friends would in any case have prevented any relapse into introverted seclusion. But Colonel Archie was not that kind of man anyway, being a "doer" and a "giver", leaving his own personal burdens to look after themselves. Not least among his interests was his continued connection with Queen Victoria School, actively maintained through the London Branch of the OVA and also by not infrequent correspondence with succeeding Commandants and Headmasters, as well as occasional visits to the School when he could manage. He had been a Deputy Colonel Commandant of his Corps and this appointment, and his status as an ex-QVS Commandant, were probably as much prized by him as any of his many honours and distinctions. These two interests were pleasantly combined in symbolism when, in 1970, at the Jubilee Anniversary Celebrations of his Corps at the Army School of Education at Beaconsfield, he watched the QVS Pipe Band march past him.
His last visit to the School was in 1965 when he stayed as the guest of the present Commandant, whom he had once supervised at Sandhurst, for several days. We had greatly hoped that he might be able to come this year to Grand Day to see the Director of his old Corps present the academic prizes, but it was not to be.
When Colonel White came to QVS in 1925 the School was still, in a sense, in the shadow of the terrible years of 1914-1918 which, coming so soon after its foundation, had to a considerable extent slowed down its progress and development. Also there had been a rather rapid turnover of Commandants since 1918. Colonel White saw clearly the lines on which he considered the School should develop, and was under no illusions as to the difficulties of achieving such progress. This is not the occasion to describe in detail the changes and improvements which Colonel White, ably seconded and advised by a Headmaster of his own Corps, either effected, or laid a foundation for which enabled his successors to carry them out when times were more propitious. This must await the writing of the history of the School. It can however be said with certainty that in his four years at the School Colonel Archie achieved, or set in train, such improvements in respect of education, the status of the School, the status of the boys, the system of discipline, and general administration, that all successive generations owe him a great deal, however unconscious they may be of the fact. All successive Commandants and Headmasters have, it is certain, owed much of whatever they have been able to achieve and progress (and no one can do more than the circumstances and limitations of his own times allow) to the firm foundation which was laid by Colonel White and his staff in the later 1920s.
We honour his memory.