Berkhamsted School is an independent school in Berkhamsted

Berkhamsted

-Climate:Berkhamsted experiences an oceanic climate similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.-Castle:...

, Hertfordshire, England. The present school was formed in 1997 by the amalgamation of the original Berkhamsted School, founded in 1541 by John Incent

John Incent

John Incent was an English clergyman in the early 16th Century, during the early years of the English Reformation. Originating from the town of Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, he studied at the University of Cambridge and later at All Souls College, Oxford, and served as Dean of St Paul's Cathedral...

, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral

Dean of St Paul's

The Dean of St Paul's is the head of the Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral in London, England in the Church of England. The most recent Dean, Graeme Knowles, formerly Bishop of Sodor and Man, was installed on 1 October 2007 and resigned on 31 October 2011...

, Berkhamsted School for Girls, established in 1888, and Berkhamsted Preparatory School. The new merged school was initially called "Berkhamsted Collegiate School", but reverted to Berkhamsted School in December 2008.

Berkhamsted School today is a "diamond school

Diamond Schools

Diamond School is a term that applies to a type of Independent school in the UK that combines both single-sex and coeducational teaching in the same organisation...

" in which pupils are taught coeducationally in both the Prep School and Sixth Form

Sixth form

In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...

, but independently in the traditional Senior years, between the ages of 11 and 16. The school has three main sites: the Prep School, the Castle Street Campus and Kings Road Campus (the latter two being the original boys' and girls' schools respectively).

The School is noted variously for its distinctive collegiate structure, the particular strength of its lacrosse

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

 sides and for participation in the life of the local community. The current Principal is Mr Mark Steed and the school has some 1500 students and 200 staff. Mr Mark Steed replaced Dr Priscilla Chadwick on 1 September 2008 when Dr Chadwick retired. Mr Steed was previously headmaster of Kelly College

Kelly College

Kelly College is a coeducational independent school situated in the outskirts of Tavistock, Devon, with around 350 students ranging from ages 11 to 18; there is an associated preparatory school for primary school children, Kelly College Preparatory School, nearby.The college has eight hectares of...

 in Tavistock, Devon.

House system

All Berkhamsted pupils belong to a House

House system

The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...

 throughout their time at the School. Each House is run by a Head of House supported by several house tutors. Together they are responsible for providing pastoral support for their pupils and serve as the primary link between parents and the School. Houses are both physical environments and communities, each forming a distinct entity within the larger organisation of the School itself. Pupils attend their house for morning and afternoon registration, to play games throughout the day, and for the majority of the administration which governs their time at the School. They also participate in School events on behalf of their House.

Senior boys' houses

• Adders was formed in 1915 to accommodate the so-called "train boys" who, by nature of their daily commute to school, were often excluded from School activities. Various explanations have been given for the name 'Adders'. It may be a casual abbreviation of "the add-on house", or a contraction of 'Adlebert House', now the Chaplain's residence. However, according to an anecdote current in the 1960s, the boys were asked for suggestions and one proposed the present name ("Bees" and "Swifts" already existed). On being asked why, he explained, "Puff adders, sir!", an allusion to the steam trains on which the pupils travelled. Adders is situated in a separate building next to Newcroft and it takes the ground floor while Fry's house uses the top floor. Current Head of House is Mr David Pain.
• Bees, dating back to 1897 and situated on Mill Street next to Swifts. Current Head of House is Mr Daniel Van Noordwyk.
• Cox's, opened in 1958 in response to the growing numbers of day boys. Named after Cuthbert Cox. Until September 2010, the house occupied a separate building located next to the Tesco
  Tesco
  Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
  
   carpark. Cox's moved from its present location to the site of the old swimming pool, sharing with Incents. The former Cox's house was renovated into a new Drama Studio. Current Head of House is Mr Ben Evers.
• Fry's is named after one of Berkhamsted's most successful Headmasters – Dr Fry. It is located above Adders. Current Head of House is Dr Paul Hundal.
• Greenes, found along the Cloisters of the Grass Quad. The School's association with the Greene family is recognised in its name. Current Head of House is Mrs Becky Miles
• Loxwood, also found along the Cloisters. This house was named after a former girls' school house. Current Head of House is Mr Peter Northcroft.
• Swifts, established at the same time as Bees. Current Head of House is Mr Tobias Medaris.
• Tilman (formerly Incents), until September 2010, was both a boarding and day boy house. The boarding accommodation is situated along Chesham Road, and is the birth place of Graham Greene
  Graham Greene
  Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
  
  . The House was named after John Incent, the School's founder and had its main entrance in the cloisters between Loxwood and Greenes. In September 2010, Incents day house closed and was renamed 'Tilman' and moved to a new location on the site of the old swimming pool, sharing the site with Cox's. The former Incents House was renovated into a study for the Headmaster and Deputy Head of Berkhamsted Boys. The boarding house will remain unchanged.The current Head of Tilman House is Mrs Harriet Green.

