The Times/1914/Letter to the Editor/Horace Courtenay Gammell Forbes

by Edward Gordon Selwyn

THE LATE LORD FORBES

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES

Sir.—Some of your readers who knew the late Lord Forbes may be interested in reading the following tribute which was paid to him by Dr. William Sewell, the rounder of Radley. Sewell was himself Warden of Radley for eight years (1853–1861), and for six of those the Master of Forbes (as he then was) was one of his colleagues. The words are quoted from a speech (covering 155 pages of print!) which was delivered at an Old Radleian dinner in 1872. He alludes to Lord Forbes as—

" … A man who, more than any other, stamped upon Radley by his acts the great idea which it was intended to realize—the idea of the dignity, the sacredness, the nobility of the work of Christian education. I doubt if he himself was conscious of the inestimable value of his mere presence in our family, or of the strength, the comfort, the aid which he gave to me in all my troubles. On no man's judgment, taste and elevation of mind could I rely with so much confidence as I relied upon Lord Forbes. You were the sons of gentlemen, born many of you to rank and station; and such boys will never be educated well till they are educated by men themselves of rank and station I am sure you felt it—I am sure that the very presence of Lord Forbes among us, his voluntary devotion to his work, his quiet zeal, his unaffected, unconscious superiority, did you incalculable good You know that I never permitted a word, or thought, or look from anyone disrespectful top the brothers who worked with me. How well I remember one day a fine and fastidious lady (and O! that fine fastidious ladies could understand the folly and the mischief of their contemptible contemptuousness!)—she was staying with us, and in no respectful mood inquired who the man was that would take charge of her boy, She was a lady of rank from Scotland. And I do not forget her face, when I replied that the man who would take charge of her son was the Master of Forbes."

Yours faithfully,⁠

E. G. SELWYN

Radley College, Berks.