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THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 



to Public School begun in 1895; the Manor House 

 at Littleton Panell (a former home of the Pleydell- 

 Bouverie family) had been purchased as a base for 

 the younger boys; and the new Farmer biological 

 laboratories had just opened. 



It is possible that a more informal society may 

 have existed earlier. The first number of the 

 Agricultural College Magazine (a precursor of the 

 Dauntseian), which appeared in 1904, makes 

 reference to the existence of a museum, and states 

 that 'there has been for several years past more or 

 less of an entomology collection in the school, but 

 this fascinating branch of natural history has 

 scarcely received its full share of attention from the 

 Dauntsey naturalists'. Four years later the museum 

 was, on speech day at least, 'but little patronised', 

 and in entomology 'little has been done and a falling 

 off in popularity has been noticeable'. By 1909 the 

 museum ceased to be mentioned at all. 



These tantalising references to displays and 

 collections suggest that use of the museum may 

 have been optional but, given the importance of 

 the contents to the teaching of the curriculum, that 

 seems unlikely. Entomology formed a formal part 

 of the Agriculture Course and the Magazine 

 mentions that the museum display included an 

 'excellent collection of Agricultural insect pests 

 preserved in spirit'. 



According to The School House Natural 

 History Society, 1948, there was also 'a vigorous 

 Field Club' prior to 1930 of which the Headmaster, 

 G.W.Olive, was President. With the opening of the 

 Farmer Laboratory however, the Presidency passed 

 to the new Head of Biology, Ian Hamilton. Spurred 

 on by C.R. Rivers-Moore, one of the boys, Hamilton 

 quickly converted the Club into a Natural History 

 Society, making P.C.Savill the first President, 

 J.R.Baldwin, Vice President, and Rivers-Moore 

 Secretary. No doubt Olive, who was himself a 

 biologist, encouraged these developments. 



Fig.l. Building the Vivarium, Summer 1933. 



Fig. 2. The Vivarium in 1 948 after Desmond Morris had 

 built pits and tunnels in it. 



The first references to the new Society appear 

 in the Dauntseian in July 1933 and July 19 34. They 

 mention the building of a vivarium (Figs. 1,2) and 

 that the members had made an outing to study the 

 marine fauna of Poole and Sandbanks. Not 

 surprisingly the ingredients of sand, sea and reptiles 

 proved popular, and by the next term the number 

 of boys wanting to join was so great it became 

 necessary to form a junior section for Manor boys. 

 A second new master appointed at this time was A. 

 Darlington, an ornithologist. It was perhaps to be 

 expected, therefore, that a Bird Club would quickly 

 establish itself as another section of the new Society. 

 By 1937 Darlington appears to have left, and his 

 replacement as head of the Club, H.J.Moore, put 

 matters on a more formal footing by establishing it 

 in its own right as the Bird Trust. With more than 

 thirty members in some years, the Trust became 

 one of the school's most active and successful 

 groups. Apart from keeping local records, the 

 members undertook trapping (a ringed bird from 

 Belgium was one of the first twenty taken) and out- 

 of-county field trips. They also started a ringing 

 programme with help from the British Trust for 

 Ornithology, and were delighted when one of the 

 first starlings ringed was recorded from the Baltic 

 coast of Germany, wartime conditions 

 notwithstanding! After Moore moved to 

 Clayesmore several joint meetings were held with 

 that school. 



A second independent group which also split 

 off from the Natural History Society at this time 

 was the Meteorological Society. It was formed by 

 Amyan MacFadyen, a pupil who had joined the 

 school in 1933 and a master B.WH.Coulson both 

 of whom were keen to know what effect weather 

 had on birds. Appropriately, the section's first title 

 was the Phenological Society before being changed 

 in 1 9 3 6 . Equipment was purchased and the site was 



