-border collaboration than Brexit has allowed, and has undoubtedly impacted global investment decisions by larger corporates, affecting potential UK investment. The prevalence of UK academia and scientists in the development of the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine and use of dexamethasone has helped to maintain its place on the world stage though and present the sector with an opportunity of job creation for the future. In conclusion, Brexit will have caused lasting structural change in the UK jobs market, with the aforementioned caveat about distinguishing between the impacts of the pandemic and Brexit. In many areas, job losses have not been as severe as were originally forecast, and the outcome has often been that multinational firms have chosen the UK ‘as well as’, rather than ‘instead of’, other countries as their home, and in many cases they may have decided that their more outward-looking, international parts of the business could be best served from outside the UK. Brexit uncertainty led to a more subdued jobs market in the lead up to the agreement. However, as we move through the pandemic, and the implications of the Brexit deal are navigated and beginning to be better understood, opportunities are presenting themselves. If UK plc gets it right, there are many opportunities for the UK to lead the way in emerging sectors, creating plenty of new, sustainable jobs. It will though, require considerable investment, from school-level education to reskilling and training large sections of the current workforce, to ensure that we can capitalise on them.

Netherlands-based Coyote Logistics, highlighted some of the problems UK firms were facing. Bruining explained that one of the main problems so far following the UK-EU trade deal, has been inconsistent requirements between EU countries on the mainland, which has added another layer of complexity for UK exporters. “It must be extremely frustrating for British exporters to deal with,” said Bruining, who went on to highlight that individual countries do have nuances in terms of requirements even within EU structures. While there are likely to be more stories of gaps on shelves, problems exporting or issues with production as organisations learn to navigate the new rules, solutions will emerge and technology needs to play its part. Opportunities are also starting to present themselves, which can be good news for jobs. According to recent Accenture research, the UK currently only makes 62 percent of goods when measured by value: less than any other comparable European nation. The pandemic and Brexit are set to change this as businesses are increasingly looking at bringing manufacturing back onshore; a move that could be worth up to £4.8 billion in additional goods for UK factories in the year ahead – around the same amount as the UK’s total current manufacturing output. UK manufacturers and their associated supply chains are also positioning themselves well to take advantage of the ‘Green Industrial Revolution’ – looking to lead the way in carbon capture, renewables and energy efficient products. Brexit has created short term challenges for organisations and their supply chains, and these ongoing difficulties continue to place a premium on the skills of white collar supply chain professionals and an unprecedented demand for lorry drivers. As these challenges are addressed, demand for the best candidates who can pivot to support industry developments will continue to remain high, and the impact of Brexit on the sector may actually have been to raise the profile and importance of supply chain roles within organisations. Life Sciences The profile of the life sciences sector has never been so high, as we continue to battle our way through the global pandemic. The UK life sciences sector has played a leading role on the global stage in vaccine and treatment development, and plays a key part in the Government’s vision to ‘build back better’. Brexit, however, has thrown up a number of challenges. The life sciences sector is a global one from a research, collaboration and talent perspective. From the moment the European Medicines Agency relocated from London to Amsterdam in March 2019, it was uncertain which organisations would follow, and what the future would hold for jobs and growth in the UK. Previous access to pan- European clinical trials all held under the same regulations that were key to be able to drive research and development at real scale were no longer certain, and nor was UK companies’

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Concordia Winter 2021

Brexit

Mid-Atlantic Shift

President of the OMT Society, Duncan Edwards (1977-1981) , is CEO of BritishAmerican Business. He assesses the transatlantic relationship in view of recent geopolitical shifts.

