True Home
Arthur Bourne was selected from a list of 31 candidates, nine of them Oxbridge men, to replace Headmaster Notcutt in 1904. This was the second time he had applied for the position of headmaster of Kimberley High School: he had been pipped at the post by Wilkes in 1893, following which disappointment he had nonetheless sailed to South Africa, to join the staff of Dale College in King William's Town.
A fine classical scholar, Bourne was also a good organiser and a strict disciplinarian, and he immediately applied his considerable energy and intelligence to the job. In his first year of tenure he introduced the school colours (chocolate brown and gold in those years), and the compulsory wearing of them (on a cap for the juniors and a hatband for the seniors) three years later. In 1905 the school magazine appeared for the first time, and the following year the cadet corps was revived and two large new classrooms built.
The worldwide depression of 1907 hit Kimberley hard, and it was not until the South African Union was established in 1910 that a new spirit of optimism was felt in the town. Kimberley boomed, and it was decided to build a new school for the boys, on land donated by De Beers. (The girls would also get new premises, moving to the extended premises of the newly established Belgravia Preparatory School in Elsmere Road and merging with that school in 1913.)
And so, in 1914, Kimberley Boys' High School arrived in its true home. By the end of that year, enrolment had climbed from 263 boys to 291; when Bourne left at the end of 1917 it stood at 358. Despite subsequent ups and downs, it has continued its growth over the years, to reach over 700 by 1970, the year in which standards one to five became a separate primary school.
Francis Oats House
The Great War, which broke out months after the boys had taken possession of their new home, took the lives of 50 Old Boys; 13 decorations for bravery were won. Twenty-five years later, more than 500 Old Boys were to serve in the armed forces in the Second World War, and 70 were to lose their lives, a high toll for a school the size of Kimberley Boys' High.
By 1917 Bourne, about to reach the age of 60, felt it was time to make way for a younger man. His replacement was the shrewd Oscar Satchel, born in Carlisle, England, born in 1866. It was during Satchel's tenure that it was decided to address the question of a permanent boarding house, those boys who came from outside Kimberley having hitherto been accommodated in private homes and temporary hostel accommodation.
De Beers once again came up trumps, donating land and money for the erection of the first such establishment. Francis Oats House, named after a chairman of De Beers, opened in 1921 with 38 borders. It was extended in 1926 and again in 1951; it was renovated at the end of the 1980s and has since housed all the Kimberley High School boarders, 100 boys at present.
An important change that took place during Satchel's time was, in 1920, the inauguration of rugby instead of soccer as the main winter game. It flourished, and soon the school was fielding excellent teams.
Great Years
From 1924 to the early '30s were particularly great years. Outstanding players of this time who went on to earn their Springbok caps were Jack Gage (who holds the unique distinction of having played for both South Africa and Ireland), Wally Clarke and Fred Smollan.
Enrolment continued climbing and in 1922 reached 523. In the same year the prefect system was introduced — a surprisingly late development for a school that had had only English-trained headmasters. In 1923, the school magazine was revived and in 1927 the Old Boys' Union was founded. The matric class of 1923 produced the school's first Rhodes Scholar, DW van Jaarsveld.
In 1928 a teacher at the school, Samuel Stoops, replaced Satchel as head, becoming the school's first internal appointment. Although intellectually a match for Satchel, Stoops had a very different personality. An affable, gregarious Irishman, he attracted excellent teaching staff, a feature reflected in the outstanding academic achievements of his tenure. Stoops died in June 1941.
The man who replaced him, Lennard Dugmore, introduced the house system at the school, naming the houses Bishops, Francis Oats and Bourne. (In 1957 these became Bourne, Notcutt, Satchel and Stoops; and, in 1980, Bourne was dropped.)
Dugmore, who retired at the end of 1957, was followed by Alan Barker in 1958, and Herbert Pringle Gordon the following year. At the time of Gordon's appointment, enrolment at the school stood at 657 and was still growing. The problems of overcrowding and the difficulty of attracting really good teachers were to be Gordon's burden, and probably contributed to his taking early retirement, in 1967.
Upgrading the School Buildings
The long-promised primary school at last became a reality, opening in 1970. Kimberley Boys' was now a high school with no primary component. Headmaster Hart left at the end of 1973 and Allan Steytler Powell, the Swellendam-born son of a Kimberley High School Old Boy of the 1920s, took over as head in 1974. Soon after his arrival, an extensive upgrading of the school buildings began.
For almost three years the noise and dust of building work were the price paid by teachers and pupils, but by the end of it the school could boast new laboratories, an art room and an audiovisual room — and a new and larger stage, on which are performed the musicals for which the school has gained a reputation.
Three headmasters have played their roles in bringing the school through the 1990’s with great success, and into line with the most up-to-date educational practices. The first of these, Trevor Webster, saw the school through its centenary celebrations in 1987 before giving way, in 1988, to Hennie van der Mescht, who stayed in the position for three years before he left to take up a lectureship at Rhodes University. In spite of his short tenure, he became well loved, and it was under him that the school adopted a policy of non-racialism.
Van der Mescht was succeeded by Jonathan Lobban, an experienced teacher and ardent cricketer who has played for Border Country Districts and South West Africa. His deep interest in educational trends, and especially multicultural education, allowed for a management style that promised to carry Kimberley Boys' High School up to the crest of the next wave.