That at least three of the eight Senior Boys' Houses appear to be named after various fauna was not always intentional. When Swifts and Bees were formed in 1897, they were to be called 'A' and 'B' respectively, but the former's first House Master considered this dull, naming his House 'Swifts'. 'Bees' is thus phonetic

Phonetics

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...

. 'Adders' may be wholly fortuitous; 'Reeves' and 'Hawks', now 6th Form Houses, add to the confusion. Richard Reeve was the School's first Headmaster; Hawks was named by the apparent "fauna tradition" in 1933.

Senior girls' houses

• Holme – Current Head of House – Miss Rachel Bradley.
• New Stede Current Head of House – Miss Rosie McColl.
• Old Stede Current Head of House – Mrs Genevieve Swart
• Russell, Opened in September 2004. Current Head of House – Mrs Mandy Casey
• St. Johns Current Head of House – Mme Sylvie Shipton.

Sixth form houses

• Ashby, named after the mother of John Incent's second wife, Katherine. Current Head of House – Mr David Richardson
• Burgh. Pronounced 'Berg'. Current Head of House – Mr Roland Maxted
• Churchill, after Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill
  Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill
  Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill, GBE, CStJ was the wife of Sir Winston Churchill and a life peeress in her own right.-Early life:...
  
   and formerly girls' boarding accommodation. Current Head of House – Mrs Laura Francis.
• Hawks, a former junior boys' house, established in 1934. Current Head of House – Mr Trevor Lines.
• Nash, named after Henry Nash, a founder of Berkhamsted School for Girls. Current Head of House – Mr Bob Newport.
• Reeves, named after Richard Reeve and founded as a junior boys' house, along with Hawks. Current Head of House – Mr Paul Harvey.
• St George's, originally a junior house for the "train boys", rather like Adders. Current Head of House – Mr Martin Pett.
• School, variously the Headmaster's quarters and a boarding house. Current Head of House – Mr Tim Grant.
• Spencer, a new sixth form house introduce in 2009 with Dr Steve Redman as its first Head of House.

Founding

High Clergy of the 16th century frequently distinguished themselves by their furthering of the educational establishment and, in this respect, Berkhamsted owes much to John Incent

John Incent

John Incent was an English clergyman in the early 16th Century, during the early years of the English Reformation. Originating from the town of Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, he studied at the University of Cambridge and later at All Souls College, Oxford, and served as Dean of St Paul's Cathedral...

. In 1523, he called upon the Brethren of the local Brotherhood of St John the Baptist to divert the funds they had hitherto donated to the monastic hospital (which had closed) to the Brotherhood House, about which little is known. In 1541, however, Incent applied to the King, Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

, in pursuit of a licence "to purchase £40 in land by the year," and was successful. Although Incent was Berkhamsted

Berkhamsted

-Climate:Berkhamsted experiences an oceanic climate similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.-Castle:...

's most famous descendant, it is considered an act of great piety that he chose to found a School outside what had become his Sphere of Influence

Sphere of influence

In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence is a spatial region or conceptual division over which a state or organization has significant cultural, economic, military or political influence....

.

By 1544, Berkhamsted School's first building, now known as 'Old Hall' was complete, later to be described by William Camden

William Camden

William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...

 as "the only structure in Berkhamsted worth a second glance." The formal opening is recorded in the Ancient Documents:

When the building of the said Schoole was thus finished, the Deane sent for the chiefe men of the Towne into the Schoole, where he kneeling downe, gave thanks to Almighty God, which had given him life to see the perfection of that work, which both he, the towne and the country had beene about for the space of 20 years as is manifest by the pmisses. First he read his licence. Then he called for Richd Reeve, and placed him in the seate there made for the Schoolemr. and so did ordaine, make and pnounce him to be the first Master of the said Schoole and after that tooke him by the hand and did give him and his successors for ever possession of the lodgings appteining to that office. In like manner he placed John Audley to be Usher , and John East to be Chaplen. This done he did give possession by his deed bearing date the 23 of March in the 36 yeare of Henry the 8 to the said Richd Reeve John Audley and John East and their successours for ever, of all the land to the sd Schoole then appointed, which are expressed pticularly in an act of pliamt. made 2 & 3 Ed 6. Finally the Deane began TE DEUM LAUDAMUS which being finished with certaine other praiers and ceremonies, the whole Companie did there drink together and so depted.

