Abingdon News No.40

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The Abingdon Foundation, Park Road, Abingdon, Oxford OX14 1DE 01235 521563 • Edited by Jane Warne – 01235 849123 • Design –
Abingdon Out of the Past
A Bird’s Eye View – 80 Years Ago
Compare this photograph with the one inside (page 10) and you can see the huge changes
eighty years have made, not just to the School but to the town of Abingdon too. It was
taken during the Summer term of 1939 when there were 176 pupils at the School.
A photograph of the 1892 school football team shows the unusual presence of an African
student in the back row. Curious, David Loong (S7 DE) decided to discover who he was.
The name on the photograph didn’t help much as it had been misspelt but the match
reports revealed him to be the goalkeeper, Sam Forster, “who has the advantages of
being big and heavy, and at the same time cool and active. A good player and never
loses his head”.
Forster (1873-1940), who was born in The Gambia, came to Abingdon for one year
to take the Oxford entrance. He studied law at Merton College and then became the
first Gambian to qualify as a barrister at the Inner Temple. He returned to The Gambia
to practise law, was a member of the Legislative Council for thirty years and in 1933
became the first Gambian to receive a knighthood.
Sir Samuel Forster OA
The poet, F.W. Harvey (1888-1957),
whose best-known work references
his beloved Forest of Dean, was
educated at Rossall, but his three
brothers and a cousin all came to
Abingdon. One brother was killed in a
motorbike accident in 1914, another
was killed in action in France in 1918,
and the cousin lost his life in the
Palestine Campaign in 1916. It was in
their memories that the School made
a donation towards the cost of this
beautiful window by Graham Dowding,
which was dedicated in St Peter’s
Church, Minsterworth, Gloucestershire
on 12 November last year.
This striking portrait by Marcus
Hodge of Felicity Lusk, currently
Vice-President (Education), GEMS
Education in Dubai, has joined those
of the previous two Heads, Mark
Turner and Michael St John Parker, in
the entrance to Big School.
The Harvey Window
Felicity Lusk
Austin
House
Lacies
Court
Park
Lodge