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I n March 2021 I spoke to a group of boys, parents and OMTs about the state of the US-UK relationship in the aftermath of the Biden presidential win and the completion of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU. Nine months on it is worth taking stock again of how things have played out between these two most long-standing of allies. In doing so it is worth remembering that what binds these two countries together more than anything, and what is really meant by the ‘special relationship’, is the security and intelligence partnership which was created between Roosevelt and Churchill during WW2 and was cemented during the Cold War. This is the partnership which transcends the day-to-day political climate and whoever happens to be in the White House or No.10; it is the partnership that exists between the military and intelligence agencies and on which the cornerstone of the Nato Alliance is built. The announcement of the AUKUS agreement between the US, UK and Australia, through which the US and UK will share submarine technology with the Australians, has made this partnership even stronger and even deeper. This feels like one of the biggest geo-political decisions of recent decades and makes a clear statement that the US, UK and Australia fundamentally see the world in a similar way and will seek to act to protect the liberal democratic values of the anglophone world. The other important aspect of the unusually close relationship between the US and UK is the extent of the investment and business ties that exist between the two countries. Since the minor skirmish in 1812, the businesses of both countries

have been investing in each other’s market and the scale of the mutual, cumulative investment is greater than exists between any two other sovereign entities. This means that UK businesses are operating in every State of the Union and in every Congressional District, employing local people and contributing to the prosperity of the market. The same is true in the UK, with close to 1.5 million Brits working for US-owned firms and millions more in their supply chains. A recent survey of US corporations by BritishAmerican Business (of which I am CEO) showed an astonishingly high degree of confidence in the UK as a place for US firms to invest, do business, employ people, and conduct research and development, and inward investment flows support this sentiment. Of course, nothing should be taken for granted and there are always things that could be better. In the same confidence survey, we found US corporations remain concerned about the potential frictions not yet fully resolved by the post-Brexit settlement with the EU. Most large companies are dealing with these issues pretty well, but there is clearly room for improvement, especially in complex manufacturing industries. There is also scope for this to get worse if the attempts to solve the Northern Ireland issue trigger a political response from the White House. There is also lots of room for improvement in trade between the two countries: trade talks which had been making good progress up until 3rd November 2020 have been suspended by the US administration, which is focussing on its

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Brexit

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domestic agenda, to the immense frustration of the UK government. We see no sign of a resumption in the near term but believe there is a lot that can be done to improve what is already a very good trade relationship, without the need for a full free trade agreement. Separate agreements on tariff reduction, data transfer, digital trade, labour mobility, mutual recognition of professional qualifications and a real effort to make things easier for small and medium sized businesses, would be easy to achieve and very valuable.

senate which might both flip in the mid-term elections next year. Hence the huge effort to get the Infrastructure Bill and ‘Build Back Better’ Bill through while he can. As for Obama and Trump before him, the second part of the term is likely to yield very little legislation. There are also differences on climate policy and we have seen this recently in the positions taken at COP 26. While Biden, on his first day as President, signed back up to the Paris Climate Agreement which Trump had left, the speed and willingness of the American people to change their consumption habits is going to be a real issue. Car and plane travel in the US are of an entirely different scale from that of the UK or EU and there is little commuter or long-distance rail infrastructure in place. Rising petrol and air travel prices have a disproportionate impact on lower- and middle- income families and will be a vote loser and maybe even a cause for protest as they were in France with the Gilets Jaunes. The societal impact of energy transition is of great political significance and has the potential to be enormously disruptive. transatlantic relationship between the US and the UK. The security and intelligence partnership is as strong as ever and both countries remain right at the top of league tables of places to do business. No doubt there are challenges… there always will be in dynamic, open democracies but it should come as no surprise to anyone that the US and UK rank number one and two as preferred destinations for refugees and economic migrants. No one here is talking about heat pumps. Overall, I remain very positive about the

“Overall, I remain very positive about the transatlantic relationship between the US and the UK.”

The political relationship between the two governments seems fine, although the Covid crisis has meant there has been less than usual of the interaction between the two groups of ministers. There is a lot that unites the two administrations as both have adopted social democratic responses to the pandemic and a commitment to ‘levelling up’ or ‘building back better’. The challenge will be in execution and both incumbents will be keeping an eye on their future political fortunes. Here in the States, there isn’t much room for Biden with a tiny, unreliable majority in the House and a 50:50

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Brexit

Brexit a year on Raoul Ruparel OBE (2000-2005) was the Prime Minister’s Special Advisor on Europe under Theresa May, leading on all aspects of Brexit, including negotiations with the EU, preparations for No Deal and negotiations with various groups in Parliament including the DUP and Labour. He was previously Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU under David Davis. Prior to joining Government he was Co-Director of think tank Open Europe, a contributing author for Forbes and a member of the British Chambers of Commerce Economic Advisory Council. He is now Director of Trade and Investment at Deloitte UK.

