(5 July 1863 – 29 June 1926), often referred to as Canon Girdlestone, was head master of St Peter's College from 1894 to 1916 and of Melbourne Grammar School from 1917 to 1919.
[1] In 1893 Bishop Kennion was in England recruiting teaching staff for St Peter's College, Adelaide, and Girdlestone successfully applied for the position of headmaster.
Nor did he neglect the school's traditions of discipline, patriotism, religious observance and scholastic achievement; that and his forthright manner won the boys' respect and that of their parents.
He resigned as headmaster in 1916, saying that the job should be that of a younger man (large of frame, he had continually to fight a tendency to overweight), and retired to his home in Balhannah, T. Ainslie Caterer filling the vacancy.
He consented however, to take charge in 1917 of Melbourne Grammar School, whose headmaster, Richard Penrose "Lofty" Franklin (November 1884 – 12 October 1942) had volunteered for war service,[4] and relinquished the position on the return of Lieut.