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Stonyhurst College



 
 
Stonyhurst College is an independent, Roman Catholic school in the Jesuit
Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Roman Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Jesus Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a Holy Orders....
 tradition. It is located on the Stonyhurst Estate
Stonyhurst

Stonyhurst is the name of a three hundred acre rural estate owned by the Society of Jesus near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It is dominated by Stonyhurst College, its preparatory school Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and the parish Church of St Peter's....
 near Clitheroe
Clitheroe

Clitheroe is a town and civil parish in the borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England. It lies on the southern edge of the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists in the area....
 in rural Lancashire
Lancashire

Lancashire is a Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England of Historic counties of England in the North West England of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea....
, England, where it occupies a Grade I listed building.

The school was founded in 1593 by Father Robert Persons SJ at St Omer, at a time when penal laws prohibited Catholic education in England. It relocated to Stonyhurst Hall in 1794, having moved already to Bruges
Bruges

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
 in 1762 and Liège
Liège (city)

Li?ge is a major Walloon Region city and Municipalities in Belgium in Belgium located in the Provinces of Belgium of Li?ge , of which it is the administrative capital....
 in 1773.






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Encyclopedia


Stonyhurst College is an independent, Roman Catholic school in the Jesuit
Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Roman Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Jesus Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a Holy Orders....
 tradition. It is located on the Stonyhurst Estate
Stonyhurst

Stonyhurst is the name of a three hundred acre rural estate owned by the Society of Jesus near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It is dominated by Stonyhurst College, its preparatory school Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and the parish Church of St Peter's....
 near Clitheroe
Clitheroe

Clitheroe is a town and civil parish in the borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England. It lies on the southern edge of the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists in the area....
 in rural Lancashire
Lancashire

Lancashire is a Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England of Historic counties of England in the North West England of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea....
, England, where it occupies a Grade I listed building.

The school was founded in 1593 by Father Robert Persons SJ at St Omer, at a time when penal laws prohibited Catholic education in England. It relocated to Stonyhurst Hall in 1794, having moved already to Bruges
Bruges

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
 in 1762 and Liège
Liège (city)

Li?ge is a major Walloon Region city and Municipalities in Belgium in Belgium located in the Provinces of Belgium of Li?ge , of which it is the administrative capital....
 in 1773. Today the school provides boarding and day education to approximately four hundred and fifty boys and girls aged 13-18, whilst on an adjacent site, its preparatory school
Preparatory school

Preparatory school or prep school may refer to:*University-preparatory school, a school in North America that is a private secondary school, typically charging high fees, designed to prepare students aged 14-18 for higher education at a university or college....
, St Mary's Hall
Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall

Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall is the preparatory school to Stonyhurst College. It is an independent, Roman Catholic school in the Jesuit tradition, offering boarding and day education to boys and girls aged three to thirteen, and is the successor to the original preparatory school, Hodder Place....
, provides education for boys and girls aged 3-13.

Under the motto Quant Je Puis, "As Much As I can", the school combines academic development with a range of extra-curricular activities. The spiritual plays an important role in College life, with emphasis on both prayer and service, according to the Jesuit philosophy of creating Men and Women for Others.

Its alumni/ae include three Saints
Saint

A saint in Christianity is a human being who has been called to holiness. The term is used differently by various denominations, with some, such as the Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans distinguishing between Saints and saints....
, twelve Beati
Beatification

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic church of a dead person's accession to Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name ....
, twenty-two martyrs, seven archbishops, seven Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration which is, or has been, awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth of Nations countries, and previous British Empire territories....
 winners,, a Peruvian president
Eduardo López de Romaña

Eduardo L?pez de Roma?a y Alvizuri was List of Presidents of Peru from 1899 to 1903. A respected member of the Peruvian Elite and L?pez de Roma?a Family, he was the first engineer to become President of the Republic, and one of several Presidents from the Civilista Party during the era of the "Aristocratic Republic"....
 and a number of writers, sportsmen, politicians, and European royals.

The school was granted Fair Trade status in 2009.

History


Stonyhurst Hall

Stonyhurst College
The earliest Deed concerning the "Stanihurst" dates from approximately 1200 A.D. and can now be found in the Arundell Library in the College, whilst the earliest evidence of a building on the site is from 1372 when John de Bayley was licensed to have an oratory there. The oldest portion of the extant buildings was completed by Bayley's descendents, the Shireburn family. Richard Shireburn began building the Hall, whilst his grandson Nicholas extended it, constructing the ponds, avenue and gardens. Upon his death, the estate passed to his wife and then to their sole heir, Mary, the Duchess of Norfolk. In 1754, it was inherited by her cousin Thomas Weld
Lulworth Castle

Lulworth Castle, in East Lulworth, Dorset, situated south of Wool, Dorset, is an early 17th century mock castle. The stone building has now been re-built as a museum....
 of Lulworth. An old boy of the school when it was at Liege, he donated the buildings, with of land, in 1794 to the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Roman Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Jesus Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a Holy Orders....
.

The College


The story of the school starts at St Omer
Saint-Omer

Saint-Omer , a Communes of France and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais....
 in what was then the Spanish Netherlands in 1593, where a college, with the backing of Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain

Philip II was King of Spain from 1556 until 1598, List of monarchs of Naples from 1554 until 1598, king consort of England, as husband of Mary I of England, from 1554 to 1558, lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories, such as Duke or Count; and King of Portugal as Philip I...
, was founded by Fr Robert Persons SJ for English boys unable to receive a Catholic
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
 education in Elizabethan
Elizabethan era

The Elizabethan era is associated with Elizabeth I of England's reign and is often considered to be the Golden Age in History of England. It was the height of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of English poetry and English literature....
 England. As such it was one of a number of expatriate English schools operating on the European mainland. In 1762, the Jesuits were forced to flee, re-establishing their school at Bruges
Bruges

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
. The school was again moved in 1773 to Liège
Liège (city)

Li?ge is a major Walloon Region city and Municipalities in Belgium in Belgium located in the Provinces of Belgium of Li?ge , of which it is the administrative capital....
, before finally settling at Stonyhurst
Stonyhurst

Stonyhurst is the name of a three hundred acre rural estate owned by the Society of Jesus near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It is dominated by Stonyhurst College, its preparatory school Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and the parish Church of St Peter's....
 on 29 August 1794, where schooling resumed on Wednesday 22 October of the same year.

The College flourished during the nineteenth century: the Society of Jesus was re-established in Britain at Stonyhurst in 1803, and over the century student numbers rose steeply from the original twelve migrants from Liège to make it England's largest Catholic college at the turn of the following century. Stonyhurst Hall underwent extensive alterations to accommodate these numbers; the Old South Front was constructed in 1810, only to be demolished and replaced with much grander buildings in the 1880s. A seminary was constructed on the estate
Stonyhurst

Stonyhurst is the name of a three hundred acre rural estate owned by the Society of Jesus near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It is dominated by Stonyhurst College, its preparatory school Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and the parish Church of St Peter's....
, and an observatory and meteorological station erected in the gardens. The twentieth century saw the emergence of a mostly lay staff as the number of Jesuits declined. The seminary at Saint Mary's Hall was closed and the school discontinued its education of university-aged philosophers. Physical development continued, with the completion of a new wing in the 1960s, new science buildings in the 1950s and 1960s, a new swimming pool in the 1980s and the refurbishment of existing areas throughout the 1990s to the present. The school became fully co-educational in 1999.

