Cathedral School - Shanghai - 1929
Kiukiang Rd, Intl Settlement.
Whilst the children of many British residents in Shanghai were educated in boarding schools at 'Home', many others had neither the means nor the inclination to send their children abroad. A British school for boys had been opened in Shanghai in 1868 and the Cathedral School traces its origins to those times. Catering originally to British boys of the Anglican faith resident in Shanghai (or boarders from the interior), this was certainly not a mission school for converted Chinese Christians.
As Shanghai flourished after the end of WWI, Western expatriates flocked to take advantage of the business opportunities on offer. To cater for the growing numbers of expatriates who required schooling in Shanghai, the Cathedral School was reconstructed thanks to the generosity of the legacy of the Henry Lester Endowment.
The corner stone (still visible to this day - see the photo of fellow flickrite Tai Pan of HK at www.flickr.com/photos/thetaipanofhongkong/5737801968) was laid on 19 December 1928 by the then British Acting Consul-General Charles Fortescue Garstin CBE in the presence of the Dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral, the Very Reverend ACS Trivett in the company of the Church Trustees (comprising figures from Shanghai's British establishment). Over the next 12 years until the Japanese Occupation, "Cathedral Boys", as the pupils were known, came to see themselves as a cut above the rest of the Shanghai schools for foreigners.
Its most famous Old Boy was the author JG Ballard who wrote the semi-autobiographical account of the life of a British schoolboy during internment by the Japanese, the excellent "Empire of the Sun".
Cathedral School - Shanghai - 1929
Kiukiang Rd, Intl Settlement.
Whilst the children of many British residents in Shanghai were educated in boarding schools at 'Home', many others had neither the means nor the inclination to send their children abroad. A British school for boys had been opened in Shanghai in 1868 and the Cathedral School traces its origins to those times. Catering originally to British boys of the Anglican faith resident in Shanghai (or boarders from the interior), this was certainly not a mission school for converted Chinese Christians.
As Shanghai flourished after the end of WWI, Western expatriates flocked to take advantage of the business opportunities on offer. To cater for the growing numbers of expatriates who required schooling in Shanghai, the Cathedral School was reconstructed thanks to the generosity of the legacy of the Henry Lester Endowment.
The corner stone (still visible to this day - see the photo of fellow flickrite Tai Pan of HK at www.flickr.com/photos/thetaipanofhongkong/5737801968) was laid on 19 December 1928 by the then British Acting Consul-General Charles Fortescue Garstin CBE in the presence of the Dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral, the Very Reverend ACS Trivett in the company of the Church Trustees (comprising figures from Shanghai's British establishment). Over the next 12 years until the Japanese Occupation, "Cathedral Boys", as the pupils were known, came to see themselves as a cut above the rest of the Shanghai schools for foreigners.
Its most famous Old Boy was the author JG Ballard who wrote the semi-autobiographical account of the life of a British schoolboy during internment by the Japanese, the excellent "Empire of the Sun".