ABSTRACT
Nathan Whitley chose Clifton for his sons because he understood it to be a school 'in which differences of opinion were tolerated and a boy had to make his way by character and industry'. In the 1920s Clifton envisaged a major extension of science facilities, and though current revenue was buoyant, this alone was not enough. Whitley resolved the matter by undertaking to raise the funds from Old Cliftonians, and he did just that. In the Clifton debates Whitley mostly spoke alongside John McTaggart and Roger Fry, fellows in the forlorn promotion of radical causes. McTaggart and Fry rebelled against Clifton's code in different ways, and found comradeship in contrasting nonconformities. In 1932 Whitley escorted Lady Alexandra Haig at the unveiling of a statue of her father overlooking the playing fields where the Chief's earliest battles were fought and won.
