He was the son of Richard A. Waddy, bank-manager and his wife, a daughter of Dr Stacy, botanist, a woman of ability, charm and force of character.

Waddy tackled his task with enthusiasm, wrote his first book, a short one on confirmation, Come for Strength, published in London in 1904, and by the middle of the same year had succeeded in paying off the parish debts.

His energy was boundless, as in this year he wrote various tracts, gave over 40 lantern lecture averaged over six services a Sunday in his own parish, travelling about 30 miles on his bicycle, became bishop's chaplain and secretary of the clerical society, and also managed to fit in some very successful cricket.

In December 1903 at West Maitland against Plum Warner's English eleven which included such well-known bowlers as Hurst, Len Braund, Ted Arnold, Bernard Bosanquet and Fielder, he made 93 and 102.

Sport was given its due place and its standard went up immensely, scholarship was not neglected, and Waddy took the beginners for classics so that the boys might realise from the start that Latin and Greek need not be dull subjects; but all the time character-building was treated as the most important part of school life.

In 1913, he had a temporary break-down partly from over-work, went to England on six months' leave, and soon after World War I broke out in August 1914, acted as a chaplain at the Liverpool camp.

Soon afterwards he was offered a canonry of St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem, as Archdeacon for Palestine, Syria and Trans-Jordan then he was in charge of re-organizing the education work of the Anglican Church there.