John Rae (headmaster)

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John Rae (1931–2006) was a British educator, author and novelist. He served as headmaster of Taunton School from 1966 to 1970 and then of Westminster School from 1970 to 1986. In 1986 he led the Laura Ashley Foundation and joined the Board of The Observer, where he served until 1993. He also became executive chairman of the Portman Group in 1989.

Rae was educated at Homefield Preparatory School, Bishop Stortford College, and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. As headmaster of Westminster, he modernised the school and improved its finances. He reduced staff and moved the science department to a new, better building. Under his leadership, girls joined Westminster as full-time students in 1973. A new day house, Dryden’s, opened in 1976, and in 1981 a new girls’ boarding house, Purcell’s, was created, with Adrian House providing a new building for the Under School.

There were rumours that Rae was forced to resign because of his wife Daphne Rae’s 1983 book, which discussed their views on gay teachers. Rae, however, stayed at Westminster until 1986. His diary suggests his departure was due to reaching the usual length of service for a headmaster, his opposition to the Assisted Places Scheme, and his desire for a new challenge.

In the 1980s Rae wrote regularly for newspapers and appeared on TV and radio panels. He argued for tolerant schools, sensible discipline, and the importance of humour in managing teenage pupils. He supported co-education and the right of independent educators to run schools. He believed drug-taking should be firmly dealt with, but expulsions should be for serious offences only.

Rae wrote several books for parents and teachers, including Letters to Parents and The Public School Revolution. His novel The Custard Boys was published in 1960 and was adapted into the film Reach for Glory in 1962, with a later adaptation in 1979. He helped with the film The Killing Fields in 1983.

His diaries were published posthumously as The Old Boys’ Network: A Headmaster’s Diaries 1979–1986 (2009), and another work, The Agnostic’s Tale, appeared in 2013. Rae’s ashes lie near Westminster Abbey, close to a doorway used by Westminster boys.