University College Plymouth St Mark & St John

THOMAS WISEMAN

Mr Thomas Wiseman is a retired headmaster of a mixed comprehensive school in Tiptree, Essex.  He retired in 1981 at the age of 65 and has a very active retirement in Colchester.  Mr Wiseman visited UCP Marjon in Plymouth for the first time in April 2008 having attended the College of St Mark and St John in Chelsea from 1935 to 1938.

 
_{Mr Wiseman during a visit to UCP Marjon with his nephew Richard Clay}

What course did you study at Marjon?
Teacher Certificate.  I also have 2 degrees and a higher diploma.

Why did you go on to higher education?
I wanted to be a teacher.  I have a brother and a sister, my brother also went to grammar school, but my sister had to go into service at the age of 14 to help pay for myself and my brother to continue our education.

Best and worse things about university
I grew up in a very small village, and initially went to a church school before winning a scholarship to a grammar school.  There were no other children in the village who shared my interests and the best thing about Marjon was the community spirit I discovered there and the making of friends.

The hardest thing was having to live on very little money.

When did you graduate?
I left Marjon in 1938 just as the war was starting, and returned to studying after the war and completed a 2 years Honours degree in Geology in 1949.

Career History
I was in the Royal Airforce from 1939 to 1946.  I started off at an Air Gunnery School training gunners.  From here I changed roles and worked with Codes and Ciphers at Chatham and Bletchley Park as I had studied French at College and had a little German.  I decoded messages from the German High Command and had to decide which of the Services I should send the decoded message to.

I then went to Normandy with the 21^st Army Group, and I was at Reims on the 7 May 1945 when the German Instrument of Surrender was signed.  I was in an office 2 doors away from the officers signing the document.

After the war I completed my degree and went into teaching.  I went from a secondary modern school to a grammar school eventually becoming a deputy head of a technical school until becoming headmaster in 1958.  I recall the second class I taught having 48 pupils, a very large group.

What’s the professional achievement you’ve been most proud of since graduating?
Becoming a headmaster and building up the school from 200 pupils to over 1000, it was a lifetimes work.

What personal achievement are you most proud of?
I married a WRAF girl I met in Chatham in June 1944.  We have 3 daughters.

What are your main hobbies or interests?
Bird watching is my main hobby now and I swim every day.  I was chairman of the local twinning society and involved with the National History Society.