FREDERICK JAMES
FAIRLAND STREETLY
THE PRIEST WHO WAS
AN ENGINEER
By Michael Anthony
People of the
Century
Part 1
Express
Section 2
September 20, 2000
Page 4
When
Frederick James Fairland Streetly came to Trinidad in 1925, one
of the first things he noticed was the state of formal education in the
country.
For
him it was purely academic and traditional, one that made no concessions at all
to the age of technology, which was slowly creeping up on the world.
Streetly's
reaction to this at the time could not have been anything more than that of a
concerned observer, for what brought him to Trinidad was not the state of
education in the island, nor was it technology. What brought him to these shores was the call of the Anglican
ministry through the right Reverend Arthur Henry Anstey.
As
a teenager, Streetly had studied theology at the Warminster Theological College
in England, and this college was then headed by Anstey, who happened to be
greatly impressed with the avid young student.
In
1911 Anstey left Warminster Theological College to become principal of
Codrington College in Barbados, and noticing the missionary zeal of the young
Streetly, he asked him if he would not like to come out one day and take up the
Ministry of the Anglican Church in the West Indies.
Streetly
was elated. He had studied under
Anstey, and had profited a great deal from his guidance.
However,
although he was attending Warminster Theological College at the time in
preparation for his being a priest, he had already made a significant step
towards the world of engineering.
Indeed,
as a young student of engineering, he was one of the truly bright prospects.
At
14, attending a course in Workshop Engineering at the Swindon Technical
Institute in Wiltshire, England, he set a record in County Examinations by
gaining 97 percent. Should he leave all
this?
The
truth appeared to be that however strong the pull of engineering was for him,
his overwhelming fascination was for the ministry of the church and of course
this was what had led him to Warminster Theological College.
Therefore,
when Anstey encouraged him to take up the ministry in the West Indies, his
decision was made.
The
First World War (1914-1918) forced Warminster Theological College to close and
Streetly had to go back to engineering.
His
extraordinary aptitude in both the theory and practice of this profession saw
him qualifying as an engineer with little difficulty.
But
the fact was that he still wanted to be a priest, and he still intended to take
up Anstey's call.
Anstey,
after sending Streetly for a short period of preparation to Codrington College,
Barbados, sent him as parish priest to the Church of St Patrick, Mount
Pleasant, Tobago.
It
was while he was at St Patrick's Church that people must have seen for the first
time what it was like to have a priest as an engineer - or, maybe, an engineer
as a priest.
His
impact in both fields was immediate. He
was a most dynamic and zealous priest on the one hand, and on the other, he was
always ready to design and build.
Indeed,
within a short time he was building what is now St Patrick's rectory, and he
also built St Patrick's school.
One
of the other things that marked him was his manner. He was a little man with a big, booming vice, which became
thunderous when he was upset.
Consequently,
those who were expecting a humble, gentle priest, a priest that they could
handle easily, were often taken aback, sometimes in awe, and they often became
very amenable.
And
so he was very successful in dealing with those around him because he got a lot
of things done.
Although
Streetly had put his engineering skills into practice at Mount Pleasant,
Tobago, it was really after he came to Trinidad that his great love for
engineering arouse.
He
seemed better able to observe in which direction the future was pointing, and
what appeared to move him most of all when he contemplated the future of the
youth of Trinidad was the complete lack of any form of organised technical
training that was available.
To
him, it was as if the authorities were living in a dream world, a world in
which they took no account of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering,
or any form of modern advancement in the field of trade and industry, nor
indeed did they seem to realise that the oil industry, Trinidad's mainstay, may
not forever remain in foreign hands and that Trinidad had to think of producing
engineers and other technical men to look after that aspect of its future.
COMMITTED TO
EDUCATION
People of the Century
By Michael Anthony
Part II
Express
Section 2
September 27, 2000
Pages 10, 11
Reverend
Streetly turned his attention to the Board of Industrial Training, for oddly
enough, such a board existed, and was formed since 1906. Its headquarters were at the Victoria Institute
but the focal point of its contribution was training girls in needlework and
crochet, and other forms of handicraft such as basketry, not omitting domestic
science, and boys were trained to be tailors, shoemakers, and the like, at that
institution.
