Flower’s House family connection blossoms again
28 May 2025
Two granddaughters of the Flower’s House namesake have returned to their childhood ‘backyard’ – Christ’s College.
Diana Blom and Jo Chalmers are the granddaughters of Housemaster Arthur Edward Flower and the daughters of another Flower’s Housemaster, Harry Earle Solomon. Both Diana and Jo, plus their sister Anne, lived in Flower’s House as children and attended St Margaret’s College.
For Diana, who now lives in Sydney, the visit to College has sparked memories of “owning the school pool during the holidays”, exploring the campus, and playing with all the other children of College Housemasters from the late 1940s to the 1950s.
Her grandfather, known as AE Flower, had been a student at College from 1886–1892. He returned as a teacher in 1897 and was first appointed as a Housemaster in 1910. AE Flower, who remained at College until 1937, was the Acting Headmaster in 1912, 1914, and 1920, and a Fellow from 1939–1952. Today, his name lives on in Flower’s House, designed by a great nephew, Alec Bruce.
“Our grandfather died when we were young. However, we have a few memories and his wife, Annie Ellen Flower, who we remember well, lived until 89,” Diana says.
“Our father, Harry Earle Solomon, taught at Christ’s College from 1920 to 1960. Dad married the only daughter of AE Flower, Beatrice Anne, and I and my two sisters were brought up at 72 Rolleston Avenue. Dad died in 1970 and our mother later married Beau (Anthony Ian) Cottrell, a family friend and Flower’s House Old Boy.
“We had a wonderful childhood and went to St Margaret’s College for all our schooling. In the holidays, the Christ’s College grounds became our grounds.”
Diana says that her Australian-born father “joined the College staff as a Mathematics and Geography teacher, and later became the Housemaster of Flower’s House”.
“Dad also coached cricket, football, and boxing, ran the Camera Club, and oversaw the Cadets’ artillery section,” she recalls.
Today, the AE Flower Prize for Science and the HE Solomon Prize for Geography are still awarded at the College Prize-giving.
