AROUND THE SCHOOL
A look back in
There are so many fascinating stories in
the rich tapestry that is the history of
our School. The story below tells how 45
Terrace Road, the home of the Chaplain,
came to be owned by the School.
time
Robert Calder Crowther was born in 1891
and attended the School from 1898-1908
as a dayboy. While attending the School he
won seventeen academic prizes and was a
member of the 1st XI Cricket 1907-1908
and 1st XVIII Football 1906-1907 teams.
He lived in Guildford with his mother and
sister on Turton Street. His mother had been
widowed in 1907 and it became a struggle
for her to pay the school fees. She took in
boarders and was helped financially by her
brother-in-law. Robert left the School a year
after his father’s death.
After leaving the School, Robert went to
work at the Midland Railway workshops as a
cadet, undertaking a diploma in Engineering.
He left the workshops after contracting
typhoid and then scarlet fever. Robert then
went to work for the Survey Department, but
his training was interrupted in 1914 when he
left for WW1 with the 10th Light Horse.
He embarked for Gallipoli on February 8,
1915 and after a time in Egypt arrived on
May 15. While in Gallipoli, Robert was
wounded fighting in the trenches and
was invalided out to Malta. He returned
to Australia in 1916. During this time he
suffered influenza, jaundice and shell shock.
Father Philip Raymont outside Calder Crowther House.
On returning to the Middle East in 1917,
Robert joined the 3rd Machine Gun
Regiment. Ill health dogged his service and
he was again invalided back home in 1918.
Robert arrived back on crutches and for the
rest of his life walked with a stick. Eventually
as medical science developed he was found
to have a broken back.
Robert married Edna Harewood on January
25, 1917 in the School Chapel. In 1921
Robert, his wife and four children moved
into number 45 Terrace Road. The house
was built on two blocks of land and fronted
Terrace Road, with Station Street at the rear.
The fig tree planted in the back yard by the
Calder family still remains today.
After becoming a qualified accountant,
Robert served as a member of the Council for
Church of England Schools from 1929-1938
and later as treasurer on the School Council
from 1950 until his death in 1961. He was
also an Honorary Life member of the Old
Guildfordians Association.
Robert’s interests were gardening, reading
and acting at the local Garrick Club in
Guildford