Hodder Place, St Mary's Hall & Hodder House

The original preparatory school to Stonyhurst, Hodder Place
Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall

Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall is the preparatory school to Stonyhurst College. It is an independent, Roman Catholic school in the Jesuit tradition, offering boarding and day education to boys and girls aged three to thirteen, and is the successor to the original preparatory school, Hodder Place....
, came into the hands of the Jesuits as part of the estate donated by alumnus Thomas Weld. Originally used as a novitiate
Novitiate

Novitiate, alt. noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a novice monk or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking monastic vows in order to discern whether they are vocation to the religious life....
, it became a preparatory school to the College in 1807.

St Mary's Hall
Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall

Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall is the preparatory school to Stonyhurst College. It is an independent, Roman Catholic school in the Jesuit tradition, offering boarding and day education to boys and girls aged three to thirteen, and is the successor to the original preparatory school, Hodder Place....
, on an adjoining site to Stonyhurst, was built as a Jesuit Seminary in 1828 (extended in the 1850s) and functioned until 1926, when the seminarians moved to Heythrop Hall
Heythrop College

Heythrop College is a constituent college of the University of London situated in Kensington Square, Kensington, London. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in philosophy, psychology and theology, as well as research in related fields....
. The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins

Gerard Manley Hopkins , was an England poet, Roman Catholicism convert, and Society of Jesus priest, whose 20th-century fame established him posthumously among the leading Victorian poets....
, and John Tolkien, son of J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Order of the British Empire was an English people English literature, poetry, Philology, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion....
, trained as priests there. During the War, the English College occupied the Hall. After their return to Rome, St Mary's Hall opened as a middle school in 1946. At the same time, Hodder Place continued to educate those aged eight to eleven, until its closure and conversion into flats in 1970. Hodder Place pupils then moved up to St Mary's Hall to form Hodder Playroom. As successor to Hodder Place, St Mary's Hall has a claim to be the oldest surviving preparatory school in Britain.

In 2004, the old gymnasium at St Mary's Hall was converted into new nursery and infant facilities named Hodder House
Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall

Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall is the preparatory school to Stonyhurst College. It is an independent, Roman Catholic school in the Jesuit tradition, offering boarding and day education to boys and girls aged three to thirteen, and is the successor to the original preparatory school, Hodder Place....
, for those aged three to seven, making it now possible for a pupil to spend fifteen years in education at Stonyhurst.

Religious life


The College is Roman Catholic and has had a significant place in English Catholic history for many centuries (including controversial events such as the Popish Plot
Popish Plot

The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates which gripped England in anti-Catholic hysteria from 1678 until 1681. Oates alleged that there existed an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II of England....
 and Gunpowder Plot
Gunpowder Plot

The Gunpowder Conspiracy of 1605, or the Powder Treason or Gunpowder Plot, as it was then known, was a failed assassination attempt by a group of provincial English Roman Catholic Church against King James I of England....
 conspiracies). It was founded initially to educate English Catholics on the continent in the hope that, through them, Catholicism might be restored in England. Finally, the school settled in England in 1794 and the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Roman Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Jesus Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a Holy Orders....
 was officially re-established in Britain in 1803. Stonyhurst remained the headquarters of the English Province until the middle of the century; by 1851, a third of the Province's Jesuits were based there. Until the 1920s Jesuit priests were trained on site in what is today the preparatory school. Its closure cut the number of Jesuits at Stonyhurst to a third within a decade. Since then, the Jesuit presence has been in decline but the school nevertheless continues to place Catholicism and Jesuit philosophy at its core under the guidance of a Jesuit-led chaplaincy team and Jesuit involvement among the governors.

Jesuit ethos


The Jesuit educational ethos consists chiefly of seven strands:

  • Finding God in All Things
  • Caring for the individual
  • Showing love in deeds
  • Building Christian community
  • Engaging with the wider world
  • Encouraging excellence
  • Co-operating in Jesuit mission


Under these guiding principles, the College strives for the formation of well-rounded individuals, influenced by Ignatian reasoning and spirituality, and concern for humankind: the development of Men and Women for Others. In particular, students are encouraged to take part in daily prayer, retreats, meditations, celebration of the sacraments, pilgrimages and to be actively involved in charity work
Charities of Stonyhurst College

Stonyhurst College and Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall are both Catholic boarding schools in the Jesuit tradition, which aim at the creation of Men and Women for Others....
.

Chapels

The school has one main church, St Peter's, and five chapels: the College Chapel (formerly known as the Boys' Chapel), the Chapel of the Angels, the Sodality Chapel, the St Aloysius
Aloysius Gonzaga

Saint Aloysius Gonzaga was an Italy Jesuit and saint....
 Chapel and the St Ignatius
Ignatius of Loyola

Saint Ignatius of Loyola was the principal founder and first Superior General of the Society of Jesus.The compiler of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, Ignatius was described by Pope Benedict XVI as being above all a man of God, who gave the first place of his life to God, and a man of profound prayer....
 Chapel. The latter two are both within the towers of St Peter's Church, and are not normally used by students.

The Sodality Chapel is the home of the remains of third century Roman convert St Gordianus. Having rested beneath the altar since 1859, after travelling with the Jesuits from the College of St Omer, his bones were temporarily removed again in 2006 whilst the chapel underwent restoration, but they have since been returned. The Chapel is once again used by the re-established Sodality
Sodality

In Christian theology, a sodality is a form of the Church universal expressed in specialized, task oriented form as opposed to the Church in its local, diocesan form ....
.

Adjacent to the Old Infirmary is the Rosary Garden, a place for spiritual contemplation, at the centre of which is a stone statue of Mary.

Traditions

It is a long-standing practice that pupils write A.M.D.G.
Ad maiorem Dei gloriam

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam or ad majorem Dei gloriam , also known by the abbreviation AMDG, is the motto of the Society of Jesus, commonly referred to as the Jesuits....
 in the top left hand corner of any piece of work they do. It stands for the Latin phrase Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam which means For the Greater Glory of God. At the end of a piece of work they write L.D.S. in the centre of the page. It stands for Laus Deo Semper which means Praise to God Always. These are both traditional Jesuit mottoes.

A distinguishing feature of Stonyhurst is the singing of the Pater Noster
Pater Noster

Pater Noster is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity.Pater Noster or Paternoster may also refer to:* Paternoster, a passenger elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building...
, the "Lord's Prayer" in Latin. It is sung at mass, and has been adopted as an anthem by the school's sports teams.

