St Edward's School, Oxford

History

The school was founded in 1863 by Thomas Chamberlain, student of Christ Church, Oxford, and vicar of St Thomas the Martyr's Church, Oxford. The school carries the name of St Edward the Martyr, King of England from 975 to 978.

Early history

The original school building was Mackworth Hall, which at that time stood on New Inn Hall Street in central Oxford.

In 1873, after a storm damaged the school buildings and in anticipation of growing numbers, A. B. Simeon, the first Warden, moved the school to Summertown. At the time, the site was on the boundary of Oxford and surrounded by farmland, and Simeon bought a large plot for the school. The school remains on that 100 acre site today, with the Quadrangle and playing fields on opposite sides of Woodstock Road.

Simeon created an independent school with monastic-style buildings around a quadrangle. The original buildings were designed by William Wilkinson. The north range was built in 1873 and 1886, the gatehouse in 1879, and the east range, including Big School and the library, in 1881. Wilkinson's most significant building at St Edward's is the chapel, built in 1876.

Henry Ewing Kendall

The Rev. Henry Ewing Kendall (1888–1963) was Warden from 1925 to 1954. George Mallaby taught at the school in the period 1924 to 1935, and gave his views of Kendall in Each In His Office (1972). At the beginning of the book he listed Kendall with Norman Brook, H. W. Garrod and Jack Adams as "four remarkable men".

Kendall succeeded the Rev. William Harold Ferguson, who had moved to Radley College to take over as Warden there from Adam Fox. St Michael's College, Tenbury and the choir school at All Saints, Margaret Street were feeder prep schools, which had kept up musical standards; and there was an Anglo-Catholic tradition. The fees were low. Yet the retention of staff and the teaching were not good. Kendall's attitude was that "if the right standards were established and the right facilities offered, more boys could certainly be attracted from professional families."

As Warden, Kendall concentrated entirely on the school, was "human, friendly, humorous, convivial"; on the other hand he retained complete control of its running. He gave it 29 years of "incessant activity and unswerving devotion".

Later history

The whole school became fully co-educational in 1997.

In 2016, the school announced a new building project to complete the school's main Quad. The new development, designed by architect Nick Hardy (TSH Architects) and completed in 2020, includes a purpose-built Library, a university-style academic centre, and a new hall, with a capacity for 1,000 people.

July 2007 marked the official opening of The North Wall Arts Centre. The centre was built on the site of the old school swimming pool, which was the oldest swimming pool in the country. The North Wall Arts Centre is run by Ria Parry and is a producing theatre.

The North Wall Arts Centre won several major architectural awards for its design, including a RIBA award.

The Martyrs Pavilion, designed by architect John Pawson, was opened in 2009 and won the 2010 Oxford Preservation Trust award in the New Buildings category.

Sport

The sports on offer for girls include rowing, cricket, hockey, football, netball and tennis, while the main sports offered for the boys include rowing, rugby, hockey, cricket, football and tennis. The school has over 90 acre of playing fields in North Oxford.

In rowing the St Edward's School Boat Club has won The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta on five occasions, more than any other British school except Eton College and St Paul's School, London. In 1984 the 1st VIII became the first ever crew to achieve the 'Triple', winning all three school events that year: The School's Head of the River; The Queen Mother Cup at the National Schools Regatta; and The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta. In 2013 the boys 1st VIII boat rowed in the fastest Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup final ever seen at Henley, chasing the holders Abingdon School down to within half a length. Both crews beat the existing course record, having dispatched other leading international schools on the way to the final. In 2014, the boys 1st VIII were again the losing finalists. Having won Henley events eight times (including three years as winners of the now-discontinued Special Race for Schools), and been the losing finalist seven times, (for the second time) and the Queen Mother Challenge Cup for Boys Eights (for the fourth time).

The Steeplechase is the school's annual cross country race and is held once a year with the seniors running a 4 mi race across Port Meadow, the floodplain of the River Thames.

Notable alumni

Former pupils of St Edward's are known as Old St Edwardians, abbreviated to OSE.

Notable OSE include:

• Arthur Banks, WWII pilot awarded GC
• David Frederick Case, audiobook narrator
• Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, founder of de Havilland Aircraft Company.
• Richard Dinan, businessperson
• George Fenton, Oscar nominated film composer
• James Forrester, England rugby union international
• Guy Gibson VC, Dambusters hero,
• Kenneth Grahame, author
• Mark Herdman, diplomat, Governor of the British Virgin Islands (1986–1991)
• Sir Laurence Olivier, actor, director and producer
• Hugh Padgham, record producer
• Emilia Clarke, actor
• Florence Pugh, actor
• Georgia Tennant, actor
• John Sandoe, bookseller
• Jon Snow, Channel 4 newscaster
• Louis Strange, WW1 pilot
• Sir Stephen Tumim, judge
• Sam Waley-Cohen, Grand National and Cheltenham Gold Cup winning jockey
• Adrian Warburton DFC, World War II British pilot
• John Berger, art critic, novelist, painter and poet
• Sir David Lewis, Former Lord Mayor of London
• Tim Hartnoll, Executive Chairman of shipping business X-Press Feeders
• Leia Zhu, violinist

Notable masters

Notable masters of the school include:

• James Cope, first-class cricketer (former master in charge of cricket)
• David Conner, Dean of Windsor; former Bishop to the Forces (former school Chaplain)
• A. Maitland Emmet, became one of Britain's foremost authorities on microlepidoptera
• Richard Howitt, cricketer (former master in charge of cricket)
• Sir George Mallaby, public servant (former housemaster)

International links

The school has built up links with a number of schools around the world, which include: ; Mayo College, India. : An exchange programme was set up in 1997 which saw a lower sixth boy study at Mayo and a lower sixth boy from Mayo study at Teddies. ; The Gilman School Baltimore, USA. : Gilman and St. Edward's operate a scholarship known as the Hardie Scholarship. One Lower Sixth boy from St. Edward's studies at Gilman during March/April and a Junior from Gilman studies at St. Edward's during June. ; Roland Park Country School, Baltimore, USA. : In 2004 St. Edward's established an exchange programme with Roland Park. The programme runs at the same time as the Harry Hardie Scholarship, with one lower sixth girl from St. Edward's studying at Roland Park and a Junior girl from Roland Park studying at St. Edward's. ; The Doon School, India. : An exchange programme was set up in 2002 which saw a lower sixth boy study at Doon School and a lower sixth boy from Doon study at Teddies. ; The King's School, Parramatta : King's traditionally play Teddies once every two years during their UK Rugby tour. Teddies played King's in Sydney for the first time in 2003.

Arms

The school received a grant of arms in December 2017.

References

References

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7. "Henry Ewing Kendall". National Portrait Gallery.
8. Gittings, Robert. "Mallaby, Sir (Howard) George Charles (1902–1978)".
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21. "Sun, 18:21 - Race 401 – Ch 8+ (Open) Final A".
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32. [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/mar/21/guardianobituaries.highereducation] {{Webarchive. link. (6 October 2023, The Guardian.)
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