At the Tercentenary Service in 1896 as Archbishop Benson was praising the Founder, a dissident member of the public, for whom there was then room among the congregation, raised his voice in protest, declaring that Whitgift was an ecclesiastical tyrant. He was promptly ejected.
In 1940 the march was drastically curtailed
due to the threat of air attack but the year 1943 saw the resumption of the customary march. However, sporadic
nightly raids in 1944 caused the march to be abandoned once more and the Hospital suffered some bomb damage.
The march down to the church, which had at one time afforded some entertainment to the citizens of
Croydon, had become in the 1960's an anachronism, a hindrance to traffic, an annoyance to road-users and
an embarrassment to the marchers themselves. The boys soon made their own way to assembly points
outside the church. Old Palace School was first represented in 1994, the year after it's admission to
the Whitgift Foundation.
It had been the custom of each Archbishop
of Canterbury, shortly after his installation, to preach on Founder's Day in his capacity of Visitor to the Whitgift
Foundation.
Lord Runcie observed this custom in 1981 and the present Archbishop, Dr. Carey, in 1994.
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