Stocks-Review-Summer-2023

| Summer 2023 | 11

Ibstock Place Stocks Review

An Hi s tor ic Prof i le

Iris Murdoch Pupil at Ibstock, 1924 to 1932

The award winning writer and moral philosopher Iris Murdoch is perhaps our most noted alumna, having been a pupil at the Froebel Institute (the school before it became Ibstock Place) from the age of five until she left to attend Badminton School in 1932. Iris described her days at our school as entirely happy ones. We will enjoy more of her recollections of school later on.

Between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes are worn out.

Iris Murdoch was born in 1919 in Ireland. Fowling her school years she went up to Oxford to read Classics at Somervile College. In the War years she worked for the Treasury and afterwards for a brief time Iris worked with the UN, rehabilitating people displaced by the war. Iris then went to Cambridge where she studied for a degree in Philosophy. Iris returned to Oxford to take up a place firstly as a tutor then subsequently as a fellow at St Anne’s College, teaching Philosophy. It is here she met and married her husband, and lattery-day carer, John Bayley. Iris’ literary breakthrough came from the publishing of her first novel The Net (1954) and she then managed to produce a book every 18 months or so for the next forty years. Her books often took “dramas of the human heart” as their subject. She described fiction as a hall of reflection, which “can encompass every form of tragedy and comedy”. Whilst some critics suggested her books might have benefited from some judicious editing thereby giving them a more immediate appeal to the masses, many have proclaimed Iris Murdoch as the foremost author of the post war generations. For someone with such a moral brilliance, such a good kindly nature, her final years succumbing to the indignities and vicissitudes of Alzheimer’s were hard to bear. John Bayley published his memoirs of these final years, inwhich he recalled his wife Iris sitting in her armchair, her rapier like intellect crumbling, enjoying watching the children’s TV programme Teletubbies. He also recalls that during one of her final lucid comments she uttered “I’m sailing into the darkness”. His memoirs of these final years were made into a powerful film starring Judi Dench as Iris Murdoch and this poignant yet unflinchingly honest portrayal garnered many awards. Sailing into the darkness

The snowdrop hangs down her head. Why?

Iris began writing at an early age, partly she believed as compensation for having no siblings to play with. “I’m the only child in search of an imaginary brother or sister. That is probably why I like to invent characters”. We are very fortunate to have in our archives a letter from Iris Murdoch which recalls her time at our school. She describes herself as a very docile child and the concept of attention to detail was acquired very early. Her pictures of school at this age were “of light, of freedom and happiness. The great greedy pleasures of learning, the calm kindly authority of teachers, the mutual amiability of children”. She also recalls the importance of competition within all of this play and discovery, so espoused by Froebel’s philosophies. She talks of how “a spirit of courtesy, of dignity, of standards, of care for others were so painlessly induced”. Her love of classics started here with her learning of Latin under the tutelage of Miss Burdett. It was here also that she learned her love of writing and throughout her life she eschewed any formof mechanical aid, choosing towrite all of her books by hand. The first model sentence she ever wrote remained with Iris throughout her life. “The snowdrop hangs down her head. Why?” Why indeed she said! A thought provoking question; a good introduction to a world that is and remains full of mysteries.

Written by Clive Bartram, Teacher of Biology