David Briggs (headmaster)

John Davidson Briggs (7 November 1917 – 16 March 2020), known as David Briggs, was an English educator and headmaster of King's College School, Cambridge.[1]

For other people named David Briggs, see David Briggs (disambiguation).

David Briggs
David Briggs at 100
Born
John Davidson Briggs

7 November 1917
Norwich, England, UK
Died16 March 2020(2020-03-16) (aged 102)
EducationMarlborough College, Kings College Cambridge
OccupationEducator, headmaster
Known forChoral scholar
Spouse(s)Catherine Mary Lormer (married 1940)
Children4 including Andrew Briggs and Anne Atkins
Parent(s)George Wallace Briggs, Constance Barrow

Life

Early life and education

Briggs was born on 7 November 1917 in Norwich, England, son of Canon George Wallace Briggs and Constance Barrow. One of his godfathers was the Archbishop of Canterbury Randall Davidson. He sang in the Choir of King's College, Cambridge both as a chorister, from 1927 to 1931, and as a choral scholar, from 1936 to 1939.[2] He attended Marlborough College as a Foundation scholar, and then studied classics and history at King's College, Cambridge, where he held simultaneously an academic exhibition and a choral scholarship.

He sang in the first broadcast Christmas Eve carol service from King’s College Chapel in 1928, and continued to sing in a church choir throughout his life. He was interviewed by Mishal Husain in A Celebration of Christmas Carols broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on 25 December 2013, making his broadcasting career span 85 years. He was again interviewed on the BBC Today programme on 24 December 2015 in which Briggs, aged 98, believed he was the last survivor of the 1928 choir.[3]

Marriage and family

In 1940, he married Catherine Mary Lormer,<[4] an Australian mathematics teacher whose students would include Sir Andrew Wiles, who later proved Fermat’s Last Theorem, and Sir Timothy Gowers, Rouse Ball Professor at Cambridge. The children of David and Mary Briggs are Johnny, who farms in Wales, Andrew, Professor of Nanomaterials at Oxford, Catherine, a teacher of the visually impaired, and Anne Atkins, writer and broadcaster.

Wartime

During World War II, as a conscientious objector Briggs was drafted into the Pay Corps, a job which he disliked intensely so his father, who was then Vice-Dean of Worcester Cathedral, negotiated him a transfer into the Medical Corps. However, it became a requirement that members of the Medical Corps had to bear arms, an order which he refused to obey on the grounds that he would not bear arms that he would not use, and faced the possibility of court-martial. The threat was withdrawn after the order was found to be against the Geneva Convention, and for the rest of the war he continued as a corporal, being ineligible for promotion or decoration as a conscientious objector. He took part in the Normandy landings and help set up a field hospital, 102 British General Hospital [5] near Bayeux, where he formed a choir of about 25 doctors and nurses which subsequently performed in different parts of Normandy.

In early June 2014, Briggs recounted his experiences from this time in a radio interview given in a brief BBC D-Day anniversary presentation.[6] While in the Medical Corps he formed and conducted an a cappella choir.

Career

From 1946, he taught classics at Bryanston School Dorset.[4] With his wife’s mathematical help in the planning and the boys' labour, he built the Greek Theatre at Bryanston which led to the highly reputed Greek summer school which is now held there every year.[7]

In 1959, following a short hiatus, Briggs succeeded Donald George Butters[8] as Headmaster of King's College School, Cambridge, a position he held until his retirement in 1977.[9] During his tenure he turned the school co-educational. The school's Briggs Building, created to house science, languages and maths classrooms and a library, is named after him.[10]

Friendships

After returning to Cambridge he became a close friend of conductor, organist and composer Sir David Willcocks,[11] and of church historian The Revd Professor Owen Chadwick.

Death

He died on 16 March 2020, aged 102.[12][13] The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions prevented anyone from attending his funeral and his grandson Ben Atkins compiled a virtual choir and chamber group in which family members, friends, and former choristers performed a song written by his daughter Anne Atkins.[14]

References
  1. Atkins, Anne. "Carolling: a tradition that binds the generations". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  2. "King's College Choir Association Archive Photos - 1927, 1930, 1937 & 1939". Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  3. BBC Today programme 24 December 2015. "98-year-old former King's College carol chorister". iPlayer. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  4. "Former staff at Bryanston" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  5. 102 British General Hospital
  6. BBC News - Beds, Bucks, Herts. 6 June 2017
  7. "Drama at Bryanston School". Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Web accessible article on the school's history by Anne Page, B. mus (b 1920)
  9. "King's College Choir Association Archive Photos - 1960, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1971, 1973 & 1976". Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  10. "Duchess opens new building fit for King's". Cambridge News. Cambridge Newspapers Ltd. 5 May 2004. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2016. The new building is named after David Briggs, who attended the school as a chorister...The new building houses science, languages and maths classrooms and a new library...
  11. "King's College Choir Association Archive Photos - 1962, 1964, 1965, 1968 & 1973". Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  12. "Broadcaster Anne Atkins reveals father's death in 'moving' Thought for the Day". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  13. Atkins, Anne. "Thought for the Day". iPlayer. BBC. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  14. Anthem for Mary and David
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