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O ne year on from the beginning of the UK’s new relationship with the EU and five and a half years after the referendum, the truth is we still haven’t seen the full effect of Brexit. It is particularly challenging in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic to determine what impact Brexit alone has had on trade, given we also saw the largest fall in economic activity for over three hundred years. However, as with many debates these days, people seem to assume it has either been a complete disaster or a massive success depending on their own preconceptions. Looking at data from the Office for National Statistics we can see a clear impact when it comes to trade in goods. There was a sharp fall in both imports from, and exports to, the EU at the start of this year when the transition period ended and the new relationship came into force. However, since then UK goods exports to the EU have largely recovered to their pre-pandemic level and in September 2021 were just 3.6% below the levels seen in September 2019. On the other hand, UK imports from the EU have remained subdued and are still 14.5% below their September 2019 levels. This is somewhat counterintuitive since the UK hasn’t even instituted full border checks for imports from the EU. It does suggest that UK businesses may be better prepared to deal with the new administrative requirements and barriers to trade,

but also that even at the sign of some minimal barriers some EU businesses have decided that it is not worth selling into the UK. This data then presents a somewhat mixed picture exports have recovered a bit better than expected, but imports continue to be puzzlingly low. But this alone is not the whole story. The decision to leave the EU has been impacting the UK economy since the vote took place. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been subdued, partly due to uncertainty around the outcome of Brexit. According to the Department for International Trade, the number of FDI projects in the UK has fallen from over 2,200 in 2016/17 to just over 1,500 now, with much of this drop taking place pre-pandemic. Furthermore, wider data suggests that other similar economies have seen a significant bounce in trade as part of the economic recovery this year following the pandemic-led contraction last year. This is something which the UK has largely missed out on, at least partly due to the new trade barriers between the UK and the EU. On services, the picture is even less clear cut, not least because the data is less detailed. There has clearly been a hit to services trade from the pandemic. This has not yet been reversed in any meaningful way. However, there is also no clear impact from Brexit showing up in the data. In the end, the real impact is only likely to show up once people truly begin to move across borders

Concordia Winter 2021

Brexit

“Overall, the Office for Budget

Responsibility expect the long-term impact of Brexit will be that the UK economy is 4% smaller than it might otherwise have been.”

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but it will likely be spread over a long period (a decade or more). In order to judge the political impact of this, the real question is to what extent people will feel the impact in their pockets and associate that impact with Brexit. This is where the context of the pandemic once again confuses things. Right now, we are seeing global supply chain problems largely due to a quicker than expected rebound in demand for goods and a sluggish pick up in supply causing prices to spike throughout the supply chain. In the UK the additional changes from Brexit have exacerbated some of these challenges, such as through a shortage of certain workers, e.g. HGV drivers. But of course, with the huge swings in economic activity it is hard to know how much of this people will attribute to Brexit and how much to Covid, or even in reality how much is down to either. Furthermore, despite all of this, the UK economy is forecast to grow at 6.5% this year and 6% next. As such, it is entirely possible that people don’t perceive the impact to be as large as it might in reality be – it is in the end a somewhat hard to estimate counterfactual. There is no doubt that Brexit is going to continue to be a fault line within UK politics for some time to come. But with the exact economic impact still unclear and how voters will respond to and perceive it even less clear, it may not develop in the way many people expect and will certainly not be confined to our existing preconceptions of it.

again to provide services. My sector of Professional and Business Services is a good example of this. Since the pandemic the number of consultants or lawyers, for example, providing fly in/out services in another country has dropped to near zero. It is all done virtually now. Of course, that change may prove to be a permanent one, making it even harder to truly disentangle the impact of Brexit on services trade from those as a result of the pandemic. Clearly then, the picture is a mixed one and hard to fully judge yet. As you would expect, the impact of putting up new trade barriers with our nearest and largest trading partner is negative for trade. But it has so far probably been a bit less negative than expected, at least in terms of exports. Overall, the Office for Budget Responsibility expect the long-term impact of Brexit will be that the UK economy is 4% smaller than it might otherwise have been. In the scheme of the UK’s long-term growth rates this is of course a significant impact,

Concordia Winter 2021

A Life in Psychology

“They can because they think they can” the title of a new book by Hugh Koch (1964-1969) . Having worked as a therapist, psychologist and academic he reflects on a lifetime spent in the field of mental health.

