" Dad joined the school under the
headship of Dr. Storr-Best and I remember him telling stories about what a
great character and scholar the old headmaster was. It seems he could speak
Latin as fluently as English. He had a reputation for being kindly, witty
and tolerant. He didn't seem to resent my father's tendency towards youthful
exuberance. He was entertaining an inspector one day in his office below the
staff room when a very loud drumming noise intruded on their discussions: "
Oh" said the Head "that's only young Mr. Hartley doing his tap-dance on the
table." Dad used to mount the staff-room table by taking a flying leap from
the doorway every morning, so he said, when he was a young man. Sadly, at
the end of his career, Storr-Best was not eligible for a pension for some
reason, and seems to have died in poverty, or so my father used to say.
I am attaching two more photos. Perhaps someone out there will know when
they were taken. The earliest must be about 1930, and the later one about
1948-49, as he is wearing glasses and is thin and white-haired. He died of
tuberculosis after many years of debilitating treatment. Nowadays a dose of
antibiotic would have put him right! His lungs had been weakened by exposure
to gas in WW1, but with characteristic optimism and courage, he refused to
apply for a pension."
Jim Harley (Reginald's son -
26 September 2004)
