BEVAN-BROWN, CHARLES EDMUND (1854-1926) was born at Camelford, North Cornwall, the son of the Rev. William R. Brown, a Methodist minister. He began his education at the Grammar School, Louth (which Tennyson once attended). Later he moved to the Bristol Grammar School, where he remained till 1874. In 1873 he won an Oxford leaving scholarship and in 1874 an open scholarship at Lincoln College, where he went into residence. Among his contemporaries were H. H. Asquith, Herbert Gladstone, George Curzon, and Oscar Wilde. His education continued along classical lines and in 1878 he gained a second class in literae humaniores. During his term at Oxford he came under the influence of Jowett, Ruskin and Matthew Arnold. His faith in religion was almost shattered by the teachings of Arnold but later, on broader and more secure foundations, grew strong and remained with him till the end of his life. His first appointment in 1879 was as a master at Manchester Grammar School, where he had as colleagues C.F. Bourne (q.v.), afterwards headmaster of Christ's College, Christchurch, and John Harkness (q.v.), some years rector of Waitaki High School.

In 1883 after having been summoned with 20 others to an interview with Professors Jowett and Sedgwick, Mr. Wilson (head of Clifton) and Sir Walter Kennaway, he was appointed to the headmastership of the Boys' High School, Christchurch. In Jan 1884 he married Annie Allen, daughter of Augustus Cridland (Exeter), and sailed for New Zealand. The school had been opened in 1881, the headmaster being Thomas Miller, who had endeared himself to pupils and parents but had resigned after a disagreement with the board. Much resentment was felt and many boys removed to other schools, until in 1886 the number had fallen as low as seventy. The new headmaster's reputation as a teacher and organiser grew rapidly, by the nineties the school was again flourishing and it became the largest secondary school in New Zealand. Its growth continued until in 1920 the roll had reached 448, the maximum set by the board of governors. In 1899, such was his reputation as a scholar and teacher that Bevan-Brown was offered the post of inspector-general of schools, which he declined. His object in teaching was the building of character and he did not measure the success of a school solely by examination results. In building character he attached supreme importance to religion and religious observance. The school day opened with prayers and in addition he established classes for religious instruction which were held in the morning prior to the general assembly. He himself instructed the senior classes, but he enlisted the services of local clergymen to take other classes. He was a great imperialist and imbued his pupils with a true sense of patriotism and a real love of the mother country and the Empire. The principles which he laid down and the force of his personality made him a great figure in the life of the school. During the war he wrote to each of the 800 old boys who served with the colours. Bevan-Brown died on 14 Jun 1926.

W.sw.; Christchurch B.H.S. Magazine, Dec 1926 (p); Lyttelton Times and The Press, 15 Jun 1926.

Reference: Volume 1, page 50

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