Hillside School, Godalming

Tiger Redman

Andrew Harvey tried very hard to uncover Tiger's history prior to arriving at Hillside but, apart from establishing that he was born in Barbados, he was left with a number of unanswered questions:

• was he born to a long time Barbados family?
• was he born to a family spending some time in Barbados - e.g. diplomat?
• did he return to UK with his family or on his own?
• did he ever mention or have contact with family in Barbados or UK?
• did he go to university in the Caribbean or here?
• bearing in mind Nigel Coates went to Cambridge, would RHRW have employed someone with anything other than excellent academic credentials?
• did he come straight from university to Hillside - when did he arrive and how old was he?

Robin Whicker did add a little to the story: He was a proper mathematician, who managed to instil good practice even into me, no natural at the subject, and it was he who introduced the 'New Maths' at Hillside.He was also a friend to me after I had left, especially in the '60s, when with Nigel Coates we would go to pub or cinema. I think he lived to be 80.When he first arrived at Hillside, after the war, we called him 'the lean brown man' after the title of a book we'd been reading - I think that was Nikolai's idea. I know he was born in Barbados, where his mother continued to live.I hope this helps?As ever,Robin He did go on to to Orley Farm School but sadly that institution was subsequently rocked by the scandalous behaviour of the headmaster particulary towards Anthony Horowitz. Anyway Toger certainly was not involved.

He was a very practical man. I seem to remember someone (Simon Hocome?) saying he managed a splendid light display to celebrate VE day using used tin cans as the base for searchlights. I worked with him building the mower shed on the lower field and was awarded a chisel at the end of term for my efforts. I also did carpentry with him in his work shop in the cellar. The tuck box I made still sits in my garage and is robust enough to survive another half dozen Noble offspring. I did arrive back at the beginning of one term to find a grinning Tiger proudly standing next to his new toy - a lathe. After some discussion on my next project we settled on a fishing reel. We both excitedly set to work on a lump of hardwood and soon had a magnifent fishing reel.

One art lesson particularly sticks in my mind. He was explaining about pespective. We all had a piece of paper and marked a spot on each side halway down and then fanned out lines meeting in the middle of the page. We then drew a picture of a house using the fanned out lines and suddenly we all understood perspective. I recently tried it with my two young grandchildren with great success.

Roger Noble

I was interested to read your account of Mr Redman and Munstead Grange. I was a very late swimmer and still had not done my length by the time I reached my final year. By then I was a senior Hawk and, as you say, I could tell Mr Whicker was not amused. Despite being frightened of the water I started to practice, away from Hillside, swimming on my back (floating and flapping my hands!).

I told Mr Redman I was ready to attempt my length and set off along the side towards the deep end with all the other boys offering enthusiastic encouragement. However, on nearing the far end I became aware that, because landing on the steps would not qualify, I would have to divert course. My attempt to complete this manoeuvre resulted in rapid sinking at a fast rate of knots, taking on board a lot of water. Then I felt the welcome hands of Mr Redman, who had immediately dived in from the side, gather me up and haul me out. When I had been drained out, everyone started to prepare to leave. However, I insisted to Mr Redman that I wished to repeat the attempt (falling off a horse and all that...!). This time I embarked from the centre of the shallow end and completed the course successfully. So I could say that Mr Redman saved my life!!

Andrew Harvey

Richard Prendergast thinks he may have a little further history:

"Reading about Tiger Redman I seem to remember he had a war record as a Lieutenant serving in the Royal Tank Regiment (I think)".

Tiger Redman

A follow up from Robin Whicker:

Google: Pte Tiger Desmond Rupert Redman of the Indian Army was gazetted 2nd Lt on 15 April 1944. No mention of unit or posting but our boyhood notion was clearly right! 

Robin

Tiger Redman

Most pupils at Hillside knew that Tiger Redman had spent his early childhood in Barbados. The move from paradise to Britain seemed strange to a young boy at Hillside but when I asked him for an explanation his reply was very vague. He did, however, project fascinating photographs of the island to the school occasionally on dark winter nights. In 2018 I decided to do some research into his background. This is a short summary to whet your appetite…

Tiger’s father, Rupert C Redman, trained as a doctor at McGill University in Canada, but subsequently worked as a successful merchant at the family business in Bridgetown, Barbados. Rupert’s father, William R Redman had bought, in conjunction with friend Charles L Johnson, a provisions and grocery business in 1907. The partnership, Johnson and Redman, built this into a thriving business located in two premises in the town centre. These included a large department store and bakery. The company also marketed their own brand of rum, J&R, which was later acquired by Goddard Enterprises.

Rupert (30) married a widow, Olive Thompson (26) a Londoner, at the Register Office, Croydon on 14 April 1923. He was described on the certificate as both a doctor and a general merchant and Olive’s father (deceased) as a retired stockbroker.
Tiger Desmond Rupert Redman was born in Christ Church, Barbados, on 14 January 1924.

Father and son. L to R. Rupert C Redman (credit McGill University, Canada, 1915 Yearbook); Tiger Redman aged 15, in 1939 (credit Rossall School, England); Tiger Redman at Hillside School, Godalming in 1969 (school photograph)

Tiger first attended the Convent School in Bridgetown (1929 – 33) and then The Lodge School (1933-37) also in Bridgetown. Notably, in early 1933 he sailed into Plymouth, England with his mother. They stayed in Penge, south east London presumably with friends or relatives, for 5 months before sailing home from Dover. Tiger’s parents, who were both British subjects, had already decided that Tiger should be educated at a senior school in England. They chose Rossall School in Fleetwood , a fee paying school founded in the early Victorian era as a sister school to Marlborough College. It ranked alongside Radley, Lancing, Wellington and Malvern.

Rossall School’s archivist reports that Tiger “joined Rossall in the summer term of 1937 and left in the first term of 1943. He was in Dragon House. He came to the school on a scholarship, and whilst here was a school monitor in his final years”. In 1941, aged 17, Tiger was permitted to join the Home Guard and shortly afterwards submitted an application to join the Services. He appears to have been called up in 1943 and records show he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant (Emergency Commission) in the Indian Army on 15 April 1944, a position he still held in 1945. As there is no record of a unit or service number for him, it is probable that he never saw active service.

Like so many others, Tiger lost the opportunity to attend university after WWII and the 1948 electoral records show that he was living, and presumably working in central London. The following year he was recruited by Mr Whicker to join the teaching staff at Hillside School, Godalming where he remained until the school closed in July 1969. William Nigel Coates, his long-time colleague, didn’t join the staff at Hillside until 1953.
Tiger then took up a new post at Orley Farm School Harrow where he taught mathematics and was housemaster of Hopkins. He even introduced BBC computers to the school although then in his fifties. Tiger was very popular there, just as at Hillside, living in a school flat over the road from the school. He taught for 21 years at each school, retiring in 1990. He kept in touch with Mrs Kathleen Whicker in Godalming, staying for a few days before travelling to Barbados on visits to his parents.

Tiger had developed a close friendship with the headmaster at Orley, Mr Justin Davies, and Tiger bought a house near Justin’s family in March, Cambridgeshire. The family has very fond memories of Uncle Tiger, and they went on holiday together a number of times
Tiger died in January 2006 in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, aged 82. He had listened to classical music avidly during his retirement and left his extensive collection of CDs to Orley Farm School.

Andrew Harvey
23 December 2020