W. H. Savigny

Rev. William Henry Savigny MA (May 1825 – 5 August 1889) was an Australian academic, born in England. His elder son, also named William Henry Savigny (17 February 1864 – 6 August 1922) was a longtime master at Sydney Grammar School.

History

Savigny was born in Upton, Worcestershire, the only son of William Henry Savigny (1792–1828), a Church of England vicar, and his wife Mary Anne Savigny, nḗe Cooksey (1800–1872). He graduated BA from Worcester College, Oxford, and for a while taught in England, then in India. At some stage he was Vice-principal of the Collegiate School, Sheffield.

In 1853[1] Savigny and his mother arrived in New South Wales, where in December 1853 he founded a grammar school in Newcastle,[2] also serving, without payment, as minister of Christ Church Cathedral to early 1855.[3]

He moved his school to "Tempe",[4] a mansion on Cooks River Road, Cooks River, which commenced on On 24 July 1855. In 1857–8 he helped the Misses Cooksey[a] establish a school for girls in "Carthona", the historic home of Sir Thomas Mitchell.[7] He was succeeded at Cook's River in 1862 by Rev. William Scott,[8] previously Government Astronomer.

"Bay View House", his residence nearby, became a private lunatic asylum.[9]

He served as Warden at St Paul's (theological) College, and was in 1865 succeeded by Rev. Scott.

He founded a Collegiate School in Bathurst, New South Wales which commenced on 20 July 1865.[10] In 1872 he left for Launceston, Tasmania, where he succeeded the Rev. W. A. Brooke as head of the Church Grammar School.

This left Bathurst without a secondary school, and Bishop Marsden, among others, founded what became All Saints' College, which opened late in 1873 (St Stanislaus' College was founded by the Roman Catholic church in September of that year).[11]

He retired in 1885 and died at his home, "Carthona", 37 Lyttleton Street, Launceston.

Family

He married Ellen Solly (died 7 March 1893)[12] at All Saints' District Church, Hunters Hill on 15 December 1859.[13][b]

His mother, Mary Anne Savigny, died in Hobart on 22 May 1872.[19]

Recognition

One of the houses of Launceston Church Grammar School is named "Savigny"

Further reading

Watson A. Steel and C. W. Sloman The History of All Saints' College Bathurst, 1873-1934

Notes and references

  1. ^ Catherine Cooksey (died 14 January 1885)[5] and Sarah Cooksey (died in Launceston 27 February 1886)[6] were aunts of the Rev. W. H. Savigny, sisters of his mother.
  2. ^ The Launceston Cricket Club was forced to forfeit the match against Tamar that week owing to the unavailability of the Savigny brothers.[14]
  1. ^ Victorian Immigration Records for Unassisted Passengers
  2. ^ "Classified Advertising". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser. Vol. XI, no. 982. New South Wales, Australia. 3 December 1853. p. 1. Retrieved 4 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Advertising". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. XXXVI, no. 5584. New South Wales, Australia. 12 May 1855. p. 2. Retrieved 2 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Advertising". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. LII, no. 8473. New South Wales, Australia. 19 July 1865. p. 8. Retrieved 4 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 14, 606. New South Wales, Australia. 17 January 1885. p. 1. Retrieved 4 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 14, 958. New South Wales, Australia. 4 March 1886. p. 1. Retrieved 4 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "Advertising". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. XXXIX, no. 6109. New South Wales, Australia. 4 January 1858. p. 2. Retrieved 4 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "Advertising". Empire. No. 3, 307. New South Wales, Australia. 13 May 1862. p. 1. Retrieved 4 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "Private Lunatic Asylum". The Sydney Mail. Vol. IX, no. 438. New South Wales, Australia. 21 November 1868. p. 6. Retrieved 2 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "Advertising". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. LI, no. 8404. New South Wales, Australia. 29 April 1865. p. 1. Retrieved 4 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "A School History". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. No. 18, 532. New South Wales, Australia. 6 March 1936. p. 13. Retrieved 2 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "Family Notices". The Tasmanian. Vol. XXII, no. 11. Tasmania, Australia. 18 March 1893. p. 46. Retrieved 3 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. Vol. XL, no. 6717. New South Wales, Australia. 17 December 1859. p. 1. Retrieved 2 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ "[By Electric Telegraph]". The Mercury (Hobart). Vol. LXI, no. 7, 191. Tasmania, Australia. 13 March 1893. p. 2. Retrieved 3 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ^ "Former Tasmanian Senator". The Examiner (Tasmania). Vol. CIV, no. 12. Tasmania, Australia. 24 March 1945. p. 4. Retrieved 3 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. ^ "Obituary". The Daily Telegraph (Launceston). Vol. IX, no. 186. Tasmania, Australia. 6 August 1889. p. 3. Retrieved 3 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ "Found Dead". The World (Hobart). Vol. VII, no. 708. Tasmania, Australia. 13 February 1923. p. 7. Retrieved 4 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ^ "Family Notices". Launceston Examiner. Vol. LI, no. 100. Tasmania, Australia. 28 April 1891. p. 1. Retrieved 3 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ "Family Notices". Launceston Examiner. Vol. XXXII, no. 63. Tasmania, Australia. 25 May 1872. p. 2. Retrieved 3 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.