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Badge of The Prince of Wales School / Nairobi School
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Photogallery
School Badge
Extract from the article on the School's first Headmaster, Captain Nicholson:
On January 10
1931, Kenya sent an official telegram to the Colonial Office asking that HRH the Prince of Wales be sounded out about
using his royal title as a new name for the school at Kabete. Captain Nicholson ("Nick"), who had thought all along that ‘Kabete
Boys’ Secondary School’ was too clumsy, followed up with a letter to the Director of Education on February 3 1931 in
support of the name change. Nick’s first thought was that it should be the ‘Prince Edward’s School’; the Director,
Herbert Scott, suggested that the ‘Prince of Wales School’ would be a better choice. Nick agreed. Although some civil
servants in London raised the objection that a Prince of Wales school or college already existed in the Gold Coast, a
letter was issued by St. James’ Palace granting the Royal consent. (Name change details courtesy of Peter Liversidge,
Scott, 1957-61, from his own research at the National Archives in Kew.)
As a special case, consent was also given for a new blazer badge with plumed ostrich feathers,
set in a crown and placed between the horns of an Impala. The badge’s motto, a reflection of Nick’s personality and drive,
reads “To the Uttermost.” (In heraldic tradition, ostrich feathers symbolize willing obedience and serenity. Set in a
crown, they have graced the coat of arms of every successive royal Prince of Wales since the time of Edward the Black
Prince in 1343.)
In turn, the new school name and badge begat a complementary new blazer. Gone was the grey
carry-over blazer from the Nairobi European School with its lion
rampant badge;
in its place was a Senior Service dark navy blazer with gold braiding around the lapels, collar and hem, across the
top of each lower pocket, and around each sleeve in a band three inches above the cuff. For prefects, the gold
braid around the left sleeve was extended in an upwards crisscross to form a diamond similar to that worn by cadets
at HMS Britannia where Nick had trained in 1893. (The Prince of Wales prefect’s faded emblem shown at right above
includes a School Prefect’s crown; in this particular example, the crown’s red backing indicates that the wearer was
also Head of School.)
In August 2006, Webmaster was contacted by Anne Fowler whose father was Cyril Redhead,
a teacher at The Prince of Wales School from 1930 to 1939. Anne had been going through some of her father's things, and had
noticed one of his sketch paintings of the School's badge.
As a teacher of art, natural sciences and biology, it is highly probable that Cyril Redhead and Captain Nicholson (and maybe other teachers)
must have got together during 1931 to discuss ideas for the new school badge. Nick had the ideas, and these were put down
on paper by Cyril Redhead.
As the sketch painting did not contain the school's motto, it is likely that it was done in mid 1931 as we know that the new
badge (with the motto) was used from late 1931.
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