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because they think they can” – an interesting predictor of my career. Chronologically, I have worked in the NHS mainly as a therapist (1973-1986), an NHS Senior General Manager (1986-1991), a Total Quality Management Consultant (1991-1993), an Expert Witness Psychologist in Civil Litigation (1991-ongoing) and more recently as a Professor in Law and Psychology at Birmingham City University (BCU) (2017-ongoing). A wide variety of careers, all encompassing different aspects of psychology. With therapy, it is a challenge to find ways to help people with problems of depression and anxiety which they find useful and empowering. People have unique ways of seeing their world and need someone to listen to them. With expert work, I learnt how to be logical and evidence-based and found lawyers, barristers and judges a fascinating group of colleagues, especially when appearing in court. Much of the time I have felt empowered in my career in psychology to look for different opportunities, move towards them (by relocating,

Having spent an enjoyable and busy five years at Merchant Taylors’ playing sport, learning about science, and playing some more sport, I left Moor Park to study Biochemistry at Bristol University. Academic streaming is an interesting concept and I certainly enjoyed the mathematical and scientific tradition and discipline. However, at Bristol, I decided the psychology course was more to my liking, especially in its emphasis on the interaction with and understanding of people. It also had the focus on ‘reliability’ and ‘validity’ and its nickname was “The Science of Mental Life”; a good catchphrase. I had always been interested in ‘thinking about thinking’: this meta-cognitive trait has been with me from pre-teenage years, carried forward with exposure to CBT, Cognitive Analytic and meditation/mindfulness techniques. I found mental positivity and resilience helped me to succeed and have a ‘bias for action’. I recently found an old photograph of a poster I brought my parents back from the USA in 1973 (aged 22) showing two seagulls flying free with this quote “they can

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also at a Sixth Form level of study at school. The several different postgraduate courses have made it a very useful qualification as well as a valuable ‘general’ degree along with English, Mathematics and Engineering. Personally, I would repeat much of my career in another life, and I am very grateful to Merchant Taylors’ for the sound and wide- ranging education it gave me. Hugh’s memoirs They can because they think they can are available from www.expertwitness.co.uk or hughkoch21@gmail.com

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making that call, offering help) and trying out new things in order to learn new skills. Being sociable has helped me to feel empowered to do this. Right from the start, I had been encouraged to share my psychology knowledge, both theoretical and practical, with other professionals such as nurses, doctors and lawyers. Throughout my various careers, I found myself sharing practical skills of communication, problem solving and ‘continuous improvement’, whether this be in life skills, organisational performance or giving evidence in court. More recently, my role as Visiting Professor at BCU has centred on how lawyers and psychologists can collaborate and teach each other different skills and understanding. I have enjoyed the constant stream of meeting new people – both clients and colleagues – plus the travel around the UK and world involved in meeting them. I have also found the opportunity to write about my experiences fascinating and stimulating. Since 1970 when I started studying and then practising psychology, it has become a popular subject not only at university level and beyond, but

Concordia Winter 2021

ARCHAEOLOGY AT MERCHANT TAYLORS’

The winter 2019 issue of Concordia contained a very interesting article by former Archivist, Sally Gilbert, on the late Eiddon Edwards (1909- 1996, OMT 1919-1928) who spent most of his professional career at the British Museum. From 1955 until 1974 he served as Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities, one of his greatest achievements being organisation of the hugely popular and influential Tutankhamun exhibition in 1972. Long before Sally’s piece appeared in Concordia , Eiddon’s autobiography, From the Pyramids to Tutankhamun: memoirs of an Egyptologist , had been published in 2000 by Oxbow Books of Oxford. It provides a fascinating insight into schooldays at Charterhouse Square, and I hope that a copy has found its way into the school’s archives or library. During Eiddon’s time at Merchant Taylors’ the school was still based at Charterhouse Square, where he was one of the last pupils to be taught Hebrew. The school’s City location aided development of close contacts with the British Museum, and interested pupils formed an Archaeological Society and Museum which

