He drowned around 1920 while swimming off the local beach and was succeeded as head by his deputy, Sydney Phillips, who ran the school until his death in 1930.
After the difficult years of early 1930s the school prospered but then war came, France fell and all the South Coast was considered a likely German invasion area.
It never returned to Bournemouth as the premises there were considered too small and cramped, so a large building was bought at Little Horwood in North Bucks when the war ended.
However, 14 years later The Old Ride was forced to move again when a plan was drawn up by British Rail to extend the nearby station into a huge marshalling yard which would have meant acquiring virtually all the school grounds.
The buildings were left in disrepair until a group of families bought them in 1995, and have since been divided into ten individually owned apartments.