Yet the legal foundation was not nearly so sound. When Incent died some 18 months later, his entire wealth (over £330) became the King's, his documents stating that Berkhamsted's founder, a highly educated lawyer, had died intestate

Intestacy

Intestacy is the condition of the estate of a person who dies owning property greater than the sum of their enforceable debts and funeral expenses without having made a valid will or other binding declaration; alternatively where such a will or declaration has been made, but only applies to part of...

. The authenticity of this claim is rightly questioned: shortly after Incent's death, a complaint was made to the King "by some evill persons that the Deane had laid to the Schoole more revenues than his licence [£40 annually] did permitt him." Furthermore, Henry VIII stood to gain £196 and "a front of pearls" from the Dean's estate. However, there had been no formal incorporation of the School, and records suggest that Incent had spent much time since the opening preparing, but not realising, legal protection. An investigation into the claims that his annual endowment had been exceeded was commissioned and undertaken by John Waterhouse, a favourite not only of the King, but also a confidant of Incent, who had been present at the Opening. His choice of Commissioner suggests the Foundation still had Royal approval, something that had allowed the School to survive the first attack against it. The most enduring legacy of the Foundation nonetheless remains the building itself, "strong and fair".

A Delicate establishment

Incent's death, which itself had created a threat to the School, was followed by that of Henry VIII in January 1547. The Chantries Act 1546, which could have jeopardised the post of Chaplain at Berkhamsted, was replaced by new legislation, and the Foundation was declared "unperfect". A Foundation Act was introduced in parliament to settle the various claims to the Incent estate, but only those concerning the most immediate relatives of John. Thus claims to land of the School's endowment in Sparkford

Sparkford

Sparkford is a village and civil parish in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the village of Weston Bampfylde....

 near Winchester

Winchester

Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...

 were made and tried, resulting in significant loss to the School.

An additional threat came when Edward VI

Edward VI of England

Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...

, acting on advice, re-established the School under his own name. In reality, there was both initial benefit and ultimate disadvantage in this. Richard Reeve, the first Headmaster, held strict Protestant views, and was dismissed by the Bishop of Lincoln

Bishop of Lincoln

The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...

, acting upon Queen Mary

Mary I of England

Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...

's instructions, in 1555. He was replaced by William Barker, who no doubt offered an alternative religious policy, for he himself was removed when Elizabeth

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

 gained the throne.

Fulfillment under Saltmarsh and Hunt

Just like his predecessors, William Saltmarsh was a strongly academic character, but enjoyed a longer Headmastership than either Reeve or Barker. The latter had appointed Leonard Stepney as Usher, but he lost his post in 1571 on charges of harbouring a Catholic priest. His successor, John Bristowe, had a still more colourful end, murdered gruesomely in 1597 by a local yeoman

Yeoman

Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...

. Although this would no doubt have caused Saltmarsh concern, this was otherwise a most successful period in the history of Berkhamsted School. Pupil numbers continued to increase, and a handful of Berkhamstedians, as they would become known, achieved notoriety.

By 1616, some years after Saltmarsh's death, it was written

Scholae Ludimagister cum 33 annos eidem praefuisset amplam pecuniam testamento suo moriens legavit reficiendis his aedibus

Quite why the building (by which it is meant Old Hall) had fallen into disrepair under an otherwise successful Headmaster is uncertain, but through his donation Saltmarsh had decisively added himself to Berkhamsted's list of benefactors.

All available evidence, of which there is admittedly little, suggests that the Hunt years were also successful ones for the School. His period in the office probably witnessed greater stability in the School than in his personal life – he was married as many as four times – and there was praise for his leadership, a former pupil recording "much reverence and affect" for Hunt. It also appears that he took as active a part in the life of Berkhamsted as had become and remains a tradition, serving as overseer for the poor and Bailiff

Bailiff

A bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...

 as well as contributing to church funds. He died in office, aged 70, in 1636.

