This absorbing love of the School was a tonic to every one who was under him. He came at a time when there was only a collection of boys with no unity and no sound traditions. He left it united and loyal. He came to a rich endowment, which was spending its resources with little visible result. He left the School prosperous, and possessed of a reputation all over England. He had been among the first Headmasters to acknowledge the value of a training in Natural Science, and he showed men that a thorough and efficient training in modern subjects could be given in one of the oldest of England's Public Schools. He did not wait upon time, he did not waver upon his path, but marched straight forward.
Prosperity grew step by step, buildings rose up, numbers increased, and distinctions were won, but behind all the outward success was the vitalising energy of the Headmaster, the inspiration of the optimist, the personality of the man.
In January, 1904, the Governors of the School assembled to elect a new Headmaster. Their choice fell unanimously on Mr. William Wyamar Vaughan. Mr. Vaughan had been educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1888. Since 1890 he had been an Assistant Master at Clifton College, and had been in charge of seventy day boys there for four years. The appointment was in many respects a significant one. For the first time in the history of the School a permanent Headmaster had been appointed, who was not in Holy Orders. Since 1869 the statutory regulation on the subject had been changed, but this was the first occasion on which the Governors had exercised their freedom. In the second place, Giggleswick up till the last thirty years had educated a preponderating number of day boys, but lately this element had been so outnumbered by the boarders that there was considerable danger of a serious division arising between them. The election of a man who had been in charge of the day boys at one of the bigger Public Schools gave great hopes to those who had the unity of the School at heart, nor were these expectations unfulfilled. Thirdly, Mr. Vaughan was a pioneer in the enthusiasm which directed the path of learning towards a greater study of English subjects.