"in celebration of a truly monumental life"       Rev. Sidney Nesbitt Pearson

Rev. Pearson: I was born on 18 January 1916 in the village of Neville’s Cross on the outskirts of the ancient cathedral city of Durham in the northeast of England. I got a degree at Durham University in English and I took my teacher training qualification with a view to being an English teacher in a secondary school.

prempeh.org: Sir, what inspired you to go to Ghana? And what was your first job when you got there?

Rev. Pearson: I was brought up in the Methodist Church and I had a keen interest in overseas missions work. In April 1938 I attended an Overseas Missions meeting addressed by an ex-missionary. In his talk he stressed the need for teachers of English overseas. I thought and prayed a lot about this and then I wrote to the Methodist Mission House offering my services to work overseas if they needed me. I was accepted and, because of my keen interest in Africa, in September 1938 I sailed for the Gold Coast. I went to be a member of staff at Wesley College, Kumasi.

While attending the Methodist Synod in Accra in January 1939, I was asked if I would show a newly-arrived missionary around. Irene Dixon was going to be joining the staff at Mofratro [spelling?] School and Teacher Training College. It was a fateful meeting because on 18 December 1941 Renée and I were married in the chapel at Wesley College.

prempeh.org: After how much time after you arrived in Ghana did you get the call to come and establish Prempeh?

Rev. Pearson: My wife and I were taken by a friend to the north of the Gold Coast. The people there asked us who we were and why we were there and when we answered that we were missionaries, they asked what missionaries were and who this Jesus Christ was that we served. Seeing the opportunity of telling them more about Jesus, I decided to undergo theological training. A heart attack and an extended furlough seemed the ideal opportunity to do this so from 1945 to 1947 I did a theological degree at Cambridge University and was ordained a minister.

We then returned to the Gold Coast and the intention was that we would go to the northern part of the country and I would tell the people there about Jesus. In January 1948 at Takoradi I was met the news that there had been a change of plan and I was to be the first Headmaster of a Boys secondary school in Ashanti – as yet the school didn’t exist. First I was to spend a year on the staff at Mfantsipim, Cape Coast, where as well as teaching I was particularly to familiarise myself with the administrative side of running a school. Unfortunately the headmaster, Rev, A Sneath, died of a heart attack and I had to take over as temporary headmaster and run that school.

prempeh.org: Who recruited you for the Prempeh job and how did the idea for the College come about?

Rev. Pearson: It was an ad hoc committee of government officials, missionaries and businessmen who decided to set up a boys secondary school in Ashanti and I was chosen to be its headmaster.

prempeh.org: What schools were in Ashanti at that time?

Rev. Pearson: The problem was that there were no secondary schools for boys in Ashanti at that time so boys had to go down and attend schools at the coast.

prempeh.org: Please tell us about your initial meeting with the King and your future interactions with him.

Rev. Pearson: I first met the Asantehene when I was on the staff at Wesley College and I got to know him fairly well. His views on education were exactly the same as mine so we cooperated very well together and he used to say that that if there was anything that was needed, he would do whatever he could to help. Once the school was established, as well as official visits to Prempeh during the day, he regularly paid informal visits in the evenings to see how things were progressing.

prempeh.org: Please tell us about how you went about establishing the School (the source of funding, choice of site and recruitment of teachers, etc.).

Rev. Pearson: We searched all over Ashanti for a suitable site for the school but without success. Then the Asantehene directed us to a closed military hospital and suggested that the wards might be converted into dormitories and classrooms and the store rooms could be converted into rooms for the staff. The site of the actual hospital was very limited so the King gifted the surrounding land to the school to enable it to have reasonable grounds for expansion. The only problem with that was that this additional land was all bush and would have to be cleared before it could be used by the school.

prempeh.org: Tell us about the naming of the School and the choice of school colours, crest, motto, etc. What is the history behind The Stool?

Rev. Pearson: The name originally suggested for the new school was the Ashanti Secondary School for Boys, which seemed suitable until someone pointed out what the initials spelled out. Further attempts to find a name proved fruitless so again the King stepped in and said that we could use his name for the new school if we didn’t mind. Far from minding, everyone was overjoyed and honoured to be allowed to use his name and so the name Prempeh College was chosen.

