Distinguished Old Framlinghamians

He was a steward at the College for nearly 50 years. The picture attached was painted of him in the Crown bar by W O Hutchison and was hung in the 1935 Royal Academy Exhibition. It was jointly purchased by the College and the Society in 1948, a year after he retired. He used to ring the bell each morning at 7.15am. After his death a memorial seat was placed on the Back.

He was the son of Richard Garrett, one of the original founders of the College. He became a member of the Corporation in 1903 and finally resigned 46 years later in 1949, after having witnessed the unveiling of the WW2 War Memorial and the opening of Brandeston Hall by the Earl and Countess of Athlone. He was also President of the Corporation for many years.

He came to teach at the College in 1947 and remainder a teacher there for the next 31 years. As well as a teacher he wrote “Framlingham College : The Second Sixty Years” in 1992 and “Remembered Days: The S.O.F. Centenary” in 2000, as well as writing a novel in 1978 called “The Apprentice”. For his work on behalf of the College and Society, he had the rare distinction, as an Honorary OF, of being made a Vice President of the Society. To quote Bob Williams he was “schoolmaster, author, historian, raconteur, lover of good music; there are an abundance of good memories.”

Like David Foreman, he was steward at the College for nearly 50 years, joining in 1958. The attached picture and clock were presented to Artie by the Society and now hang in the Masters Common Room.

He was headmaster at the College from 1941 until 1955 and is perhaps best remembered for increasing the number of pupils from just 100 boarders and 35 day boys when he arrived, to a total of 425 when he left. His period at the College also saw the opening of Brandeston Hall on 2 July 1949. He died in 1975.

He joined the College in 1920 as Chaplain and went on to become Second Master and a Housemaster. He was made an Honorary OF in 1942. He retired from the College in Easter 1953. He died in July 1957, just four years after retiring and he left a bequest which was used to buy a lectern in the College Chapel.

He worked at Glaxo before taking a job at the College as lab technician and shooting master, where he remained for 35 years. He is mainly included in this section for his shooting prowess. He is believed to be the only man ever to have won the Queen’s Medal with two different weapons.

He joined the College in 1921 and was for many years in charge of Hockey. He was also housemaster of Stradbroke for 26 years. He died on 31 October 1958 at the age of 70 and while still teaching Chemistry after more than 37 years at the College. He is buried near Francis Stock (headmaster 1913-29) in Framlingham Cemetery. In his honour the field, now called the Norman Borrett Ground, was named Thomas’s Field after him. He had, of course, been responsible for coaching Norman Borrett at hockey.

He joined the College in 1925 and within a year had taken on the Editorship of The Framlinghamian, a post he held until 1963. He has a strong interest in cricket and was in charge of 1st XI for 32 years and took over the Quilibet Cricket Club from the founder Rupert Kneese, in 1953. When he retired from cricket in 1956 he handed over to Norman Borrett who 22 years earlier had been his captain of 1st XI. In early 1954, as Second Master, he temporarily took over from Reginald Kirkman when he had a minor heart attack. He retired in 1967 after 42 years.