Charitable status


As a registered charity, Stonyhurst is obliged to provide benefits to the wider community under the terms of the Charities Act 2006
Charities Act 2006

The Charities Act 2006 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to alter the regulatory framework in which charities operate, partly by amending the Charities Act 1993....
. As such, the College is home to the local Catholic parish church, which receives worshippers from Hurst Green
Hurst Green, Lancashire

Hurst Green is a small village in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, connected in its history to the Jesuit school, Stonyhurst College. The village is not far from Longridge and Clitheroe, and is very close to the River Hodder....
 on a daily basis. Its sports facilities, including the swimming pool and all-weather pitch are available for public use; the latter will be used for competitors training for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Much of the estate has public access; in particular the gardens and tea house are visited during the summer months, whilst the College plays host to tours, antiques fairs, food festivals, music concerts, conferences and weddings. The school has a relationship with a number of state schools, arranging shared activities with their pupils, in particular those serving special needs
Special needs

Special needs is a term used in clinical diagnostic and functional development to describe individuals who require assistance for disabilities that may be medical, mental, or psychological....
 children. In addition, the school makes available a number of places to pupils offered on scholarship, bursaries or free of charge; almost a third of current pupils receive financial support for their places.

Motto

The French motto, Quant Je PuisAs Much as I Can, is central to the ethos of the school, which focusses upon the all-round development of the individual. It is inherited from the Shireburn family who once owned the original mansion on the site; the family emblem is emblazoned, in stone, with the motto, above the fireplace in the Top Refectory. At the far end of the same room, once the dining room of the Shireburns, the motto can be seen again, carved into the minstrel's gallery: Quant Je Puis. Hugo Sherburn armig. me fieri fecit. Anno Domini 1523. Et sicut fuit sic fiat.

Academic

Academic standards are high: 85% of GCSE students attain A*-C grades; there is a 100% pass rate at A-Level; and 100% of A-Level leavers take up places at universities (10% to Oxbridge
Oxbridge

Oxbridge was originally a fictional composite of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of superior intellectual or social status, emphasising the apparent "difficulty" of gaining admission....
) or on gap year
Gap year

A gap year is a term that refers to a prolonged period between a life stage. The most popular gap years are taken pre or during matriculation in a university or college, between college and graduate school and a profession, during a career change, pre or post marriage or having a first child and pre or post retirement....
 schemes.

Ten GCSEs are usually taken by each pupil, consisting of five compulsory subjects (Religious Studies, Mathematics, English Language and Literature, and French) plus Information Technology and Personal, Social Education, with five other options from humanities, sciences, or arts subjects. In Poetry (lower sixth), four or five AS-Levels are taken from a choice of 25 subjects, with a weekly Theology class. One of these may be dropped and the remainder, or all, taken on to A-Level. Six A* - C grades are the requirement for Sixth Form entry. Each academic department has dedicated teaching rooms around the school, in addition to the general classrooms and playroom study places.

Education during the College's early history was based on St Ignatius' Ratio Studiorum
Ratio Studiorum

The Ratio Studiorum often designates the document that formally established the globally influential system of Jesuit education in 1599. Its full title is Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis Iesu ....
, with emphasis upon theology, classics and science, all of which still feature prominently in the curriculum. The educational practice, observed at the College of St Omer, of dividing a class into Romans and Carthaginians continued long after the migration to Stonyhurst but is rarely employed today; each pupil would be pitched against an opponent with the task of picking up on the other's mistakes in an attempt to score points.

Until Roman Catholics were admitted to Oxbridge
Oxbridge

Oxbridge was originally a fictional composite of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of superior intellectual or social status, emphasising the apparent "difficulty" of gaining admission....
 in 1894, Stonyhurst was also home to a number of "philosopher gentlemen" studying BA courses under the London Matriculation Examination system. Their numbers began to fall after 1894 and the department was closed in 1916.

Libraries and collections


Libraries


Stonyhurst College has four main libraries: the Arundell, the Bay, the Square and the More (dedicated to Saint Thomas More).

The More Library is the main library for students whilst the 'House Libraries' (the Arundell, the Bay, and the Square) contain many artefacts from the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Roman Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Jesus Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a Holy Orders....
 and English Catholicism. The Arundell Library, presented in 1837 by Everard, 11th Baron Arundell of Wardour, is the most significant; it is not only a country-house library from Wardour Castle
Wardour Castle

Wardour Castle is located near Tisbury, Wiltshire in the England county of Wiltshire, about west of Salisbury. The original castle was partially destroyed during the English Civil War....
 but also has a notable collection of 250 Incunabula, medieval manuscripts and volumes of Jacobite
Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement dedicated to the restoration of the House of Stuart kings to the thrones of Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland....
 interest, signal among which is Mary Tudor's
Mary Tudor

Mary Tudor may refer to:*Mary I of England, daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, d.1558*Mary Tudor, Queen of France, daughter of Henry VII of England, wife of Louis XII of France and then of Charles Brandon, 1st duke of Suffolk...
 Book of Hours, which it is believed she gave to her chaplain on the scaffold. The M.S. Le Livre de Seyntz Medicines was written in 1354 by Henry, Duke of Lancaster
Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster

Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster , also Earl of Derby and Leicester, was a member of the English nobility in the 14th century, and a prominent England diplomat, politician, and soldier....
. To these were added the archives of the English Province of the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Roman Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Jesus Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a Holy Orders....
, which include 16th-century manuscript verses by St Robert Southwell SJ
Robert Southwell

Saint Sir Robert Southwell was an England Jesuit priest and poet who worked as a missionary in post-Reformation England. He was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, London, and became a Catholic martyr....
, the letters of St Edmund Campion SJ
Edmund Campion

Saint Edmund Campion, S.J. was an England Jesuit priest and martyr....
 (1540-81) and holographs of the 19th-century poet Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins

Gerard Manley Hopkins , was an England poet, Roman Catholicism convert, and Society of Jesus priest, whose 20th-century fame established him posthumously among the leading Victorian poets....
. The Arundell Library held the seventh century Stonyhurst Gospel
Stonyhurst Gospel

The St Cuthbert Gospel of St John, also known as the Stonyhurst Gospel, is a small 7th-century pocket gospel book, written in Latin, which belonged to Cuthbert of Lindisfarne of Lindisfarne, who died in 687....
 of St John, before it was loaned to the British Library
British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is based in London and is one of the world's largest List of Research libraries, holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats; books, journals, newspapers, magazines, Sound recording, patents, databases, maps, stamps, Printmaking, drawings and much mor...
, as well as a first folio of Shakespeare. The Stonyhurst copy of the Chronicles of Jean Froissart
Jean Froissart

Jean Froissart was one of the most important of the chroniclers of medieval France. For centuries, Froissart's Chronicles have been recognized as the chief expression of the chivalric revival of the 14th century Kingdom of England and France....
, captured at the Battle of Agincourt
Battle of Agincourt

The Battle of Agincourt was an English victory against a much larger French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday 25 October 1415 ...
 in 1415 are currently on loan to the Royal Armouries
Royal Armouries

The Royal Armouries houses the United Kingdom national collection of arms and armour. It is the oldest museum in the United Kingdom and one of the oldest museums in the world....
 in Leeds, where they are the centre-piece of a new exhibition.

