Source/Author: A tribute by Theodore R. Doraisamy

Mr. Hinch has served the cause of Education in Malaya, as teacher and principal, for 37 years. He has upheld the best traditions of the teaching profession, and has contributed much not merely to the spread of English Education, but to the development of Malayan youth in character and leadership. He has been more than just a great headmaster and a good educational administrator. He has laid down for the boys of this School certain standards of character and behaviour. He has established values. These standards and these values are what will live on as a vital part of the spiritual entity of the School.

This was the tribute paid to the late Thomas William Hinch when he retired from the principalship of the Singapore ACS in 1948, after beginning as a teacher in the Ipoh ACS in 1911, by no less a person than the Officer Administering the Government of Singapore.

The following excerpts from the Methodist Schools in Malaysia (Ho Seng Ong, 1964) give glimpses of his work:

ACS Ipoh
Mr. T.W. Hinch was appointed Principal in March 1915 and under him the school was a model of discipline and organisation. He organised gymnastics under a trained instructor, founded a Cadet Corps, and produced a crack football team. Mr. Hinch remained as Principal till January 1920 except for a short period in 1918-1919 when he enlisted in the I.A.R.O.

MBS Kuala Lumpur
Mr. T.W. Hinch, received his appointment as Principal in 1924 and to him fell the task of finding the money and building the home for the school . . . A Scholarship Fund for the best students in the upper classes and for many poor boys was started in 1925 . . .

ACS Singapore
The period from 1928 to 1949 for the ACS Singapore, which began with the opening of the Cairnhill building by Sir Hayes-Marriot, may be regarded as an era of consolidation and achievement. The Principal closely connected with this period was Mr. T.W. Hinch (1929-1948). Under his able leadership, the School made notable successes in every sphere of school life. In the academic field, the very high standard was maintained as shown by the results of the Cambridge Examinations. In athletics and sports, the School found great incentive in the introduction of the House System in 1930. The ACS Magazine was revived in 1929, taking the place of the ACS Journal which was started in 1889. To instil greater interest in extra-curricular activities, Mr. Hinch encouraged the formation of School Societies and Clubs devoted to Geography, History, Photography and Art. This increase in general interest and the diffusion of energy into every field of school activity by the students helped to build the necessary confidence and love for the school. This we now recognise as the way for the bold expansion plans at Barker Road.

At various periods, Mr. Hinch was Education Secretary for Methodist Schools. He kept abreast of educational and social developments of the years between 1911 and 1948. From an earlier period of stern discipline he was able to change to a gentler one which was attributed to his marriage (to Mrs. Gertrude Bean, an American missionary teacher on whom later was conferred the O.B.E. for her social work) and to the birth of his daughter Kathleen.

Mr. Hinch had a rare combination of achievement in the volunteer corps, games and music in all of which he had personal achievements and leadership. These he inculcated in others. He was a traditionalist in many ways, and yet he gave Singapore ACS the motto: “The Best is Yet to Be” by using it to conclude his annual reports. What he said of Oldham could well be said of Hinch himself: “He so lived his days that others might have better tomorrows. We who are heirs of this great institution (Singapore ACS) must surely play our part. The Past we inherit, the Present we create, but to those who will Hope, Believe and Work. THE BEST IS YET TO BE”.

He was able to separate happily the official and the personal. Work was work and he encouraged creativity and originality even where it came to sacrificing the traditional. The encouragement and inspiration he gave individuals must evoke gratitude in many generations of teachers and students . . .

Hinch had a deep and rugged faith. This came cut clearly in the Chapel programmes of the ACS which he characteristically planned in advance. Indeed the booklet the Planned Chapel which I compiled owed much to the way Mr. Hinch conducted chapel in the ACS through the years. He expressed his faith and philosophy in one of his annual reports in a manner relevant to Christian education: “The interest aroused by participation in sports activities may result, and indeed we believe does result in improved class work and examination results, but that is only a byproduct so to speak. We believe that their chief value lies in the development of personality and individuality. This we feel to be the main object of the school. And it is for that reason that as a Mission School we stress the value of religious training. For we firmly believe that a man or boy has not really found himself until he has found his God.”

He knew his Bible and theology as few laymen did; and he retained a life-long interest in the work of the Bible Society in London. On the strength of working with him from 1933 to 1948 and following his Chapel addresses, I am sure that he was expressing hope in progress in this life as well as hope in the next when he said: “The Best is Yet to Be”.

No tribute can surpass that for a man in education than to be recognised by the highest authority in the country as one ‘who has established values’. Any tribute to the man can only be sub-themes, because values to be values have to be both good and eternal.

Methodist Message
January 1971