Dr. A. R. Simpson (Headmaster 1946 65)
It is with deep regret that we record the death of Dr. A. R. Simpson who died on November 10th 1975. He had been living at the Old Manor, West End, Nailsea, Bristol.
Before becoming Headmaster in 1946 at the age of 41, Dr. Simpson had been Rector of Arbroath high School, Scotland, for seven years.
He had a distinguished academic record and held the degrees M.A., B.A., and Ph.D. He was awarded the Ph.D. degree in 1944 for a thesis on Greek Elementary Education and its Critics, reflecting an attachment to the ideals of the classical world which was to remain with him, and to influence his work throughout his subsequent teaching career.
Dr. Simpson had also been an outstanding sportsman, and fourteen times played cricket for Scotland against such sides as the Australians, South Africans, New Zealanders and All-India. In addition, he was a Rugby footballer of merit and for several seasons played for Dunfermline, a first class Scottish Rugby Union club.
At his first Speech Day in 1947, Dr. Simpson showed little admiration for comprehensive education although Labour Middlesex County Council had then set that as its goal. On that occasion he said that the possible down grading of such a school as the Harrow County into a comprehensive school would surely be a retrograde step for higher education and for all that depended on higher education.
But, for a time, the future of the grammar schools seemed secure, and Dr. Simpson turned to the threat of declining standards in education, which he felt was more serious than the threat of comprehensive education. The grammar school, he said, must become a bastion.
During his time as Headmaster Dr. Simpson saw the schools examination successes challenge the best in the country, the formation of the Army cadet Force and later the Combined Cadet Force; and the completion of school extensions, including the New Hall.
In The History of the Harrow County School for Boys the author, Mr. Trevor May, says: Dr. Simpson, with a Scottish Comprehensive background, had taken a selective English grammar school and had pushed it to unprecedented academic heights. It was a remarkable achievement, which one either applauds or condemns depending on ones point of view. If nothing else, Dr. Simpson was the one who ensured that if the County school should end, it would not be with a whimper.
Dr. Simpson lived long enough to see it end, when in September it became the Gayton High School.
He leaves a son and daughter. The son requested that representatives from the school should not travel to the West Country to attend the cremation, which was at Weston-Super-Mare. Dr. Simpson had asked that only members of the family should be present.
(From Old Gaytonian, 1976)