Collections


Among those collections kept away from public view are the numerous blood-soaked garments from Jesuits martyred in Japan, the skull of Cardinal Morton, the ropes used to quarter St Edmund Campion SJ, the hairs of St Francis Xavier SJ
Francis Xavier

Francis Xavier, born Francisco de Jaso y Azpilicueta was a Kingdom of Navarre pioneering Roman Catholic missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus....
, an enormous solid silver jewel-encrusted monstrance
Monstrance

A monstrance is the vessel used in the Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, and Anglican Churches to display the consecrated Eucharist Host , during Eucharistic adoration or Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament....
, the Wintour vestments, a cope made for Henry VII
Henry VII of England

Henry VII was the Kingdom of England and Lordship of Ireland from his usurpation of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the Tudor dynasty....
, and a thorn said to be from the crown of thorns
Crown of Thorns

In Christianity, the Crown of Thorns, one of the instruments of the Passion , was woven of thorn branches and placed on Jesus before Crucifixion of Jesus....
 placed upon Jesus' head at the crucifixion
Crucifixion

Crucifixion is an ancient method of execution , whereby the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead....
.

The school has a number of fine paintings, including a portrait of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I of Russia

Nicholas I , , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the List of Russian rulers. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometres....
 and another of the Jesuit Henry Garnet
Henry Garnet

Henry Garnet or Garnett was an England Jesuit, executed because of his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot of November 5, 1605. He was the son of Brian Garnett, headmaster of Nottingham High School from 1565 – c....
. In the Stuart Parlour are portraits of a number of Jacobites including James Francis Edward Stuart
James Francis Edward Stuart

Prince James, Prince of Wales was the son of the deposed James II of England. As such, he claimed the English, Scottish and Irish thrones from the death of his father in 1701, when he was proclaimed king of England, Scotland and Ireland by his cousin Louis XIV of France....
, and his sons Charles Edward Stuart
Charles Edward Stuart

Charles Edward Stuart was the exiled Jacobitism claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland. He is commonly known in English and Scots language as Bonnie Prince Charlie....
 and Henry Benedict Stuart
Henry Benedict Stuart

Henry Benedict Cardinal Stuart was the fourth and final Jacobitism heir to publicly claim the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Unlike his father, James Francis Edward Stuart, and brother, Charles Edward Stuart, Henry made no effort to seize the throne....
. There are also several original engravings by Rembrandt
Rembrandt

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Netherlands Painting and etching. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art history and the most important in History of the Netherlands....
 and Dürer, such as the 'Greater Passion' and the 'Car of Maximillian'.

Observatory


The school has a functioning observatory which was built in 1866. An older observatory, built in 1838, which also functioned as a meteorological station is now the tea house in the gardens, but was once one of seven important stations in the country when the Meteorological Office came under the auspices of the Royal Society
Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence....
. The records of temperature taken there start from 1846 and are the oldest continuous daily records in the world. During the nineteenth century, the observatory was maintained by the astronomer priests, Fr Weld, Fr Perry
Stephen Joseph Perry

Stephen Joseph Perry was an English Jesuit, known as a participant in scientific expeditions....
 and Fr Sidgreaves whose research included astronomy, geomagnetrometry and seismology. Astrophysicist Pietro Angelo Secchi, director of the Vatican Observatory
Vatican Observatory

The Vatican Observatory is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See. Originally based in Rome, it now has headquarters and laboratory at the summer residence of the Pope in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, and an observatory at the Mount Graham International Observatory in the United States....
, also taught astronomy at the College during the period. Sir Edward Sabine chose the observatory as one of his main stations when conducting a magnetic survey of Britain in 1858. Five years later Fr Sidgreaves began the first series of monthly geometric observations, which continued until May 1919. During the course of the twentieth century, the observatory fell out of use and its telescope, parts of which dated to the 1860s, was sold after the Second World War. When its private owner came to sell it, the College was able to buy it back and restore it to its original home.

Arts


Music, Drama, Art

Music plays a prominent role in school life. All those entering the school in Lower Grammar (year nine) are obliged to learn to play an orchestral instrument. There are two choirs: the Chapel Choir, which sings regularly at mass, and the Schola Cantorum, composed of teachers and pupils, which sings at concerts and public events such as the May celebration in the College amphitheatre. Pupils participate in the school orchestra and various bands, whilst the staff band is a notable feature of the Poetry Banquet and Rhetoric Ball.

Drama is equally important, with plays staged throughout the school year, the main performance being at Great Academies
School life at Stonyhurst College

This article describes some of the unique features of Stonyhurst College, a Jesuit school in Lancashire, England....
, whilst some students take Theatre Studies as an additional AS Level subject. The College has a traditional theatre, the Academy Room, and a high-tech theatre built at Saint Mary's Hall
Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall

Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall is the preparatory school to Stonyhurst College. It is an independent, Roman Catholic school in the Jesuit tradition, offering boarding and day education to boys and girls aged three to thirteen, and is the successor to the original preparatory school, Hodder Place....
 as part of the Centenaries Appeal in 1993. The latter plays host to the annual Ribble Valley
Ribble Valley

Ribble Valley is a Non-metropolitan district with borough status within the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. Its council is based in Clitheroe....
 International Piano Week. A number of former pupils have gone on to achieve success upon the stage, including OSCAR-winning actor and director Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton was an England Academy Award-winning Theatre and film actor, screenwriter, Film producer and one-time Film director.While best known for his historical roles in films, he started his career as a remarkable stage actor....
 and BAFTA-winning director and producer Peter Glenville
Peter Glenville

Peter Glenville , born Peter Patrick Brabazon Browne, was an England film and stage actor and director....
.

Art is an important part of the curriculum, and is compulsory for those in Lower Grammar (year nine). There is a dedicated art studio in addition to a separate design and technology centre. Student artwork is displayed on the walls of the Lower Gallery, including a portrait of the Queen painted by Isobel Bidwell during the Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

A Golden Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 50th anniversary....
 year; upon receipt of a copy, the Queen's lady-in-waiting
Lady-in-waiting

A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a noble court, attending to a Monarch, a princess or other nobility. A lady-in-waiting is often a noblewoman of lower rank than the one she attends to, and is not considered a servant....
 said that "The Queen was delighted to see the painting and know that it is on display in the school".

