Philip Ridgway "Pip" Le Couteur (26 June 1885 – 30 June 1958) was an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

academic, philosopher and headmaster.

Early life

Le Couteur was born at

Kyneton, Victoria Kyneton ( ) is a town in the Macedon Ranges region of Victoria, Australia. The Calder Freeway bypasses Kyneton to the north and east. Kyneton is on Dja Dja Wurrung, Taungurung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung country. The town has four main streets: ...

, the only son of George, a

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

, and his wife Fanny. Both parents were

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

and Australian born. He was educated at Middle Park State School and

Warrnambool Warrnambool ( Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Warrnambool had a population of 35,743. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool (Al ...

Academy before serving a pharmacy

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

Academic career

In 1903 he entered the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

to study arts and in 1904 he won a Queen's College residential scholarship. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1906 and was a triple

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

lawn tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

. After beginning a medical degree in 1907 Le Couteur won the Victorian

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

for 1908 and, with a Melbourne

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

, proceeded to

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

. He won an Oxford cricket blue and in 1911 a place in

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

for making 160 runs and taking 11 wickets for 69 against

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He played regularly for Gentlemen versus Players and wrote magazines on the psychology of cricket. He was also a member of the Oxford String Quartette. Le Couteur then studied

experimental psychology Experimental psychology refers to work done by those who apply experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ human participants and animal subjects to study a great many topics, in ...

at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

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until early 1913 when he was appointed lecturer in mental and moral

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

in the newly established

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

. In 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 ("For God and for Home") , established = , type = Independent, single-sex, day and boarding school , denomination = Uniting , slogan = "MLC girls become world-ready women"< ...

. 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 Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

East Melbourne East Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. East Melbourne recorded a population of 4,896 at the 2021 ...

Cricket Club. Unsuccessful in applications for the headship of

Sydney Grammar School (Praise be to God) , established = , type = Independent, day school , gender = Boys , religious_affiliation = None , slogan = , headmaster = R. B. Malpass , founder = Laurence Hynes Halloran , chairman = ...

in 1921 and the mastership of Queen's in 1927, he became headmaster of

Hale School Hale School is an independent, Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located in Wembley Downs, a western suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Named after the school founded by Bishop Mathew Blagden Hale in 1858, Hale School claims to b ...

in 1929. In 1931 he was appointed headmaster of

Newington College , motto_translation = To Faith Add Knowledge , location = Inner West and Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = A ...

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 , motto_translation = To Our Faith Add Knowledge , established = , type = Independent single-sex primary day school , denomination = Uniting Church in Australia , gender = Boys , educational_authority = NSW Department of Educat ...

, 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 in

Gunnedah, New South Wales Gunnedah is a town in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia and is the seat of the Gunnedah Shire local government area. In the the town recorded a population of 9,726. Gunnedah is situated within the Liverpool Plains, a fertile agricult ...

, and was survived by his wife, two daughters and three sons.

References

* A. G. Thomson Zainu'ddin, 'Le Couteur, Philip Ridgway (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,
Le Couteur, Philip Ridgway (1885–1958)
,

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

, Volume 10, MUP, 1986, pp 44–45. {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Couteur, Philip 1885 births 1958 deaths Australian cricketers Oxford University cricketers Victoria cricketers Australian Rhodes Scholars Australian Methodists Staff of Newington College Staff of Hale School Alumni of University College, Oxford University of Bonn alumni Australian headmasters Gentlemen cricketers Cricketers from Victoria (Australia) People from Kyneton Lord Londesborough's XI cricketers

Early life

Academic career

Headmaster

See also

References

External links