The First 20 Years

The first two decades of Shawnigan Lake School’s history were filled with change and growing pains. They saw the birth of the original four Houses – Ripley’s, Groves’, Lake’s, and Copeman’s – the start of inter-House competition, the establishment of financial aid, and the solidification of the sporting traditions we cherish. 

 

Quite interestingly, the original four flagship sports of the School bear almost no resemblance to the sports we champion today. By 1923, the four sports the School proudly played were soccer, cricket, badminton, and boxing. It wasn’t until 1928 when Captain Martien E. D. W. “Tiny” Levien joined the staff that rugby – then called football in the School yearbook – was established. Two years after rugby was first introduced, rowing was added to the roster with a donated shell that had been brought over from England. However, rowing was not the program it is today and was only an inter-House competition that hadn’t made it beyond the School grounds. It would take another two and half decades for the rowing program we know today to be established. The final two sports that are today’s main draw – squash and ice hockey – were hardly, if ever, mentioned, with any games played for the latter sport being entirely reliant on whether Shawnigan Lake would freeze over the winter.

 

Tragically, a few months after the 10th anniversary of the School’s founding, a fire broke out on December 16, 1926 that originated in the drying-room chimney and tore through the whole School in less than five hours. The only building that was saved was the newly built gymnasium that was only licked by flames and nothing worse. This devastating fire left over 100 boys without a place to sleep or an adequate place to learn. Had Lonsdale been anyone else, a fire of this magnitude might have meant the end of his dream. But our founder was relentless in his mission to create the School we know today and vowed to rebuild better than before. In the yearbook from the year of the fire, there was no question that Shawnigan’s legacy would endure as it was made clear “boarders will return on January 14th.” And return they did, even if the juniors and seniors were scattered between the Hill House on School grounds and Cadboro Bay down in Victoria. In a truly impressive feat, the School was rebuilt by the end of 1927 as good as – or better than – before much like a phoenix from the ashes.

 

By the end of the second decade of the School being open, this little slice of paradise was feeling the impact of the world around it. In those 20 years, the School population soared from the original six students in 1916 to 200 boys in 1929 only to plummet to a mere 88 by 1936. This wild fluctuation in student population perfectly reflected the economic troubles of the time with the onset of the Great Depression and worries about impending conflict. However, Lonsdale was not to be deterred in his goal of creating a school that young men would flock to and thrive at. He was well aware of the economic hardships being faced by families and at one time even accepted a side of beef as a form of payment. The very first scholarships were also awarded in 1930 to students in order to help alleviate some of the financial burden felt by families. This tradition of making a good education accessible to a wide range of students, no matter their background, continues to this day.

 

While it cannot be denied that these years were tumultuous, it also cannot be overstated that so much of what makes Shawnigan Lake School what it is was built up in those early years. While we may not have cricket or boxing anymore, the emphasis on the importance of sport and caring for oneself has carried through the decades. The spirit of resilience has maintained and the imagery of a phoenix rising still echoes on the campus today as the mythical creature has become what represents the very House named after our founder. As the School and its alumni kept marching through time and into a period of conflict, one can only hope that what the boys learned and the ties that bound them, would help them through the treacherous times that were coming.