Literary associations

Stonyhurst has a number of literary associations: its setting has provided inspiration for poets and authors who include former classics teacher Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins

Gerard Manley Hopkins , was an England poet, Roman Catholicism convert, and Society of Jesus priest, whose 20th-century fame established him posthumously among the leading Victorian poets....
, whose poems feature details of the local countryside, and former pupil Sir Arthur Conan Doyle whose "Baskerville Hall" was modelled on Stonyhurst Hall, and who named Sherlock Holmes'
Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. He is the creation of Scotland-born author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle....
 nemesis, Moriarty, after a fellow pupil. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote part of the Lord of the Rings in a classroom on the Upper Gallery during his stay at the College where his son taught Classics; his "Middle Earth" is said to resemble the local area, whilst there are specific resonances in names such as "Shire Lane", (the name of a road in Hurst Green) and the "River Shirebourn" (the Shireburns built Stonyhurst). Poet Laureate
Poet Laureate

A Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for State occasions and other government events....
 Alfred Austin
Alfred Austin

__FORCETOC__Alfred Austin was an England poet, who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896 upon the death of Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson....
, and the poet Oliver St John Gogarty ("Stately plump Buck Mulligan" in James Joyce's Ulysses) were educated at the school, (as were the sons of Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish people playwright, Irish poetry and author of numerous short stories and one novel. Known for his biting wit, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest Celebrity of his day....
 and Evelyn Waugh
Evelyn Waugh

Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh was a United Kingdom writer, best known for such darkly humorous and Satire novels as Decline and Fall, Vile Bodies, Scoop , A Handful of Dust, and The Loved One, as well as for serious works, such as Brideshead Revisited and the Sword of Honour trilogy that clearly manifest his Catho...
). George Archer-Shee
George Archer-Shee

George Archer-Shee became a United Kingdom cause c?l?bre in 1910 when the issue of whether he stole a five shilling Postal Order ended up being decided in the High Court of Justice....
, at the centre of Terence Rattigan's
Terence Rattigan

Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan was one of England's most popular 20th century dramatists. He was born in Kensington, London of Irish people extraction, educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Oxford, and his plays are generally situated within an upper middle class background....
 playThe Winslow Boy
The Winslow Boy

The Winslow Boy is an England Play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an George Archer-Shee in the Edwardian era, which took place at the Royal Naval College, Osbourne....
, is an alumnus.

The School runs its own publication company, St Omers Press, which publishes religious literature, and first began when the College was located at St Omer in Flanders
Flanders

Flanders is a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Over the course of history, the geographical territory that was called "Flanders" has varied....
.

Sport

Pupils are required to participate in games on a regular basis. The school is most noted for rugby union but an array of sporting activities are on offer, and since turning fully co-educational, hockey and rounders have widened the sports programme.

Stonyhurst College Rugby Union Football Club (SCRUFC)

Rugby has played a big part in the life of the school, despite only supplanting football as the school's primary sport in 1921. All boys are encouraged to play when they enter Lower Grammar but are not required to play throughout their time at the school. Stonyhurst has a successful rugby season, with games well supported by pupils, staff and parents. Sporting rivalry is particularly prominent against Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College

Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, England, is the largest private Catholic mixed boarding school in the United Kingdom, it is otherwise known as SHAC from the pupils and it is occasionally referred to as the "Catholic Eton College", a sobriquet also attached at different times to Beaumont and Stonyhurst College and which was Cardinal N...
 and Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School

Sedbergh School is a boarding school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, for boys and girls aged 13 to 18. Nestled in the Howgill Fells, it is renowned for strong sporting sides, especially its Rugby Union 1st XV....
. The Stonyhurst Sevens - the largest school sevens event in Britain - take place annually, attracting large crowds and numerous teams from all over the country.

The school has produced fourteen international rugby players (England (5), Ireland (6), Italy (1), the USA (1) and the Bahamas (1) ), as well as players for the Barbarians and the British and Irish Lions. Most recently they include Iain Balshaw and Kyran Bracken
Kyran Bracken

Kyran Paul Patrick Bracken Order of the British Empire is a former English rugby union footballer who played at Rugby union positions#9. Scrum-half for Saracens , Bristol Shoguns and Waterloo R.F.C....
, who both played for England when they won the 2003 Rugby World Cup
2003 Rugby World Cup

The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth rugby union Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup Limited....
, whilst another member of that team, Will Greenwood
Will Greenwood

William John Heaton "Will" Greenwood, Order of the British Empire is a former England rugby union player.He was educated at St. Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst, where his mother taught mathematics until 2007....
, went to Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall
Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall

Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall is the preparatory school to Stonyhurst College. It is an independent, Roman Catholic school in the Jesuit tradition, offering boarding and day education to boys and girls aged three to thirteen, and is the successor to the original preparatory school, Hodder Place....
, where his mother taught mathematics until 2007. Current pupils of the school have won places to represent Spain, the Irish Exiles, and the Welsh Exiles (under 19s). A number of old boys have also played at varsity level and have won blues for Oxford or Cambridge.

Stonyhurst has had well known coaches, including former England coaches Dick Greenwood
Dick Greenwood

Richard Greenwood is a former rugby union international flanker, captain of Waterloo R.F.C., Lancashire and England as well as national coach....
, and Brian Ashton
Brian Ashton (rugby player)

William Brian Ashton Order of the British Empire is a former rugby union player and the former Coach of the England national rugby union team....
 who coached the first XV.

Stonyhurst Football

Stonyhurst Football, inherited from the College of St Omer (along with Stonyhurst Cricket), was played between the handball walls on the Playground. The game was discontinued with the advent of Association Football but was re-established in 1988 when a "Grand Match" was played at Great Academies; traditionally a "Grand Match" was played on Shrove Tuesday
Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday is a term used in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia for the day preceding the first day of the Christian season of fasting and prayer called Lent....
 and was the primary Stonyhurst Football match of the season. The teams were England vs France (although during the Crimean War England vs Russia was played and more recently England vs Ireland was played in the 1980s). The last game took place in 1995.

Sporting facilities

  • all-weather astro-turf sports pitch
  • 9 hole golf course
  • shooting range
  • 2 ponds used for canoeing and fishing
  • 25m swimming pool
  • 2 squash courts
  • 9 tennis courts
  • 4 cricket pitches
  • 8 rugby pitches
  • 2 football pitches
  • weight-training gymnasium
  • 2 indoor sports halls (one at SMH
    Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall

    Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall is the preparatory school to Stonyhurst College. It is an independent, Roman Catholic school in the Jesuit tradition, offering boarding and day education to boys and girls aged three to thirteen, and is the successor to the original preparatory school, Hodder Place....
    )
  • large estate used for cross-country, orienteering, clay-pigeon shooting and rambling


Rhetoric vs. Hodder cricket and rounders

Towards the end of the Summer Term each year, Rhetoric boys issue a challenge, written in Latin, to the boys in preparatory at Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall
Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall

Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall is the preparatory school to Stonyhurst College. It is an independent, Roman Catholic school in the Jesuit tradition, offering boarding and day education to boys and girls aged three to thirteen, and is the successor to the original preparatory school, Hodder Place....
, inviting them to compete in a cricket match. Preparatory respond in turn, also in Latin. The Rhetoricians take part wearing fancy dress, and are traditionally 'defeated' by preparatory. In 2003, the tradition was adopted by the girls who issued a Latin challenge to preparatory girls inviting them to compete at rounders.

