- Philip Le Couteur
Philip Ridgeway Le Couteur (
26 June 1885 –30 June 1958 ) was anAustralia n academic, philosopher and headmaster.Early life
Le Couteur was born at
Kyneton, Victoria , the only son of George, apharmaceutical chemist , and his wife Fanny. Both parents wereMethodist and Australian born. He was educated at Middle Park State School and Warrnambool Academy before serving a pharmacyapprenticeship .Academic career
In 1903 he entered the
University of Melbourne to study arts and in 1904 he won a Queen's College residential scholarship. He graduated with aBachelor of Arts in 1906 and was a tripleblue incricket , football andlawn tennis . After beginning a medical degree in 1907 Le Couteur won the VictorianRhodes Scholarship for 1908 and, with a Melbourne Master of Arts, proceeded toUniversity College, Oxford . He won an Oxford cricket blue and in 1911 a place in Wisden for making 160 runs and taking 11 wickets for 69 againstCambridge . He played regularly forGentlemen versus Players and wrote magazines on the psychology of cricket. He was also a member of the Oxford Oxford String Quartette. Le Couteur then studiedexperimental psychology at theUniversity of Bonn ,Germany until early 1913 when he was appointed lecturer in mental and moralphilosophy in the newly establishedUniversity of Western Australia . It that year he married Emma, the musically gifted daughter of Edward Sugden.Headmaster
In 1918 Le Couteur was appointed headmaster of
Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne . The position proved difficult, as control of the school was shared with the foundation president, who was a bulwark against reform. For ten years Le Couteur served on various university committees and school councils and captained the Hawthorn-East Melbourne Cricket Club. Unsuccessful in applications for the headship ofSydney Grammar School in 1921 and the mastership of Queen's in 1927, he became headmaster ofHale School in 1929.In 1931 he was appointed headmaster ofNewington College succeeding the Rev Dr Charles Prescott. Le Couteur's term at Newington covered the difficult Depression and war years, yet saw a remarkable increase in pupils and the opening of a preparatory school,Wyvern House , in 1938. With his wife Le Couteur developed the school's musical life. On retirement in 1948 he maintained an interest in the Fairbridge Farm School movement. He died inGunnedah, New South Wales , and was survived by his wife, two daughters and three sons.References
* A. G. Thomson Zainu'ddin, 'Le Couteur, Philip Ridgeway (1885 - 1958)', Australian Dictionary of Biography (MUP, 1986)
* O. Parnaby, Queen's College - A Centenary History (Melb, 1990)
* D. S. Macmillan, Newington College 1863-1963 (Syd, 1963)
* P. L. Swain, Newington Across the Years 1863-1998 (Syd, 1999)
* R. M. Heath, History of the Le Couteur and Sugden Families (Syd 1979)External links
* A. G. Thomson Zainu'ddin, ' [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100040b.htm Le Couteur, Philip Ridgeway (1885 - 1958)] ',
Australian Dictionary of Biography , Volume 10, MUP, 1986, pp 44-45.
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