Encyclopedia
St Paul's School is a boys' public school. It was originally located in the
City of London and is now is located in the London suburb of Barnes. It is one of the original nine English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868.
History
St Paul's School takes its name from
St Paul's Cathedral in London. A cathedral school had existed since early times, and certainly from about 1103. By the sixteenth century, however, it had declined, and in 1509 a new St Paul's School was founded by
John Colet, Dean of
St Paul's Cathedral, on a plot of land to the north of the Cathedral. The eldest son of Sir Henry Colet, a member of the
Mercers' Company and twice Lord Mayor of London, he inherited a substantial fortune, the great part of which he used for the endowment of his School, having no family of his own .
The School provided for the education of 153 children of 'all nacions [sic] and countries indifferently' in good manners and literature. The number 153 has long been associated with the miracle of the draught of fishes recorded in St John's Gospel, and for several generations Foundation Scholars have been given the option of wearing an emblem of a silver fish. St Paul's was the largest school in England at its foundation, and its High Master had a salary which was double that of the contemporary Head Master of
Eton College. The scholars were not required to make any payment, although they were required to be literate, and they had to pay for their own wax candles - at that time an expensive commodity.
Colet was the outspoken critic of the powerful and worldly Church of his day, and the friend of
Erasmus and Sir
Thomas More. Erasmus wrote textbooks for the school and St Paul's was the first English school to teach Greek, reflecting the humanist interests of the founder. Colet distrusted the Church as a managing body for his school, declaring that he "found the least corruption" in married laymen. For this reason, Colet assigned the management of the School and its revenues to the
Mercers' Company, the premier livery company in the City of London, with which his father had been associated. The governing body of the school is still strongly associated with nominees of the Mercers' Company. In 1876 the Company were legally established as Trustees of the
Colet estate and the management of the School was assigned to a Board of Governors consisting of the Master, Wardens and nine members of the Company, together with three representatives each of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and London. The Company still forms the major part of the School's governing body, and it continues to administer Colet's trust.
One of St Paul's early headmasters was Richard Mulcaster, famous for writing two influential treatises on education . His description in Positions of "footeball" as a refereed team sport is the earliest reference to organised modern football. For this description and his enthusiasm for the sport he is considered the father of modern football.
St Paul's has since its foundation been one of the leading British public schools. Between 1861 and 1864, the Clarendon Commission investigated the public school system in England and its report formed the basis of the Public Schools Act 1868. St Paul's was one of only nine schools considered by the Clarendon Commission, and one of only two schools which was not predominantly attended by boarders. .
Under the direction of F. W. Walker, who had become the High Master in 1887, the School rapidly expanded, and established itself as one of the foremost teaching schools in the country. Over many years its record of Open Awards at
Oxford and
Cambridge in all subjects has been equal, or superior, to that of any other school of comparable size.It normally finishes up around the top of the league tables and is onne of the greatest schools in the world at the moment.
The school day lasts from 8.35 in the morning to 4.15 in the afternoon and consists of 8 periods, including a one hour, forty-five minute lunch break during which pupils usually partake in sporting or extra-curricular activities such as rugby, rowing or debating.
Buildings
The original school, which stood in St Paul's Churchyard, was destroyed with the Cathedral in the
Great Fire of London in 1666. The school was twice rebuilt, in 1670, and again in 1822; but towards the end of the 19th century, it was decided that the school should move out of the
City of London.
In 1884 a new building designed by the architect
Alfred Waterhouse rose to dominate the countryside of
Hammersmith. The terracotta for the Hammersmith school was made by the famous Gibbs and Canning Limited of
Tamworth. At this time the street numbering was changed locally and so the school address, whether by accident or design, became 153 Hammersmith Road.
In September 1939, the School was evacuated to Crowthorne in Berkshire, where, under the then high Master, W. F. Oakeshott, it became a boarding school for the period of the war. In the meantime, the London buildings became the H.Q. of XXI Army Group under the command of General, later Field-Marshal,
Bernard Montgomery, himself an Old Pauline. There the military side of the invasion of Europe was planned, including the
D-Day landings. The map that he used is still present in the modern day site of the school in the Montgomery Room.
The School recovered its buildings in September 1945, and resumed life essentially as a day school . By 1961 it had become evident that the old school buildings were unsuited to modern educational needs. By good fortune, the opportunity then came to rebuild the School on a 45 acre riverside site at Barnes and the present and fifth School buildings were opened in September 1968. This site also includes St Paul's Preparatory School, or Colet Court, whose pupils account for roughly one half of the senior school's intake each year. There have been plans in recent years to redevelop the existing campus, as most of the 1968 buildings were designed as 'quick fixes' so that the school could open on schedule. Most likely, all that will remain from the existing buildings are the Music department, and the Rackets Court. The Waterhouse building on Hammersmith Road was demolished - apart from the gates and the peripheral walls, the High Master's House, and a toolhut - and in 1980 flats were built on the site.