Military


Officer Training Corps (OTC)

The Stonyhurst Officer Training Corps assembled for the first time on Tuesday 16 October 1900, in the Ambulacrum, overseen by The First Volunteer Battalion, the East Lancashire Regiment
East Lancashire Regiment

The East Lancashire Regiment of the British Army was formed in 1881 from the 30th Regiment of Foot and the 59th Regiment of Foot . See Lancashire Regiment....
 who gave instruction in drill and musketry. The original uniform was scarlet with a white piping and slouch hat, which was changed to khaki before the First World War. The Corps was granted the honour of representation at the Coronation of 1910 and sent members to the Royal Review at Windsor in 1911. It also appeared on parade annually for the spectacle of the Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi may refer to:Religious:* Corpus Christi , a Christian feast day, or solemnity, commemorating the supreme gift of the institution by Jesus Christ of the Holy Eucharist on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday, or on the Sunday following that Thursday....
 celebrations until the practice became obsolete after Vatican II.

Combined Cadet Corps (CCF)

After the Second World War, school OTCs were succeeded by the Combined Cadet Force
Combined Cadet Force

The Combined Cadet Force is a Ministry of Defence sponsored youth organisation in the United Kingdom. Its aim is to "provide a disciplined organisation in a school so that pupils may develop powers of leadership by means of training to promote the qualities of responsibility, self reliance, resourcefulness, endurance and perseverance"....
. Stonyhurst's is run from the College Armoury adjoining the Ambulacrum and Shooting Range, led by a team of officers under a Major assigned to the school. It meets weekly on a Thursday afternoon and comprises the following platoons named after Stonyhurst's seven Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration which is, or has been, awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth of Nations countries, and previous British Empire territories....
 winners:

Junior company
  • Costello Platoon (Lieutenant Edmund William COSTELLO V.C., Matakand, India 1897)
    Edmond William Costello

    Brigadier-General Edmund William Costello Victoria Cross Order of St Michael and St George Royal Victorian Order DSO Croix de Guerre...
  • Coury Platoon (Second Lieutenant George Gabriel COURY V.C., Guillemont, Somme 1916)
  • Liddell Platoon (Captain John Aiden LIDDELL V.C, Ostend, Belgium 1915)
    John Aidan Liddell

    John Aidan Liddell, Victoria Cross, Military Cross was an England pilot and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations forces....
  • Kenna Platoon (Captain Paul Aloysius KENNA V.C., Khartoum, Sudan 1898)
    Paul Aloysius Kenna

    Brigadier General Paul Aloysius Kenna Victoria Cross Distinguished Service Order was an English born Irish people recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that could be awarded to United Kingdom and British Empire forces....


Senior company
  • Dease Platoon (Lieutenant Maurice James DEASE V.C., Mons, Belgium 1914)
    Maurice James Dease

    Maurice James Dease Victoria Cross was a British Army during the First World War. He was one of the first British officer battle casualties of the war and the first posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross in that war....
  • Jackman Platoon (Captain James Joseph Bernard JACKMAN V.C., Ed Duda,Tobruk,1941)
    James Joseph Bernard Jackman

    James Joseph Bernard Jackman Victoria Cross , was an Irish people recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations forces....
  • Andrews Platoon (Captain Harold Marcus ERVINE-ANDREWS V.C., Dunkirk 1940)
    Harold Marcus Ervine-Andrews

    Harold Marcus Ervine-Andrews Victoria Cross was an Irish people recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations forces....
  • Support Platoon


Those in Grammar Playroom (year ten) are automatically enrolled in the CCF and are given the option of continuing at the end of the year, following a summer camp which takes place at a local barracks. Training involves a range of activities such as drill (marching and related manoeuvres), shooting, learning how to assemble and clean weapons, tactical planning and team work. The school supplies pupils with uniform, the orderliness of which is rigorously enforced and inspected each week. Each platoon is lead by a Junior Under Officer, his sergeant
Sergeant

Sergeant is a Military rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
 and corporal
Corporal

Corporal is a Military rank in use in some form by most militaries and also by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to Ranks and insignia of NATO....
s who are sixth form students.

Military careers


In recent years, a number of pupils have distinguished themselves as members of the CCF and gone on to receive places at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is the British Army Commissioned officer initial training centre....
. This follows a long tradition of service from Stonyhurst pupils: many O.S. were killed in the two World Wars and are commemorated on the war memorial at the end of the Upper Gallery. The Stonyhurst War Records were published in their honour. A memorial at the top of the main staircase records the names of the six O.S. killed in the Boer War
Boer War

Two Boer Wars were fought between the British empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Orange Free State and the South African Republic , founded by settlers known as Voortrekkers who made the Great Trek from the Cape Colony....
.

School organisation


Playroom system

Unlike most English public schools, Stonyhurst is organised horizontally by year groups (known as playrooms) rather than vertically by houses, although the girls are also split into junior and senior houses. Each playroom has an assigned playroom master, with each cohort moving through the playrooms, having a sequence of playroom masters (rather than a single housemaster).

Currently, the College has the following playrooms, following the Roman order of learning:

  • Lower Grammar Playroom ('LG' 13-14)
  • Grammar Playroom (14-15)
  • Syntax Playroom (15-16, GCSE Year)
  • Poetry Playroom (16-17)
  • Rhetoric Playroom (17-18)


Lines

In addition to the horizontal division of the school into playrooms, there is also a vertical grouping which cuts through the year groups, the "lines", and is used mostly for competitive purposes in sport and music. The Lines and colours are as follows:
  • Campion (Red) (named after St Edmund Campion
    Edmund Campion

    Saint Edmund Campion, S.J. was an England Jesuit priest and martyr....
    )
  • St Omers (Yellow, though Brown for sporting attire) (named after St Omer, the town the school was founded in)
  • Shireburn (Green) (named after the Shireburn family which built Stonyhurst)
  • Weld (Blue) (named after Thomas Weld who donated Stonyhurst to the Jesuits)


Notable events in the school year


The Ascensio Scholarum, inherited from the College of St Omer, in its present form, is the opening address of the headmaster at the beginning of the year to the entire school gathered in the Academy Room. Previously, it was a formal transition for pupils from one playroom to the next at the beginning of the year, which involved a pupil from each year announcing to the playroom of the year below them that the next playroom had been vacated by the senior pupils. The students and their belongings would then move up to their next playroom. This is how it acquired the name, "the ascension of the school".

Great Academies takes place annually at the end of the first half of the Summer Term. Although different in its present form, it is a continuation of a tradition begun at St Omers, with the first taking place at Stonyhurst on 6 August 1795. Today, it is an occasion when the school is on display - there are exhibitions, musical performances, the school play, sporting events, as well as prize-giving and the headmaster's speech, culminating with the Rhetoric Ball and Rhetoric Mass the following morning.

Stonyhurst Association

After less formal arrangements had been made for many years, the Association was formed in 1879. Its primary objective is to foster a strong spirit of union amongst past pupils and friends of Stonyhurst, which has been achieved in a variety of ways reflecting the spirit of succeeding generations. Recently, there has been a strong charitable emphasis, embedded with similar developments at the College. This was formalised in 1985, when the Association was granted charitable status by the Charity Commission
Charity Commission

The Charity Commission for England and Wales is the non-ministerial government department that regulates Charitable organization in England and Wales....
. It also supports a number of charities connected to the school including Eagle Aid
Eagle Aid

AboutA fund-raising initiative for the poor and disadvantaged, started by the Stonyhurst College#Stonyhurst Association in 1987, to support major projects considered to have appeal to all Jesuit alumni....
.

