John C. Corlette

John Hubert Christian Corlette (21 June 1911- 9 December 1977) was an English architect and the founder of the Aiglon College in Switzerland. Prior to founding Aiglon, Corlette was a teacher at Gordonstoun, a private school in Scotland.

Early years

Corlette, born John Hubert Christian Corlette on 21 June 1911, was the son of Australian architect Major Hubert Christian Corlette OBE and Florence Gwynedd Davies-Berrington.

As a teenager, Corlette attended Stowe School, in Buckinghamshire, England. Due to poor health, he was advised to move to a new environment for school. He was recommended to attend a school in Switzerland where the high altitude and drier air might assist his recovery and relocated to the alpine village of Chesières, Villars-sur-Ollon.

University life and early employment

Corlette studied philosophy, politics, economics, and history at Exeter College, before leaving to practice architecture. He completed his degree upon his return in 1943. After developing an interest in education, he taught at the College at South Leigh and Gordonstoun.

Founding of Aiglon College

In 1949, Corlette opened a school in Chesières, the village he had lived in during his teenage years. Like his mentor Kurt Hahn, Corlette wrote no books and opted to create philosophical curriculums to guide future students. His speeches aimed to guide the listener away from a focus on curriculum and textbooks and toward the use of philosophy and environment to improve "the whole man.”

Links to Round Square

Corlette met and became friends with Dr. Kurt Hahn of the Round Square organization. Hahn maintained that students needed to prepare for life by having them confront it, to develop courage, generosity, imagination, principle, and resolution. He felt that this would result in young people becoming better equipped at developing the skills and abilities to become the leaders of the future.

Aiglon College became a member school of the Round Square association in 1966, and followed these same precepts, giving the school additional respect and regard in the educational community.

The Round Square website notes that "Unlike all the other twentieth century educational innovators, Hahn wrote no books. His testimony and legacy rest in his schools and other programs he initiated." Like Kurt Hahn, John Corlette left behind a school that he had started.

A tribute to Corlette: "John Corlette of Aiglon...was our most powerful personality and he was the only one to own his school. He was urging expansion and development long before I felt we were ready for it. He insisted that there must be an association journal but it was not until 1982 that the enthusiasm and driving energy of Margaret Sittler got “Echo” going. John was an original and this showed itself in his creation Aiglon and its most characteristic custom: the morning Meditation. He collected art and had a weakness for Jaguars (petrol driven). He was a master of publicity and used this much to the benefit of his school. During the first American conference at Athenian in 1972, Aiglon gave a reception in San Francisco and a very fine film of the school was shown with a commentary by the best of the BBC announcers. It began with the camera swinging through the arc of mountains between Aiguille Verte and the Dent du Midi. Then it swept down into the Rhone valley and one saw the distant road zigzagging up towards Villars. A small object driving up the road grew into a familiar streamlined shape and the voice of the BBC chimed in: “John Corlette had a dream”. There was a chortle of joy from the assembled Heads, which John took in good part."

The above is an extract from The Muscles of Friendship – a valedictory speech by Jocelin Winthrop Young, Founding Director of Round Square, on the occasion of his retirement, October 1992 (made at Bishop's College School, Lennoxville, Quebec, Canada).