P.C. Anderson
Encyclopedia
Peter Corsar Anderson was an influential educator and golf
er in Western Australia
.
of Menmuir
, Forfarshire, Scotland
. He went to Madras College
, St Andrews
, where he won a bursary to the United College in the University of St Andrews
. At United he won prizes in Hebrew and church history, was president of the student council and a champion rifle
-shot. He was also a golf
er, winning The Amateur Championship
in 1893. After graduating B.A. in 1892 he studied theology
at St Mary's College
and was licensed in divinity
in 1895 by the Church of Scotland
, but did not pursue this calling because of health problems. He took a recuperative journey to Western Australia
to visit his brother Mark in Albany
, then moved to Victoria
. He was a tutor
for a farming family for six months at Mansfield
, 90km north-east of Melbourne
, and then moved to Geelong Church of England Grammar School from 1896 to 1900. He was a master at the senior school from 1896 to 1899 and in charge of the Preparatory School from 1899 to 1900.
Scotch College, Perth
Anderson was appointed headmaster of Scotch in 1904, a position he held for 41 years until 1945. The early years were challenging: the seven-year-old school was in temporary premises, some school councilors believed the school should be disbanded, while others thought it should relocate. His first ten years at Scotch saw new science
laboratories, a cadet corps
, sport
s grounds and a boatshed. Within 10 years Scotch was established as one of the four leading independent boys' schools in Western Australia. For the next 30 years Anderson was doyen among Protestant headmasters and set a model whose influence extended well beyond his own college. During his time at Scotch enrolments rose from 59 to 410 per year and more than 3000 students passed through the school. He was appointed C.B.E. in 1947.
: for half a season he held the course record of 80, which was 4 under bogie. When he visited his brother Mark (also a keen golfer) in Albany, the latter suggested Anderson settle in Melbourne, where Mark he had been champion of Royal Melbourne Golf Club
in 1893. Anderson joined Geelong Golf Club and was champion for six successive years until 1903. He was reported to be among those who selected the new site for the Royal Melbourne course when that club’s old links were being hemmed in by building projects. He is also credited with laying out the Barwon Heads course at Geelong. In WA Anderson and others thought vacant land near the ocean might be the making of a golf course. Anderson and N C Fowlie designed the nine-hole course, named it Sea View and it was opened as the Cottesloe Golf Club by the Governor on 11 September 1908. Anderson also laid out the first nine holes of the Royal Fremantle course. Anderson won the last of his four club trophy events in 1928 at the age of 57.
and The Amateur Championship
.
DNP = Did not play
CUT = Missed the cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10
Source for British Open: www.opengolf.com
Source for 1894 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, April 26, 1894, pg. 11.
. Agnes was the sister of a student he tutored at Mansfield and granddaughter of Hussey Burgh Macartney, the Anglican Dean of Melbourne who in 1855 was one of the founders of Geelong Grammar School. They had six sons and seven daughters. Anderson died on 26 August 1955, at his home at Swanbourne
.
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
er in Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
.
Early life
Anderson was born on 16 February 1871, at the manseManse
A manse is a house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of a Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist or United Church...
of Menmuir
Menmuir
Menmuir is a parish in Angus in Scotland.Kirkton of Menmuir consists of only three houses but around 250 people live in the area and the community hall is well used.-History:...
, Forfarshire, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. He went to Madras College
Madras College
Madras College is a secondary school in St. Andrews, Fife in Scotland.-History:Madras College, founded in 1832, takes its name from the system of education devised by the school's founder, the Rev Dr Andrew Bell....
, St Andrews
St Andrews
St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
, where he won a bursary to the United College in the University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
. At United he won prizes in Hebrew and church history, was president of the student council and a champion rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
-shot. He was also a golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
er, winning The Amateur Championship
The Amateur Championship
The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...
in 1893. After graduating B.A. in 1892 he studied theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
at St Mary's College
St Mary's College, St Andrews
St Mary's College of the University of St Andrews, in Fife, Scotland - in full, the New College of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - was founded in 1538 by Archbishop James Beaton, uncle of Cardinal David Beaton on the site of the pedagogy or St Johns College .St Mary's College was...
and was licensed in divinity
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
in 1895 by the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
, but did not pursue this calling because of health problems. He took a recuperative journey to Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
to visit his brother Mark in Albany
Albany, Western Australia
Albany is a port city in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, some 418 km SE of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany's population was estimated at 33,600, making it the 6th-largest city in the state....
, then moved to Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
. He was a tutor
Tutor
A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...
for a farming family for six months at Mansfield
Mansfield
Mansfield is a town in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the main town in the Mansfield local government district. Mansfield is a part of the Mansfield Urban Area....
, 90km north-east of Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, and then moved to Geelong Church of England Grammar School from 1896 to 1900. He was a master at the senior school from 1896 to 1899 and in charge of the Preparatory School from 1899 to 1900.
St Salvator's
Anderson left Geelong Grammar in 1900 to set up his own school, St Salvator's, also in Geelong.Scotch College, PerthScotch College, PerthScotch College , is one of Australia's leading independent schools for boys, situated in Swanbourne, Western Australia, Australia. The school is a member of the Public Schools Association and is now a Uniting Church school, although it was founded in 1897 by the Presbyterian Church of Australia...
Anderson was appointed headmaster of Scotch in 1904, a position he held for 41 years until 1945. The early years were challenging: the seven-year-old school was in temporary premises, some school councilors believed the school should be disbanded, while others thought it should relocate. His first ten years at Scotch saw new scienceScience
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
laboratories, a cadet corps
Cadet Corps
Cadet Corps is a type of a military school for young boys. Although initially such military schools admitted only children of the nobles or gentry, with time many of them were also opened to other classes....
, sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
s grounds and a boatshed. Within 10 years Scotch was established as one of the four leading independent boys' schools in Western Australia. For the next 30 years Anderson was doyen among Protestant headmasters and set a model whose influence extended well beyond his own college. During his time at Scotch enrolments rose from 59 to 410 per year and more than 3000 students passed through the school. He was appointed C.B.E. in 1947.
Character
Impressively built and inclined to be set in his opinions, he earned the nickname 'Boss', but was respected for his scrupulous fair-mindedness and capacity for hard work. Legends generated around him, such as the yarn that he once caned the entire school in an attempt to put down smokingSmokingSmoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them...
. Despite Anderson's successful academic and career record, one short-term junior teacher who was learning his trade at Scotch College later caricatured him as unimaginative, a charge which does not tally with his apparent fair-mindedness and which has been rejected by eminent educators. The majority held Anderson in great respect even during his last difficult wartime years.
Anderson brought to Scotch College a model of ‘godliness and manliness’, for he was a ‘typical product of a Scottish Presbyterian background’, tall at 6’4’’, a strong disciplinarian whose main interest was in sport, and, although not an educational innovator, he was a ‘reliable’ leader. The notion of ‘godliness and manliness’ is at the heart of late nineteenth-century ‘muscular ChristianityChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
’, a term coined in response to the work of Charles KingsleyCharles KingsleyCharles Kingsley was an English priest of the Church of England, university professor, historian and novelist, particularly associated with the West Country and northeast Hampshire.-Life and character:...
, associated with magazines like the Boys' Own Paper and a host of popular books like Tom Brown's SchooldaysTom Brown's SchooldaysTom Brown's Schooldays is a novel by Thomas Hughes. The story is set at Rugby School, a public school for boys, in the 1830s; Hughes attended Rugby School from 1834 to 1842...
and Coral IslandCoral islandA coral island is the result of an atoll whose lagoon has dried up or been filled in with coral sand and detritus. This state is typically the last in the life cycle of an island, the first being volcanic and the second being an atoll. Most of the world's coral islands are in the Pacific Ocean...
, and in recent years portrayed in films like Chariots of FireChariots of FireChariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
.
Golf
Before moving to Australia, Anderson often played at the Old Course at St AndrewsOld Course at St Andrews
The Old Course at St Andrews is the oldest golf course in the world. The Old Course is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held in trust by The St Andrews Links Trust under an act of Parliament...
: for half a season he held the course record of 80, which was 4 under bogie. When he visited his brother Mark (also a keen golfer) in Albany, the latter suggested Anderson settle in Melbourne, where Mark he had been champion of Royal Melbourne Golf Club
Royal Melbourne Golf Club
Royal Melbourne Golf Club is a golf club located in Black Rock, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia with two courses. Royal Melbourne has hosted numerous national and international events, including the 1959 Canada Cup , and the 1970 World Cup...
in 1893. Anderson joined Geelong Golf Club and was champion for six successive years until 1903. He was reported to be among those who selected the new site for the Royal Melbourne course when that club’s old links were being hemmed in by building projects. He is also credited with laying out the Barwon Heads course at Geelong. In WA Anderson and others thought vacant land near the ocean might be the making of a golf course. Anderson and N C Fowlie designed the nine-hole course, named it Sea View and it was opened as the Cottesloe Golf Club by the Governor on 11 September 1908. Anderson also laid out the first nine holes of the Royal Fremantle course. Anderson won the last of his four club trophy events in 1928 at the age of 57.
Tournament wins
this list is incomplete- 1893 The Amateur ChampionshipThe Amateur ChampionshipThe Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...
- 1898 Surrey Hills Gentlemen's Championship, Gold Medal
- 1899 Surrey Hills Gentlemen's Championship, Gold Medal
- 1902 Surrey Hills Gentlemen's Championship, Gold Medal
Amateur wins (1)
| Year | Championship | Winning Score | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1893 | The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur... |
1 up |  Johnny LaidlayJohnny Laidlay John Ernest Laidlay was a Scottish amateur golfer. He invented the most popular golf grip used today, although the grip is credited to Harry Vardon, who took it up after Laidlay.... |
Results timeline
Note: Anderson played in only The Open ChampionshipThe Open Championship
The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
and The Amateur Championship
The Amateur Championship
The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur...
.
| Tournament | 1891 | 1892 | 1893 | 1894 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Open Championship The Open Championship The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico... |
CUT | DNP | T19 | DNP |
| The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur... |
DNP | DNP | 1 | R32 |
DNP = Did not play
CUT = Missed the cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10
Source for British Open: www.opengolf.com
Source for 1894 British Amateur: The Glasgow Herald, April 26, 1894, pg. 11.
Family
Anderson married Agnes Henrietta Macartney on 5 July 1899, at Hawthorn, VictoriaHawthorn, Victoria
Hawthorn is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara...
. Agnes was the sister of a student he tutored at Mansfield and granddaughter of Hussey Burgh Macartney, the Anglican Dean of Melbourne who in 1855 was one of the founders of Geelong Grammar School. They had six sons and seven daughters. Anderson died on 26 August 1955, at his home at Swanbourne
Swanbourne
Swanbourne is a village and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located about two miles east of Winslow, three miles west of Stewkley, on the secondary road B4032.-History:...
.