David W. Phillipson (1953-1961) entered Merchant Taylors’ as a Third Former, sponsored by Middlesex County Council, in 1953. From his third year there, he opted to specialise in Classics. In 1961 he entered Gonville & Caius College to read Archaeology & Anthropology. On graduating, he was appointed to head the National Monuments Commission in Northern Rhodesia, soon to become the independent Republic of Zambia. After fifteen years’ residence in Africa (latterly based in Kenya, but with research extending into Ethiopia and South Sudan) he returned to Britain in 1978 and, three years later, was appointed Curator (latterly re-designated Director) of the University Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology in Cambridge, where he remained until retirement in 2006. At Cambridge, he has been for 33 years a Fellow (now Emeritus) of his undergraduate college, was awarded the Litt.D. degree, was appointed to a concurrent Professorship of African Archaeology, and became both a Fellow of the British Academy and an Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences. He and his wife now live in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, within five miles of the village where he was born.

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Aksum, Ethiopia. The carved monoliths marked tombs, almost certainly royal, dating from the fourth century A.D.

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Excavation of a subterranean tomb (almost certainly royal) of the fourth century A.D. at Aksum, marked by a monolithic stela.

own contacts: initially at the British Museum as noted above, but after the school’s move to more rural surroundings at Sandy Lodge, links were made with local archaeological interests, and fieldwork, including excavation, was undertaken. Sites with which the Society’s members were involved included a Roman villa and Mesolithic artefact-scatters on Moor Park Golf Course, a Romano-British settlement at Hamper Mill on the edge of the Merchant Taylors’ grounds in the Colne Valley, and the site of the fifteenth/sixteenth-century Manor of the More in Rickmansworth. It has been disappointing to learn that the Archaeological Society no longer exists and that the Museum’s very significant collections, catalogued in the 1980s, are no longer on display, although some at least have been preserved and the intention is to display them again. Perhaps this will inspire the re-formation of the Archaeological Society. In my own case, I have been struck by the way in which my own career has followed that of Eiddon: from the school Archaeological Society to Gonville & Caius College (but without the Hebrew or the scholarships!) and on to a focus on Africa and an interest in museums and the links between linguistic

flourished for many years both at Charterhouse Square and at Sandy Lodge. Merchant Taylors’ has, over the years, been able to succour a number of men who have made their name in Archaeology and related disciplines, among them Eiddon himself, Lawrence Barfield, Martin Biddle, Desmond Collins, Robin Derricourt, Henry Hall*+, Martin Henig, Roger Jacobi*, Alan Millard, John Onians, Harry Smith*+ and Arnold Taylor+. This makes no pretence at being a complete list, but is a remarkable concentration which must, to some extent and in many cases, be due to the school’s Archaeological Society and its Museum. As a Hebrew scholar, Eiddon was a strong candidate for several endowed funds at Cambridge: Merchant Taylors’ Hebrew master, Francis Padfield, to whom Eiddon acknowledged a lasting debt, had himself learned that language at Gonville & Caius College in Cambridge, whither he was in due course followed by his pupil. The Archaeological Society was a remarkable institution. It was run almost exclusively by the boys. Although some masters took an interest in its activities, members made their

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Aksum, Ethiopia. Conducting the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church on His Holiness’ tour of the excavations in 1995.

