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Discovering The
ACS Heritage
Greetings to the ACS Family!
I am Elizabeth Callard, the granddaughter
of T.W. Hinch - the longest serving
principal of the Anglo-Chinese School to
date and the man who gave the school
its motto, introduced the ACS House
System and is widely considered the
tradition-builder of ACS.
I was raised in the United States, and
I saw my grandparents, who lived in
England at the time, infrequently when
I was growing up. I knew only the bare
bones of their life stories, but eventually
I became interested in family history.
Unfortunately, by then my grandparents
had passed on, and my mother was
unable to provide much details about
her parents’ early lives. She had been
sent to school in England at the age of
five and never returned to Singapore due
to the intervention of WWII. My mother
knew very little of her parents’ lives in
Singapore because she simply wasn’t
there.
When my husband Jim and I made plans
to visit Singapore this Summer, we hoped
to contact people who could tell us more
about my grandfather’s role in ACS. I
knew that my grandfather had been close
friends with Chen Jan Jee, ACSOBA
President (1955-58) but I was not in
touch with the Chen family. So, I wrote
to ACS and the Old Boy’s Association
and had the amazing good fortune to
hear back from Joy-marie Toh, the late
Mr. Chen’s granddaughter who happens
to be on the Management Committee of
the OBA!
Joy-marie is wonderful. She arranged
for us to see the ACS (Independent),
including Hinch Hall, and to speak with
many members of the ACS community,
including Mr Cecil Wong, whose wedding
my grandfather had been part of, and
Professor Lawrence Chia, who was the
Principal of ACS (Independent) and took
us around the campus when I last visited
Singapore about 30 years ago (also
arranged by Joy-marie’s family).
We had acquired more than simple facts
about the past when we left Singapore
with wonderful memories, a host of
personal anecdotes to treasure, and a
deeper understanding of the community
that is ACS. We came to admire and
respect the character, commitment, and
standards of those who worked to make
ACS what it is today – and we learned
that “The Best is Yet to Be.”
Elizabeth Callard
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1958 – Mr and Mrs Hinch as
guests of the ACSOBA. Chen Jan Jee, President,
ACSOBA (1955- 1958) and Cecil Wong, President,
ACSOBA (1958- 1961)
who are sitting on the left and right of the
Hinches respectively, were former
students of Mr Hinch and played on the ACS
Cricket team under his leadership |
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1958
– The Hinches at the Tan Chin Tuan Mansion,
hosted by Tan Sri Tan
Chin Tuan, President, ACSOBA (1938-1941) and
Puan Sri Helene Tan.
From left to right: B. Paul, who was a
much-respected teacher of Tan Sri Tan,
Tan Sri Tan, Mr and Mrs Hinch, Chen Jan Jee,
Puan Sri Helene and Cecil Wong |
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The Callards at T. W. Hinch Hall, ACS
(Independent) |
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