A vivid description of Duncan C is given by Eric Parker in Eton in the ‘Eighties:

 

Another master who combined amiability with an infinite capacity for being imposed upon was the Reverend Duncan Crookes Tovey. ... a master who could be made the victim of endless practical jokes, yet who could be trusted never to retaliate in any dangerous way. He would burst into fulminations of wrath, we knew: he would threaten us with the direst penalties, he would even set us punishments which if they had ever been exacted would have taken weeks of the half, but the cloud-bursts of wrath, we knew, would pass, and in a few moments the sun would be shining again, as it surely would have shone always if we had let that kindliest of old men alone.

 

It may be indicative of the way Duncan C looked, or perhaps it’s the perception held by all school boys, but that ‘kindliest of old men’ was only 32 when he became a master at Eton and 44 when he left.

 

In 1886 he became Rector of St Mary’s at Worplesdon in Surrey, a church vested in Eton College. The family lived at Maryland, named ‘The Old Rectory’ until 1916, on the eastern edge of the village. Duncan C continued his interest in English poetry and literature, particularly the works of Thomas Grey. This is reflected in a number of published works. 3

 

 

 

Duncan Crookes Tovey (1842-1912)
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