Farnham Grammar School

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Farnham Grammar School is now called Farnham College which is located in Farnham, Surrey.

The grammar school was created some time before 1585 (the date of a donation being made by a Richard Searle "to the maintenance of the school in Farnham"). The first evidence that the school was built is a record in 1585 of a yeoman in Farnham donating 20 shillings 'to the maintenance of the school of Farnham'.^[1] It is, though, possible that this ancient school dated back as far as 1351 when a chantry was created at Farnham Castle, but there is no documentary evidence of this.

The school benefited over the years from bequests by different people as well as the generosity of Bishops of Winchester who occupied Farnham Castle over the centuries.

The school was housed in West Street, Farnham until 1906. It moved then because in the previous year, the town centre assets were sold in order to purchase and build a new school in fields to the south of the town.

In 1973, under Government education reforms, the school merged with Farnham Girls' Grammar School to form Farnham College.

[edit] Old boys

Jack Coutu (born 1924 in Farnham), the printmaker and sculptor, attended Farnham Grammar School.

Jeffrey Tate, the prominent English conductor attended Farmham Grammar School between 1954 and 1961 (Head Boy in his final year).

Bill Wallis, the actor and satirist, is an old boy of the school, attending from 1948 to 1955 (Head Boy in his final year).

Michael Henry John Kilburn attended Farnham Grammar School. He was a member of the Cadet Corps and the Home Guard in Farnham. He left school in 1940, aged 18, and immediately joined the RAFVR to train as a pilot. Now Sergeant Kilburn (1380631), he was completing his last two weeks of training at 20 Operational Training Unit (20 OTU) at Lossiemouth, when he was tragically killed during a training flight on January 19th 1942.^[2]