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later, I eventually reached a compromise, directing excavations at Aksum in Ethiopia, to investigate an African civilisation that had developed close contacts with the classical eastern Mediterranean world during the early centuries AD. NOTES *Indicates a former staff-member of the British Museum +Attended MTS at Charterhouse Square. OMTs not so identified went to Sandy Lodge.

and archaeological studies. At school, I had specialised in Classics, but found the study of ancient history, civilisation and material culture far more interesting than the literary matters that formed the major part of the curriculum. Hugh Elder was Head Master throughout my time at Merchant Taylors’. I found him approachable and understanding, but have been disappointed to see that some recent comments on his tenure have been rather negative and unsympathetic to his achievements. Following wise advice from my Form Master in the Classical Sixth that I seek to take Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge, I submitted applications to several colleges, indicating an ambition to read those subjects for part 1 of the trios, but Classical Archaeology for part 2. The university regulations clearly stated that such a combination was permissible, but I soon discovered that no-one had ever actually done it; part 2 Classical Archaeology having been taken exclusively by undergraduates who had studied Latin and Greek for part 1. This was a fate that I was anxious to escape. The hand of tradition was so strong that most of the colleges which I approached refused to consider my application, but eventually Gonville & Caius relented and placed my name on their waiting list, offering me a place for October 1961. Such is the way of undergraduates that, no sooner had I embarked on Archaeology & Anthropology part 1, I decided that I wanted to remain in that Faculty and specialise in Palaeolithic Archaeology for part 2. This would give greater emphasis to practical fieldwork and to archaeological methodology without linguistic and literary distractions. Thirty years

The same tomb on conclusion of the excavation.

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Working a flotation machine on an excavation at Hayling Island, Hampshire. (Photo: Grahame Soffe)

Moor Park Roman Villa, the deep room looking south

Martin Henig (1955-1960) did not initially study Classics at A Level before a chance encounter with the late John Steane led him to take a very different path. He writes of an extraordinary journey which took him first to Cambridge and then onto a career in the field of archaeology. A Classicist by Accident

I was interested in history long before I arrived at Merchant Taylors’ in the spring of 1955 at the age of 13. My father had taken me to the British Museum to see the Elgin Marbles in case they were returned to Greece, and holidays always included excursions to archaeological sites. However I had, and still retain, a passion for animals and the Natural World, and that led me to choose the science side, where my dismal lack of ability in Mathematics and Physics meant I was bumping along not far off the bottom of the class, except in Chemistry. Despite mediocre O Level results, I began in the Lower Sixth to study Biology. My idea of studying the subject was bird-watching in the water-meadows, not cutting up dogfish. A minor subject in my curriculum was English, and that was taken by John Steane – a wonderful teacher, and an authority on Elizabethan literature and music – but I think taking a lower science set was not to his taste. In despair he asked the class to review a book they had read. I have no idea what others had been reading, but my book was Robert Graves’ Penguin translation of Suetonius’ The Twelve Caesars . At the following week’s class he announced: ‘Henig stay behind!’ So was I going to be admonished? When everyone else had gone, Steane said, ‘that is the most salacious book Penguin has put out in purple covers! Are you doing the right thing?’ I stuttered ‘do you mean reading that book, sir?’. At which he roared with laughter and told me that my essay was very enjoyable and he thought I should

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Jacobean wall painting uncovered in a room at St John’s College, Oxford.

switch sides. That led to my parents being called in and Hugh Elder somewhat grudgingly agreeing, and it changed the whole course of my life. I owe so much to the late John Steane. I was moved to the History form, but found myself doing Latin as well as History and English, and taking eventually Ancient History A Level, and I think I was the first person in the school to do Roman Britain as my special subject. All sorts of things took off, both academically and socially. On the academic side, I have memories of enjoying Cicero’s forensic dissection of the dissolute behaviour of Catiline and his friends as taught by Rex Cherrett, or in English, encountering reception history for the first time in our examination of Shakespeare’s use of Plutarch with Harry Hunter or being exposed to the entire corpus of Marlowe’s works shot through with Classical learning by John Steane. Those Sixth Form

years were a wonderful time and my cultural horizons expanded in so many directions; experiences I shared with friends who, in different ways, have all continued to appreciate the legacy of the past. The Romans were really brought to life for me during my time at school by helping to excavate, in a very junior capacity, a Roman villa on Moor Park golf course. It was an intriguing structure with a deep cellar. Among the finds was an early Christian ring which I would later publish myself, and now, a full sixty years belatedly, the villa excavation itself will be published at last in a volume on Roman villas which I have co-edited. The Archaeological Society with its museum (‘The Ark’) was a place of refuge with real ancient objects to study – Greek pots and Roman coins – and my friends David Phillipson (1954-1961) and Graham Davies (1954-1961) and I were all avid coin

