Joint Headmaster of Sherborne Preparatory School, 1923-1929.
Aubrey William Hooper was born on 27 November 1889 at Blackheath Hill in Greenwich, London, the second of five children born to the Revd. Samuel Fry Hooper MA (1855-1949) and Maude (née Marsland) (1863-1940). The Revd. S.F. Hooper served as Vicar of Holy Trinity at Blackheath Hill in Greenwich from 1887 until 1898 when he was appointed Rector of Lydlinch in Dorset, which he held until 1925, during which time the family lived at Lydlinch Rectory near Sturminster Newton. The Revd. Hooper also served from 1898 to 1905 as Rector of Stock Gaylard in Dorset.
Aubrey’s four siblings were:
- Douglas Stanley Hooper MC (1888-1955). Douglas joined Sherborne School (School House) from Sherborne Preparatory School in January 1902 and left in July 1906 to study at Reading Agricultural College in Berkshire. During the First World War Douglas served as a Captain in the Dorsetshire Regiment (3rd Reserve Bn.) and the Tank Corps. He was severely wound in July 1916 at Thiepval, and was mentioned in despatches and awarded the MC. During the Second World War he served as a Major in the Home Guard. Douglas became Director of the Cow & Gate Company at Guildford in Surrey.
- Samuel Gordon Hooper (1891-1979). Samuel joined Sherborne School (School House) from Sherborne Preparatory School in May 1905 and left in July 1909 to study at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1914 and served as Domestic Chaplain to the Bishop of Southwark (1920-26), Hon. Chaplain (1926-32), Vicar of Christchurch (1926-32), Vicar of St John’s Redhill (1932-36), Vicar of Milford-on-Sea (1936-49), Rural Dean of Lyndhust (1938-40), and Rector of Penshurst in Kent. During the Second World War he served as a Sergeant in the Special Constabulary.
- Leonard John (Jack) Hooper (1894-1916). Jack joined Sherborne School (School House) from Sherborne Preparatory School in September 1908 and left in July 1913. During his time at Sherborne School he was a member of the 1st XV rugby team (1911 & 1912) and features as ‘Armour’ in Alec Waugh’s semi-autobiographical novel, The Loom of Youth (1917). When the First World War broke out Jack was studying at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He joined the Dorsetshire Regiment (7th Bn., attached 5th Bn.), serving as a 2nd Lieutenant at the evacuation of Suvla Bay in Gallipoli and afterwards in Egypt. He was killed in action on 26 September 1916 near Mouquet Farm on the Somme, just twelve days before his 22nd birthday. He was buried at Pozieres British Cemetery and is remembered on memorials at Emmanuel College Cambridge, Lydlinch church in Dorset, Sherborne Prep School and Sherborne School.
- Doris Maud Hooper (1898-1995). Doris attended a school in Sherborne from 1910. When her parents left Lydlinch in 1925 Doris moved with them to 38, Greenhill in Weymouth where, during the Second World War, she worked as an upholsterer. Towards the end of her life Doris moved to the Brendoncare Nursing Home in Winchester, Hampshire, where she died on 10 October 1995.
From Lent term 1900 until July 1903 Aubrey Hooper attended Sherborne Preparatory School. In September 1903 he joined his brother Douglas at Sherborne School, boarding at School House. During his time at Sherborne School, Aubrey played rugby for his house and on 15 March 1908 was awarded his house colours – a black felt cap with magenta piping and tassel, sold by N. Lemon and Sons of Sherborne. In May 1905, his younger brother Samuel joined School House and on 7 March 1908 both Samuel and Aubrey played for School House in the winning Two Cock team.
Aubrey left Sherborne School in July 1908 and went up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. From 1913 until 1915 he taught at Cargilfield Prep School. In August 1916 he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the Special Reserve, Forth Royal Garrison Artillery, 152nd Siege Battery, with whom he served in France. In 1917 he was awarded the Military Cross (MC) (Gazette date 26 September 1917), the citation read: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. Whilst moving to a forward position he got his men to safety with only a few casualties under intense shell fire, during which he displayed the greatest coolness, and personally attended to the wounded in his vicinity. He then returned to his battery, got the guns into action, and successfully constructed emplacements in spite of continuous and heavy hostile shelling. His courage and absolute disregard of danger very greatly inspired his men.’
