Archie White, a former solicitor from Hastings, is believed to have just become the UK’s oldest new university graduate after receiving his bachelor’s degree in fine art from East Sussex College at the age of 96.
White, who had retired from his work as a solicitor at the age of 92, said that he thoroughly enjoyed studying at East Sussex College and that he was “not too bothered about being the oldest graduate or not”.
“A friend of mine studied here the year before me, and she was quite enjoying it, so that gave me the idea when I retired as a solicitor to come here and do the BA fine art degree,” said the artist, who was born in 1925 when George V still sat on the throne.
“The first year included a series of more or less introductory courses to the fine arts. So we dabbled in photography and making negatives, then we did clay modelling, which was great fun. Then we learned Photoshop, which was fun but not really for me,” White added in an interview with East Sussex College.
White reported that a stroke he’d suffered five years ago made certain aspects of an arts education difficult, such as working in a dark room, though he was grateful to staff and other students for helping him through it. The recent graduate announced plans to set up a charity fund to support graduates and to continue creating art.
“If anyone is foolish enough to pay me for my paintings, I shall be amused, but if they don’t, it doesn’t matter,” White said. “I’ve had a long and enjoyable career, but one of the things I am most concerned about is for most people graduating, there is an inevitability almost, of them failing to make a living as an artist, a potter, photographer or modeller.”
At just over 96 years old, East Sussex College said that they believe White is likely the oldest person to ever complete a degree in the UK.
When White submitted his final piece of work to the University of Brighton exam board, the college noted that he was only a few months shy of claiming the world record, currently held by Shigemi Hirata, who graduated from a Japanese university in 2016 at the age of 96 years and 200 days old.
Hannah Birkett, the fine art course leader as East Sussex College, reported: “It has been an absolute pleasure to teach Archie over the last three years. He brings a unique contribution to the course, and his personal development has been extraordinary.”
