User:William Macadam/Bertram Hawker

Bertram Robert Hawker (1868-1952) was an Anglican clergyman, educationalist and philanthropist.

Early Life

Bertram Robert Hawker (1868-1952), Anglican clergyman, educationist and philanthropist, was born on 29 March 1868 at Llandudno, Carnarvonshire, Wales, youngest of sixteen children of George Charles Hawker and his wife Bessie, née Seymour, from Ireland. He was educated at Glenalmond School, Perthshire, Scotland and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Afterwards he worked with the poor in the East End of London. He was honorary chaplain to the bishop of Adelaide in 1895. At St Peter's Cathedral, Adelaide, Australia. He was ordained in Britain in 1900. For the next four years he was vicar at Isel, Cumberland.

His father

Bertram Hawker (1868-1952) was the son of George Hawker who was born in England but went out to Australia. George Hawker was involved in the very lucrative sheep stations there. He had leased 500,000 acres at Bungaree in 1848 and later also bought 130,000 acres there from the government. His Bungaree sheep station became famous for its hardy and large framed sheep. George Hawker had served as Speaker and as a cabinet Minister in various South Australian colonial administrations once it had been granted self-governing status in 1856. At Bungaree he planted a fine garden and was prominent in the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society, as well as active in racing and cricket. In 1895, on his death, he left an impressive estate of £305,800 and paintings and statuary to the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Lifelong interest in education

Kindergarten Union of South Africa

Hawker had a life long interest in education. In 1905 he had founded the Kindergarten Union of South Australia to educate the children of the poor. Its first kindergarten, for children aged 3 to 6, was opened in Adelaide in 1906 and was followed by others, all free and privately funded. Independent from the state education system, the kindergartens were able to be flexible and innovative.

Montesssori Educational System

Bertram Hawker had travelled to Rome in 1911 and called at Dr. Maria Montessori's Casa dei Bambini. Impressed with what he saw, he returned to Runton and set up the first Montessori school outside Italy in East Runton in 1912. It was in what is now Hall Cottage’s sitting room. Madam Montessori taught the village children and instructed teachers on her methods there (then a former grain store).

From July 25 to July 28, 1914, a few days before the outbreak of the Great War on August 4, 1914, the first Montessori conference, on Hawker’s initiative, was held in Runton Old Hall great barn and from that event the Montessori school system spread around the world. At the Montessori Conference of 1914 the classes there were used to show the Montessori methods to the delegates. The first permanent teacher was Miss Lidbetter, who was succeeded by Miss Catherine Dunsford. From those humble beginnings the Montessori school movement spread around the world.

Save the Children Fund

After World War I Hawker performed voluntary work in Vienna for the Save the Children Fund. Save the Children had been co-founded by his sister-in-law Dorothy Buxton and her sister Eglantyne Jebb at a meeting at London’s Royal Albert Hall in May 1919 in order to “provide relief to children suffering the effects of war”. Dorothy had married Connie Hawker’s brother Charles Roden Buxton, a Liberal and later Labour MP, and Dorothy got her family members involved in the charity’s work.

Gordonstoun School

Bertram Hawker also helped Kurt Hahn to establish Gordonstoun School in 1934 in Moray, Scotland (where the Duke of Edinburgh and his son King Charles III went too school).

Personal Life

Bertram Hawker married Connie Buxton,in 1896 daughter of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton (1837-1915), the third baronet, who had been an MP and later Governor of South Australia, where they met. (The first baronet Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton was responsible for the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.)

The Hawkers moved in to Runton Old Hall in 1908 and undertook major remodeling work. The house was still owned by the Buxtons through Connie Hawker’s father, who had told them that they were free to do whatever they wanted with it and live there for as long as they wanted but he and then Connie’s brother the 4th baronet retained ownership as they were probably reluctant to break up the estate by selling the house. The Hawkers engaged the leading Arts and Crafts architect Mackay Hugh Baillie-Scott (1865-1945) and brought in Gertrude Jekyll (1843 – 1932) to design the planting schemes while Baillie Scott also did the architectural work for the garden.

He continued visiting South Australia until 1938, usually staying at his family’s Bungaree sheep station where they affectionately called him 'Uncle Bolshie'. A gentle, sensitive man with a sense of fun, he disliked publicity and never accepted a salary, financial reward or recognition for his work. He liked cooking, gardening and riding.

External links

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