Graham Henry Stainforth, or ‘Gus’ or ‘GHS’ to generations of Wellingtonians and his friends and colleagues, was the first OW to become Master of Wellington College.

Having lost his father at the age of nine to Cholera whilst commanding the 4th Bengal Lancers in the relief of Kut, Stainforth became a Foundationer in 1920 when he went arrived at the newly rebuilt Orange in 1920 (after a major fire that is still part of College lore), his first of three periods of association with College. He became a College Prefect, head of the Orange, head of the Gymnasium, and a member of the XV. His last days were marred by the mumps, perhaps committing him to a later return.

After Wellington he went up to Emanuel to read classics, although he switched to English in his final year under F R Leavis.

His first appointment as a schoolmaster was at Merchant Taylors where he was reportedly energetic, diligent and a great success. He was enticed back to Wellington by Malim (reportedly at the second attempt) in 1935 as an Assistant Master to teach English and Latin, and become the tutor of the Beresford. In one of those strange coincidences as a bachelor tutor he shared a bathroom with his old Tutor of the Orange, T F Mackenzie. He also became secretary of the Walworth Mission and unofficial head of the English department. Malim managed a second coup when in 1936 he proposed Stainforth into the OW Lodge.

In 1939 Stainforth narrowly missed out on the Mastership of Tonbridge, and inevitably his gain was Wellintgon’s loss when in 1945 he went to Oundle “the only usher, let alone O.W. ever to go straight from Wellington to be Head of a major school”¹.

He returned to Wellington as Master in 1956, at a period of intense change at College. Many of the old paths had vanished with the disabling of Empire, especially Indian Independence, and with the shrinking of the armed services. In his own words, he was not prepared for boys to ‘become a salesman of geese disguised by skilful testimonials as swans’ bred on the backwaters of the most exclusive country club in Berkshire”. He oversaw a a period of change and regrowth, of intellectual rigour, and connection with OWs. This last is best exemplified by the opening of the Auchinleck Room. Music and art also flourished under Davidson and Lindley and the part time theatre also burst into life.

He served until 1966 lately in some ill health, the same year that he also left the OW Lodge.

He was bid a fond farewell in April 1967 with a dinner at the Savoy attended by 325 OWs. The was certainly a fine Lodge representation with Grace being given by Bro the Revd C W Trevelyan, who was likewise an OW, member of SCR and a member of the Lodge. The Menu was fit for the guest of honours with “dishes in ‘French’ linked to his progress through the School commencing with soup ‘Squealeur’, through to coffee ‘au Tache Quatrieme’ (tache being a Stain!). On the back A. C. Garnett [SCR] had produced two excellent sketches of a small boy arriving at Great Gate on 4th May 1920 and of a Master leaving the South Front on 31st August 1966.”² These sketches are reproduced below. He was presented with a mortarboard adorned in OW colours.

He continued as a Vice President of the OW Society, but was a firm believer that he should not interfere with his successors so stayed away from the running of College, returning only for a dinner at the Talbot only a few years before his death.

He was a member of the Athenaeum

1. Wellington Yearbook 1987
2. Wellington Yearbook 1967

Francis Ian Hamilton-Moore was in the Orange 1916, and was a member of their victorious 1920 Cock XI in his last year.

He became a rubber planter in what is now Malaysia in the 1920s through to the 1950s. He held a commission with the  Federated Malay States Volunteer Forces from 1932, rising to the rank of Major. He was captured by the Japanese in 1942 and held in Thailand for the remainder of the war.

After the war he became a member of the Singapore State Council, and served as President of Negri Sembilan Planters Association, as well as representing  Kuala Pilah & Bahau district. His is known to have worked with the Middleton and Labu estates. He retired to back to England, becoming a JP.

He was initiated into the Lodge in 1925 and became WM in 1966. He was made a Grand Deacon by Grand Lodge.

Charles Henry Atkinson was the son of Major General Sir Leonard Atkinson, and the nephew of Rodham Atkinson.

He was a Lewis, initiated into the Lodge in 1970, and became Master in 1976.

He was in his father’s house, the Benson from 1961, and became a hotelier like his uncle.

John Aytoun Underwood was at Wellington during the second half of World War Two, in the Combermere from 1942 to 1946. He was made a College Prefect, Head of House and Head of the Gymnasium.

He went to Sandhurst in 1947 and joined was commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers. He went up to Peterhouse in 1950 and took his degree.

During his army career he became a specialist in the Army’s mapping section, serving in Singapore, Vanuatu in the Pacific, and Guam, together with the more prosaic but mainstay postings in Germany and UK. Serving in UK in the 60’s and 70’s he was part of the Ordnance Survey teams that worked on updating the UK OS maps and building the familiar ‘trig points’ that so many soldiers and civilians so well.

After leaving the Army in the 70’s having reached the rank of Major, John continued his work as a surveyor and cartographer, and indeed returned to work from his home in St Andrews. He was a keen golfer, and a member of the R&A.

He was initiated into the Lodge in 1951, and was Master in 1967.

He died in 2005.

Alwin John Harriss was in the Anglesey from 1925, like his Brother, the very Wellingtonian-name Stanley Talbot Harriss (no, their father was not an OW!), who had come to Wellington in 1919.

Harriss Minor went to Southampton Law School in 1931 and became a solicitor with the Civil Service, initially with the Min of Ag. & Fish. And returning to the Civil Service after the interruption of the Second War, which saw him serving in the RAF Signal Branch.

He was initiated into the Lodge at the same meeting as Rodham Atkinson, but preceded him in the Chair by two years in 1958.

His brother Stanley was initiated into the Lodge in 1955. He was a vet having trained at Edinburgh Veterinary College after Wellington, who ultimately emigrated to New Zealand.

Rodham Home Atkinson was in the Talbot from 1926. He was the older brother of Maj Gen Sir Leonard Atkinson and uncle to Charles Atkinson. After Wellington he went into the hospitality business, and became the General Manager of the Totland Bay Hotel on the Isle of Wight. He was commissioned appropriately enough into the Royal Army Catering Corps during the Second World War.

He was initiated into the Lodge in 1951, a couple of years ahead of his brother, and preceded him into the Chair in 1960

He was a member of the Royal United Overseas League.

Colonel Harold Bingley Finch MC A.M.I.Mech.E was in the Picton from 1913.

He was commissioned into the RASC and fought in the Great War, World War Two and even in Murmansk in 1918 in a little remembered Anglo-American invasion of Soviet Russia, in ultimately futile support of the White Russian cause, where as a Second Lieutenant he won the MC. The citation reads:

“At Bolshe-Ozerki, on 1st September, 1918, he showed great gallantry as guide to a patrol. They found a position unexpectedly strongly held. He- stayed behind with a badly wounded man and one other man.

He personally killed four enemy and wounded several more. The work of this patrol in cutting the enemy’s lines of communication was instrumental in breaking up the enemy attack on Bolshe-Ozerki.”

He retired a full Colonel, like his father before him.

He joined the  Lodge in 1952 and became Master a few years later in 1956. His Mother Lodge was Palma Virtuti Lodge No 4187 in Aldershot.

His son Captain Colin Henry Lewis Finch RAPC was initiated in his Father’s year as Senior Warden in 1955, making his middle name somewhat prescient. Like his father he was in the Picton and joined the family business.

George Richard Shaw was in the Hardinge from 1924. He was in the XV in 1928, and was made a College Prefect in 1929.

He went up to Pembroke like his IPM, before becoming an aeronautical engineer.

He was initiated into the Lodge in 1934, and became Master in 1955. He remained a member for some 49 years.