The King also gave permission for the colours of Ashanti to be used. The actual crest was designed by myself and my wife and the original motto was suggested by the Asantehene: it was ‘Omanpa Fapem Ne Obra Pa’ meaning a good nation is the result of good people.

Once the school had been opened, the King said that the Ashanti Confederacy wanted the school to be a part of it, would I mind? I was absolutely delighted and the Asantehene undertook to provide the stool which would symbolise the school’s membership of that august body.

The Colonial Government provided the main funding for the school and the Methodist and Presbyterian churches said they would help recruit suitable staff. I approached Mr O.K. Money and Mr D. Osei, who had been students at Wesley College, and Mr Anum of the Presbyterian Church.

Syllabuses were worked out for a five years pre-university course. The aim was academic excellence combined with practical subjects – agriculture, forestry and engineering.

prempeh.org: How were the pioneer students selected? What was the student body like in the old days?

Rev. Pearson: There were eight Secondary schools in the Gold Coast at that time including Prempeh College and the heads of those schools decided to hold a common entrance exam with the applicants stating their preferences for schools. An advertisement was placed and we received 20,000 applications for about 800 places. After the examination and interviews, the successful students were allocated to the different schools on the basis of their preferences.

In February 1949, Prempeh College opened with 50 boys. The school operated on the ethos of ‘the family’ to which everyone belonged including the wives of staff members, labourers and everyone else associated with the school.

The school was run on a Christian basis but was open to people of all faiths and none. There was always a Sunday evening service which was taken by members of staff or visitors to the school. Attendance was optional but all the boys chose to attend as well as some members of the public from Kumasi.

prempeh.org: You once talked about the first student to be suspended from Prempeh and how it generated publicity. Can you share this story with us. What was their crime and the ensuing punishment?

Rev. Pearson: It was no big deal really. The only student expelled during my time was expelled because he was repeatedly off limits when he should have been on the campus. He was only expelled after having been given a number of warnings and even after his expulsion he was allowed to make use of school books and to sit the exams at the end of the session.

prempeh.org: How much were staff salary and student tuition/fees in those days?

Rev. Pearson: Staff, who were paid by the government, received about £540 p.a. As a Methodist missionary, I was paid by the Methodist Missionary Society as an ordinary missionary and, therefore, received significantly less than that amount. My wife, who did quite a bit of teaching in the school, was sent a salary by the government but it had to be returned because the wives of missionaries were not allowed to be paid.

The pupils paid tuition fees of about £100 p.a. which included food, accommodation, clothing and textbooks as well as the tuition itself.

prempeh.org: How did we do academically in those early years and what academic foundations did you specifically lay down to ensure continual (future) success?

Rev. Pearson: The first cohort of students had just taken their School Certificate examinations but before the results were announced I had to return to the UK as a result of ill health so I don’t know the precise details of how they did although I understand that the results were very good. I tried to encourage the students to be committed to their studies and by combining the practical subjects with the academic, students were able to see the relevance of their studies both to their own lives and future employment and also to their country.

prempeh.org: Please tell us about your deceased wife who was equally revered at that time. What about your children? How many of them were born on Prempeh soil?

Rev. Pearson: I think I’ve already told you how we met and how we eventually married. As missionaries we were committed to a period of service before we were allowed to marry which explains why we didn’t marry until 1941. Renée was my constant companion and support and I owe an enormous debt to her for all that she did to help me in my work in the Gold Coast and at Prempeh College.

Keith, our son, was born in the Kumasi Hospital in June 1944. It was normal in those days for Europeans to return home to have their children but we decided to stay where we were so Keith was the first white baby to be born in Kumasi. When Prempeh College was opened he was befriended by the pioneers and was given a small-size Prempeh College blazer so he regards himself as an honorary Amanfoo.

Wendy, our daughter, should have been born in Kumasi in 1953 but unfortunately ill health forced me to return to the UK in December 1952 so Wendy, to her great regret, was born in England in the following March.

Keith is now a Head of the Social Sciences Department in Dundee College, one of the biggest Further Education colleges in Scotland. He is married with two grown-up daughters. Wendy is Head of Religious Education in a secondary school in Kirriemuir in Scotland and she too is married.

prempeh.org: Who was your Deputy (Headmaster) at that time? Can you name some of the people you had on your staff?

