The Lessons that Last a Lifetime - Rex Galbraith ('55 - '58)

Rex Galbraith contacted the College after reading the article commemorating David Natusch, which brought back vivid memories of his own time at Lindisfarne. As he recalls,” I was a pupil at Lindisfarne from 1955 to 1958 and although a year younger than David, I was in the same class. We were the only two boys in the Upper 6th form and we naturally became quite close friends through studying together.”

Alongside strong friendships, Rex vividly recalls the influence of exceptional teaching. “Our mathematics master was George Clarke. He was a top-class mathematician, a Cambridge Wrangler, (a Cambridge student who had passed his final exams with first class honours) and a bit older than most of the other masters. He had been a Magistrate (I think) in Burma before and during WW2 and had to leave at short notice just before the Japanese army invaded Burma. As it happened, he came to New Zealand and got a teaching job at Lindisfarne. At an early stage Mr Clarke recognised that I was interested in maths and good at it and he made an effort to encourage and develop this. He showed me all sorts of clever tricks with algebra, trigonometry and equation solving. I could see that he enjoyed teaching me these things that most of the other boys would not care about. I became interested in the beauty of mathematics as well as its power and usefulness, and the way that you could use different arguments to solve a problem. It is one of my regrets that I did not write to him later and that he never knew that I had a successful career as a statistician and scientist.”

That early encouragement proved formative and Rex went on to earn an MSc in Mathematics from the University of Otago and a DSc in Statistics from the 7/18/26, 10:25 University of London. Like his classmate David Natusch, Rex had an illustrious academic career, becoming Head of the Department of Statistical Science at University College London and ultimately an Honorary Professor. Although he retired in 2008, Rex continues to teach Statistics for Researchers and collaborate on scientific projects. He is the author of Statistics for Fission Track Analysis (2005) and of many scientific papers in medicine, geochronology, archaeological dating, statistical methodology, and graphical methods. In 2023 he received the Laslett Prize for contributions to the field of fission track thermochronology.

Mathematics was clearly not the only thing on Rex’s mind during his time at Lindisfarne as he recalls the efforts that he and several boys made to visit Woodford House, “While I was at Lindisfarne in Hastings, my sister Rhys was a pupil at Woodford House. One Sunday, some of my friends had the idea of visiting the girls at Woodford. This was extremely daring! The Headmistress, Miss Lucy Hogg, was well known for being a battle-axe, strict and generally a killjoy. The plan was that I would telephone Miss Hogg and say that I was Rhys’s brother, and as we were both far from home and did not see each other often, except in school holidays, would I please be able to come and visit her this afternoon, perhaps to have afternoon tea? I went on to say that I had three friends who would be pleased to accompany me for safety. I had to get permission to use the telephone in the school secretary’s office and phone in the presence of the secretary. Miss Hogg was clearly taken aback at this unexpected request and inadvertently said ‘Yes’. The result was that four of us: Bob Carter, Randy Horwood, John Falloon and I, got permission to go into town, dressed in our Sunday suits that we had worn to Church earlier and present ourselves at Woodford House.

We were met by Miss Hogg herself and ushered into a common room where we met Rhys and three of her friends, for a polite afternoon tea party. The girls were also allowed to show us around the school garden afterwards and sit with us on the terrace overlooking the swimming pool. Of course, the word got round that some boys from Lindisfarne were in the school, and there were plenty of onlookers a discreet distance away. I don’t think such visits were ever repeated.”

Rex’s reflections highlight the friendships, character, and memorable moments that endure across generations. As his story shows, the experiences formed within the College can resonate for a lifetime and create connections with future generations of students.