A fine legacy – Runciman Corner

The bequest of ‘Fine Swimming Baths’

In 1927 we received a significant donation from Miss Runciman, who bequeathed £6000 ($200,000 in today’s money) to St Cuthbert’s College with the instruction that one of the first-ever heated swimming pools be built for the students. This generous donation enabled the Runciman Baths to be constructed on the campus.

The NZ Herald described the project as “The construction of the baths on such a pretentious scale has been made possible through the generosity of Miss Runciman and her niece”. The length of the pool, or swimming baths as it was known, was 65ft and the depth ran between 3ft and 9ft. The NZ Herald goes on to describe the baths further, “The baths will be conducted along the system termed by Americans ‘swimming in the drinking water’”. Radical at the time, was a provision for the electrical cleaning of the bottom and sides of the baths.

Miss Runciman was the first ever publicly acknowledged female donor to the College. To ensure her contribution to St Cuthbert’s continues to be recognised, we have recently dedicated a room in the Robertson Building to her memory: The Runciman Corner.