In
Streetly's view, this was not enough to prepare the youth for the great and
all-consuming technical age that to him was fast approaching.
Streetly,
who was transferred from Tobago to St Agnes' Church - which he rebuilt -
pressed upon the Board to hold classes in Mechanical Engineering, which classes
he volunteered to teach. But the
classes were just evening classes and this engineer-priest was far from
satisfied. He was also unhappy that
although the Board of Industrial Training had agreed to the teaching of
workshop practice to young men, these youths could not grasp it because they
had no foundation whatsoever in matters relevant to this work.
His
dream was also to have young men prepared, not only for going into a workshop,
serving an apprenticeship, and settling down to a life's career, but to go on
further and pursue careers in engineering.
So
he decided to put pressure on the Board of Industrial Training for the setting
up of a technical school, a school which would give full-time instruction to
youngsters aspiring to a "technical" career. And he felt that this school should have as
its students not young men who had already begun their working lives, but
schoolboys who were on the brink of choosing their careers.
Meanwhile,
Reverend Streetly continued in his post at St Agnes', St James, carrying out
his ministry, building to improve his environment, and teaching Mechanical
Engineering at the Victoria Institute.
And during this time he continually preached the message to the Board of
Industrial Training about the necessity of starting a technical school.
He
was transferred from St James to St Paul's in San Fernando, and it was at this
time that there were signs that the Board of Industrial Training was not only
convinced, but was converted.
They
gave approval for such a school and Streetly looked around San Fernando for
reasonable premises in which the school could be set up - for the Board of
Industrial Training hardly had a budget - and he was lucky to find suitable and
extremely reasonably-priced accommodation not too far from his church. It was in the spacious house of Dr
Nightingale, at number 7 High Street.
No
one could declare that the rent was not reasonable. Dr Nightingale, for his large and magnificent premises, charged
him one shilling a month!
It
was already 1942 and towards the end of that year, Streetly was advertising for
schools around San Fernando to send students to begin a course of engineering
at the Junior Technical School.
The
day was Monday January 18, 1943 when 15 boys from schools in and around San
Fernando began a two-year course at the Junior Technical School. Their ages were between 13-1/2 and
14-1/2. Although each boy had to pay
$2.50 a term, tuition was free for the money was for the books and other
equipment, which the school provided.
The
two-year course in the classroom comprised the study of English, History,
Geography, Chemistry, Physics, Mechanics, Algebra, Geometry, and Mechanical
Drawing, and in a workshop attached to the building they did metalwork, woodwork,
and carpentry.
Streetly
had held talks with the management of the oil refinery at Pointe-a-Pierre to
ensure that all the graduates of his school were given jobs as apprentices on
the completion of their course. He met
enthusiastic agreement for it was the first time that the oil industry was
going to have trained people coming in to their operations.
This
in fact was the magic formula, which established technical education in
Trinidad. The fruit of Streetly's
persuasion and his labours are there for all to see, or for all who know where
to look for it. Suffice it to say that
the Junior Technical School was a great success - not only because of the
tuition, and Reverend Streetly's drive, but because of the standard set by the
first three intakes of boys who were eminently talented, justifying Streetly's
dream.
By
1955 the Technical School became too big for its High Street site and was taken
to the Les Efforts land, where the new institution had the grandiose name of
the San Fernando Technical Institute.
The
Government had stepped in then because it was clearly impressed with what
Reverend Streetly had achieved. The "Institute"
even outgrew its Les Efforts premises, and since 1983 has been situated in what
was then modern, up-to-date quarters near the Marabella end of the Solomon
Hochoy Highway.
Reverend
Streetly left the Junior Technical even before the school left High Street, San
Fernando. He was transferred to Tobago
in 1947 and shortly afterwards undertook a lecture tour in England.
During
the tour this man of the century fell ill and entered a hospital near his
hometown, Swindon. On March 28, 1952,
the great engineer-priest passed away.