Alumni/ae

Stonyhurst has educated prominent individuals in every area, from statesmen to sportsmen, and actors to archbishops. Seven alumni have been awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry; their paintings today adorn the walls of the Top Refectory in the school.

Notable alumni include:
  • Charles Carroll of Carrollton
    Charles Carroll of Carrollton

    Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Maryland was a delegate to the Continental Congress and later United States United States Senate for Maryland. He was the only Catholicism signer of the United States Declaration of Independence....
    , signatory of the U.S. Declaration of Independence
    Declaration of independence

    This article is about declarations of independence in general. Specific declarations of independence are listed below in alphabetical order. For the painting of this name, see Trumbull's Declaration of Independence....
  • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes
    Sherlock Holmes

    Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. He is the creation of Scotland-born author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle....
  • St Thomas Garnet SJ
    Thomas Garnet

    Saint Thomas Garnet was a Jesuit Catholic priest. He is the protomartyr of Saint Omer and therefore of Stonyhurst College. He was executed at Tyburn, London and is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales...
    , canonized saint and protomartyr of St Omers, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
    Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

    The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales are a group of Christian martyrs who were canonization on 25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI to represent the Roman Catholic Church martyred in England and Wales between 1535 and 1679....
  • Joseph Mary Plunkett
    Joseph Mary Plunkett

    Joseph Mary Plunkett was an Ireland nationalist, poet, journalist, and leader of the 1916 Easter Rising. His father, George Noble Plunkett, was a papal count and curator of the National Museum of Ireland....
    , Irish signatory of the Irish Proclamation of Independence who played a leading part in the Easter Rising
    Easter Rising

    The Easter Rising was a rebellion staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was an attempt by militant Irish republicanism to win independence from United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland....
    , for which he was executed
  • Sir Frederick Weld
    Frederick Weld

    Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld, Order of St Michael and St George , was a New Zealand politician and a governor of various British colonies. He was the sixth person to serve as Prime Minister of New Zealand, and later served as Governor of Western Australia of Western Australia, Governors of Tasmania of Tasmania, and Governor of the Straits Sett...
    , Prime Minister of New Zealand
  • Eduardo Lopez de Romaña
    Eduardo López de Romaña

    Eduardo L?pez de Roma?a y Alvizuri was List of Presidents of Peru from 1899 to 1903. A respected member of the Peruvian Elite and L?pez de Roma?a Family, he was the first engineer to become President of the Republic, and one of several Presidents from the Civilista Party during the era of the "Aristocratic Republic"....
    , President of Peru
  • Herbert Cardinal Vaughan
    Herbert Cardinal Vaughan

    Herbert Alfred Vaughan was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Roman Catholic Church Cardinal and Archbishop of Westminster. He was the founder in 1866 of...
    , Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster
    Archbishop of Westminster

    The Archbishop of Westminster heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster, in England. The incumbent is the Metropolitan bishop of the Province of Westminster and, as a matter of custom, is elected President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, and therefore de facto spokesman of the Catholic Church in England and...


Alumni currently in the public eye include:
  • Iain Balshaw
    Iain Balshaw

    Iain Robert Balshaw, Order of the British Empire is a rugby union footballer who plays on the Rugby union positions#14. and 11. Wing or at Rugby union positions#15....
    , English Rugby International, British and Irish Lion and World Cup Winner
  • Kyran Bracken
    Kyran Bracken

    Kyran Paul Patrick Bracken Order of the British Empire is a former English rugby union footballer who played at Rugby union positions#9. Scrum-half for Saracens , Bristol Shoguns and Waterloo R.F.C....
    , English Rugby International, British and Irish Lion and World Cup Winner
  • Crispian Hollis
    Crispian Hollis

    Roger Francis Crispian Hollis is the Bishop of Portsmouth. His parents were Christopher Hollis , the author and parliamentarian, and Madeleine Hollis ....
    , Bishop of Portsmouth
    Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth

    The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth is a Latin Rite Roman Catholic diocese in England. The episcopal see is the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth and is headed by the Bishop of Portsmouth ....
  • Paul Johnson, journalist, editor of the New Statesman
    New Statesman

    The New Statesman is a United Kingdom left-wing politics magazine published weekly in London. The current editor is Jason Cowley, whose appointment was announced on 16 May 2008....
    ; awarded the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom
    Presidential Medal of Freedom

    The Presidential Medal of Freedom is a decoration bestowed by the President of the United States and is, along with theequivalent Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of United States Congress, the highest Civilian decorations of the United States in the United States....
  • Mark Thompson
    Mark Thompson

    Mark John Thompson is Director-General of the BBC of the BBC, a post he has held since 2004, and a former Chief executive officer of Channel 4....
    , Director General of the BBC


Notable masters

  • Brian Ashton
    Brian Ashton (rugby player)

    William Brian Ashton Order of the British Empire is a former rugby union player and the former Coach of the England national rugby union team....
    , history master and England rugby coach.
  • Dick Greenwood
    Dick Greenwood

    Richard Greenwood is a former rugby union international flanker, captain of Waterloo R.F.C., Lancashire and England as well as national coach....
    , sports master and England Rugby coach.
  • Christopher Hollis
    Christopher Hollis

    Maurice Christopher Hollis, known as Christopher Hollis was a United Kingdom schoolmaster, university teacher, author and Conservative Party politician....
    , assistant master, history master (1925-1935), author, politician and president of the Oxford Union
    Oxford Union

    The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, UK, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford....
    .
  • Gerard Manley Hopkins
    Gerard Manley Hopkins

    Gerard Manley Hopkins , was an England poet, Roman Catholicism convert, and Society of Jesus priest, whose 20th-century fame established him posthumously among the leading Victorian poets....
    , classics master and poet.
  • Stephen Oliver, classics master and novelist.
  • Stephen Joseph Perry
    Stephen Joseph Perry

    Stephen Joseph Perry was an English Jesuit, known as a participant in scientific expeditions....
    , astronomy master.
  • Pietro Angelo Secchi, astronomy master, astrophysicist, and director of the Vatican Observatory
    Vatican Observatory

    The Vatican Observatory is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See. Originally based in Rome, it now has headquarters and laboratory at the summer residence of the Pope in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, and an observatory at the Mount Graham International Observatory in the United States....
    .
  • George Tyrrell
    George Tyrrell

    George Tyrrell was a Jesuit priest and a Modernist theologian and scholar. His attempts to evolve and adapt Catholic teaching in the context of modern ideas made him a key figure in the Modernism within the Roman Catholic Church in the late 19th century....
    , philosophy master and Roman Catholic modernist.


