Cheltenham College
Cheltenham College is a co-educational independent school, located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.
One of the public schools of the Victorian period, it was opened in July 1841. An Anglican foundation, it is known for its classical, military and sporting traditions.
The 1893 book Great Public Schools by E. S. Skirving, S. R. James and Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte, which had a chapter on each of what they regarded to be England's ten greatest public schools, included Cheltenham College.
Work and service
675 Old Cheltonians (former pupils) were killed in the service of their country in World War I, and 363 in World War II. Cheltenham's military past is recognised by the fact that it is one of only three schools in England (the others being Eton College, founded in 1440, and the Duke of York's Royal Military School, founded in 1803) to have its own military colours (last presented in 2000 by The Princess Royal). Queen Victoria School in Dunblane, Scotland also has Colours.
The names of those Old Cheltonians killed in the first world war are recorded in the College chapel, completed in 1896, which to a degree resembles King's College Chapel in Cambridge and is one of the chapels of an English public school. Those killed in the second world war are displayed on the memorial in the College's dining hall.
Cheltenham has approximately 600 pupils (150 being day pupils) between the ages of 13 and 18.[2] The fees are about £29,000 a year, making it amongst the most expensive schools in the country.[3] The school is now co-educational and maintains a strong academic reputation, with the majority of pupils going to The Russell Group Universities, and around 7% going on to Oxford and Cambridge universities. Both GCSE and A Level results are among the highest in Gloucestershire.[4][5]
There is also a prep school, Cheltenham College Junior School, most of whose pupils go on to the senior school.
Cheltenham also runs an annual exchange program with the Wynberg Boys' High School in Cape Town, South Africa; an all-boys boarding school which coincidentally was established in the same year as Cheltenham, 1841.
Sport
Rugby
Cheltenham has a sporting tradition, competing with larger single gender schools. The first inter-school rugby football match was played between Rugby School and Cheltenham College, Cheltenham beating Rugby; and the "Cheltenham Rules" were adopted by the Rugby Football Union in 1887. Cheltenham also reached the final of The National Schools 7s Festival four times in the last ten years, winning the competition in 1998, 2003 and 2004. Cheltenham's rugby XV was undefeated in the 2008 season.[6]
Rackets
Cheltenham College plays Rackets where, at times, they have dominated the Queen's Club Public Schools Competition; Cheltenham has been National Champions three times from 2003 to 2011. The current World Champion, Jamie Stout, is an Old Cheltonian as well .[7]
Polo
Cheltenham were National Schools Champions in 1997, 1998, 2004, & 2005 and Arena Champions in 2004, 2005 & 2006. [8]
Cricket
Cricket is one of the main sport that is played in summer. Cheltenham College enjoys a long standing tradition of cricket. Home of the famous ‘Cheltenham Cricket Festival’. Gloucestershire County Cricket Club played its first game at Cheltenham College 137 years ago, making this one of the longest running cricket festivals in the world. [9]
Houses
There are ten houses, three of which are day houses; Southwood for the boys and Queens or Westal for the girls. Ashmead, Chandos and Westal (a boarding and day house) are the girls' boarding houses whilst the boys reside in either Boyne House, Christowe, Hazelwell, Leconfield or Newick House. There are plans for building work on a new girls' boarding house to start within the next year.
| House Name |
Composition |
Colours |
Housemaster/Mistress |
| Ashmead ( A ) |
Boarding Girls |
|
Anna Cutts |
| Boyne House ( BH ) |
Boarding Boys |
|
Sebastian Bullock |
| Chandos ( C ) |
Boarding Girls |
|
Holly Mérigot |
| Christowe ( XT ) |
Boarding Boys |
|
Nick Nelson |
| Hazelwell ( H ) |
Boarding Boys |
|
Simon Conner |
| Leconfield ( L ) |
Boarding Boys |
|
Chris Reid |
| Newick House ( NH ) |
Boarding Boys |
|
Fergus Llewellyn |
| Queen's ( Q ) |
Day Girls |
|
Will & Wandrille Bates |
| Southwood ( S ) |
Day Boys |
|
Barry Lambert |
| Westal ( W ) |
Day Girls |
|
Sue Jackson |
If....
