Page 15 - Southwell_The Chronicle_DEC_2023

FROM THE ARCHIVES
CECIL FERRIS (1877 - 1944)
Cecil Ernest Ferris Southwell’s founder & first Headmaster was born in 1877 in York, England to Reverend Thomas and Mrs Maria Ferris. Details of Cecil’s early life are scant, however we do know there were 13 children in the Ferris family. Cecil was number six and had nine brothers and three sisters. The family moved from York in1883 when Thomas was appointed Rector of St Matthew’s Church in Nottingham (in the Diocese of Southwell). The Ferris boys sang in the Church Choir and attended the local Grammar School.
In the late 1890’s Cecil emigrated to Australia and was employed as a Station Hand in Sydney. When the Boer
War broke out, Cecil enlisted with the NSW Lancers and in January 1900 he left for South Africa and spent 9 months serving as a Trooper. He then returned to Australia and was employed as a School Teacher at The Southport School in Queensland. He was very involved in rowing at the school. In 1910 Cecil resigned from his position at Southport and moved to New Zealand.
On arrival in New Zealand in 1910, Cecil taught at Waihi School (South Canterbury) for approximately 12 months, then moved north to Hamilton and established and opened Southwell School late in 1911 with one student, Robert Oliver who was soon after joined by Vernon Wilkinson. School was held at Allington House in Melville (now the
site of Melville High School). As Southwell’s roll grew, Cecil moved the school to various sites around Hamilton.
With the outbreak of WWI Cecil was called to serve
and had to close Southwell in November 1917 which at that time was located at Opoia Private Hospital. (Note: Southwell was only closed for a short period as a new Headmaster, Mr HG Sergel, was appointed). Cecil served in WW1 from 15 November 1917 to 21 June 1919 with the New Zealand Medical Corps.
Cecil returned to NZ in June 1919 and was appointed Headmaster of Dunelm School in Christchurch. At that time Dunelm served as a Prep School for Christ’s College.
In December 1931 Dunelm School had to close, partly due to both the increased number of Prep Schools in the area, and the depression.
After Dunelm, Cecil moved further north to the Marlborough region and by 1935 was working as a Lay Church Worker and Schoolmaster at a Maori Mission Station in Pelorus Sound; then in 1940 he left for Fiji to work as a schoolmaster at the Polynesian Mission in Fiji.
By 1943 Cecil had returned to Kaikoura in the South Island and his occupation was listed in the Electoral Roll as a Missionary.
Cecil Ernest Ferris passed away in Auckland Hospital on 22 March 1944 at the age of 67.
Recollections of Vernon Wilkinson (Old Boy)
“Although it (funeral) was a sad occasion, memories of Mr Ferris were happy ones for his was a particularly genial and humorous nature. When I saw him in his last sleep, although his hair had whitened, he was very much as I recalled him, and his fine face showed he had found peace.”
Allington Homestead Cnr Hukanui & Alfred St