Headmasters

Since the College's foundation in Flanders
Flanders

Flanders is a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Over the course of history, the geographical territory that was called "Flanders" has varied....
 in 1593, there have been seventy-eight headmasters, (variably known as presidents, rectors, superiors and directors). Until the appointment of Giles Mercer in 1985, the headmaster had always been a member of the Society of Jesus. There have been three lay headmasters.

style="font-size:100%;"

St Omers, Bruges, Liège (1593-1794)


See: Heads of St Omers, Bruges, Liège


Stonyhurst (1794-present)


Presidents


Marmaduke Stone
Marmaduke Stone

Marmaduke Stone was an English Jesuit, in a position of leadership when the Order was dissolved....
 SJ (1794-1808)
Nicholas Sewall SJ (1808-1813)
John Weld SJ (1813-1816)
Nicholas Sewall SJ (1816-1817)


Rector and Headmaster


Charles Plowden
Charles Plowden

Charles Plowden was an English Jesuit teacher, writer and administrator.LifeHe was descended from Edmund Plowden, in a Catholic family....
 SJ (1817-1819)
Joseph Tristram SJ (1819-1827)
Richard Norris SJ (1827-1832)
Richard Parker SJ (1832-1836)
John Brownbill SJ (1836-1839)
Francis Daniel SJ (1839-1841)
Andrew Barrow SJ (1841-1845)
Richard Norris SJ (1845-1846)
Henry Walmesley SJ (1846-1847)
Richard Sumner SJ (1847-1848)
Francis Clough SJ (1848-1861)
Joseph Johnson SJ (1861-1868)
Charles Henry SJ (1868-1869)
Edward Purbick SJ (1869-1879)


William Eyre SJ (1879-1885)
Reginald Colley SJ (1885-1891)
Herman Walmesley SJ (1891-1898)
Joseph Browne SJ (1898-1906)
Pedro Gordon SJ (1906-1907)
William Bodkin SJ (1907-1916)
Edward O'Connor SJ (1916-1924)
Walter Weld SJ (1924-1929)
Richard Worsley SJ (1929-1932)
Edward O'Connor SJ (1932-1938)
Leo Belton SJ (1938-1945)
Bernard Swindells SJ (1945-1952)
Francis Vavasour SJ (1952-1958)
Desmond Boyle SJ (1958-1961)


Headmasters


Frederick J. Turner
Frederick Turner SJ

The Reverend Frederick Turner, SJ, who died aged 90 in 2001, was archivist, librarian and former headmaster at Stonyhurst College....
 SJ (1961-1963)
George Earle SJ (1963-1971)
Michael Bossy SJ (1971-1985)
Giles Mercer (1985-1996)
Adrian Aylward (1996-2006)
Andrew Johnson (2006 - Present)


Headmasters of Hodder Place & St Mary's Hall (1807-present)


See: Headmasters of Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall
Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall

Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall is the preparatory school to Stonyhurst College. It is an independent, Roman Catholic school in the Jesuit tradition, offering boarding and day education to boys and girls aged three to thirteen, and is the successor to the original preparatory school, Hodder Place....


Stonyhurst College

See also

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  • College of St Omer
  • Stonyhurst Estate
    Stonyhurst

    Stonyhurst is the name of a three hundred acre rural estate owned by the Society of Jesus near Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It is dominated by Stonyhurst College, its preparatory school Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall and the parish Church of St Peter's....
  • History of Stonyhurst College
    History of Stonyhurst College

    The history of Stonyhurst College as a school dates back to 1593 when its antecedent, the College of St Omer, was founded in Flanders to educate English Catholics....
  • Religious life at Stonyhurst College
    Religious life at Stonyhurst College

    Stonyhurst College is Roman Catholicism and has had a significant place in English Catholic history for many centuries . In 1803 the Society of Jesus was re-established in Britain at Stonyhurst and the school became the headquarters of the English Province....
  • Libraries and collections of Stonyhurst College
    Libraries and collections of Stonyhurst College

    The Jesuit origins of Stonyhurst College have enabled it to a amass a large collection of books, a number of which concern recusant history, whilst artefacts from all over the world have been brought back to the school by Jesuit missionaries and alumni....
  • School life at Stonyhurst College
    School life at Stonyhurst College

    This article describes some of the unique features of Stonyhurst College, a Jesuit school in Lancashire, England....
  • Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall
    Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall

    Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall is the preparatory school to Stonyhurst College. It is an independent, Roman Catholic school in the Jesuit tradition, offering boarding and day education to boys and girls aged three to thirteen, and is the successor to the original preparatory school, Hodder Place....
  • Hodder Place
  • List of Stonyhurst Alumni/ae
  • Stonyhurst Gospel
    Stonyhurst Gospel

    The St Cuthbert Gospel of St John, also known as the Stonyhurst Gospel, is a small 7th-century pocket gospel book, written in Latin, which belonged to Cuthbert of Lindisfarne of Lindisfarne, who died in 687....
  • Charities of Stonyhurst College
    Charities of Stonyhurst College

    Stonyhurst College and Stonyhurst Saint Mary's Hall are both Catholic boarding schools in the Jesuit tradition, which aim at the creation of Men and Women for Others....


  • List of Victoria Crosses by School
    List of Victoria Crosses by School

    The schools of United Kingdom, the British Empire, and later the Commonwealth of Nations, have contributed greatly to their armed forces, with some schools having lost hundreds of former pupils, especially in the First World War and Second World War World Wars....
  • Roman Catholic Church
    Roman Catholic Church

    The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
  • Society of Jesus
    Society of Jesus

    The Society of Jesus is a Roman Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits, Soldiers of Jesus Christ, and Foot soldiers of the Pope, because the founder, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a knight before becoming a Holy Orders....
  • St Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits
  • St Aloysius Gonzaga, patron saint
    Aloysius Gonzaga

    Saint Aloysius Gonzaga was an Italy Jesuit and saint....
  • St Gordianus, interred in the school
  • English Heritage
    English Heritage

    English Heritage is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government with a broad remit of managing the historic built environment of England....
  • Hurst Green
    Hurst Green, Lancashire

    Hurst Green is a small village in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, connected in its history to the Jesuit school, Stonyhurst College. The village is not far from Longridge and Clitheroe, and is very close to the River Hodder....
  • Forest of Bowland
    Forest of Bowland

    The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells, is an area of barren gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England....

Further reading

  • Chadwick, Hubert, S.J. (1962), St Omers to Stonyhurst, (Burns & Oats.)
  • Walsh, R.R. (1989), Stonyhurst War Record
  • Muir, T.E. (2006) Stonyhurst, (St Omers Press, Gloucestershire) second edition ISBN 0-9553592-0-1
  • Kirby, Henry L. and Walsh, R. Raymond (1987), The Seven V.C.s of Stonyhurst College, (T.H.C.L. Books) ISBN 0-948494-04-2
  • The Authorities of Stonyhurst College (1963), A Stonyhurst Handbook for Visitors and Others, (Stonyhurst, Lancashire) third edition
  • Hewitson, A. (1878), Stonyhurst College, Present and Past: Its History, Discipline, Treasures and Curiosities, (Preston: The Chronicle office) second edition


External links