Great Scot May 2020 Great Scot 159_MAY 2020_ONLINE_V3 | Page 87

ARCHIVES
MR PAUL MISHURA
SCHOOL ARCHIVIST
1. CHARLES ERNEST HOWITT
2. NICK AND WILLIAM HOWITT
3. WILFRED MCCRAE HOWITT
4. GODFREY LYLE HOWITT
1.
THE DARK
BLUE-BLOODED
SCOTCH BOYS
COME HOME
Junior School boys Nick and
William Howitt thought they were
the first Howitts at Scotch
On 13 February 2020 I gave a brief presentation on Scotch’s
history to Scotch’s Year 4 boys. It included portrait photos of 15
Scotch boys in 1907 who – as those in that audience will do this year
– turned nine and 10 when they were photographed. A boy named
Godfrey Howitt was noted to have been one of two who left Scotch
to attend Melbourne Grammar School (MGS).
The audience included a new boy, William Howitt, who – with both
excitement and some confusion – went home to tell his parents about
Godfrey. William’s father, Charles, has Godfrey as his middle name,
but he attended MGS (as did his brother, and, currently, a nephew).
William’s grandfather, Godfrey Home Howitt, was a staunch
Grammar boy (MGS 1943-51): so too was Godfrey’s father, Wilfred
McCrae ‘Tiger’ Howitt (born 12 April 1899, MGS 1910-13, died
11 February 1948). What no-one in this Dark Blue-blooded family
knew was Wilfred’s secret: he was also a Scotchie (SC 1907-09).
Furthermore, the Godfrey in the 1907 photo was his brother, Godfrey
Lyle Howitt (born 30 July 1897, SC 1907-09, MGS 1910-12, died 16
October 1960).
2.
3.
4.
Nick Howitt (this year’s Junior School Captain) and William were
therefore not the first Scotchies in their family: in fact, the first was
Charles Ernest Howitt, their great-great-great-great-uncle. He was
born at Melbourne on 22 October 1846, and attended Scotch from
at least 3 August 1857 until 1863. He may have started earlier, but
all official records before then were taken away by the first Principal.
Charles played in the 1863 1st XI, just as Nick has represented
Scotch in cricket this year. Charles died at ‘Yarra Yarra’, London,
England, on 27 April 1903.
Although numerous Howitts attended MGS, the first one at
Scotch pre-dated the 1858 opening of MGS (setting to one side the
Howitts who attended the Melbourne Diocesan Grammar School of
1849-54, which, it has been argued, is the actual foundation of MGS).
Apart from a cousin on their mother’s side, Charles O’Hara (Year 12),
their father’s family tree has furnished at least 19 other Scotch boys,
including Year 10 boy Eddie Wallis, their fourth cousin.
The Howitt brothers may have Dark Blue blood, but, in coming
to Scotch, they have come home.
www.scotch.vic.edu.au Great Scot
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