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since I assumed office and I find it difficult to avoid drawing attention to innovations, which at the time seemed all important, but now' are treated as matters of routine or developments which would have occurred sooner or later anyway.
I have attended several Grand Days since I left in 1939 and what strikes me most is, that a military school o'f four companies., fathered by C.S.M.s, has become a a secondary school, with houses and housemasters, with much less regimentation.
The trades of tailoring and shoemaking have gone — the former produced some very skilled workers and was an asset for regimental tailors' shops when the boys joined the Services — the latter, apart from the school repairs, were not being trained for a life profession and wasted a lot of material.
Following World War I the School had been largely forgotten, by the general public, except when the bands appeared at Murrayfield. To remedy this I introduced a combined church parade of all denominations once a month. An inspecting officer took the salute and addressed the boys, and guests were asked to' the church service. The inspecting officers were drawn from Lords Lieutenant, Lords Provost, battalion and depot commanders, and any senior officer of the three Services who might be visiting the district and known to, me.
Bertram Mills came to one of these parades and was so pleased with what he saw that the pipes, drums and dancers went to, Olympia for a six weeks' engagementi and were a huge success. The War Officer were very particular about details — housing, food, education, etc. — but all was satisfactorily arranged.
In addition to the fee for the engagement Mr Mills gave the Commandant's Fund £100 over and above.
The Commissioners agreed to a suggestion I made that, in turn, one of them should come for a whole day each term and see for himself every aspect of school life (and partake of the school dinner). He would write out a report, which was circulated amongst the Commissioners, and would stress anything requiring special attention. Prior to this the only time the Commissioners met at the School was on Grand Day when there was no time for discussion or Inspection.
I once succeeded in getting the Secretary of
State for Scotland—President of H.M. Commissioners—to visit the School. A great triumph! Your present Commandant has beaten me however as he is going to receive H.R.H. Prince Philip, your patron.
During my tour Q.V.S. twice sent a squad of
toy soldiers to Edinburgh and to Glasgow Exhibition where they gained great and well deserved applause.
After several years of supplication the levelling and draining of the playing field was carried out and is, I am glad to say, still giving good service. I was very interested in tidying up the polities and with generous help from friends the azalea and heather beds in front of the School were installed and thousands of bulbs planted in the grass.
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The R.E. were persuaded to put baths in the
married quarters belonging to the staff — this after 20 years, dependence on the kettle for personal cleanliness.
It was a hard task to ensure that every boy could swim but it was achieved. There were some beautiful swimmers and a kind friend gave a fish trophy for annual competition.
Another friend gave a most complete railway outfit which was set up in an old dormitory and gave a great deal Ott pleasure though, on account of the valuable equipment, play there could only take place under supervision.
After about 8 years I had a fire alarm about 11.30 one fine night. I only warned the Headmaster and one other. The result was a success. The boys were all out on the parade ground, in orderly formation, in a very few minutes.
The above are a few recollections. I have purposely mentioned no names because we all worked together and I parted with great regret from a number of friends.
I wish Queen Victoria School every success and good wishes as it enters upon its second half century.
S.A.I.
(Colonel S. A. Innes, D.S.O.
Commandant, 1930-1939).
Commandant Hall
Queen Victoria School is perhaps best known to the general public in Scotland by the tradtional presence of its pipe band at Murrayfield. But being in a Scottish Regiment I knew of it first as one of the best sources of recruits for our pipe and military bands and later, when these boys left the bands to go in for promotion, as many of them did, they provided many of the best Warrant Officers and N.C.O.s in Scottish Regiments. For various reasons, and to the loss of the Scottish Regiments, this source of recruits has waned.
To have existed for 50 years is not a long time for a school, and to me it appears a very short time, as it seems only the other day that I went there as a Commandant—but that day is now almost twenty years ago.
But although the School was not opened until September, 1908, and the first boys did not arrive until some months later, its inception went back to 1901. Incidentally, Queen Victoria School is the youngest of our three military schools, and the first boys to arrive there were two transfers from the Duke of York's, then at Chelsea, and two from tha Royal Hibernian School at Dublin.
To Mr R. Addison Smith, the Treasurer of the Fund, and later Treasurer and Secretary of the School, much credit and most of the work of its inception and raising of funds is due; and his son, who succeeded him as Treasurer, followed ably in his footsteps. Few could have taken a greater interest in the School than Chilton Addison Smith and it is sad that he has not lived to be present at this anniversary, which would have delighted his heart.
There have been many changes in the School throughout these fifty years, but most of the major changes have I think taken place during or after the last war.
At the beginning of the war there were a
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