Rev. Pearson: Mr C J Bannerman was appointed as Deputy Headmaster and, as well as those already mentioned, two other members of staff in the early days of the school were Mr Riverson and Dr Manshardt.

prempeh.org: Much has already been made out about the awe-inspiring architecture of the School. Can you please tell us about the architects and how they came about doing this job?

Rev. Pearson: The Government appointed two very eminent architects, Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, as the architects for the school. I first of all visited them in their offices in London to discuss their ideas and plans and they later came out to Kumasi to have a look at the actual site. In their day their designs were very new and experimental – especially the roof of the Assembly Hall and the curving classroom block. When they were built they attracted much favourable attention. The contractor responsible for building the school was E. Tonone, an Italian company.

prempeh.org: Tell us about the circumstances surrounding your departure and when exactly you left Prempeh?

Rev. Pearson: As I have mentioned before, I had a serious breakdown in my health in November 1952 and as a result I was told that I wouldn’t be able to continue to work in a tropical country. We flew out of the Gold Coast on 23 December 1952 and I continued my convalescence in England through to the following summer. In September 1953 I took up the post of Methodist Minister in the fishing town of Girvan in south-west Scotland.

prempeh.org: Sir, what were your impressions of the 1999 Golden Jubilee you attended? Besides the Assembly Hall where the ceremony was held, did you get to see other areas of the campus? Did you visit Pearson House?

Rev. Pearson: Keith and I thought the celebrations were wonderful and impressive and we were very moved by the warmth of the welcome we both received from everyone in Ghana.

Following the Speech and Prize Giving we went over to see the President open the new college library and then after the Sunday service in the Assembly Hall we were taken to see the site of the new Opuku Ware House.

We returned to the school campus on the Tuesday and were taken on a tour of the entire site finishing up at Pearson House where we took photographs and spoke to some of the boys.

prempeh.org: How were you received in Ghana as a whole? How did the people and government of Ghana receive you?

Rev. Pearson: As I said before, we received the most wonderful welcome from everyone we were in contact with. We were treated with great kindness and courtesy by everyone we met both in Kumasi and in Accra.

prempeh.org: You had a special reception at the Asantehene's palace. Please tell us about it. What did the King say to you personally?

Rev. Pearson: We had an audience with the Asantehene and his elders. As is the custom, there were the formal speeches of welcome and an exchange of gifts. The Asantehene gave me a small wooden stool and when I had the opportunity to speak to him personally, he said that he knew that he wouldn’t have to explain the significance of the stool to me. I was very pleased and honoured to receive such a gift. I was also given a picture of the king in his ceremonial dress. Afterwards Keith and I posed for photos with the Asantehene and the Headmaster and I signed the official visitors book.

prempeh.org: You had not been to Ghana since 1974, when you attended the Silver Jubilee. What do you remember about the 1974 occasion and how did it compare to the 1999 Golden Jubilee?

Rev. Pearson: When Renée and I attended the Silver Jubilee celebrations, it was the first time we had been back to Prempeh since we left in 1952 and we were naturally wondering what we would find. Needless-to-say we were extremely pleased with how the school had developed but I found our visit in 1999 even more amazing.

prempeh.org: What do you think about the present-day Ghana and the future of the College you built?

Rev. Pearson: I was very pleased to see the way the country had developed and I was extremely proud of the contribution the Amanfoo had made both to the country and also in the wider world.

prempeh.org: Lastly, what gives you the most satisfaction about the job you did in Ghana? In retrospect, is there anything you would have loved to do differently?

Rev. Pearson: I have really had the greatest satisfaction from seeing how the school has grown and how the old boys have made such a valuable contribution to the development and running of their country. Christopher Wren, the architect and builder, when asked what he would like his memorial to be, said while standing in St Paul’s Cathedral in London, which he had built, “if you want a memorial, look round about you”. I feel very much the same – Prempeh College stands as a proud memorial to what I was able to start in Ghana.

I don’t think I would want to change anything except that I wish I had enjoyed better health so that I could have served for a longer period as Headmaster. It was very frustrating to have to leave without seeing all the plans and developments I had been involved in being realised and not having an opportunity of seeing at that time the old boys of the school beginning to take their place in society.

Rev. Pearson passed away after completing our questionaire. It was Keith, his son, who wrote down the responses the feeble old man dictated to him.