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Cheltenham College

Coordinates: 51°53′30″N 2°4′30″W / 51.89167°N 2.07500°W / 51.89167; -2.07500
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Cheltenham College
Address
Map
Bath Road

Cheltenham
,
Gloucestershire
,
GL53 7LD

England England
Information
TypeIndependent, Day & Boarding
MottoLatin: Labor Omnia Vincit
("Work Conquers All")
Religious affiliation(s)Anglican
EstablishedJuly 1841
Local authorityGloucestershire
PresidentThe Revd J C Horan
HeadmasterJohn S Richardson
Staff88[1]
GenderCo-educational
Age13 to 18
Enrollment600[1]
Houses10
Former studentsOld Cheltonians
Websitehttp://www.cheltcoll.gloucs.sch.uk/

Cheltenham College is a famous co-educational independent school, located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.

The first of all the major 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, Henry Churchill, and 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

More than 600 Old Cheltonians (former pupils) were killed in the service of their country in World War I, and more than 400 in World War II. Cheltenham's military past is recognised by the fact that it is one of only two schools (the other being Eton) to have its own military colours (last presented in 2000 by The Princess Royal).

Cheltenham College chapel and library (Big Modern)

The names of those Old Cheltonians killed in the wars are recorded in the cloisters of the College chapel completed in the 1890s, which to a degree resembles King's College Chapel in Cambridge and is one of the finest chapels of any English public school.

Cheltenham has approximately 600 pupils (150 being day pupils) between the ages of 13 and 18.[2] The fees are about £28,000 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 with a handful going on to Oxford and Cambridge universities. Both GCSE and A Level results are among the highest in Gloucestershire;[4][5] however, these results are not accurately reflected in those league tables which do not recognise the IGSE in Mathematics (which is taken by the majority of pupils).[6]

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 school in Cape Town, South Africa; a prestigious all-boys boarding school which co-incidently was established in the same year as Cheltenham, 1841.

Sport

Cheltenham has a strong sporting tradition, competing with larger single gender schools at the highest level. 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. The school has had particular success at raquets where, at times, they have dominated the Queen's Club Public Schools Competition; at polo where they were National Schools Champions in 1997, 1998, 2004, & 2005 and Arena Champions in 2004, 2005 & 2006, and again at rugby where they have reached the final of The National Schools 7's 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.[7]

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.

Notable former pupils (Old Cheltonians)

See also Category:Old Cheltonians

Victoria Crosses won by Old Cheltonians

Fourteen Victoria Crosses have been won by Old Cheltonians,[9] with only Eton College (37), Harrow School (19), Haileybury College (17), and Wellington College (15), having higher totals.[10] A replica of the Boyes VC is on permanent display in the 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.

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:

Display of Victoria Crosses

VCs on public display: Bogle, Boyle, Melvill, Moor, Neame, Reynolds, Ryder (7)

VCs location unknown, presumed in private hands: Booth, Boyes, Channer, Forbes-Robertson, Grant, Hart, McDonell (7)

George Cross recipient

The Times of November 10, 1943, p. 4, states:

“On August 21, 1943, near Phillipeville, Major Kempster was carrying out grenade throwing practice with two others in the same pit. A grenade which was thrown by Major Kempster rolled back into the pit. Major Kempster attempted to scoop the grenade out of the pit but failed to do so. By this time detonation was due. Without hesitation Major Kempster threw himself on the grenade just before it exploded and received fatal injuries. By his self-sacrifice, Major Kempster undoubtedly saved the lives of the two other occupants of the pit. Major Kempster’s act meant certain death, and he must have known this at the time. His was a supreme act of gallantry.”

Headmasters and Principals

The headmaster is John Richardson, formerly head of Culford School.

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. 1841-44
  • Rev. William Dobson 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-

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-

References

  1. ^ a b "Facts & figures". Cheltenham College. Retrieved 2007-08-24. Cite error: The named reference "Welcome" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ [1]Cheltenham College web site
  3. ^ [2]Cheltenham College web site
  4. ^ [3]The Guardian
  5. ^ [4]The Daily Telegraph
  6. ^ [5]The Gloucestershire Echo
  7. ^ [6]The Daily Telegraph
  8. ^ Hunter, Andrew Alexander, Cheltenham College Register, 1841-1889, p. 83
  9. ^ Michael Croke Morgan, (1968), Cheltenham College: The First Hundred Years, page 219, (published for the Cheltonian Society by Sadler)
  10. ^ Fully referenced cited article on number of VCs, school by school, can be found at List of Victoria Crosses by School
  11. ^ The Life of Duncan Boyes, V.C
  12. ^ George Cross Database Recipient
  • 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

See also

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

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