Head of Wycliffe College 1994 - 1998 & Hon. OW
We have been notified of the sad death of David Prichard, who has passed away on 2nd April, aged 89. Our thoughts and best wishes at this time are with his family and friends
The following is from David’s family:
PRICHARD, David Colville Mostyn MBE affectionately known as DCMP by his colleagues at Monkton Coombe, Port Regis and Wycliffe College. He passed away on April 2nd aged 89. He will be greatly missed by his loving wife, Elizabeth, his nephew, Julian, niece, Diana and his many friends.
Private Funeral.
A Thanksgiving Service will be at Sherborne Abbey on Friday July 12th at 2pm followed by a reception at Sherborne School.
Donations if desired to ‘Sight Savers’ c/o Wakelys and Sons, 16, Newland, Sherborne. DT9 3JQ. Tel: 01935 816817
David Prichard – Tribute
David was an islander. The second son of The Rev George and Mrs Mostyn Prichard who was Rector of Whippingham and Chaplain to Osborne House so it was not surprising that HRH The Princess Beatrice agreed to be his Godmother and Lord Penhryn , his mother’s cousin, Godfather.
In 1940 David was sent away with his brother from the Vicarage at Kew aged 5 to board at Swanbourne House in Buckinghamshire. The form mistress wrote to his parents “Preston is such a nice boy but I think we shall have a lot of trouble with young David“.
David anxious to be involved with Radley’s Centenary celebrations in 1947 claimed to have achieved nothing except his first terms Warden report which read “He may be the youngest in the College, but there is no need to him to be the worst behaved.” However, he rowed for the 1st V111 which rowed in the final of the Princess Elizabeth Cup at Henley.
With parents short of funds, he was withdrawn to take Oxford Responsions in Latin and French. When achieved he started teaching aged 17 at his old Prep School.
At Pembroke Oxford he was 2-3 years younger than most as faulty hearing denied him National Service. He was Captain of College Boats, a member of The Teasel Club and stroke of the university ISIS V111.
He first taught at Monkton Combe being a resident tutor in the holidays at stately homes coaching 13yr old boys to pass Common Entrance.
After eight years he was asked to direct the school 100K appeal. It had raised 70K over seven years and David raised 35K in four months. He became Secretary of the OM Society, Commanded the CCF as a Lt Cdr, initiated the UKs first Volunteer Police Cadets which resulted in much media attention. On leaving his HM wrote “your contribution has been outstanding. Your pastoral care has been an influence for goodness and novelty”.
At 34 he was appointed HM of Port Regis then Bryanston’s Junior School. It budgeted for 124 boarders but had only 90 of whom 30 were due to leave in July. Over 24 years Port Regis was considered one of the top five in the country. In 1972 the school was renting 48 acres and the eighty room mansion but he purchased 150 acres for £50,000 which the Daily Telegraph printed as ‘The Buy of the Century’.
On his retirement there were 320 boys and girls. The Princess Royal educated both her children, other international royals the same, He entertained The Queen and Prince Philip for four hours when she opened The National Centre for Junior Gymnastics. David was also Chairman of IAPS and received his MBE from the Queen for services to education and charitable services.
At 59 he became Headmaster of Wycliffe College and increased their numbers from 400 -800 in four years. The inspector wrote” Wycliffe has been transformed. The speed of this life saving transformation must be credited to the remarkable inspiration of the Headmaster.”
David took two sabbaticals. His experiences included being shot at in Israel, stabbed in Morocco, Tutoring the son of the British Consul in Paris driving his jaguar with CD plates, worked with a VSO in Laos, thumbed a lift in a US transporter, trekking in Nepal, and represented Bath UK in the ten Baths in USA, rode Embassy stallions in Ethiopia.
He enjoyed dinner and an overnight stay In Holyrood Palace and invited twice to Thatcher’s number 10. He gave the Bicentenary lecture “Creativity in Education” at the opening of Darling Harbour in Australia and another at African HMC conference in Cape Town.
His lifetime achievements included being a Governor of nine Prep Schools, Chairman of the Smallpiece Trust for Industrial Design and a Trustee for 25 yrs leaving with £12 million in the bank.
He became a Freeman of the City of London, a Trustee with John Makepeace at Parnham, a member of the Board of Visitors at Guys Marsh Borstal, A Commissioner for the Inland Revenue, Shaftesbury Rotarian, The Master of Two Masonic Lodges and organised for ten years National Conferences for Governors, Bursars and Heads. He certainly merited his inclusion in “Whos, Who” and Debretts’ ‘’Distinguished People of Today”
He was a Churchwarden at Castleton Church, Chairman of Sherborne Prep and Vice Chair of Sherborne CPRE.