Shorter tenures

There were two hereditary Headmasterships in the history of Berkhamsted School, neither of which was successful. The first was that of Henry Hunt, a graduate of Trinity College, Oxford

Trinity College, Oxford

The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...

, who died within six months of succeeding his father; the second was to come in the 19th century. Hunt's successor, William Pitkin, was not quite the academic of former Berkhamsted days. Yet he was clearly a prominent member of local society, having served as Member of Parliament for Berkhamsted, and whose descendants included U.S. Supreme Court judges and Oliver Wolcott, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence

Declaration of independence

A declaration of independence is an assertion of the independence of an aspiring state or states. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another nation or failed nation, or are breakaway territories from within the larger state...

. In England, however, the political environment began to take its toll on Berkhamsted.

Berkhamsted, situated along a route between London and the battlefields of the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

, became the subject of Parliamentary

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

 action to preserve the town. Pitkin's death is recorded in the parish register of Fleet Street

Fleet Street

Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...

, London in September 1643; in his history, Williams suggests Pitkin may have visited London in an attempt to obtain protection for the School, instead dying of the Plague

Black Death

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...

. He was succeeded by Timothy Taylor, until then Usher, but the conditions of the period deny history any formal details, except that his death in 1648 was probably also a result of Plague. Ogle (1648–1651/2) witnessed local controversy resulting from the Civil War and it was likely that the School's seemingly relentless decline had begun in earnest by the time of his tenure, with student numbers falling from 80 to under 10 over three decades.

Such was the confusion of the period that it is uncertain whether Peter Berkenhead ever even served as Headmaster, although the weight of evidence suggests that he did (however insignificantly). This series of less distinguished office-holders is no doubt attributable in part to the Civil War; further, since the value of money had for so long been falling, the annual pay, having been set at the Foundation, was insufficient for such a post by the end of the 17th century.

The Fossan saga

Thomas Fossan, a friend of Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...

, petitioned the King

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

 for the Berkhamsted job in December 1662. His motive in doing so is unclear, himself recognising that "by reason of its small salary" it was not highly sought, but mostly since, having realised his ambition, Fossan so neglected his duties. Indeed, such was the strength of feeling against Fossan that the very same people who had recommended him in 1662 wrote to the authorities six years later in the name of "the trust imposed in [them] by the founders of the schoole" that the Headmaster be removed. When the charges were put to him (that both he and his Usher had spent much time away from the School, that the boys' knowledge of grammar was minimal and that the townspeople had taken to lodging the scholars in light of the School's failure so to do), Fossan replied that "he cared not whether he had any scholars or not, for the fewer he had the less trouble he should have." His forced resignation followed shortly after.

'So Mean a School'

It is some indication of the extent of Berkhamsted's degeneration under Fossan that his successor, Edmund Newboult, was recommended by the Bishop of Hereford

Bishop of Hereford

The Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury.The see is in the City of Hereford where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Ethelbert which was founded as a cathedral in 676.The Bishop's residence is...

 as "of parts sufficient for so mean a school," an endorsement described as "comically unenthusiastic". The most prominent historical source on Newboult remains a reply he made to an educational researcher some years into his tenure, noting that "Ye Statues of ye Schoole were made in ye time of popery, therefore not observed." During his 17 years of office, Newboult does appear to have provided a solid educational environment at Berkhamsted, at least relatively speaking, something continued under his successor, Thomas Wren. In his wake came John Theed, member of a prosperous Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

 family, and Berkhamsted's longest serving Headmaster. Indeed, throughout the 18th century, there were to be only four occupants of the post, an age not only of stability but stagnation. Nonetheless, the three inspections carried out during the three years found no cause for concern, and in their record is revealed the first reference to curriculum content, the boys having been examined on Ovid

Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...

's Metamorphoses

Metamorphoses (poem)

Metamorphoses is a Latin narrative poem in fifteen books by the Roman poet Ovid describing the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework. Completed in AD 8, it is recognized as a masterpiece of Golden Age Latin literature...

.

Theed was the School's second pluralist (it is no inspiration that the first was Fossan): his obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine

The Gentleman's Magazine

The Gentleman's Magazine was founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term "magazine" for a periodical...

 recorded him as Vicar of Marsworth

Marsworth

Marsworth is a village and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is about two miles north of Tring, in Hertfordshire and six miles east of Aylesbury.-Early history:...

 and made no mention of his Berkhamsted role – some suggest this is characteristic of an insouciant, unambitious approach to the School. A similar charge could not be made against Evan Price. Having served as Usher for 16 of Theed's less proactive years, Price had become accustomed to the day-to-day running of the School. On Theed's death in 1734, his succession, still the jurisdiction of the Sovereign

George II of Great Britain

George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...

