Campbell College

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Campbell College

Image:Campbell College Shield.gif
Headmaster J. A. Piggot
School type Voluntary Grammar
School Board BELB
Location Belfast, Northern Ireland
Enrollment 870 students
School colour(s) Black, Green, White
Motto Ne Obliviscaris

Campbell College is a voluntary grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The College educates boys from ages 11-18. It is one of the eight Northern Irish schools represented on the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

The school occupies a 100-acre (0.40 km²) estate in east Belfast, close to the Parliament Buildings at Stormont. All the school's facilities are located on this site, which also contains a small lake and forest named Netherleigh. Campbell's junior school - formerly located on an adjacent site and called Cabin Hill - is now also located on the site. The school has the oldest Combined Cadet Force in Ireland, with 300 cadets.[1] The school has an international reputation and attracts boarders from Hong Kong, Singapore and Africa.

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[edit] History

It was founded in 1894 thanks to a bequest from Henry James Campbell, who had made his fortune in the linen trade. Initially the school was primarily a boarding school but it has, particularly since the 1970s, become primarily a day school and in 2004 had 870 pupils, only about 60 of whom were boarders. Playwright and Nobel Laureate Samuel Beckett taught at the school from January to July 1928 but found the experience uncongenial. The story goes that his decision to leave prematurely was questioned by the then Headmaster who pointed out that he was giving up the opportunity to teach the cream of Ulster, Beckett replied, of Campbell's students, "Yes. Rich and thick.".[2]

In 1935 Jimmy Steele led an attempted Irish Republican Army raid on the school in an effort to secure the arms of the College Officers' Training Corps. The RUC at Strandtown were tipped-off and the raid was unsuccessful, with a gun battle taking place at the Gate Lodge on Hawthornden Road in which Constable Ian Hay received five gunshot wounds.[3] In 1936 Steele and three other IRA members were captured, prosecuted and imprisoned in Crumlin Road Gaol.[4] During World War II the school was requisitioned by the War Office as a hospital, with the pupils being transferred to Portrush on the north Antrim coast. Campbell lost 134 former students in World War I and there are separate memorials to the dead of both World Wars in the Central Hall.[5]

Both of these events were experienced firsthand by Albert Maxwell BEM, who worked for the school as groundsman and head porter for 64 years. Maxwell retired in 1993 but continued to live in the school's Grade 1 listed gate lodge until his death in 1997.

The author CS Lewis, who grew up nearby, attended the school for two months before he was withdrawn because of a serious respiratory illness and sent to Malvern (Cherbourg School), famous at the time for treating people with lung problems.[6] The gas lamppost on the school drive is claimed to have been the inspiration for that mentioned in Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. However some sources state a lamppost in Crawfordsburn Country Park was the inspiration.[7][8]

Several Campbell students have been involved in filmmaking. These include William McQuitty (A Night to Remember), Andrew Eaton (Resurrection Man), Nick Hamm (The Hole), Dudi Appleton (The Most Fertile Man in Ireland)and Mark Huffam (Saving Private Ryan)

Composer David Catherwood is currently director of music at Campbell.

A collection of Lepidoptera by Thomas Workman is displayed in the school.

[edit] Sport

The school has strong record in rugby, having won the Ulster Schools Cup 22 times and shared the cup four times. In 2006 Campbell reached the final at Ravenhill, losing to Methodist College Belfast. The school has extensive sports facilities including rugby and football pitches, an astroturf hockey pitch,shooting range, squash courts, a fitness suite, and a swimming pool. The 2006 opening of the astroturf pitch was marked with an exhibition match between the gold-winning 1988 Summer Olympics Great Britain and Northern Ireland hockey team and the school's 1st XI.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Headmasters

  • Henry Richard Parker, joint headmaster 1890-1896
  • James Adams McNeill, joint headmaster 1890-96, headmaster 1896-1907
  • Robert Arthur H MacFarland, 1907-1922
  • William Duff Gibbon. MA (Oxon), CBE DSO MC TD LLD was the schools headmaster between 1922 and 1943. Educated at Trinity College, Oxford, Gibbon served as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Worcestershire Regiment during World War I. In World War II he was the Officer Commanding in the Army Cadet Force. 1922-1943
  • Ronald Groves, 1943-1954
  • Francis John Granville Cook, 1954-1971
  • Robin Milne Morgan, 1971-1976
  • Brian William John Gregg Wilson MA, 1977-1987
  • 1987 - 2005 Robert John Ivan Pollock, BSc MEd PhD CertEd CChem MRSC
  • James "Jay" Piggot BA MA became the school's headmaster in 2005. A former pupil, Piggot is a former Assistant Master and House Master at Eton College. While at Campbell he was a member of the team that was beaten by MCB in the Ulster Schools Cup (Rugby Football). He attended Cardiff University and obtained a B.A.in English; he subsequently gained an MA from Liverpool University. After university he taught at Millfield School as an Assistant teacher of English and was a Rugby coach.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hansard
  2. ^ The Cambridge Introduction to Samuel Beckett Chapter 1. Retrieved on 2007-04-12.
  3. ^ Northern Whig 30/12/1935 Page 3 (includes photograph)
  4. ^ 'Internment' by John McGuffin (1973)
  5. ^ Haines, Keith. Neither rogues nor fools - a history of Campbell College. Belfast, Campbell College, 1993.
  6. ^ C S Lewis Foundation Chronology. Retrieved on 2007-04-12.
  7. ^ i-uk
  8. ^ visitbritain.com

[edit] External links

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