Associated schools
By the end of the nineteenth century the funds of the Dean Colet Foundation had increased to such an extent that the Trustees decided to build a school for girls, and in 1904, St Paul's Girls' School was opened in Brook Green,
Hammersmith. During the past 100 years the School has earned a reputation which today places it foremost among girls' schools in the country.
In 1881, a boys' preparatory school was founded which later became Colet Court. Colet Court is now on the same site as the main school and all its pupils are expected to pass into St Paul's School when they reach the age of 13. It therefore serves as a junior school for the main establishment, and its pupils as a major source of amusement for Paulines, who observe with mirth their discoloured and dirty blue shirts and precocious attitudes.
Present day
The Boys' School numbered 846 boys in 2005, the 496th year of its foundation. Approaching its 500th anniversary an ambitious total rebuilding of the School at its present site is planned, to be completed over a 25-year period. This is called the "Masterplan" of St Paul's School and the details can be viewed .
The school still maintains a limited boarding facility for the use of some forty boys. There are strong boarding house traditions including the annual bonfire and two hours of compulsory study known as "prep" every evening. Newer traditions include the sponsored all night five-a-side football tournament and "charity sponging" event.
The school has a strong sports department: its achievements include runners-up in the rugby U15 Daily Mail Cup and the Boat Club has won the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at
Henley Royal Regatta twice in its history.
Many former pupils keep in touch with each other through the Old Pauline Club. Various sporting clubs are affiliated to the Old Pauline Club, such as the Old Pauline Football Club , the Old Pauline Association Football Club , the Old Pauline Cricket Club , the Old Pauline Association Club and the Old Pauline Harvey Chess Society , who participate in many national tournaments with moderate success. There are also various websites set up by Old Paulines themselves. Links to the OPC, OPFC, OPAFC, OPCC, and student websites are provided at the bottom of this page.
In 2005, St Paul's obtained the best overall placing in the GCSE exam league tables published nationally, and was also the leading boys school in the A level results tables. 60% of its leavers went to Oxford and Cambridge, which was also the highest proportion achieved by any boys' school in the country.
School coat of arms
Like many ancient educational foundations, St Paul's School traditionally used the arms of its founder,
John Colet. His arms were
Sable on a chevron Argent between three Hinds trippant Argent three Annulets Sable, and they were originally used by his great-grandfather, Richard Colet. As Dean of St Paul's, he was entitled to
impale them with the arms of the Deanery, and the school has often used them in this form also. In 2002, the school obtained a grant of arms from the
College of Arms consisting of the arms of Dean Colet surrounded by a gold bordure, upon which the crossed swords of the Dean of St Paul's are repeated.
Notable alumni
Famous former pupils, known as Old Paulines, include:
...
; poet
- Pepys, Samuel ; civil servant and diarist
- Judge Jeffreys ; Lord Chief Justice
- Churchill, John ; Duke of Marlborough and army officer
- Halley, Edmond ; astronomer, geophysicist, meteorologist and physicist
- Compton, Spencer ; Earl of Wilmington and politician
- Dance, George ; architect
- Clarkson, Thomas ; anti-slavery campaigner
- Blakesley, Joseph Williams ; clergyman
- Jowett, Benjamin ; Master of Balliol
- Lord Dawson ; Royal physician
- Binyon, Laurence ; poet
- Aurobindo, Ghose ; Indian Mystic, Philosopher, Poet, Yogi and Guru
- Chesterton, G. K. ; writer
- Thomas, Edward ; poet
- Shepard, E.H. ; illustrator of Winnie the Pooh
- Woolf, Leonard ; civil servant and political theorist
- Ayrton, Edward ; Egyptologist and archaeologist
- Mackenzie, Sir Compton ; writer
- Littlewood, John Edensor
...
; mathematician
- Rev. Philip Clayton , founder of Toc H
- Watson, George Neville ; mathematician
- G. D. H. Cole , political philosopher.
- Montgomery, Field Marshal Bernard ; World War II General
- Nash, Paul ; artist
- Gollancz, Sir Victor ; publisher
- Roy, Indra Lal ; air force pilot
- Berlin, Sir Isaiah ; political philosopher and historian of ideas
- Newby, Eric ; writer
- Chadwick, John ; Foremost linguist, assisted Michael Ventris in the 1953 decipherment of Linear B.
- Brain, Dennis ; horn player
- Parsons, Nicholas ; actor and television presenter
- Freud, Sir Clement
...
; writer, broadcaster and politician
...
; actor
- Osborne, George ; politician
- Dennis, Simon ; rower and Olympic gold medalist
- Kash, Tim ; television presenter
See also
- Colet Court
- St Paul's Girls' School
External links