, brought Price to the Headmastership, despite his not having attended university and his flamboyant record – as curate

Curate

A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...

 of Bovingdon

Bovingdon

Bovingdon is a large village in the Chiltern Hills, in Hertfordshire, England, four miles south-west of Hemel Hempstead and it is a civil parish within the local authority area of Dacorum...

, he had been involved in an "unseemly brawl" during a burial he was officiating.

Traditions

• The School's foundation is celebrated annually in October on Founder's Day. A service is held in St. Peter's Church, the parish Church of Berkhamsted
  Berkhamsted
  -Climate:Berkhamsted experiences an oceanic climate similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.-Castle:...
  
  .
• Carmen Berkhamstediense:

Laudata virtus crescit, et invidos
Irridet annos: non tamen, aurea
Si facta cessant, stat priorum
Laude sua cumulata virtus:

At quae refulget clarior in dies
Mens in molestis magna reliquerit
Incentis immortale nomen
Innumero generi nepotum

Developments

In recent years Berkhamsted School has seen many developments to both its campuses. The Knox-Johnston

Robin Knox-Johnston

Sir William Robert Patrick "Robin" Knox-Johnston, CBE, RD and bar is an English sailor. He was the first man to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe and was the second winner of the Jules Verne Trophy . For this he was awarded with Blake the ISAF Yachtsman of the Year award...

 Sports Centre at Kings Campus was opened by The Duke of Edinburgh

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....

 in 2004, featuring a six lane swimming pool and sports hall. A new Art and Design Centre named The Chadwick Centre opened at Castle Campus in 2007, replacing the old classrooms and dining room formerly located nearby. 2007 also saw the Green Room extension to Centenary Theatre at Kings Campus, creating additional music and drama classroms. In 2008, the former dining room at Castle Campus was converted into a new Design Techonology block. 2009 saw the addition of 'Spencer', a new Sixth Form house named after John Spencer, a prior headmaster of the school. Several improvements are being made to Castle Campus in 2010. A new sixth form house will be created and Cox's and Incent's day houses will move locations to the site of the former swimming pool. A new drama suite has been created on the current site of Cox's House and Incent's house has been coverted into studies for the Headmaster and Deputy Head of Senior Boys. The School have also installed wi-fi in the Sixth Form Centre so that pupils have access to a remote internet service.

In July 2009, the Chairman of Governors announced that, in order to remain competitive with other schools, plans have been made to demolish the Nash and Harris buildings at Kings Campus and replace them with a new block containing classrooms, a 300-seat dining room, specialist DT Classrooms including a new room for food technology, an ICT Suite, and staffroom and sixth form facilities. Planning permission has now been granted and work began in March 2010 with demolition and construction completed by September 2011. The new building will also have several knock-on benefits in the existing school including the creation of a sixth girls house, several additional classrooms, an internet cafe, a designated examination space and quiet working areas for the sixth form, and a small chapel.

School mottos

The original motto of Berkhamsted School was virtus laudata crescit, Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 for "greatness increases with praise", establishing the ideology on which the school is based.

Berkhamsted School for Girls was advised festina lente, a Latin imperative with which Aldus Manutius

Aldus Manutius

Aldus Pius Manutius , the Latinised name of Aldo Manuzio —sometimes called Aldus Manutius, the Elder to distinguish him from his grandson, Aldus Manutius, the Younger—was an Italian humanist who became a printer and publisher when he founded the Aldine Press at Venice.His publishing legacy includes...

 is credited, meaning "hurry slowly", reminiscent of the contemporary phrase "more haste less speed".

Old Berkhamstedians

• Henry Atkins
  Henry Atkins (physician)
  Henry Atkins , was an English physician.Atkins was the son of Richard Atkins of Great Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire. Matriculating at Trinity College, Oxford, in 1574, he graduated there and afterwards proceeded M.D. at Nantes. In 1588 he became fellow of the College of Physicians, and in 1606...
  
   (1554/5–1635), President of the College of Physicians
  Royal College of Physicians
  The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...
  
  , 1606–1635
• Richard Field (1561–1616), clergyman and theologian
• Sir Algernon Methuen
  Algernon Methuen
  Sir Algernon Methuen Marshall, 1st Baronet , was an English publisher and teacher of Classics and French. He is best known for founding the publisher Methuen & Co...
  
