It is with great sadness that we announce the recent death of Dr David Donaldson Headmaster 1973 – 1987.
DWD died in his beloved Cornwall, in his 90th year, after a short illness. The Headmaster has been in touch with the family and will be able to pass on any personal messages to Marian via his office.
Simon Page (OK ’82) writes:
Our current Headmaster has eloquently observed how DWD played his part in the evolution of our school (read article in full here – also available as pdf download from bottom of page).
DWD was my Headmaster and I have held a debt of gratitude all my life to him for his kindness.
In 1981 Kimbolton School was at the centre of my world. For personal reasons I immersed myself in everything the school had to offer, and I was blissfully happy. Transport from Stanwick to Kimbolton beyond the bus service was very difficult for me and when my 48cc Moped coughed its final tiny cylinder cough I had no idea how I was going to get home a couple of times a week.
I hadn’t had many private meetings with Mr Donaldson in the first five years at Kimbolton but for me, he had a film star aura – elegant, effortlessly charming, quietly spoken but oh so much presence! When he walked into a room and spoke one could hear a pin drop. In subsequent years in the Army observing senior officers, I recognised what I had first seen as a schoolboy in DWD – a commanding and irresistible personality.
I was called to his office where he explained he had heard about my transport predicament. “Hmmmmm” he said in that deep gravelly way he was known for, and he produced his personal cheque book and signed a blank cheque, passed it to me with a Fatherly smile and told me to go and get a “proper Motorbike”.
His wonderful “Splendid” accompanied me as I exited his study still open-mouthed. This simple story of kindness would be so much better if I had gone to Oxbridge and become a captain of science or industry repaying DWD’s generosity to society as a whole.
The immeasurable happiness of my life and the moderate successes along the route are founded in my time at Kimbolton School where, after 40 years, I am still connected. Changing lives can be measured many ways, but I have never forgotten a generous act of personal kindness given to me by Mr Donaldson.
DWD was a special person.
On behalf of all OKs of that era I send our love and fondest thoughts to Marian, Fiona and Alison.
Spes Durat Avorum
Headmaster tribute
Back in 2013 at Speech Day (remember them?!), we celebrated the centenary of
William Ingram becoming Headmaster of Kimbolton School – one of his grandsons
joined us for the day. Ingram was Headmaster for a remarkable 34 years through
until after the end of the 2nd World War, and was then followed by Cyril Lewis who,
himself, was Kimbolton Headmaster for 27 years until 1973. And so, 60 years after
Ingram became Headmaster, Dr David Donaldson was appointed to the Kimbolton
headship having previously been a Housemaster at Stowe School.
David Donaldson (DWD) was Headmaster for 14 years – still a lengthy stint when one
looks at the average tenure of headships across the country. He retired in 1987 to
his beloved Cornwall where, we heard last week, in his 90th year, he sadly died. No
member of the current teaching staff was employed when DWD was Head (Mr
Bamford was the last ‘survivor’ of the Donaldson era).
I met DWD on many occasions. He was a real gentleman and remained interested in
Kimbolton School to his dying day. We last spoke when I sent him a copy of the
current Kimboltonian. If you want to put a picture to his face, DWD’s portrait is in
the White Hall. Go take a look – it’s top right as you face the Red Room.
DWD certainly faced some challenges during his tenure. When he became
Headmaster, Kimbolton School was a Direct Grant School – this meant that 50% of
the school’s income came from parents paying fees and the other 50% arrived from
central government. In effect, as a Direct Grant School, Kimbolton had one foot in
the ‘private’ sector and the other in the state system. Today, all 100% of our income
is derived from what your parents pay. Soon after DWD took over though, the
(Labour) government announced that they were ending Direct Grant which meant
schools like Kimbolton (then more generally known as Kimbolton Grammar School)
had to make a swift decision; go wholly into the maintained sector and become a
‘comprehensive school’ or take the plunge and go entirely independent and try to
make up the 50% shortfall in funds…somehow.
Taking the latter path, the ’somehow’ came in the form of girls. Kimbolton School
went co-educational at the Prep in 1976 and in the Senior School in 1978. The
advent of girls to the community changed the whole atmosphere of the School. OKs
speak about ‘civilising influence’ – which is subjective and difficulty to quantify.
More objectively, the academic standards were raised immediately by co-education.
At the weekend, I was looking through The Kimboltonian of Summer 1987 in which a
number of colleagues and governors wrote warmly about DWD on his retirement.
Some of the matters with which he was dealing are very much from their time
(wrestling with the decision whether to allocate funds so that the Croquet Club could
purchase a champagne cooler!), others could be from 2022 (provision of lockers,
uniform irregularities, salad bar).
I have, of course, written to his wife, Marian, expressing the School’s condolences
and finish this morning with the final lines of the retirement address given by his
Deputy Head, Peter Smout, in July 1987;
Any Headmaster must, to an extent, have a different public and private persona and
there are bound to be those who never see beyond the public image. However, I was
fortunate enough to know David Donaldson very well indeed: after all, we worked
extremely closely for fourteen years. I knew him as an essentially strong but warm
human-being, with the most sincere concern for the members of staff and pupils
under his command – a man whose judgements were disconcertingly shrewd and
always tempered with understanding and true humanity.
Headmaster
Kimbolton School | Kimbolton | Huntingdon | Cambs | PE28 0EA
Tel: (01480) 860505 | Email: headmaster@kimbolton.cambs.sch.uk
