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Passing of John Scandrett
Millward
Posted Tuesday, June 17, 2003
Tudor Grange School
| Memories | Reunions | History | |
Since it does not seem to be widely known amongst the former pupils of the
school (those who attended between 1964 and 1973), I thought I should draw
attention to the fact that 'once would-be historian' and former headmaster
John Scandrett Millward passed away over 5 years ago in 1998.
Below is a short account of what little I know of his life, based on the
tribute paid to him by Robert Peberdy in the 1998 edition of the Merton
College magazine 'Postmaster' and on an obituary by his deputy head at
Loughborough, B.O. Percival published in the Old Loughburian. These two
sources have provided a lot of information that was previously unknown to me
and will hopefully be of interest to all those who were at TGGS between 1964
and 1973 and remember JSM as headmaster.
John Scandrett Millward was born on 6th May 1924 in Swansea of English
parents. He grew up in Bristol and won a scholarship to Bristol Grammar
School. There he was encouraged to specialise in history by 'Punch' Roberts,
who would sail into the classroom in a tattered gown, sit on a desk, and
yarn. This made history so fascinating that many pupils took it seriously.
The school encouraged John to apply for Merton, where after due examination
and the rigours of interview in front of the massed ranks of Warden and
Fellows, he was admitted to read Modern History in 1942.
In addition to academic work, a week's activity included a day and a half of
compulsory military training (both physical and theoretical). John had
enrolled in the RAF Voluntary Reserve at school (a means of exercising
choice in eventual war service) and advanced to the OU Air Squadron, aiming
to become a pilot. In July 1943 John entered the RAF and in the autumn was
transferred to Texas. After the deprivations of bombed out Bristol,
America's vitality and affluence made a powerful impact, creating an
enduring fascination with American society and history. (He later became an
expert on American history, organised exchanges with American teachers,
offered a short option on American Studies for sixth formers taking General
Studies A-Level at TGGS - and was a devotee of Dallas.) Having learned to
fly small aircraft, he returned to Britain to train as a Wellington bomber
pilot. But by the time he had qualified, the British bombing campaign had
been reduced and he never went into a!
ction.
John returned to Merton in autumn 1946 and, keen to resume normal life now
that the war was over, threw himself back into history and played for the
College hockey and cricket teams. He took a second in 1948 and remained in
Oxford to do teacher training. In 1949 he was awarded a Diploma in Education
with Distinction, was appointed an Assistant Master at Magdalen College
School, Oxford, and married Margaret Grove from Bristol.
He became keen on using documents in his teaching, to stimulate his pupils'
imagination and to develop the critical faculty required for studying
history. From this emerged 'Portraits and Documents', a series of books of
which John was General Editor and compiler of the volumes on the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. Published in the early 1960s, they pioneered a
new direction for history teaching. Meanwhile John had been promoted to
Senior History Master at Magdalen College School (1951).
In 1960 John returned to Bristol Grammar as senior History Master, and in
1964 (aged 40) was appointed Headmaster of Tudor Grange Grammar School in
Solihull, a fairly new state school for boys, where he set about raising
academic standards. Tudor Grange eventually outperformed other local state
and independent schools, until it was broken up by Comprehensive
reorganisation. In 1973 he was appointed Headmaster of Loughborough Grammar
School, a boys' direct grant school dating from the late Middle Ages. A year
later this was also threatened, when Labour returned to power intending to
abolish the direct grant. The governors of LGS were forced to choose between
absorption into Leicestershire's Comprehensive structure and independence.
They decided for the latter and John carried through the transition.
His nickname appears to have been transformed from Sid to Hench (in honour
of a local murderer called Milhench) within a short time of his arrival.
Immediately after retirement John worked for the Independent Schools'
Careers Organisation, visiting schools in the south-west; and retained his
place on the council of Loughborough University and was appointed to the
Court of Warwick University. He also served on the Admiralty Interview Board
at Gosport and on the RAF cadetship Board. In due time he became a governor
of Our Lady's Convent School in Bideford and of St. Audrie's School in
Minehead.
The Millwards lived at Winsford on Exmoor, until 1993 when they moved to
Taunton, where John courageously faced his final illness (although suffering
from cancer, I believe he actually died of a heart attack). His adult life
and work were grounded in Christian faith and a happy marriage. John also
remained deeply attached to Merton. His two children were christened in the
Chapel, and boys went from his schools to the College: two historians from
Magdalen College School (one now a headmaster); four from Tudor Grange
(Richard Hofton, Pete Forster, now the Rt. Reverend Peter Forster, bishop of
Chester, Nick Skinner and Alan Merchant); and three from Loughborough
Grammar School (including D.N. Hutchinson, now lecturer in law at University
College London).
He was survived by his wife Margaret, daughter Alison and son Richard.
John Millward was headmaster of TGGS throughout my entire time there, and I
can scarcely imagine the place without him. His idea of how the school
should be run, his academic aspirations for it and pride in its standards
and reputation dominated our lives during our years there. Despite seeing
him take school assembly throughout seven years I myself had surprisingly
little contact with him. I never took a class that he taught, kept my nose
clean enough to avoid disciplinary measures and was never likely to be
elevated to senior prefectdom. He didn't even tell me to get my hair cut!
Nevertheless I owe him an enormous debt of gratitude for suggesting that I
apply to Merton College, Oxford, where I subsequently enjoyed four of the
happiest years of my life. Amazingly I never saw John again after leaving
TGGS and did not even spot his obituary at the time of its publication. I
keenly regret the lost opportunities to quiz him on so many aspects of
school life, but ultimately salute him as one who lived by his ideals and
did a desperately difficult job (one I could never have undertaken) to the
best of his very considerable ability.
Alan Merchant (TGGS 1965-72, Merton 1973-77)
You Said....
Posted Saturday, September 27,
2003
Well, I'm glad I finally found out that my former headmaster at Tudor
Grange, John Scandrett "Sid" Millward, is with us no more - and hasn't
been for quite some time. I even looked him up via Google a year or so
ago, but couldn't find anything. So many thanks to Alan Merchant, one
year my junior, for writing the article and compiling the Mertonian and
Loughborough material. I bumped into John Millward when doing some
teaching practice in Loughborough in the mid-1970s and still called him
"sir", a reflex action from the school I had left some six years
previously. Since then, I never heard a thing more about him.
I still have a biography of the Afrikaner Jan Smuts on my bookshelves
with Millward's signature. I bought it at the Scout Jumble Sale to which
he had presumably donated it, rather hinting at his attitudes to
Afrikaners...
As for the haircuts Merchant mentions, I remember Millward approaching a
boy in the corridor and saying (about his hair): "It's getting
offensively long, boy, chop it!" which caused some hilarity at the time.
When, in my teens, I heard that Tolkein had been a Merton man, I
realised this was the same college as my headmaster at the time.
I must be one if the rather few ex-TGGS boys who have translated
Estonian literature into English. I can't think how the school helped me
achieve that - except for giving me a good grounding in English.
Eric Dickens |
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