Frederic Mason

Frederic Mason (1913 – 2000) – Educationist

The Frederic Mason slides collection comprises approximately 800 slides. The Malaysian slides showcase images related to tin dredging and rice plantations. The Singapore slides feature images of Pulau Tekong and Siglap Orthopaedic Hospital.

Professor Frederic Mason (1913-2000) lived his life as an educationist. He had a distinguished undergraduate career at Cambridge where he obtained a first in both parts of the Natural Science Tripos. After teaching at Manchester Grammar School, Repton, and Leeds University, he was appointed in 1950 as professor of Education at the University of Malaya in Singapore. Whilst there, he organised the training of local graduates wishing to enter the teaching profession and was influential in the decision to introduce native language teaching into the local schools. In 1957, the task of establishing a branch of the University in Kuala Lumpur was entrusted to him. Before he left he was awarded an honorary doctorate in law.

After returning to England, he studied for holy orders at St Augustine's College, Canterbury and was appointed principal of Christ Church College, Canterbury in 1960. Christ Church was the first Anglican teacher training college to be created in the twentieth century. He retired in 1975.

Professor Mason had a lifetime interest in the people and places where he lived and worked. When working in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, he took a great interest in the region. He travelled in Malaya and visited Borneo, Indonesia, Cambodia, Hong Kong and Japan. He photographed the places he visited and the people he met on his journeys and when he died he left an extensive collection of slides. His son, Peter, donated the Southeast Asian slides to this library for future research. 

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