Our Presidents

Sydney Goldsack (with Mrs Don Smith) in 1956. Courtesy of Getty Images.

The Society of Old Friends is managed by a committee under the leadership of an elected President. The Society’s first President, it’s founder, Jack Barwick, held the position for 16 years until his death.

After that the Old Friends decided that Presidents should serve one year in office and it stayed this way until 2005, when the President’s term was extended to two years.

The notable exception to this was Sidney Goldsack who was elected in 1939. As the war broke out he agreed that he would hold the office until the fighting finished and then serve his year. Of course, he had no idea that the conflict would go on for six years, and despite efforts to pass the mantle to others, the Society kept him in office for 7 years!

A list of all of the Society’s presidents from 1909 to date follows below:

From To
W J Barwick 1909 1925
P N McFarlane 1925 1926
R H Shaw 1926 1927
H Spurr 1927 1928
F House 1928 1929
H W Lewis 1929 1930
P Barringer 1930 1931
F C Guildford 1931 1932
F G Hollands 1932 1933
W Akerman 1933 1934
C Tollit 1934 1935
H G Culliford 1935 1936
S J Green 1936 1937
O Anderson 1937 1938
A E Rawlinson 1938 1939
S J Goldsack 1939 1946
H J S Ryman 1946 1947
H W Holt 1947 1948
G Staples 1948 1949
W A G Morgan 1949 1950
E P Elliott 1950 1951
H S Spurgeon 1951 1952
G Batchelor 1952 1953
L Pagliero 1953 1954
W B Phillips 1954 1955
A D Rawlinson 1955 1956
J J Ray 1956 1957
H F Guildford 1957 1958
C R Edgeley 1958 1959
H L Morbey 1959 1960
R A Last 1960 1961
T O Marston 1961 1962
E W Godfrey 1962 1963
W H Burnham 1963 1964
W K Oliver 1964 1965
R Patterson 1965 1966
G F Hayward 1966 1967
R Hastain 1967 1968
L V Chapman 1968 1969
E C Pryor (Died in Office) 1969
D N Ascoli 1969 1970
D S Wylie 1970 1971
S R Branwhite 1971 1972
G H Weinberger 1972 1973
R W Waite 1973 1974
P J Pullinger 1974 1975
C J L Knight 1975 1976
A G Thackston 1976 1977
P D Newman MBE 1977 1978
K A Ells 1978 1979
H Kesselman 1979 1980
D F Hall 1980 1981
S R Wicks JP 1981 1982
A F Howe 1982 1983
P R Corliss 1983 1984
S D Vaughan 1984 1985
D C Alderson 1985 1986
J Kearns 1986 1987
T P Tully 1987 1988
M Topper 1988 1989
W C Holland 1989 1990
R W Murphy 1990 1991
A F Nelson 1991 1992
G Demetriou 1992 1993
L Cramphorn 1993 1994
B Tolley 1994 1995
G Cooke 1995 1996
M Dugdale 1996 1997
J Straker 1997 1998
A Crouse 1998 1999
M Bunch 1999 2000
G Barton 2000 2001
P Young 2001 2003
G Making 2003 2004
J Webster 2004 2005
G Davis 2005 2007
T Lewis 2007 2009
M James 2009 2011
G Betts 2011 2013
K Banks 2013 2015
K D Mistry 2015 2017
D S Langdown 2017 2019
S Robinson 2019 2022
J Logan 2022