HISTORY
OF KINGSTON COLLEGE
In 1925 Bishop deCarteret made the following
announcement to Synod:
A new Secondary School for boys is
to be open in Kingston in April. I believe there is
a great need for such a school in this town. Already
we have received 40 applications for entrance. The school
will be my own personal undertaking. I am not asking
the Diocese to add this to its burden. I take the blame,
if blame there is, for having persuaded you to establish
the two Diocesan Schools in Brown’s Town and Mandeville.
Personally I am confident that in years to come you
will not regret that these schools were established.
Kingston College is my own private venture which I know
will have your sympathy and support. Under the Headmastership
of the
Rev. P.W. Gibson I have no fear regarding its future.
Having been appointed Headmaster, Percival Gibson set
out to build a school. For the next thirty years, while
he remained Headmaster of Kingston College, that is
what he did.
The building of Kingston College began with ninety pound
which were used to purchase the Old All Saints Rectory
at 114 ¾ East (corner of East St. and North St.)
The school open in April of 1925 with forty-nine students,
a number which rose to over one hundred within the first
seven years. When it open there were three members of
Staff ; Rev. Mr. Gibson and Messrs. G. E. Mitchell and
Cyril Swaby.
In 1926 Rev. Mr. Gibson met a young
man who had recently graduated from Munro College and
invited him to join the staff of Kingston College. This
young man was Douglas W.E. Forrest.
In 1932 Bishop deCarteret who continued
to give the school financial backing, died in England.
The Synod of 1933 agreed that the responsibility for
the school should be taken over by the Diocese. It would
also make a loan to the school of the sum five thousand
and five hundred pounds.
Since its inception, the school had used the grounds
of the former Clovelly Park Estate, which was a few
hundred yards further along North Srteet, as its playing
field. Now with the loan from the Diocese, Clovlly Park
and its Great House was purchased. As soon as the transaction
was completed, work began in erecting a building beside
the Great House to house the school. The building was
completed in 1934 and in April of that year Kingston
College was moved to its new home 2a North Street.
Two years later, with the enrolment now at 200 boys,
a science department was added. In 1940, a physics laboratory
was built.In 1941 the adjoining premises of the Kingston
Parish Church Rectory was purchased. This building was
used to accommodate the sixth form, the library the
art room and the preparatory division of the school.
It soon became known as “HARDIE HOUSE”.
In the April of 1946, the year in which Kingston College
calebrated its twenty-first anniversary, the construction
of an eastern wing to the main building was completed.
Yet the building that would probably have given
Percival Gibson the greatest pride and joy was the Chapel
which was completed in 1947 and dedicated to St. Augustine
of Hippo.
Two further classrooms were added in 1951, and it was
now felt that the school was filled to its physical
with 560 boys. The Clovelly Park campus of Kingston
College was built with a great deal of fore thought
for not an inch of physical space had been wasted in
the construction of these buildings. In spite of this,
ample space remains for the sports field.
The Rt. Rev. Perval Gibson, by then the Suffragan Bishop
of Kingston, did not, however, appear to agree that
construction work had come to a end. Further extensions
were made to some building in 1954 and a modern sports
pavilion was erected to replace the old one which had
been destroyed by hurricane Charlie in 1951.
Looking back on this incredible amount of construction
work, with all the planning, fund raising, supervision
and inplementation, it would seen like more than a full-time
job for one person. Rev. Mr. Gibson, however, would
have been assisted by the Board of Governors of the
school and by others, including in later days, the Old
Boys.
As important as all this construction work was, it was
not the most important of the Rev. Mr. Gibson’s
concern. A far more central concern to him was the different
kind of construction; the construction of the education
and the building of the character of the young men in
his charge. He was determined to provide them with a
good Christian education that dealt not only with the
development of knowledge and intellect, but with moral
values as well.
Percival Jamaica - Janet Gentles
In 1963 the Melbourne Campus was purchased from the
Melbourne Cricket Club. The Campus is now home to 7th,
8th, 9th Grade ( 1st, 2nd and 3rd Form).
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