In 1919, the Knutsford Ordination Test School (also known as the Ordination School) was opened at Knutsford in Cheshire. From 1919 until 1923, Aubrey was employed at the school as secretary and tutor. The school was the vision of the Revd. P.B. ‘Tubby’ Clayton, the founder of the Toc H movement of the Church of England, who wanted to provide educational opportunities for men leaving the armed forces so that they could obtain the qualifications required to go to university and study for ordination. The school was first located in the disused Knutsford Goal and from 1922 until 1927 it was based at ‘Kilrie’, a house in Knutsford. In 1927 it moved to the Old Rectory at Hawarden and closed in 1940.
On 29 August 1923, Aubrey was married at Christ Church, Chelsea to Mary Georgiana Cross (1901-1973), daughter of the Hon. John Edward Cross (1858-1921) and Sophy Katherine Mary (née Sandbach) (1865-1946). They had four children:
- Margaret J. Hooper (1925-2018).
- Christopher J.C. Hooper (b.1927). Headmaster of St Neots Preparatory School, 1955-1989.
- Michael William Hooper (1930-1987).
- Simon Brian David Hooper (1933-2017).
In July 1923, Littleton Charles Powys (1874-1955) was forced, on the advice of his doctor, to give up the headmastership of Sherborne Preparatory School which he sold for £6,000 to Aubrey Hooper and Frederick Richard Lindsay (1887-1972). Aubrey and F.R. Lindsay ran Sherborne Prep as joint headmasters until the end of Lent term 1929 when, having apparently fallen out with each other, Aubrey purchased St Neots Preparatory School at Eversley in Hampshire from Arthur Delmé-Radcliffe (headmaster 1904-1929). Aubrey’s son Christopher Hooper took over as headmaster of St Neots in 1955 until he retired in 1989.
When Aubrey and F.R. Lindsay reopened Sherborne Prep in Michaelmas term 1923 there were 67 pupils on the school roll. The following year Aubrey and F.R. Lindsay purchased for £60 the bay window which had been built in 1839 by Revd. Ralph Lyon onto the east end of Sherborne Abbey, which from 1560 to 1860 was home to the headmasters of Sherborne School. The window was removed from Sherborne Abbey when the Lady Chapel was built and incorporated in 1925 into the new buildings to the east of Acreman House at Sherborne Prep. In 1974 a plaque was unveiled on the bay window by Sherborne School’s headmaster Robin Macnaghten, which reads: ‘THIS BAY WINDOW, WHICH WAS ADDED TO THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE IN 1839 BY THE REVEREND RALPH LYON, THEN HEADMASTER OF SHERBORNE SCHOOL, WAS REMOVED THENCE WHEN THE PRESENT LADY CHAPEL WAS BUILT, AND INCORPORATED INTO THE NEW BUILDING IN 1925 BY THE REVEREND AUBREY HOOPER AND FRED. R. LINDSAY.’
On Trinity Sunday 1925, Aubrey was ordained by the Bishop of Salisbury. He served as hon. curate of Sherborne and played the organ for the Abbey Men’s Bible Class and was largely responsible for the inauguration of a Toc H Group in Sherborne.
On 25 October 1927 the 4th Sherborne Troop was registered at Sherborne Prep with 25 Scouts, and the following year Mary Hooper was registered with the Scout Association as cubmaster of the 4th Sherborne Prep Troop, with 16 Wolf Cubs. Mary Hooper not only looked after the domestic arrangements at the Prep School, but was also involved with folk dancing and the Girl Guide movement, being a District Captain and also in charge of the Rangers.
On leaving Sherborne in March 1929, Aubrey and Mary Hooper were presented by the boys at Sherborne Prep with a dining room clock and by the members of the Abbey Men’s Bible Class with two framed prints of Sherborne, one of the Conduit and the other the south side of the Lady Chapel.
Aubrey and Mary’s Hooper’s connection with Sherborne Prep, however, did not end when they left the town. In 1938, Mary’s sister Elizabeth Sophy Cross (1896-1963) married William Ernest Powys (1888-1978), a younger brother of Littleton Charles Powys, who had attended Sherborne Prep under headmaster William Heitland Blake and was later a pupil at Sherborne School.
Aubrey was headmaster of St Neots Preparatory School at Eversley in Hampshire from 1929 until 1955, when he was succeeded by his son Christopher. From 1956 until 1963 Aubrey served as Vicar of Ebbesbourne Wake in Wiltshire, and in 1963 he retired and moved with Mary to Hazelbury Bryan in Dorset. After Mary’s death in 1973 Aubrey lived with his son Simon at Yateley in Hampshire.
Aubrey William Hooper died on 9 December 1987 at St Christopher’s Care Home, Ascot Priory, Berkshire, and was buried beside his wife in the churchyard at Lydlinch church in Dorset.
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