   (1856–1924), founder and owner, Methuen & Co, publishers, 1889–1924
• Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill
  Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill
  Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill, GBE, CStJ was the wife of Sir Winston Churchill and a life peeress in her own right.-Early life:...
  
   (1885–1977), wife of Winston Churchill
  Winston Churchill
  Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
  
  
• Clifford Allen, 1st Baron Allen of Hurtwood
  Clifford Allen, 1st Baron Allen of Hurtwood
  Reginald Clifford Allen, 1st Baron Allen of Hurtwood , known as Clifford Allen, was a British politician and prominent pacifist.-Career:...
  
   (1889–1939), politician and peace campaigner
• Sir Donald Fergusson (1891–1963), Permanent Secretary
  Permanent Secretary
  The Permanent secretary, in most departments officially titled the permanent under-secretary of state , is the most senior civil servant of a British Government ministry, charged with running the department on a day-to-day basis...
  
  , Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, 1936–1945, and Ministry of Fuel and Power, 1945–1952
• H. W. Tilman (1898–1977), mountaineer
  Mountaineering
  Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...
  
   and sailor
• A. K. Chesterton
  A. K. Chesterton
  Arthur Kenneth Chesterton MC was a far right-wing politician and journalist who helped found right-wing organisations in Britain, primarily in opposition to the break-up of the British Empire, and later adopting a broader anti-immigration stance. His cousin, the author G. K...
  
   (1899–1973), fascist, and first Chairman, National Front
  British National Front
  The National Front is a far right, white-only political party whose major political activities took place during the 1970s and 1980s. Its popularity peaked in the 1979 general election, when it received 191,719 votes ....
  
  , 1967–1971
• F. S. Smythe (1900–1949), mountaineer and author
• Raymond Greene
  Raymond Greene
  Charles Raymond Greene was a Doctor of Medicine and mountaineer, brother of the novelist Graham Greene and the broadcaster Hugh Greene....
  
   (1901–1982), endocrinologist and mountaineer
• Hubert Hastings (1902–1986), Editor, Architectural Review
  Architectural Review
  The Architectural Review is a monthly international architectural magazine published in London since 1896. Articles cover the built environment which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism as well as theory of these subjects....
  
  , 1927–
• Claud Cockburn
  Claud Cockburn
  Francis Claud Cockburn was a British journalist. He was well known proponent of communism. His saying, "believe nothing until it has been officially denied" is widely quoted in journalistic studies.He was the second cousin of novelist Evelyn Waugh....
  
   (1904–1981), writer and journalist
• Graham Greene
  Graham Greene
  Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
  
   (1904–1991), author
• Bill Fiske, Baron Fiske
  Bill Fiske
  William Geoffrey Fiske, Baron Fiske OBE , commonly known as Bill Fiske, was the first Leader of the Greater London Council and oversaw the decimalisation of the Pound Sterling as Chairman of the Decimal Currency Board....
  
   (1905–1975), first leader of the Greater London Council
  Greater London Council
  The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
  
  , 1964–1967, and Chairman of the Decimal Currency Board
• Sir Peter Quennell
  Peter Quennell
  Sir Peter Courtney Quennell CBE was an English biographer, literary historian, editor, essayist, poet, and critic....
  
   (1905–1993), writer and editor
• Rex Tremlett
  Rex Tremlett
  Rex Tremlett was a gold prospector in South Africa having studied at Berkhamsted School, Hertfordshire, Camborne School of Mines in Cornwall and Michaelhouse in South Africa.He was first person to reopen a tin mine in Cornwall in 1948 at a farm called Bosinver farm...
  
   (1903–1986) author and prospector
• Sir Colin Buchanan (1907–2001), town planner
• Richard Perry (1909–1982), writer/naturalist
• Sir Hugh Greene
  Hugh Greene
  Sir Hugh Carleton Greene KCMG, OBE was a British journalist and television executive. He was the Director-General of the BBC from 1960―1969, and is generally credited with modernising an organisation that had fallen behind in the wake of the launch of ITV in 1955.-Early life and work:Hugh was born...
  
   (1910–1987), Director-General of the BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
  
  , 1960–1969
• Sir Kenneth Cork
  Kenneth Cork
  Sir Kenneth Russell Cork GBE was a British accountant and insolvency expert, and the Lord Mayor of London from 1978-1979. He is best known for chairing a major review of UK insolvency law .He was a partner in Cork Gully, a well-known firm of insolvency...
  
