Cheltenham College

Cheltenham College

Motto	Latin: Labor omnia vincit ("Work Conquers All")
Established	July 1841
Type	Independent Day & Boarding Public school
Religion	Church of England
Headmaster	Dr Alex Peterken
President	Mr W J Straker-Nesbit
Founder	G.S. Harcourt, J.S. Iredell
Location	Bath Road Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 7LD England
Local authority	Gloucestershire
DfE URN	115795 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Staff	88[1]
Students	600[2]
Gender	Co-educational
Ages	3–18
Houses	10
Colours
Former students	Old Cheltonians
Publication	The Cheltonians
Website	www.cheltenhamcollege.org

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. A Church of England foundation, it is known for its classical, military and sporting traditions, and currently has 610 pupils.

History

Two Cheltenham residents, G.S. Harcourt and J.S. Iredell, founded Cheltenham College in 1841 to educate the sons of gentlemen. It originally opened in three houses along Bays Hill Terrace in the centre of the town.

Within two years it had moved to its present site—with Boyne House as the first College Boarding House—and soon became known simply as Cheltenham College. Taking both boarding and day boys, it was originally divided into Classical and Military sides until the mid-twentieth century. The 1893 book Great Public Schools by E. S. Skirving, S. R. James, and Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte contained a chapter on each of what they considered England's ten greatest public schools; it included a chapter on Cheltenham College. It is now an independent fee paying school, governed by Cheltenham College Council. A few girls were admitted in 1969 and then in 1981 when the first girls' house opened, the Sixth Form became fully co educational. In 1998, girls were admitted to all other years, making the College fully co-educational.

In 1865, a Junior Department was added to the main College buildings. In 1993 it opened its doors to girls and also opened Kingfishers for 3–7-year olds.

Work and service

Cheltenham College chapel and library (Big Modern)

In the First World War 675 Old Cheltonians (former pupils) were killed in the service of their country, and a further 363 died 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 World War I are recorded in the College chapel, completed in 1896, which to a degree resembles King's College Chapel, Cambridge and is one of the chapels of an English public school. The names of those killed in the World War II are displayed on the memorial in the College's dining hall.

Cheltenham has approximately 640 pupils (a fifth being day pupils) between the ages of 13 and 18.^[3] The fees are about £30,000 a year, making it amongst the most expensive schools in the country.^[4] 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.^[5][6]

There is also a prep school, Cheltenham College Preparatory School, most of whose pupils go on to the senior school.

Cheltenham has links with the Wynberg Boys' High School in Cape Town, South Africa—an all-boys boarding school coincidentally established in 1841, the same year as Cheltenham.

Structure

Cheltenham College consists of a preparatory school and senior school and educates students from ages 3 to 18. The boarding programme is also available to preparatory school students.

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 Prep's 7s team were joint winners of the Rosslyn Park National 7s Prep-school tournament in 2017. Cheltenham's rugby XV was undefeated in the 2008 season.^[7] Of note, Eddie Butler, former Welsh, Babarian and British Lions International Rugby player, and now the main rugby commentator for the BBC, taught French at the school. Also, the schools director of rugby is former Gloucester Rugby and England Rugby player Olly Morgan

Rowing

The Boat Club was founded in 1841. The Boat House itself is located at the foot of Tewkesbury Abbey on the banks of the River Severn. Key events in the rowing calendar are; Schools' Head of the River Race, The National Schools Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta. At the 2013 National School's Head of River, the 1st IV+ came first in their division.^[8]

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. Chris Stout won the Foster Cup (the individual championship for public schools) at Queen's Club in December 2011. The current World Champion, Jamie Stout (Chris' brother), is an Old Cheltonian as well .^[9]

Polo

Cheltenham were National Schools Champions in 1997, 1998, 2004, & 2005 and Arena Champions in 2004, 2005 & 2006.^[10]

Cricket

Cricket is one of the main sports that is played in summer. Cheltenham College enjoys a longstanding tradition of cricket and is the home of the 'Cheltenham Cricket Festival'. Gloucestershire County Cricket Club played its first game at the College cricket ground in 1872, making this the longest running cricket festival on an out-ground, in the world (Canterbury Cricket Week was first played in 1842, but the St Lawrence Ground is now Kent County Cricket Club's headquarters).^[11]

Houses

There are ten houses, two of which are day houses: Southwood for the boys and Queens for the girls. Ashmead, Chandos and Westal are the girls' boarding houses. College Lawn for girls will open in September 2017, offering both day and boarding. The boys reside in Boyne House, Christowe, Hazelwell, Leconfield, and Newick House. Leconfield also hosts day students.

Ester Leach and Daniel Evans are Housemistress and Housemaster Elect, assuming duty in September 2017.

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.

Old Cheltonians

Victoria Cross recipients

Fourteen Victoria Crosses (VCs) have been won by Old Cheltonians,^[12] with only Eton College (37), Harrow School (20), 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).^[13]

The list of names, with age and rank at the time of the deed that merited the award of the VC, is as follows:

• Lieutenant Andrew Cathcart Bogle, 78th Regiment, Oonao, India, 29 July 1857, aged 28
• Mr William Fraser McDonell, Bengal Civil Service, Arrah, India, 30 July 1857 aged 27
• Midshipman Duncan Gordon Boyes, RN, HMS Euryalus, Japan, 6 September 1864, aged 17^[14]
• Captain George Nicolas Channer, 1st Gurkha Rifles, Perak Expedition, 20 December 1875, aged 32
• Lieutenant Teignmouth Melvill, 24th Regiment of Foot, Isandlwanha, Zululand, 22 January 1879, aged 36
• Lieutenant Reginald Clare Hart, Royal Engineers, Afghan War, 31 January 1879, aged 30
• Lieutenant John Duncan Grant, 8th Gurkha Rifles, Gyantse Jong, Tibet Expedition, 6 July 1904 aged 27
• Captain Douglas Reynolds, Royal Field Artillery, Le Cateau, France, 26 August 1914, aged 31
• Lieutenant Philip Neame, Royal Engineers, Neuve Chapelle, France, aged 26
• Lieut. Commander Edward Courtney Boyle, RN Submarine E14, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles, 27 April 1915, aged 32
• Second Lieut. George Raymond Dallas Moor, Hampshire Regiment, Krithia, Dardanelles, 5 June 1915, aged 18
• Lieutenant Colonel James Forbes-Robertson (34)
• Sergeant Frederick Charles Booth, 1st Rhodesian Native Regiment, Johannes Bruck, East Africa, 12 February 1917, aged 26
• Commander Robert Edward Dudley Ryder, RN, St Nazaire, 27 March 1942, aged 34

George Cross recipient

• Kempster, Major André Gilbert (né Coccioletti). Royal Armoured Corps; Algeria, 21 August 1943^[15]

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 2010–2018
• Nicola Hugget 2018-

Headmasters of the Preparatory School

Known as Junior (1863-2013)

• Rev. Thomas Middlemore Middlemore-Whithard 1863–65
• 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 2010–2012
• Noll Jenkins 2012–2013 (acting Headmaster)

Preparatory (2013 onwards)

• Jonathan Whybrow 2013–

See also

• Cheltonian Society
• College Ground, Cheltenham
• List of Victoria Crosses by School
• Thirlestaine House

References

Bibliography

• 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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cheltenham College.

• Cheltenham College website

Coordinates: 51°53′30″N 2°4′30″W / 51.89167°N 2.07500°W / 51.89167; -2.07500