Derek Pringle visited St George’s College, the famed English school to the south of Buenos Aires, for the first time in 1996. He was captivated. “How is it possible that something so English thrives here in the middle of Quilmes, Argentina? It truly aroused my curiosity,” he recalls asking himself after that initial tour. 

From 2009 to 2015, Pringle served as the school’s headmaster, but his work there wasn’t done. A graduate of International History and Politics from the University of Leeds, the desire to delve into the past was a job suited for Derek. This year, he published The History of St George’s College, Argentina, a comprehensive history of the institution and a labor of love that took eight years.

He told Herald columnist John Hunter about St George’s, researching the book, and what makes the school so special.

Please tell us about yourself and how you became Headmaster of St George’s College.

I was born in Scotland and brought up on a farm before starting boarding school in Edinburgh. The major sport there was rugby, which I loved. Without knowing it, my background — farming, boarding, rugby — was similar to many of the students at St George’s in that same period of the 1970s. I became the headmaster in Quilmes in 2009. I had applied unsuccessfully for the job some years before, but my name must have been kept on a list. In 2008, two members of the St George’s Board travelled to Chile, where I was working at the time, and offered me the post.

How and why did St George’s College start up in Quilmes?

It started in Quilmes because this is where [Anglican pastor and school founder Joseph T.] Stevenson was based. He was employed at All Saints’ Church in Quilmes, and since he only had six students to begin with, he offered to work for the school for free. But obviously he needed income from somewhere (especially since he was starting a family), and that income came from continuing as the vicar of All Saints’. It would have been too complicated to combine both roles if the school had been located elsewhere. He started the school because he believed (rightly as it turned out) that parents would appreciate having a school that prepared their boys for entry to the English public schools. Before, they had to send them to England to do this preparation, at the age of 8 or 9 years old. Now, they could be prepared at St George’s and join the public schools directly at 12 or 13 years old.

What drove you to write a book on the history of the school?

It was partly curiosity. How was something so English in appearance situated in this corner of South America? Why was it known at one point, rightly or wrongly, as the “Eton College of South America”? How had it become — even as early as before World War One — in many ways an international school, long before this concept was generally known? Then of course, there was the fact that the only detailed history had been written almost 90 years ago, in 1936. How was it possible that no more recent history had been written about such an important institution? I was also keen for the community to know much more about the school.

How did you go about the investigation and research? What were your sources?

I carried out interviews with 115 people — Old Georgians of all ages, plus past and present staff of the school. Another very important source were the Georgian magazines, which go right back to 1901 when the school was only three years old. I used old newspapers, in both English and Spanish. The archive and museum of the school was another wonderful source. It has lots of documents, old newsletters and thousands of photos. Then I read and consulted the considerable literature that exists on the Anglo community in Argentina.

What can a reader find in the book?

I hope the reader will find an enjoyable and interesting story. The book is of course primarily a school history, but it does also look at the wider picture. The British Empire at the height of its power when the school started in 1898, the changing Argentine context throughout the story of the school. The book also looks at Quilmes. People forget that for 30 years it was the top holiday resort in Argentina.

What things would you say have changed at the school in these last 125 years? And what haven’t?

The sense of tradition and the importance of a boarding ethos at the heart of the school have been maintained…as have the wonderful grounds. The biggest changes have been the introduction of coeducation, more focus on academic topics, the increase in student numbers, the change in student intake from almost exclusively Anglo families to almost exclusively Latin American families. St George’s was only for boarders, and still has an important core of residents, but now the great majority are day students.

St George’s has quite a reputation. What makes the school so special?

A sense of belonging. Almost everyone who is or has been associated with the school feels an identification that you will not easily find elsewhere.

Finally, what does this book mean to you?

I started the work on it eight years ago and have been researching and writing in my spare time, while running a school in Peru. So it will be nice to regain some free time and spend more time with my wife! Equally, the book will remain part of my life and I plan to make corrections and updates should a second edition become necessary at some point in the future.