   (1913–1991), accountant, and Lord Mayor of the City of London, 1978–1979
• Alan Pennington (1916–1961), Olympic athlete

• Margot Jefferys
  Margot Jefferys
  Margot Jefferys was Professor of Medical Sociology at Bedford College, London, from 1968 to 1982. She went to Berkhamsted Girls School....
  
   (1916–1999), Professor of Medical Sociology
  Medical sociology
  Medical sociology is the sociological analysis of medical organizations and institutions; the production of knowledges and selection of methods, the actions and interactions of healthcare professionals, and the social or cultural effects of medical practice...
  
  , Bedford College, London, 1968–1982
• Antony Hopkins
  Antony Hopkins
  Antony Hopkins CBE is an English composer, pianist, conductor, and radio broadcaster.Hopkins was born in London under the name Ernest William Antony Reynolds; his surname was changed during his childhood to Hopkins...
  
   (born 1921), composer
• Stephen Dodgson
  Stephen Dodgson
  Stephen Dodgson is a British composer and broadcaster.- Biography :During World War II, he served in the Royal Navy. From 1947 to 1949, Dodgson studied at the Royal College of Music, where he later taught composition. In 1950, he visited Italy on a travelling scholarship, after which he taught in...
  
   (born 1924), composer and broadcaster
• Victor Silvester, Jr. (1924–1999), clarinet
  Clarinet
  The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
  
  tist and band leader
• Paul Sieghart (1927–1988), law reformer
• Mark Boxer
  Mark Boxer
  Charles Mark Edward Boxer was a British magazine editor and social observer, and a political cartoonist and graphic portrait artist working under the pen-name ‘Marc’.-Personal life:...
  
   (Marc) (1931–1988), cartoon
  Cartoon
  A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
  
  ist and magazine editor
• Michael Podro
  Michael Podro
  Michael Podro CBE, FBA was a British art historian. Podro, the son of Jewish refugees from central Europe, was born in and grew up in Hendon, Middlesex. He attended Berkhamsted school in Hertfordshire, served in the RAF, and read English at Jesus College, Cambridge and philosophy at University...
  
   (1931–2008), art historian
• Alexander Goehr
  Alexander Goehr
  Alexander Goehr is an English composer and academic.Goehr was born in Berlin in 1932, the son of the conductor and Schoenberg pupil Walter Goehr. In his early twenties he emerged as a central figure in the Manchester School of post-war British composers. In 1955–56 he joined Oliver Messiaen's...
  
   (born 1932), composer and 1987 Reith Lecture
  Reith Lecture
  The Reith Lectures is a series of annual radio lectures given by leading figures of the day, commissioned by the BBC and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service....
  
  r
• Sir Anthony Cleaver
  Anthony Cleaver
  Sir Anthony Brian Cleaver started his career as a systems engineer with IBM UK Ltd in 1962. He went on to become a Chief Executive and Chairman. He was Chairman of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and steered AEA Technology through its privatisation...
  
   (born 1938), Chairman of the Medical Research Council
  Medical Research Council (UK)
  The Medical Research Council is a publicly-funded agency responsible for co-ordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is one of seven Research Councils in the UK and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...
  
  , 1998–2006
• Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
  Robin Knox-Johnston
  Sir William Robert Patrick "Robin" Knox-Johnston, CBE, RD and bar is an English sailor. He was the first man to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe and was the second winner of the Jules Verne Trophy . For this he was awarded with Blake the ISAF Yachtsman of the Year award...
  
   (born 1939), yachtsman
• Michael Meacher
  Michael Meacher
  Michael Hugh Meacher is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Oldham West and Royton since 1997. Previously he had been the MP for Oldham West, first elected in 1970. On 22 February 2007 he declared that he would be standing for the Labour Leadership, challenging...
  
   (born 1939), politician
• Richard Mabey
  Richard Mabey
  Richard Mabey is a naturalist and author.He has been called by The Times 'Britain's greatest living nature writer'. Among his acclaimed publications are Food for Free, The Unofficial Countryside and The Common Ground, as well as his study of the nightingale, Whistling in the Dark...
  
   (born 1941), nature writer
• Kit Wright
  Kit Wright
  Kit Wright is the author of more than twenty-five books, for both adults and children, and the winner of awards including an Arts Council Writers' Award, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Hawthornden Prize, the Alice Hunt Bartlett Award and the Heinemann Award...
  
