PETERHOUSE NOSTALGIA

... MEMORIES ...

George Martin

The Rev. George Martin was born on 31st December, 1934 at Arua in Uganda. He and his brother Richard were reputedly the first white twins to be born on the White Nile. For the doctor in attendance this was his first delivery, which he performed with book in hand, so the story goes, and if it is true he struck the keynote of George's life, which was to have a shot at anything and to learn by doing.

During George's youth the Martins led an itinerant life style as his father was an agricultural officer in the Colonial Service. (During the Second World War they were based at Entebbe, moving to Northern Rhodesia in 1947, and on to Kenya in the '50s). After a period at prep school in England, George went to Michaelhouse in 1948 where Fred Snell was the Rector and his contemporaries were Michael Cassidy and the highly studious John Greenacre. In 1952 he went to Rhodes where he took a general BA, majoring in French and Biblical Studies. Wilbur Smith and Mark Jardine were distinguished fellow students during those years. At Rhodes George was Captain of Athletics and a member of the university drama company. In fact, on leaving Rhodes he had to decide whether to go on tour with a production of "The Winslow Boy" with the S.A. Touring Company or take up his place to read Theology at Brasenase College, Oxford.

While at Michaelhouse, George felt called to become an Anglican priest, so it was natural to pursue this vocation with further study. Entrance to Oxbridge was rather more formal in those days and when Mrs. Martin visited B.M.C. on behalf of her son, one of the fellows, the misogynistic Leslie Styler, is reported to have said, "Anything you want, Mrs. Martin, but please leave". In 1957 George took a second in Theology and was accepted for ordination by the Diocese of Rochester. He moved on to Mirfield, a theological college run by the Community of the Resurrection. Disillusionment set in with the type of training he was receiving, which placed emphasis on theology at the expense of pastoral skills. Furthermore it was a celibate college which conflicted with other developments in George's life.

Rosemary, or Mosey as we all know her, entered George's life at the age of three when Mrs. Martin treated her for polio. Mosey also bearded with the Martins while the children attended junior school in Kampala. Even at this stage, George and Richard's mother determined that this little girl should marry one of her sons! Her plotting eventually bore fruit at a 1953 Christmas party in London given for Ugandan exiles. In 1958 George and Mosey were married, and plans for his ordination were shelved. To earn a living, George turned to schoolmastering, obtaining a job at Craigflower Prep School near Dunfermline at the handsome salary of 200 pounds, payable at the end of each term. They survived the first three months on their wedding money. With no formal training as a teacher, it was a question of learning by doing and he remained at Craigflower for three years until in 1961 he received a letter from Fred Snell inviting him to apply to Peterhouse. After an interview at Lambeth Palace with Charles Fisher, senior master and son of the Archbishop, George was appointed to teach Latin, Maths, French and Divinity to junior classes.

Having been appointed, he stayed. Self-deprecatingly he claims that with no official qualifications and diplomas he was not in much of a position to move! But, again, he turned his hand to anything, learning, for example, to coach most games but specialising in athletics and hockey where he coached the Ist XI in 1975 and then from 1987-90. He was in charge of the Photographic and Archaeological Societies, took part and presided over the Heretics, a religious debating society formed by the boys themselves under the laudable suspicion that there was more to life than rugby and girls. When Bruce Fieldsend became Rector in 1967, George took over as Housemaster of Malvern where he remained until 1978. On retirement from Malvern he became Head of French Department until 1990.

I mentioned earlier that George's plans for ordination were shelved, not abandoned. 1974 was a very significant year in his life, as it brought a Michael Cassidy mission to Peterhouse resulting in a renewal in Christian belief amongst both staff and boys. George, along with the chaplain John Read, was a leading figure in that renewal which also gave birth to the Scripture Union group now known as Christian Forum. This, along with new convictions inspired by the Charismatic Movement, led George to be ordained in 1977. Soon after that he became Acting Chaplain as well as Head of Divinity until the arrival of Ken Anderson at the end of 1983.

For his last ten years at Peterhouse, the Martins lived in Marondera as part of the Gatehouse Community. Many of us can still recall his preferred methods of commuting which were running or cycling, as training for marathons. From the Gatehouse emerged a vision for a Christian junior school in Marondera. As discussions and plans developed it became clear that the project would need a full-time administrator and so in an act of considerable courage and faith, George left the comparative security of employment at Peterhouse to promote an idea that would involve much heartache and frustration. But in 1991 the school opened and, as I write, buildings on a permanent site is in an advanced stage. Lendy Park School has an acting headmaster, Rev. George Martin, still learning as he goes along.

An assessment of George Martin's contribution to Peterhouse is perhaps presumptuous on the part of someone who has served the school for only a third of his years. As a colleague, he was a model of integrity and commitment to Christian values and the welfare of those he taught. Many staff and boys came to appreciate the wisdom and friendship of a man whose genuine desire was to please God and I know how much George valued letters from ex-pupils who were able to trace their commitment to Christ back to his teaching and example. If educating young men and women is about training body, mind and spirit -- indeed, about providing models to inspire right living - then those of us who believe in a Christian liberal world view must thank God for the twenty nine years of his life that George Martin devoted to Peterhouse.

GHMN