He was unskilled in DIY, his interest lay in design and marketing.
David spent half his life knowing Elizabeth whom he first met at a Heads Conference dinner. He proposed at his third Buckingham Palace Garden Party. His life with Elizabeth was blissful for they never argued and laughter was heard daily.
David was devoted to one he described as beautiful in face and character, a talented chef and one dedicated to kindness. It all could have started badly if his African diamonds were lost during a midnight emergency landing at Nairobi.
DCMP 2021
If you would like to have your memories of David posted on this webpage, please feel free to email them to TWS@wycliffe.co.uk
I really enjoyed working with David. He employed me and I am forever grateful for the opportunities he gave me.
– Jenny Broadbank (Member of staff 1994 – 2015 & Honorary OW)
From The Wycliffe Star No. 289 (1994):
Editorial
The arrival of a new Headmaster always brings both excitement and apprehension but in David Prichard we have a man of long experience and proven track record. Innovator, publicist and entrepreneur, he is a man of fertile imagination and persuasiveness. He may be the oldest person on the staff but he still makes everyone exhausted trying to catch up – both physically and metaphorically. An iconoclast who has already caused some sacred cows to raise an eyebrow, David challenges everything in a bid to steer the barque of altruism through the rocks of economic reality. In his first term he has already been selling the virtues of our 21st Century ‘Pre-University College of the Cotswolds’ to the Russians!
His plans for development are legion: There is to be a new dining hall with a social complex, conference facilities, bar, bakery and forty-variety ice-cream parlour; Haywardsfield first, and the other houses in their turn, will have saunas and Jacuzzis -the first to be found in school boarding houses anywhere. We have plans for an indoor swimming pool – together with a leisure complex if recruitment justifies it. A projected new boarding house will have ensuite facilities in all rooms, networked computers and fax machines. After all, the 21st Century is only six years away!
From The Wycliffe Star No. 294 (1998 – Autumn):
The Common Room
1998 saw many changes in the Common Room, not the least being the change of Headmaster. David Prichard retired at Easter 1998 after five years of incredibly hard work to ensure Wycliffe’s future. Not everyone liked his style or agreed with his methods but all must admit that he left Wycliffe in a stronger state than he inherited it. His brief was straightforward: to increase the size of the school; to upgrade its facilities so that they were amongst the best in a highly competitive market; fo get the school known more widely and to develop areas of excellence that would boost the school’s reputation.
That he achieved these ends there is little doubt – and now that the ‘business’ side of Wycliffe is more secure, his successor is able to devote more attention to educational objectives.
In fairness, David didn’t pretend to be an educationalist; he admitted to a lack of familiarity with teenagers; it was years since he had actually taught anyone anything and his simple educational philosophy was that everyone had the capacity to succeed at something – and it was the school’s job to find out what that something was and nurture it.
On the other hand David was a successful businessman and this was what he obviously enjoyed: dealing, negotiating, marketing, advertising – all these were oxygen to him and he presided over an army of people who were prepared to recruit world-wide: if pupils wanted to come and could afford it, they were welcomed; if they had talent and wanted financial support to develop it, they also were welcomed; if they wanted to study things not on the curriculum then the curriculum must be changed to meet their requirements; if they were used to four star hotels, then the accommodation must be upgraded to meet their expectations. Indeed the whole enterprise was market led – even rules was flexible if their application might deter a paying customer!
The result was a school of over 400 for the first time in its history, some magnificent accommodation and dining facilities, an international clientele and a wide reputation – but also not a little unease. David was an autocrat. He listened to his ‘customers’ but rarely to his colleagues, and whilst his understanding of economics and marketing was acute, he rarely saw the educational pitfalls that each move would preface. The magnificent Sixth Form halls of residence with their ensuite accommodation were ideal as a source of income from holiday letting, but they were impossible to supervise and militated against a sense of corporate house identity. It was no surprise that there were three ‘Housemasters’ in their first four years of existence. In a school that, against all the trends, managed to remain two thirds residential, the educational aspects of boarding education were much undervalued.
David’s tenure of office was short and he was set clear targets for it. He devoted considerable energy to achieving those targets and we can marvel at the success that he gained. Wycliffe is more widely known; it has a considerable reputation for its squash, sculling and fencing and it is remains full. Many of its buildings are the envy of other schools. For this at least we should be grateful. We wish both David and Elizabeth a well-earned retirement in Sherborne in Dorset.
