03 Rev. W.A. Houghton (1973)

OBITUARY: THE REV. W. A. HOUGHTON

By Mr. D. Dixon

Mr. Houghton's death on the 6th August 1973 was recorded in the last issue of the magazine.

After long service as a full-time minister in the Congregational Church, including experience in parishes as diverse as agricultural Suffolk and industrial Lancashire, he began his teaching career relatively late in life at Holland Park Comprehensive School, where he enjoyed great success in teaching to both O and A levels. He obtained a well-deserved Head of Department Post in the North but unfortunately suffered a severe break-down in health before he could take up his new appointment and was advised by his doctor to stay in the South. He made an adequate recovery and took a post at the Bourne School before coming to St. Nicholas in 1968. He returned to Macclesfield in 1972, to live near his daughter.

Of all his work with us, he himself derived most pleasure from his Sixth Form General Studies, where he was able to turn once again to Moral and Political Philosophy, a field in which he had excelled at Edinburgh University. It is probably known to few that because of family poverty he had to leave his university studies after only one year; a year in which he not only came out top of his group in the examinations but also won a prize for his dissertation on Kant and Butler. In a wistful moment he once confided that the runner-up to him in the prize was now a professor of philosophy in one of our universities. Certainly his intellectual grasp and mental vigour were greatly appreciated by many of our Sixth-formers who developed a great affection for him and a love of philosophical debate.

His colleagues were always astounded at the amount of sheer hard work he got through. If he drove his pupils hard, he drove himself even harder. Several times a week he would burn the midnight oil, marking exercise books and essays and preparing his mind by reading works of advanced scholarship that his younger colleagues would have hesitated to attempt. Even on retiring to his bed he would be awake for long hours in the night, fighting for his breath. And yet, from his apparently limitless inner resources, he summoned up the energy to cope with the next day's work. His service to the school went many times beyond the call of duty.

We treasure the days of our acquaintance with him; his indomitable spirit, his professional zeal, his enriching conversations and particularly his warm friendship. In our own sorrow we extend our deep sympathy to Mrs. Houghton and her daughter.

D. Dixon

Michael Barber (1964-72) died following a motor accident on 30.12.73.