good friend, I found myself writing up the magnificent collection of Greek and Roman gems in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, as well as a very varied collection of gems from Jordan. Was I in danger of being type-cast as just a gem expert? I had begun lecturing in Oxford, and one of my extra-mural pupils who worked for Phaidon persuaded me to edit a Handbook of Roman Art , published in 1983, while Dr Graham Webster asked me to research and write a book for Batsford on Religion in Roman Britain , published the following year. Several years later, in 1995, he agreed to me writing a companion book on The Art of Roman Britain . Apart from teaching and writing in Oxford, my old friend John Onians, by now lecturing at the University of East Anglia asked me to take classes in Norwich, and one of his colleagues roped me in to edit the Journal of the British Archaeological Association , which I did for 23 years from 1985. I have continued to write books on cameos and Romano-British sculpture and more wide-ranging historical work, for example questioning the tired old narrative of what Roman Britain was like in The Heirs of King Verica in 2002. Amongst recent tasks, during ‘Lockdown’ I have been writing entries for, and helping to check, a major volume on Prehistoric and Roman Winchester for my earliest archaeological hero, Professor Martin Biddle (1950-1955). Though we only overlapped at school for my first two terms, he was already pointed out to me as ‘a real archaeologist’. I certainly never thought then that, in 2010, he would have become an important colleague and friend and that I would have co-edited a Festschrift for him and his late wife, Birthe (Intersections: the Archaeology and History of Christianity in England 400-1200) . As I reflect, my life has moved on a long way from filleting dogfish in the school biology laboratory.

collectors. David directed another excavation on Moor Park golf course, at Bathend Clump, although that was early Neolithic and produced thousands of beautifully worked black flints. In 1960 I left school to take up a place at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge where another OMT Classicist came to play a considerable part in my life. John Onians (1954-1960), who I had known at school, became a very close friend at Cambridge, where we founded the Cambridge National Trust Centre together, and I visited as many churches and country houses in the region as possible. He read Classics and I read History, but we both included Ancient History with a certain amount of ancient art in our course. I would often go to meetings of the Archaeological Society (The Field Club). David Phillipson was reading Archaeology and Anthropology, as was Desmond Collins. My ideas on the past expanded in so many directions. I attended Dr Glyn Daniels’ lectures on the History of Archaeology as well as those of Professor A.H.M. Jones on Greek and Roman History, while Phillip Grierson initiated me into the early Medieval Ages and its coins. After Cambridge I felt I had somehow to find a career studying the past, so I went to the Institute of Archaeology in London for two years, and learned more about Iron Age art and Roman inscriptions. I was always more interested in Latin inscribed on stone than in books, and indeed in the material culture of the Romans, especially in Britain. Subsequently I spent two years at the Guildhall Museum exploring Roman artefacts, eventually discovering a small box of engraved Roman gems, some still set in signet rings, mostly from excavations in the bed of the River Walbrook that runs North-South very near the Bank of England passing the Temple of Mithras (only excavated the year before I went to Merchant Taylors’) which stood on its banks. Nobody knew anything much about them, and I decided they would make a good field for academic study. In 1967 I went to Worcester College, Oxford to read for a Doctorate. I wrote to Barry Cunliffe with whom I had excavated at Fishbourne, who told me he was about to publish a report on Roman Bath and if I could write up the gems in three months he would include it. So my first publication came about with many more reports on Roman gems to follow. It turned out that there were far more of these tiny and fascinating works of art than anyone had ever realised before and so my resulting corpus of Roman Engraved Gemstones from British Sites was a long one. I realised that many of the subjects engraved on these tiny objects were taken from Greek sculpture, so I found myself fully engaged with many aspects of Classical Archaeology, Greek as well as Roman. After obtaining my doctorate, after a very friendly and sympathetic viva from John Boardman, who has throughout my later career been a

