Yates’s

John William Yates (1864-1939) was born in Birmingham, the son of a doctor, and educated in his home town and at Oxford University, where he displayed a passion for rowing and drama. An uncomplicated and unassuming man, he arrived at Campbell to teach Classics in 1898. He was a capable musician, blessed with a good tenor voice. He also composed the school song - Ne Obliviscaris – in 1910, and one of his tunes graced the Irish Church Hymnal. He produced many of the plays performed at Speech Day, and was regarded as something of an inventor – patenting a gadget that made Double Dummy bridge possible! He was one of the original boarding Housemasters in 1908, the first Housemaster of Yate's, and retired to St Albans, where he died on the 1st of January 1939.

From the 2055 Old Campbellian magazine.