THE PETERITE Vol. LIV
MAY, 1962
No. 360
OBITUARY S. M. TOYNE An Appreciation by Gerald Pawle Although it is now more than a quarter of a century since he gave up the Head Mastership of St. Peter's the death of Stanley Mease Toyne"Sam" Toyne, as he was universally known to generations of Peteriteswill have greatly saddened thousands of Old Boys and friends of the School to which he devoted the major part of his life. As a boy of strong character, personality, and all-round ability he made such a mark at Haileybury that he was persuaded to return to his old school as a member of the staff in 1906. He remained there until he became Head Master of St. Peter's in 1913. For the next twenty-three years, until his retirement, St. Peter's was the focal point of his existence. To my knowledge he could have moved on to other fields which offered at that time a wider fame and distinction but St. Peter's held his whole affection and interest till the end. There are many better qualified to write of his ability as a teacher and administrator. Here I would like to pay tribute to his humanity, his extraordinary insight into the minds of boys, his encouragement of their ambitions, and his sympathy and understanding in adversity. He would scourge the slacker, and since he suffered fools a trifle impatiently he had a tendency at times to address them—as well as the slackers—in tones of sharp but often humorous disdain which acted as a far greater spur to renewed effort than any punishment. He was quick to recognise the genuine, if uninspired, trier but perhaps his outstanding quality was his ability to develop the mind of the average boy, to broaden his outlook, and make him realise that the world was a place in which the keen allrounder, in the best sense of the word, was doubly equipped to fight the battle. Sam Toyne's own versatility was so remarkable that contemporaries were apt to credit some of his talents at less than their true worth. He was a distinguished historian who taught his subject brilliantly, making diplomacy, politics and economics spring vividly to life by his use of modern metaphor; but some may recall him more readily as the captain of the first British squash rackets team to visit America, a tour for which the Governors gave him a term's leave of absence in 1925. He published studies of Albrecht von Wallenstein and the Scandinavians in History, books about Brunel and the island of Sark, at least one novel, as well as countless articles in historical journals—he was Chairman of the Historical Association Council from 1946-49—but the new boy coming to St. Peter's was more likely to be impressed by the knowledge that the Head Master had played cricket for Hampshire, hockey for Yorkshire, and once been a finalist in the Amateur Rackets Championship. History also records
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