IT recently came to the attention of headmaster of More House School, Jonathan Hetherington, that the headstone for the school’s founder, Brother Joseph’s grave, located in Farnham Cemetery had become unsafe, and was badly in need of some care and attention.

Brother Joseph Gardner was the school’s first headmaster, and the founder of the local specialist boys school. When he opened the school in 1939, it was first named The Thomas More School, named after St Thomas More who was councillor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532.

Thomas More was executed on July 6, 1535, because he opposed Henry VIII’s separation from the Catholic church and divorce of Catherine of Aragon.  Thereafter he was made a saint by Pope Pius XI in 1935.

Brother Joseph Gardner began The Thomas More School “to help boys of good intelligence” who need “extra consideration and individual attention” in order to achieve that of which they are capable (taken from an early school prospectus in the year Brother Joseph died).

The school, which has always had boarders, provided a wide range of lessons, as well as speech therapy. The pupils also learned to perform in the Frensham Circus, the performances of which were watched by thousands. The school, of course, later became known by its present name: More House School.

In April this year Mr Hetherington, instructed that Brother Joseph’s headstone be cleaned, the lettering re-enamelled, and for the stone to be re-fixed in the ground, ensuring its safety and witness to the remarkable Brother Joseph’s life, for many years to come.

It is intended that an annual visit to the grave, by a party of pupils from More House School, will be made before Founder’s Day each year.

For those interested, Brother Joseph’s headstone may be viewed in West Street Cemetery, Farnham in the Roman Catholic section, at plot V1212.