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An engraved cornelian intaglio showing Cupid with his bow of late 1st century BC/early 1st century AD date found in a medieval layer in Martin Biddle’s excavation of Wolversey Palace, Winchester. Although a Roman gem it probably belonged to a medieval bishop. (Photo: Claudia

Wagner, Beazley Archive, Oxford)

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Classics in the Curriculum

Head of Classics, Philip Harrison, examines the place of Classics in the curriculum today. Despite contemporary pressures, he finds cause for optimism in the continuation of the rich tradition of Classicists at Merchant Taylors’.

and amid a national focus on STEM and social sciences. Despite such existential nerves, the Classical subjects, and those who teach them, have demonstrated remarkable tenacity in recent years. Latin is studied by all Thirds and Upper Thirds, and by most in Fourth Form. In recent years we have introduced a joint Greek and Latin course for Fourths, which has meant that around 30 boys each year begin Greek, with around ten continuing to GCSE – healthy numbers compared with most schools. Around 40 boys usually study Latin, some of whom have started with us in Third Form, and some of whom have joined in Fourth Form after starting their Latin in one of the local prep schools who have sent us many of our finest Classicists over the years. At A Level, we are a subject of choice for the discerning all-rounder: for surely no other subject can offer the combination of language, literature, history, and philosophy that are found here. Our current Lower Sixth Classicists are covering all of these areas in their current set texts, studied in the original Greek and Latin, as they encounter the chaos of AD69 in Tacitus’ Histories 1 , the appalling tragedy of Medea , Plato’s thoughts on the soul in the Phaedo , and Virgil’s Aeneid (albeit Book 11!). These texts will doubtless sound familiar to OMTs going back several generations, and indeed centuries. It is always with a certain sense of gravity that I point out to pupils beginning their study of Virgil’s Aeneid in Fifth Form (Virgil is always a set text for GCSE) that what they are reading has been studied at Merchant Taylors’ throughout its existence, and in schools ever since it was first written. The syllabuses at GCSE and A Level have changed little in recent years: the subjects – and we teach Greek and Latin, though there is a possibility of Classical Civilisation in the not too distant future – are divided equally between Language and Literature, with prose and verse texts studied for both courses. The exams at both GCSE and A Level require unseen translation, optional prose composition (or a challenging comprehension), and essays and gobbets on the set texts. Herein lies a

Greek disappeared as a requirement for university entrance several decades ago. Now Latin has gone too, and though it is perhaps impossible to predict with any exactness the effect in the next decade or two on school curricula, it is hard to imagine that it could be anything but severely negative on the numbers studying classical languages. That there is some kind of crisis [in the teaching of Classics] is certain, on the continent as well as in Britain, and it is no good saying complacently that we have heard all the arguments before. So wrote Sir Moses Finley in 1964 in the celebrated collection of essays Crisis in the Humanities . He goes on to speculate, with some considerable anxiety, on the future of Classics in schools and in universities, and suggests ways by which the Classical subjects might survive. In many respects, the Classicist’s existential anxieties persist now as they did in 1964 – and they had existed, as Finley points out in quoting John Locke, for some time before that. Classics is probably the subject whose nature and purpose are the most mysterious to boys and their parents who visit the school on open mornings, and countless times do we Classics teachers receive responses of surprise, incomprehension, and even delight when it is explained to these boys and their parents that all boys who start the school at 11 study Latin. The place of Classics in a school curriculum is hardly a given – no such reaction is elicited when it is explained that History, Geography, the Sciences, and so on are taught to our Third Formers, and Classics is not a part of the National Curriculum. In addition, successive governments have been vocal in their support of STEM subjects, and a focus of this government’s strategy launched in March 2020 is ‘Boosting science uptake at school.’ As a result, the Classics teacher at Merchant Taylors’ and elsewhere feels some nerves at the time their pupils choose their options for GCSE and A Level, and discover the number of pupils who are to continue with their subjects. It is undeniably difficult to convince pupils to pursue Latin and Greek as two of their three A Levels, in an ever more crowded school curriculum,

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