News Detail
Reflection on our Motto
Today is the birthday of our founder, CW Lonsdale – February 1st.
Yesterday, I drove up to Parksville (through torrential rain) to lay a wreath on his grave to mark the 134th anniversary of his birth in 1886.
At the base of the headstone, the school motto he chose for Shawnigan is carved into the granite: ‘Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat’.
This time last year, Mr Connolly gave an address in Chapel, entitled ‘CW Lonsdale, Lost and Found’ – and he told a tale of a young, lost Lonsdale who floundered his way through school with disastrous report cards and who failed to win a place at university.
His parents despatched him, an embarrassment to the family, to Canada with a one-way ticket.
He invented a degree from Durham University along the way.
There is something deeply and deliciously improbable about his rise from academic flop in London to founder and headmaster of this school, carved out of the British Columbian wilderness.
Something of his Westminster School education stayed with him. It is believed that he took our colours, black and gold (and our motto) from his boarding house at Westminster.
Shawnigan’s motto, Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat, can be translated from Latin as ‘Let whoever earns the palm (the reward), bear it’ – referencing the Roman custom of awarding a palm branch to a victorious gladiator.
It became widely known and recognised as the motto adopted by Horatio Nelson, a British naval hero – by the end, a one-armed, one-eyed Vice-Admiral, in command of HMS Victory and the fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and, on the brink of victory, shot through the spine by a French sharpshooter.
Lonsdale evidently remembered his naval history and tales of exploration from his days at Westminster.
He drew great strength from a prayer attributed to Sir Francis Drake – Englishman, sea captain, adventurer and circumnavigator of the globe – and which we know as the Founder’s prayer here at Shawnigan.
Over time, the motto has been used as a watchword, a touchstone, a north star – from the British Royal Naval School to military academies, from schools to universities around the world.
School crests, from Australia to New Zealand, proudly declare the motto with closer to home, Upper Canada College and the University of Southern California, sharing our motto.
As we step into a new decade and establish our strategic directions, I have found myself returning, again and again, to our motto, its meaning and significance.
Our motto speaks to qualities that are as inherent to the School today as they were in 1916 (at its outset) but, to extend the metaphor of gladiatorial symbols of victory, we must not rest upon our laurels.
Our motto has influenced many of our alumni.
On the anniversary of D-Day, last June, I told the story of Shawnigan alumnus, Lieutenant William Stewart Ferguson, who 75 years ago was captured and executed in France by a squad of Hitler Youth. Carved into the headstone in the Commonwealth Cemetery is the (Canadian) maple leaf and, at the bottom and at the request of his family, is our school motto:
Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat.
I find it deeply touching that his family chose our motto for the gravestone.
A school motto needs to capture the essence of the school – needs to be memorable, compelling…and above all things….splendid in its brevity.
‘Manners Makyth Man’ is the motto of my School and has been a guiding code of conduct for me for the past 35 years of my life – it speaks not only to courtesy but to moral character and principles.
Imagine my surprise, on leaving Lonsdale’s one evening last term, to discover it written above the door!
I know that many of you know by heart the mottos of your Houses – from Kaye’s ‘Alis Volamus Propriis’ (‘On Wings We Fly’) to Duxbury’s brilliant warning of ‘Cave Lupum’ (‘Beware the Wolf’).
I wonder – if founding a school – what you would choose as your guiding motto.
Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat is more than a recognition of victory – it is about the journey and effort that underpin all achievement at all levels, both individual and collective.
It is not about the medals, winning at all costs, the narcissism of victory, etc – all uncomfortable interpretations which challenge what it means to be at and part of Shawnigan.
Mr Noble, alumnus and also a member of staff for 37 years, last term expressed to me and some other long-serving members of staff that it was important that we helped define our motto for the benefit of our students and staff, capturing the twin pillars of shared success and essential humility.
On Tuesday morning, I found three Grade 8s – Dave P, Pierce J and Sant R – in the Head’s Office asking Mrs Miranda what our school motto is and what it means. They were exploring the School with a Mrs Grass quiz in their hands – eager to learn our history.
I invite the Rev, on our Founder’s birthday, to speak to our shared vision for our motto as we step into a new decade.
Richard D A Lamont
Headmaster
1st February 2020
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
