Kingham Hill School is looking to explore its fascinating links with Ontario. Between 1895 and 1946 ten boys a year left the school to be trained in agriculture on a farm in Ontario purchased by the school’s founder, Charles Edward Baring Young.Current Headmaster, Nick Seward, will be visiting Woodstock this December to trace the history of the farm and to discover what happened to the Havelock Farm boys. He is eager to meet friends and relatives.
Havelock Farm was established in 1895 when the first group of ten boys arrived in Woodstock, Ontario from Oxfordshire, to begin their new life in Canada. After that, ten boys a year arrived at Havelock Farm until 1946, when the farm was sold. They honed their farming skills by working the land at Havelock, with many boys going on to establish their own farms in Ontario, settling forever in their adopted land. Others settled elsewhere in Canada but pursued different careers, including working for the Fire Department, the Civil Service and for the Government in Ottawa. Havelock Farm, however, remained an integral place in their lives and they returned regularly for reunions and gatherings for many years.
The school would love to hear from anyone who has a family member who was a Havelock Farm Boy or anyone who has a connection with the Farm. A reunion of surviving Farm Boys and their descendants will take place in Woodstock at the start of December.
For further information please contact Harriet Atkinson by telephone 00 44 1608 731880, by email or in writing to Kingham Hill School, Kingham, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, OX7 6TH, UK.
