“My son studies in Penang Free School,” mothers would proclaim, noses up in the air, eyes ablaze.
Established in 1816, this 205-year-old school has produced many a notable figure including Malaysia’s first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, legendary artist P Ramlee and world-renowned physician Wu Lien Teh.
The school also has the honour of being the oldest English-medium school in all of Southeast Asia.
However, up till 1928, sports houses were non-existent.
According to Quah Seng Sun, author of Let the Aisles Proclaim, a biography that commemorates the once-in-a-lifetime Bicentenary celebrations of Penang Free School, students were originally grouped by age.
Quah tells FMT that it was headmaster D R Swaine who made the move to introduce the house system in 1928. There were five in total – Hargreaves (Brown), Pinhorn (Blue), Hamilton (Yellow), Cheeseman (Red) and Wu Lien Teh (Green).
Interestingly, the first three sports houses were named after Swaine’s predecessors.
William Hargreaves was the first academically qualified headmaster for Penang Free School in 1891 and ended his career as a headmaster in 1904.
He was replaced by Ralph Henry Pinhorn, who took charge of the school till 1925. When Pinhorn retired owing to ill health in 1925, William Hamilton became headmaster till 1926.
The next time you find yourself in Penang, look up Pinhorn Road, Hargreaves Road and Hamilton Road, all named after these three well-respected and much-loved headmasters.
The fourth sports house, Cheeseman, was named after a teacher who taught in the school itself – Harold Ambrose Robinson Cheeseman.
He joined the teaching staff in 1907 and remained at the school for 15 years. While here, he produced the school’s first ever school magazine.
By the time he retired from the Malayan civil service in 1948, he had risen in rank to Director-General of Education, Malaya.
If you’re familiar with the roads in Penang, there is a road named after him, Cheeseman Road.
The Covid-19 pandemic definitely brought to light the many accomplishments of Penang-born legendary plague fighter Dr Wu Lien Teh, who designed a face mask that eventually became the N95 mask.
In 1935, he was nominated for the Nobel prize for his fight against the 1910 Manchurian plague and for identifying the role of tarbagan marmots in the transmission of the disease.
And yes, this brilliant scientist was a scholar at Penang Free School, receiving his primary and secondary education here.
However, he never forgot his roots and would make numerous visits back to his alma mater to deliver talks and lectures to students.
A road near the school has been named after him – Wu Lien Teh Garden.
The sixth house, Tunku Putra (Orange) only came about in 1967 after the school celebrated its 150th anniversary.
Tan Boon Lin, who was the headmaster then, announced the formation of this new house in conjunction with the nation’s first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, who was also the guest of honour at the celebration.
Tunku who is an old Free himself contributed to the construction of Kutub Khanah Tunku, Penang Free School’s first ever library. This was in 1969.
Fastforward to 2009 and two final sports houses were introduced by headmaster Haji Ramli Din. These were Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin (Purple) after the Raja of Perlis Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalullail and P Ramlee (Grey).
Interestingly, both Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin and P Ramli, Malaysia’s silver screen legend, studied together here.
Penang Free School has a rather interesting phrase, ‘Once a Free, Always a Free’. It’s not hard to see why.