NEVER a Missionary school

The above news story appeared in The Star newspaper on 22 Oct 2018.

I can't speak about the other legacy schools in the country but the one unique feature of Penang Free School is that the tomb of the school's founder can be located in the city of its establishment. In the case of the Free School, the heritage Protestant Cemetery in Northam Road (Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah) is the resting place of Revd Robert Sparke Hutchings. He died of malaria in 1827. His whole family was then staying at his acquired home in Mt Elvira, Penang Hill, which he had named after his wife.

The present unbroken tradition of holding a memorial service at Hutchings' tomb began in 1948 after the Second World War. It was an initiative of the then Headmaster, Dennis Roper.

There is a bit more to add to the story this year. Yesterday afternoon, I was contacted by The Star to get background information on the visit to Hutchings' tomb. They wanted to know whether Penang Free School and by extension, Hutchings (Secondary) School, were missionary schools.

Of course, I told them an emphatic NO. Told them that just because Hutchings was a clergyman, it did not mean that he founded a missionary school in Penang Free School. The School Charter, also known as Hutchings' Original Plan, must be studied closely to ascertain the truth. And the truth is, the Free School has never been a missionary school right from Day One.

I take great pains to point out to people that the ninth point of the Original Plan had spelt out clearly "that great care be taken that the prejudices of Parents averse to the Christian Religion, be not by any means violated." That is to say, religion must not be rammed down the throats of the boys of the Free School.

Except for Hutchings, the Committee that was appointed by the Governor in Council to study the Original Plan consisted of Robert Ibbetson, Capt John Monckton Coombs, Capt John MacInnes, James Carnegy, David Brown and Richard Caunter, who were all prominent members of the European community in the Prince of Wales' Island at that time, and none among them holding ecclesiastical or theological office in any of the Catholic, Methodist or Anglican churches on the island. In fact, the first Anglican Church anywhere in the peninsula, the Church of St George the Martyr (or more popularly known as the St George's Church in Farquhar Street) was only established three years later in 1819. This church will be celebrating their own Bicentenary next year.

From Day One too when the Prince of Wales' Island Free School opened its doors to 25 boys on 21 Oct 1816, none of the school's succession of early Superintendents - William Cox, David Churcher, George Porter, William Anchant, John Colson Smith, Bruton and Fitzgerald - or later known as Headmasters, from John Clark and George Griffin onwards, were clergymen either.

So, NO, the Free School was never a missionary school and it will never be. It will remain a FREE school...free of race and religious prejudices. As for Hutchings School, suffice for me to mention that NO, it is not a missionary school either. But the explanation will have to wait till another time.

Note: All these facts can be checked easily from the book, Let the Aisles Proclaim, which was published by the Yayasan Penang Free School in conjunction with the School's Bicentenary celebrations in 2016. The book costs RM100 and is available from the Penang House of Music on Level Four of the KOMTAR Podium in Penang, Areca Books in Acheen Street (Lebuh Aceh), Gerak Budaya in Pitt Street (Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling) or by mail order.