John Gilbert Winant, Form of 1908, returned as a faculty member from 1912-1917 and 1919-1921, some of those years spent as Dr. Drury’s vice-rector. Winant was considered to be one of the most distinguished alumni of the early twentieth century. He was Governor of New Hampshire for three terms and later served as Ambassador to the Court of St. James from 1941 to 1945.

As a young master under Dr. Drury, Winant was instrumental in the creation of the Student Council. World War I had made a program of self-help necessary and involved the boys’ participation in many matters which had been left before entirely to masters. By June 1917, the entire Fifth Form had resigned from the existing secret societies and had voted to establish an effective school government based on a council and a Sixth-Form president and the dissolution of the secret societies. This reform, Drury stated at the time, could not have come about without “the tactful and influential persuasion of Mr. Winant.”