Cheltenham College was used to film the majority of the school scenes in the 1968 British film If...., starring Malcolm McDowell, although an agreement between the school's then Headmaster, David Ashcroft, and the film's director, Lindsay Anderson (who was a former pupil and Senior Prefect), prevented the filmmakers from crediting the school. Additional interior scenes were filmed at Aldenham School in Hertfordshire, which gained sole accreditation in the film's closing credit. Two Surrey independent schools, Charterhouse School and Cranleigh School, had also negotiated to appear, but pulled out of negotiations once the subject matter of the film became clear.
Notable former pupils (Old Cheltonians)
- Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Germanophile, philosopher and author of the "gospel of the Nazi movement."[10]
- Lindsay Anderson, film director, shot the 1968 film If.... chiefly at Cheltenham College
- Peter Atkinson, Former Journalist and Conservative MP for Hexham 1992–present
- Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra, Warden of Wadham College, Oxford
- Lord Moore of Wolvercote, Queen's Private Secretary from 1977 to 1986
- Sir Alan Haselhurst, Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons
- Jonah Barrington, squash player, ex-world champion and ex-world number one
- Andrew Cecil Bradley, Shakespeare critic
- Chris Bryant, Labour MP for Rhondda 2001–
- Simon Danielli, Scottish international rugby player
- Nick Abendanon, English international rugby player
- Tom Beim, English international rugby player
- Tom Scudamore, jockey, son of Peter Scudamore
- Jack Nixon Browne, Baron Craigton CBE, PC (3 September 1904 - 28 July 1993) was a Scottish Tory politician
- Nigel Davenport, actor
- Jack Davenport, actor
- Lawrence Doe, footballer
- Field Marshal Sir John Dill, GCB, CMG, DSO, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1940–1941
- Sir Charles Eliot, British ambassador to Japan, 1919–25
- Henry Jackson (classicist)
- Henry James, 1st Baron James of Hereford PC, QC (30 October 1828 – 18 August 1911), was an Anglo-Welsh lawyer and statesman
- Sir John Bagot Glubb, Glubb Pasha, Commander of the Arab Legion, 1939–56
- Adam Lindsay Gordon, poet
- Major-General Sir Colin Gubbins, (Head of S.O.E.)
- H. L. A. Hart, an influential jurisprudential thinker
- Patrick Heenan, Captain in the British Indian Army who was convicted of treason and executed after spying for Japan during the Malayan campaign of World War II
- Michael Jopling, Baron Jopling, Conservative cabinet minister
- Very Rev Walter Kenrick Knight-Adkin Dean of Gibraltar
- William Edward Hartpole Lecky, (Irish historian)
- Martin Horwood, Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham
- Percy Alexander MacMahon, mathematician[11]
- John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn
- Lt-Gen. Sir Philip Neame, VC, K.B.E., C.B., DSO, gold medallist for rifle shooting (1924 Summer Olympics, Paris)
- William West Neve, Arts and Crafts style architect
- Francesco the Duke of Montalto, Italian, served in as a Captain of a Cavalry Regiment WW2, was Lt-Gen. Philip Neame’s friendly gaoler at POW camp Castle di Vincigliata PG12 near Florence. Later captured by British 8th Army and released in 1944.
- Rageh Omaar, BBC world affairs correspondent, now with Al Jazeera
- Sir Thomas Paton, civil engineer involved in building Kariba and Aswan dams.
- Endicott Peabody, founder of Groton School, Massachusetts
- William Plenderleath, clergyman and antiquary[12]
- General Sir Hugh Michael Rose, KCB CBE DSO QGM
- Sir Charles Scott, British ambassador to Imperial Russia, 1898–1904;
- James Stout, World Rackets Champion, 2008-present
- General Sir Charles Warren (1840–1927), Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police at the time of the Whitechapel Murders
- Patrick White, Nobel prize-winning novelist
- Tunku Halim Abdullah, author and novelist
- Dr. Ts'o Seen Wan, C.B.E., L.L.D., J.P.
