Stowe School
Stowe School | |
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File:Stoweschool.jpg | |
Location | |
, , MK18 5EH | |
Information | |
Type | Independent School, Day & Boarding |
Motto | Template:Lang-la ("I stand firm and I stand first") |
Religious affiliation(s) | Church of England |
Established | 1923 |
Founder | JF Roxburgh |
Local authority | Buckinghamshire |
Ofsted | Reports |
Chairman of Governors | Christopher Honeyman Brown |
Headmaster | Dr Anthony Wallersteiner |
Chaplain | Rev. R.B Jackson |
Gender | Co-educational |
Age | 13 to 19 |
Enrollment | 760 |
Houses | 12 Boarding houses |
Colour(s) | Blue, Red, Gold & White |
Publication | The Stoic |
Former pupils | Old Stoics |
Website | http://www.stowe.co.uk/ |
Stowe School is a public school in Stowe, Buckinghamshire. It was founded on 11 May 1923 by JF Roxburgh, initially with 99 male pupils. It is a member of the Rugby Group and Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school is currently becoming fully co-educational. As of 2006[update], there are 493 boys in total, and 103 girls.
The school has been based since its beginnings at Stowe House, formerly the country seat of the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos. Along with many of the other buildings on the school's estate, the main house is now a Grade 1 Listed Building and is maintained by the Stowe House Preservation Trust. Stowe is considered to have more beautiful grounds than any other school in the UK.
The school is used as a first class cricket ground by Northamptonshire CCC, and is the home ground of the Northants Second XI.
On 4 April 1963 The Beatles performed at Stowe School, for which they were paid £100. They accepted a personal request from schoolboy David Moores, a fellow Liverpudlian.
In 2005 the school was one of fifty of the country's leading private schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times, which had allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents.[1] Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared.[2]
The Stowe Corner of Silverstone Circuit is named after the school.[3]
Boarding houses
There are 12 boarding houses: 8 boy houses and 4 girl houses. These boarding houses are mostly named after members of the family of Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. Each house has a number or letter assigned to it.
Name | Named After | House Number/Letter |
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Bruce | Lady Mary Campbell (Married to Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos;One of her family names was Bruce) | 1 |
Temple | Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham; Earl Temple | 2 |
Grenville | George Grenville, the husband of Hester Temple, 1st Countess Temple, mother of Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, and sister of Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham | 3 |
Chandos | Duke of Buckingham and Chandos;Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos | 4 |
Cobham | Viscount Cobham;Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham | 5 |
Chatham | William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, husband of Hester Grenville, sister of Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple | 6 |
Grafton | There is no known family connection, the name coming from the local fox hunt, the Grafton Hunt, which takes its name in turn from the Duke of Grafton . Grafton also has a history of supplying the Stowe Beagles with talented Masters and Hunt Staff, many of whom have continued to become Masters of packs around the Country. | 7 |
Walpole | This is not a family name. Named after Horace Walpole, who wrote some famous letters about his visits to Stowe in the 18th century. It was his father, Robert Walpole, who was the more notable Walpole in England's and Stowe's history, however. Viscount Cobham's political life started under Walpole but his subsequent opposition to him led Cobham to found a political dynasty that played a major part in politics until Victorian times (producing four Prime Ministers). To be named "Nugent" originally. | 8 |
Nugent (Girls) | Lady Mary Nugent, daughter of Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent, married to George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham. Was originally the 'waiting house' that some new boys entered until their preferred house had a space. | N |
Lyttelton (Girls - formerly Boys) | Baron Lyttelton,succeeded to the Viscounty of Cobham since Charles George Lyttelton, 5th Baron Lyttelton, after the death of the Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, and into which title the Barony is now merged. Originally "Stanhope House", which became the Careers, International, and Skills Development departments of the school. Named after Lady Hester Stanhope, niece of William Pitt the Younger, who was the niece of Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple | 0 |
Queen's (Girls) | Opened in September 2007 and officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in November 2007 and thus named after the first reigning monarch to visit the school since it was opened in 1923. | A |
Stanhope (Girls) | Opened in May 2009 and officially opened by Sir Nicholas Winton. | B |
Notable Old Stoics
Former pupils of Stowe School are known as Old Stoics and include:
- Michael Alexander
- Geoffrey Russell, 4th Baron Ampthill
- Lord Annan (author and Provost of King's College, Cambridge)
- 3rd Earl Attlee (House of Lords)
- Alexander Bernstein, Baron Bernstein of Craigweil (former television executive and a Labour Party member of the House of Lords)
- Oliver Bertram (Motor racing driver)
- Richard Boston (English journalist and author)
- John Boyd-Carpenter, Baron Boyd-Carpenter (British Conservative Party politician)
- Sir Richard Branson (business man)
- Lord Justice Simon Brown (law lord)
- Martin Buckmaster, 3rd Viscount Buckmaster OBE
- James Burnell-Nugent, (Admiral in the Royal Navy)
- Henry Cavill (actor)
- Leonard Cheshire VC (airman and founder of the Cheshire Foundation)
- John C. Corlette, became an architect and later teacher at Gordonstoun; founded Aiglon College, Switzerland, in 1949.
- John Cornford (poet)
- Andrew Croft (explorer and SOE agent)
- Alki David (Director, Actor, Screenwriter, Businessman, Philanthropist and Explorer)
- Chelsy Davy (ex-girlfriend of Prince Harry)
- John David Eaton (Merchant - Canada)
- Martin Edwards (former chairman of Manchester United)
- Howard Goodall (Musician)
- Michael Grade (TV executive)
- Harry Gregson-Williams (Composer and 1st Music Scholar 1975)
- 2nd Earl Haig
- Edward Hardwicke, (actor)
- Lee Harris (musician and manager of The Blockheads)
- Sir Jack Hayward - (entrepreneur and owner of Wolverhampton Wanderers)
- Sir Nicholas Henderson (British diplomat)
- John Henniker-Major, 8th Baron Henniker (British diplomat)
- Roger Hodgson (musician) - founding member and vocalist of Supertramp
- Oscar Humphries (Journalist)
- Marc Koska, OBE (Inventor) (Designed K1 auto-disable syringe and credited with saving in excess of one million lives)
- Nicholas Lyell (former Solicitor-General and Attorney-General)
- Gavin Maxwell, author and naturalist
- Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine
- George Melly (jazz singer & art historian)
- Crispian Mills (musician)
- Christopher Robin Milne (son of A.A Milne)
- George Monbiot (left-wing journalist and political activist)
- Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk - herald
- David Niven, (actor)
- Toby O'Brien, journalist and public relations expert
- HSH Prince Rainier III of Monaco
- James Reeves (poet)
- Graham Riddick (British Conservative Party politician)
- John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Preston Candover (Grocer)
- David Shepherd (artist)
- Henrik Takkenberg (singer, songwriter)
- Karan Thapar (journalist)
- Michael Ventris (linguist who deciphered Linear B)
- Rollo Weeks (actor)
- Graeme White, (Cricketer, Northamptonshire)
- Peregrine Worsthorne (journalist)
Notable masters
- Theodore Acland, housemaster 1924-1930, later headmaster of Norwich School
See also
- List of schools in the South East of England
- List of independent schools in the United Kingdom
- List of boarding schools
Further reading
- Alasdair MacDonald, Stowe: House and School, London: W. S. Cowell, 1951