Ken Felton, Staff Member, 1928–1987

An old supper cloth displaying 347 autographs proudly hangs on the wall of our staff common room.1 These are not celebrity autographs; instead they belong to members of the Cranbrook community who visited the late teacher Ken B Felton and his wife Peggy for afternoon tea. Peggy would ask every visitor who enjoyed her scones during Ken’s 60 years of service at Cranbrook to sign the cloth, before embroidering over the signatures in bright colours.2 The common room too reminds us of Ken, as it is named the Felton Room in his honour of him.3

Kenneth Felton (1902–1991) started at Cranbrook in 1928, after receiving a Bachelor of Arts at Sydney University.4 During his initial years at Cranbrook, Ken coached rugby and swimming and taught English, French and Latin.5

However, from 1942, Ken also became “the man who did everything else”, taking on the additional responsibilities of supervising the tuckshop, the book room, and the library.6 He was the editor of The Cranbrookian. He was also the organiser of prizes and speech day programs, and the treasurer and archivist of the Old Cranbrookians' Association.7 As noted by his friend Harry Nicolson, Ken “always spilt over official limits”, as he helped out whenever the need arose.8

Ken’s first retirement was in 1974 when he became the archivist. At his final retirement speech in 1986, Ken said “…. when I gave up teaching in 1974, it wasn’t difficult for me to be asked to stay on and carry on with this other things, which I did, and I then became Registrar as well.” He supported the Headmaster on enrolment matters and often showed visitors around the school.

Interviews with former students are characterised by their affectionate memories of Ken, “Zun”, “Quikzun”, or “The Hairless one”. Graham Cole’s kind words about his school master are typical: “Ken Felton was a fabulous chap, everybody loved him. He was a decent, decent man. He taught English well, and he just loved those boys, and was so proud of getting them through”.9

Kenneth Everingham too remembers Zun as a kind teacher who “did not cane, but gave firm warnings of monare a me (“be warned by me”) as he gripped you firmly by the arm”.10 Although mid-twentieth century society was more formal than today, with children very much seen and not heard, David Griffin recalled that Ken used to ask some of the best English students over for afternoon tea.11 Former teacher Frank Tebbutt too recollects Ken as a fatherly figure who took the boys on excursions to the Rose Bay Baths.12

There are several stories about how Ken received his many nicknames. According to Hamilton Harvey Sutton, they simply arose from the fact that the teacher had “very few hairs on his head”.13 However, Ian Platt-Hepworth recounted a more detailed story of how his teacher came to be called “Quikzun”. He reflected that Ken, walking at a great speed, used to say “come on son” to students. The students would not be able to keep up with his long strides and he would exclaim in frustration “come on son – come on – quick son – quick”, pronouncing it “rather extraordinarily with a ‘queek’”. Some boys then began to take Ken off by saying “queekson”, which developed into the name “Quikzun”.14

The stories that abound regarding Ken’s nicknames clearly show the affection many students had for this “modest, meticulous, gentle and painstaking” teacher who dedicated his life to serving our school community.15 As noted in Ken’s obituary, no one else has had a more “detailed and most lovingly maintained” view of our school than this man of “quiet loyalty” and “undeviating good-humoured service”.16 His enduring legacy is that he “added substance and humanity to the work of the Council and the Headmasters”.

• 1. "Ken Felton", http://history7.wikifoundry.com/page/Ken+Felton.
• 2. Ibid.
• 3. Ibid.
• 4. School News, The Cranbrookian 8 (1928): 5.
• 5. David Thomas and Mark McAndrew, Born in the Hour of Victory: Cranbrook School, 1918-1993 (Caringbah, NSW: Playright Publishing, 1998), 188-89.
• 6. Ibid.
• 7. Ibid.
• 8. "Obituary: Kenneth Bertram Felton", Old Cranbrookian Vol. 29, No. 3 (1991): 9.
• 9. Extracts from Oral History Project (1993 - 1995).
• 10. Ibid.
• 11. Ibid.
• 12. Ibid.
• 13. Ibid.
• 14. Ibid.
• 15. Obituary: Kenneth Bertram Felton,  8.
• 16. Ibid., 9.