- Edward Adrian Wilson, polar explorer, died with Robert Falcon Scott in 1912. A painting of Cheltenham by Wilson is in the Town Museum. A photograph of him is there too.
- Mike Lithgow, OBE.(1920–1963) test pilot Vickers Supermarine. Absolute flight airspeed record 1953 in a Supermarine Swift F4
- His Grace the Most Rev. Dr. George Otto Simms (1910–1991), D.D., Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh
- Hishammuddin Hussein, Current Minister of Home Affairs, Malaysia
- Edward Perrott, English international rugby player
- Sir George Power, opera singer
- Iain Sinclair, poet and novelist
- Lt-Colonel Herman Cyril McNeile ("Sapper"), (1888–1937), thriller writer and creator of Bulldog Drummond
- T. H. White (1906–1964), author, "The Once and Future King"
- Major General Sir John Jeremy Moore KCB, OBE, MC & Bar (1928–2007), commander of the British land forces during the Falklands War
- Dr Amy Cowell OBE, President of the Royal Geographic Society 2011
- See also Category:Old Cheltonians
Victoria Crosses won by Old Cheltonians
Fourteen Victoria Crosses have been won by Old Cheltonians,[13] with only Eton College (37), Harrow School (19), Haileybury College (17), and Wellington College (15), having higher totals.(Although it should be taken into account that the Duke of York's Royal Military School does not publish lists of recipients of bravery awards in order not to diminish the service of those several thousand former pupils who have fought in battle and not received the VC, but only lesser awards for gallantry).[14]
The list of names, with age and rank at the time of the deed which merited the award of the Victoria Cross, is as follows:
- Bogle, Lieutenant Andrew Cathcart (28) Andrew Cathcart Bogle.
- Booth, Sergeant Frederick Charles (27) Frederick Charles Booth.
- Boyes Midshipman Duncan Gordon (aged 17, the youngest). Duncan Gordon Boyes.[15]
- Boyle, Lieut. Commander Edward Courtney (32) Edward Courtney Boyle.
- Channer, Captain George Nicolas (32) George Nicolas Channer.
- Forbes-Robertson, Lieutenant Colonel James (34) James Forbes-Robertson.
- Grant, Lieutenant John Duncan (27) John Duncan Grant.
- Hart, Lieutenant Reginald Clare (31) Reginald Clare Hart.
- Melvill, Lieutenant Teignmouth (37) Teignmouth Melvill.
- McDonell, Mr. William Fraser (28) William Fraser McDonell.
- Moor, Second Lieut. George Raymond Dallas (19) George Raymond Dallas Moor.
- Neame, Lieutenant Philip (26) Philip Neame.
- Reynolds, Captain Douglas (32) Douglas Reynolds.
- Ryder, Commander Robert Edward Dudley (34) Robert Edward Dudley Ryder.
Display of Victoria Crosses
Seven of the College VCs are on public display: Bogle, Boyle, Melvill, Moor, Neame, Reynolds, Ryder. The other seven VCs are at locations unknown, presumed in private hands: Booth, Boyes, Channer, Forbes-Robertson, Grant, Hart, McDonell.
The VC won by Midshipman Boyes was sold by the College in 1998 to raise scholarship funds.[16] A replica of his VC is on permanent display in Cheltenham College library (Big Modern) with photographs of all 14 Victoria Cross winners and a world map showing where they were won. Below the Victoria Cross display a selection of other medals won by Old Cheltonians is displayed intermittently.
George Cross recipient
Headmasters and Principals
The headmaster is Dr Alex Peterken.
