Sep
9
By Ted Ross
Then
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| Image Courtesy City of Victoria Archives M09368 |
Roy Pendray sat at his desk in the grade three classroom one afternoon in December, 1898, deep in thought. First he thought about the school which he attended. Kingston Street School had been built to provide education for the youngsters of James Bay which was being settled as one of the more desirable sections of Victoria in the 1880s. Originally called James Bay Ward School, it had opened in January 1884. It was now in its eighteenth year.
Located on the north-west corner of Kingston and Oswego Streets, the school had seven classrooms. Pupils attended grades one to three and then went on to South Park School for grades four to seven. From there they went to Central School for their secondary schoolwork if they passed the entrance exams.
James K. Nesbitt in The Daily Colonist, May 19, 1955, recalls, "James Bay School had a high standing in the old days, and its scholars took many prizes. The Colonist said of the December 1889 closing: '...The banner ward school - James Bay - has now attained an enrollment of 118...while the standard, high in the past...has been elevated still further, the entire class of 10 sent to write the examinations for the Central school, passing with flying colors.'"
For the Pendray lad, Kingston Street School had been his place of education from the start. Now at age eight, he was in his last year at Kingston Street. Roy's family owned the Pendray Soap Works and, for the last year, British American Paint Company, both located on Humboldt Street on the north shore of James Bay water. His father, William, had a mansion constructed near the west end of Belleville Street in James Bay.
While the house was being built, William and Amelia and family lived on the property in a cabin. They were there by 1895, which meant Roy, the youngest child, born in 1890, began his schooling at Kingston Street School in September 1896. The Pendrays moved into their beautiful seaside home in 1897, but Roy was already making the short walk to school every school day from the cabin.
It was December. Roy was also thinking about his part in the pageant the school would present for Christmas. As a Grade Three student, Roy had a leading role in the production. While he sat now, he ran over memorized lines in his head.
It was cold outside with snow on the ground. A large air-tight heater, fired with pieces of firewood from a wood box alongside, heated the classroom this chilly day.
Along the side wall, where the heater stood, blackboards carried lessons for the children. Where that wall met the front wall, there was the door to the hallway. To the left of the door, along the front wall, were more blackboards, with teacher's desk at their midpoint.
The far side wall was windowed, the schoolyard visible through the glass. A picture of King Edward VII graced the front wall's centre. Schoolwork displays covered most of the remaining wall area. A cloakroom off the back of the room held the pupils’ coats and hats and boots while they worked.
The pupils each occupied a desk. There were rows of desks, each row attached to two wooden rails. These held them spaced apart correctly. Children stored their work in that desk, and, as Roy knew, they were expected to keep it tidy. Teacher even had little classroom competitions to promote orderliness, and Roy had taken the prize several weeks. Each desk had a slate board on which pupils could write their lessons with a piece of chalk.
The pupils were near the end of their day, just finishing their written lesson before the school day's conclusion. Roy had his assignments done and spent time tidying his school desk, lining his slate up perfectly on his workspace. Others were writing on their slates, completing the work. A couple was taking in the snowy scene out the side windows. Teacher was writing in a record book at her desk.
She got up, stepped into the hallway, and rang a hand-bell, calling an end to the school day for all classes in the building. Roy and his schoolmates stood by their desks at the sound. Teacher came back into the classroom and dismissed the rows of students one by one. Once dismissed, the students put their books into their desks, picked up homework materials, and went into the cloakroom to dress for their walk home. Roy said good-bye to his friends and walked down Oswego to where his home was near the water.
He passed through the yard to the house, looking at his father's handiwork on the grounds, the shapes of different animals and other objects, created by carefully pruning shrubbery, the art of topiary. Roy looked at the shapes, now covered with the December snow which had hit Victoria. He went on into the warm house where his mother was waiting with a cup of hot cocoa on this cold day. Except for his homework, Roy's school day was done.
In late spring 1903, at South Park School, Roy took entrance exams for Central School, hoping to be accepted for secondary classes. He was, finishing at the top of the group applying that year. He went on to graduate from Central in 1907. Roy wound up managing Bapco Paints in Calgary for many years, until pneumonia took him in his early forties. This fellow had begun his education at Kingston Street School in James Bay.
Roy was not the first Pendray son to attend Kingston Street School. In the Daily Colonist, May 19, 1955, James K. Nesbitt wrote, "...on closing day 1889 top scholars then were: Rolls of honour...(various names listed) ...deportment; ...Herbert Jeffree Pendray...." Herbert was the third Pendray son, Roy's older brother, and was a pupil in the school. An award for being well-mannered for the young fellow is no surprise. He was a Pendray, son of a strong Methodist family.
In June, 1889, Herbert would have just finished Grade One. He must have walked to school from the Pendray home at Gordon and Courtney, across the James Bay Bridge, smelling the odours of the Pendray Soap Works which dumped its refuse into James Bay water. We can picture his mother, Amelia, walking him over for the first few days of school, and then sending him on his own. It was a different time.*
Herbert became vice-president of Bapco paints. Pendray Hall in the Metropolitan United Church was built with his bequest following his passing in 1956.
Next month we'll conclude the story of Kingston Street School and its term and ultimate demise in James Bay. As well we'll look at its replacements on the corner of Oswego and Kingston Streets.
* Paragraphs 1-17 are Creative Non-Fiction, a story with real characters set in a factual backdrop. TR