In a recent post Evelyn wrote about Cornelius Bradley Hundleby. Charles Ernest (pictured) was Cornelius' grandson, the eldest son of Cornelius junior.
Evelyn writes:
Charles Ernest Hundleby was born on 21 April 1903 in West Ashby, the son of Cornelius and Lucy Ann Hundleby.
He attended Horncastle Grammar School and then went on to qualify as a teacher at Westminster College, London, in 1923.
While in London he met his future wife, Constance (Connie) Parker, who was also studying to be a teacher at Whitelands College.
One of his friends at college persuaded him to emigrate to South Africa, and he travelled to teach at the Clarkebury Institution in the Transkei, Eastern Cape. The Institution had been founded in 1835 and it was there that Nelson Mandela received training in the 1930s
On 15 December 1928, Charles and Connie were married at Cambridge, East London.
The same year saw Charles appointed as Assistant at St Matthews Teachers' Training College near Keiskama Hoek in the the Eastern Cape. He was appointed Principal at st Matthews in 1939 and continued to teach there until 1968. Connie also taught there for many years.
In 1962 Charles received his doctorate from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, his subject 'The Phonetics of the Xhosa Language'.
After his 'retirement' Charles was still in demand as a teacher and filled many other posts until 1986. In all he was a teacher for 63 years.
Both Connie and Charles were staunch Anglicans. He was admitted to the Order of Simon of Cyrene by the Anglican Church of South Africa for his lifetime of service to education. The Order was established in 1960 and takes its name from the North African saint who carried the cross for Jesus at his crucifixion. The honour is awarded by the Archbishop of Capetown to distinguished laypersons for exceptional service to the Church and is limited to 60 members at any one time.
Charles passed away on 6 January 1986 following surgery at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Capetown.
The following is a sonnet written by Charles about the place of his birth. For many Hundleby people who have found their life's work in many different countries around the world, the poem surely expresses their heartfelt feelings for Lincolnshire:
The Wolds of Lincolnshire
Oh well remembered in deep summer haze,
The swelling wolds made golden with their wheat
That gentle winds caressed. On willing feet
I strode among the richness, used my days
To blend my spirit with the ancient ways
Of those ancestral Danes come with the fleet
From long lone shores where cold waves ever beat
Against the solid walls of Ness and Naze.
I heard them call; I saw their plaited hair;
Their fires burned; their gods around them shed
An old eternal essence, everywhere
An ancient benison came from the dead.
The dead! To me they live forever here,
On this rich sacred soil of Lincolnshire.