The full list of past principals and headmasters is contained in Cheltenham College Who's Who 5th edition, 2003, and is as follows:
Principals (1841–1919)
- Rev. Alfred Phillips, D.D. 1867-82
- Rev. Thomas Munday, D.D. 1859-67
- Rev. David Barker, D.D. 1845-59
- Rev. Henry Highton 1859-62
- Rev. Alfred Barry, D.D. 1862-68
- Rev. Thomas William Jex-Blake 1868-74
- Rev. Herbert Kynaston, D.D. 1874-88
- Rev. Herbert Armitage James, D.D. 1889-95
- Rev. Robert Stuart de Courcy Laffan 1895-99
- Rev. Reginald Waterfield, D.D. 1899-1919
Headmasters (1919 - present)
- Henry Harrison Hardy 1919-32
- Richard Victor Harley Roseveare 1932-37
- Arthur Goodhart Pite 1937-38
- John Bell 1938-40
- Alan Guy Elliott-Smith 1940-51
- Rev. Arthur Godolphin Guy Carleton Pentreath 1952-59
- David Ashcroft 1959-78
- Richard Martin Morgan 1978-90
- Peter David Vaughan Wilkes 1990-97
- Paul Arthur Chamberlain 1997-2004
- John Stephen Richardson 2004-2010
- Dr Alex Peterken 2010-
Headmasters of the Junior School
- Rev. Thomas Middlemore Middlemore-Whithard 1863-65
- Rev. Christopher Edward Lefroy Austin 1885-96
- Francis Joseph Cade OC 1896-1910
- Charles Thornton OC 1911-23
- Basil Allcot Bowers OC 1923-33
- William Donavan Johnston 1933-46
- Hugh Alan Clutton-Brock 1946-64
- William Philip Cathcart Davies 1964-86
- David John Allenby Cassell 1986-91
- Nigel Iain Archdale 1992-2008
- Adrian Morris 2008-2010
- Scott Bryan 2010
See also
References
- ^ a b "Facts & figures". Cheltenham College. Archived from the original on 2007-08-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20070822151818/http://www.cheltcoll.gloucs.sch.uk/cc/news/facts.php. Retrieved 2007-08-24.
- ^ [1] Cheltenham College web site
- ^ [2] Cheltenham College web site
- ^ [3] The Guardian
- ^ [4] The Daily Telegraph
- ^ [5] The Daily Telegraph
- ^ [6]
- ^ [7]
- ^ [8]
- ^ Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, 1959, p.109 of 1985 Bookclub Associates Edition.
- ^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Cheltenham College", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/MacMahon.html .
- ^ Hunter, Andrew Alexander, Cheltenham College Register, 1841-1889, p. 83
- ^ Michael Croke Morgan, (1968), Cheltenham College: The First Hundred Years, page 219, (published for the Cheltonian Society by Sadler)
- ^ Fully referenced cited article on number of VCs, school by school, can be found at List of Victoria Crosses by School
- ^ The Life of Duncan Boyes, V.C
- ^ Spink: Boyes, Duncan Gordon; Midshipman, RN. Sale of 21 July 1998, lot 212, sale price £51,750
- ^ George Cross Database Recipient: Andre Gilbert KEMPSTER, GC (Posthumously)
- Cheltenham College: The First Hundred Years by Michael C. Morgan [Chalfont St. Giles: Richard Sadler, for the Cheltonian Society, 1968]. A formal history, starting with the meeting on 9 November 1840 of Cheltenham residents (presided over by Major-General George Swiney) who decided to set up a 'Proprietary Grammar School' and appointed a committee to achieve this. ISBN unknown/unavailable.
- Then & Now: An Anniversary Celebration of Cheltenham College 1841-1991 by Tim Pearce, (Cheltonian Society, 1991). The author explains in the Preface that this is "more of a scrap book than a formal history, and like all scrap books it reflects the tastes and interests of its compilers and depends on what in the way of pictures and documents may be available to them". ISBN 0-85967-875-X
- Cheltenham College Who's Who, 5th edition ed. John Bowes, (Cheltonian Society, 2003) No ISBN on book.
- Floreat, A collection of photographs of College life from the 1960s and early 1970s compiled by the late M.F. Miller, a Physics master at the school
External links
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