Frederick Robert WhitePrint Page

The first of the seven windows in the chapel sanctuary of the Armidale School commemorates Frederick Robert White who, with Archdeacon Ross, played a key role in securing Armidale as the site for the School.

White served as a member of the original Board of Directors and was a significant and generous benefactor. He died on 6 September, 1903, aged 68. White House is named after the White family.

White became a leading figure in, and benefactor of, the Church of England, becoming a lay reader and office holder in the church of St Paul’s, Murrurundi. He was instrumental in engaging John Horbury Hunt to design a new church, of which he was the main contributor to the cost, and laid the foundation stone. In 1880 he contributed about half of the cost of another Hunt designed church at Blandford, not far down the road from Murrurundi and closer to Harben Vale. He also had Hunt build a third church at Timor as well as stables for Harben Vale. He was also one of the main movers in a campaign to establish an exclusive boys’ school at Blandford, a movement which ultimately led to the establishment of The Armidale School.

In 1877 White bought several small blocks outside of Armidale, possibly with the intention of moving his family there from the Upper Hunter. The decision to move the family to Armidale was cemented in 1880, when it was announced that the new railway line would pass through the town. White bought another 22 blocks of land to the north-west of Armidale, today the site of Booloominbah and the campus of the University of New England.

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