Mr Simon Haw, history master par excellence (b 1946 – d 2026)
Gentlemen, it is with heavy but grateful hearts that we share news of the death of Mr Simon Haw. Simon, who had stoically battled cancer for over three years, died on the 15th of February 2026.
To say that Simon served College as a teacher, and later subject head of History, from 1976 to 1989 would be a gross underappreciation of the significance of his service to our College. Whilst it is factual to say that Simon taught at College (and, before that, at Wartburg), the tributes pouring in from his former students suggest that teaching is an inadequate descriptor of his interactions with the thousands of students who listened to their History Master paint the black-and-white pages of their textbooks with vivid colour and energetically revive the skeletons of past heroes. Simon’s lessons were memorable affairs filled with insightful historical anecdotes and risque metaphors that would titillate his students, many who would fondly recall many years later his descriptions of the ‘German envelopment of Poland’ in 1939 and ‘Gen. Buller’s retreat to Mount Alice’ following the failed British assault on Spion Kop in 1900.
For Simon, history was best experienced outside the classroom, and his numerous history trips became the stuff of legend. From the heights of Hlobane Mountain to the depths of Itala’s long-forgotten gold mines, Simon (often accompanied by his dear friend and colleague Mr Richard Frame) would ferry groups of bemused young collegians in a minibus around some of the country’s most famous and obscure historical sites in pursuit of a more intimate understanding of the past. Likewise, his establishment of the Special History Project at College served to cultivate, in many of the students, a lifelong passion for the past. These students, often tasked with tidying up gravesites, restoring old mines, building a school museum, sleeping in the open, and bathing in icy rivers, were deeply influenced by Simon’s promotion of active learning.
Simon’s passion for history and unorthodox style were also evident in his writing, as he authored numerous textbooks and investigations into the history of Natal. His seminal accounts of College’s history For Hearth and Home: The Story of Maritzburg College, 1863-1988 (co-authored with Richard Frame) and Old Walls New Echoes: Maritzburg College, 1986-2015 are two of the greatest works on South African educational history. Whilst most school histories serve as little more than hagiographies of institutional landmarks and triumphs, Simon’s accounts are meticulously researched, fiercely critical and above all, highly engaging. Only Simon Haw would leave us with descriptions like “a midget Mussolini with spectacles” (describing former Headmaster Septimus Pape), “a giant octopus with Parkinson’s disease” (describing a College cadet parade), and “a communal religious ritual” (describing Saturday rugby games on Goldstone’s).
Whilst these contributions might serve to mark Simon as one of the school’s most influential masters in their own right, they only form part of his legacy, which extended into College’s cultural program. Together with the late Mrs Val Harley, Simon produced, directed, and occasionally starred in eleven school productions, the most notable being Of Mice and Men, The Incident, Superstar, the Wizard of Oz, and Oliver (where he famously took on the role of Fagin).
Following his retirement from College, Simon would go on to serve as a researcher in the Natal Education Department’s curriculum planning section, a history subject advisor for the Pietermaritzburg District and Chair of the provincial subject committee. Although he left the College staff 36 years ago, he never truly left College, serving on the school’s archives committee, working in its museum and recently contributing a chapter to Skonk Nicholson’s biography, published late last year.
To his family, Bev, Tabitha, St John et al., we thank you for sharing Simon with us. Take heart from the fact that part of him will forever be etched in the characters of his former students and in the pages of history he passionately recorded.
DT Löser
(Class of 2007, and one-time Head of the Maritzburg College History Department)
