A.O.S.A. 2003 ANNUAL REPORT

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Every once in a while a dynasty developed at Ayton with many members of the same family attending over successive generations. Our new Chairman, Diz Dexter (1960-65) belongs to one such family, the Douglasses, who can trace their Ayton line back to two brothers, Michael and Henry born about the time our school was founded. (The dates quoted below refer to the time each family member was a pupil at the school.)

Michael had four children, a son and three daughters, all of whom attended the school – Mary Jane later Watson (1866-68) Hannah Rachel later Thompson (1873-74), Elizabeth Ann later Elliott (1874-75) and John Thomas Douglass (1875-76). Henry’s son Thomas (1879-81) was at Ayton on the night of the 1881 census; it is possible that another son, George, might have been our pupil entrant No 475 – (1873-75).

John Thomas Douglass was our 16th Association President, 1905-06, he married Eleanor Robson, they had five children all of whom attended the school. Their first child was Theodore (1897-99). Arthur (1901-06), their second, had his first teaching post at Ayton in 1910,he became our Association President in 1929-30, like his father before him. Arthur’s nephew, John, (of whom more later) recalls his uncle arriving at school from York for the ceremony (Arthur was then a teacher at Bootham) on a motorbike which he had learned to ride in ‘20 minutes flat.’ Arthur became the Headmaster of the Friends’ School in Wanganui, New Zealand when it opened in about 1930, a post he held until his retirement. Alfred Robson (1904-07) was the third son of John Thomas and Eleanor, he died during the First World War. Thomas Michael (1907-09) the couple’s fourth son was the grandfather of Diz Dexter, while their daughter Eleanor aka ‘Nellie’ or ‘Lal’, later Gatty (1911-14), was the mother of Joan Douglass Gatty now Jacobs (1944-49).

Theodore Douglas sent three of his four children to Ayton, John ‘Punch’ – mentioned above, (1923-28), Judith – hence the ‘Punch,’ now Bamberger (1923-29) and Arthur (1928-31). All three were talented at sport, with John and Arthur representing the school at football, in the seasons 1927-28 (John) and Arthur 1930-31, both of them playing in goal! We have photos of these two teams among our memorabilia with the 1927-28 photo (appearing on Page 27 of the printed Annual Report). Judith played in the school Hockey team, for which she won her school colours, she was in addition a good athlete.

Mary Jane’s (1866-68) granddaughter, Jenny Watson was at Ayton from (1931-36), she married a local GP Valentine Crowley and their two sons, Douglass (1956-61) and John (1958-64) bring the number of Douglass Family members attending Ayton School over a period of almost one hundred years, to nineteen!

As a PS Diz believes that Jennifer Robson now Wright – (1947-55) and her siblings, Rosemary – now Newton (1955-61) who was a ‘top’ dormitory prefect when Diz arrived at Ayton in 1960, and John (1959-62) are possibly also connected to the family through the marriage of John Thomas Douglass to Eleanor Robson.

I am very grateful to Diz Dexter, John Douglass and Margaret Cumbor who supplied me with all of the above information and to Margaret Crumpton, niece of John and daughter of his brother Arthur, who researched the family details.

Gill Jackson (Hinds) 1950-55

(There is a page of Ayton Team photos featuring members of the Douglass family)

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