   (born 1944), children's poet
• Keith Mans
  Keith Mans
  Keith Douglas Rowland Mans , British Conservative Party politician.Mans was Member of Parliament for Wyre from the 1987 general election until the seat was abolished by boundary changes for the 1997 general election...
  
   (born 1946), politician
• Tim Binding (born 1947), novelist
• John Bly
  John Bly
  John Bly is an English antiques dealer, author, after-dinner speaker and broadcaster who is best known from the BBC Antiques Roadshow . He attended Berkhamsted School and his career began with Sotheby's, where he worked for four years before joining his family business in Tring...
  
  , antiques expert
• Lieutenant General Mark Mans
  Mark Mans
  Lieutenant-General Mark Francis Noel Mans CBE QCVS is the current Adjutant-General to the Forces of the United Kingdom.-Career:Educated at Berkhamsted School, Mark Mans was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1974. During the Gulf War he was Officer Commanding 37 Field Support Squadron. He was...
  
  , Adjutant-General to the Forces
• Sarah Brightman
  Sarah Brightman
  Sarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves and singing in the whistle register...
  
   (born 1960), singer
• Stuart Gyngell (born 1963), athlete
• Roger Moorhouse
  Roger Moorhouse
  Roger Moorhouse is a British historian and author. Born in Stockport, Cheshire, he was raised in Hertfordshire and attended Berkhamsted School. Inspired to return to education by the East European Revolutions of 1989, Moorhouse enrolled in the School of Slavonic and East European Studies of the...
  
   (born 1968), historian and author
• Emma Fielding
  Emma Fielding
  Emma Georgina Annalies Fielding is an English actress.-Biography:The lapsed Roman Catholic daughter of a British Army soldier, Fielding spent much of her childhood in Malaysia and Nigeria, and a period in Malvern above her grandparents' betting shop...
  
   (born 1971), actress
• Stephen Campbell Moore
  Stephen Campbell Moore
  Stephen Campbell Moore is an English actor, best known for his roles in the Alan Bennett play The History Boys and its subsequent film.-Career:...
  
   (born 1977 Stephen Thorpe), actor
• Patrick Hennessey (born 1982), author of The Junior Officers' Reading Club
  The Junior Officers' Reading Club
  The Junior Officers' Reading Club: Killing Time and Fighting Wars is a 2009 book by Patrick Hennessey, a former officer in the Grenadier Guards....
  
  
• Carla Chases
  Carla Chases
  Carla Chases Carla Chases Carla Chases (born in Buckinghamshire, England, is an English actress, best known for playing anorexic model Melissa Hurst in the Channel 4 teen soap opera Hollyoaks...
  
   (born 1984), actress
• Talulah Riley
  Talulah Riley
  Talulah Jane Riley-Milburn is an English actress whose films include Pride and Prejudice, St Trinian's, The Boat That Rocked and St...
  
   (born 1985), actress
• Azim Rahman (born 1991), DJ

Victoria Cross Holders

Three Old Berkhamstedians have won the Victoria Cross

Victoria Cross

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

:

• Victoria Cross
  Victoria Cross
  The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
  
  
  • Indian Mutiny
    • Arthur Mayo
      Arthur Mayo
      Arthur Mayo VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.-Details:...
      
       VC
      Victoria Cross
      The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
      
      
  • First World War
    • George Randolph Pearkes
      George Pearkes
      Major General George Randolph Pearkes, VC, PC, CC, CB, DSO, MC, CD was a Canadian politician; soldier; recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Imperial forces; and the 20th Lieutenant Governor of British...
      
       VC
      Victoria Cross
      The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
      
      , PC
      Queen's Privy Council for Canada
      The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...
      
      , CC
      Order of Canada
      The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
      
      , CB
      Order of the Bath
      The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
      
      , DSO
      Distinguished Service Order
      The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
      
      , MC
      Military Cross
      The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
      
      , CD
      Canadian Forces Decoration
      The Canadian Forces Decoration is a Canadian award bestowed upon members of the Canadian Forces who have completed twelve years of military service, with certain conditions. By convention, it is also given to the Governor General of Canada upon his or her appointment as viceroy, which includes the...
      
      
    • Brett Mackay Cloutman
      Brett Mackay Cloutman
      Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Brett Mackay Cloutman VC MC was an English First World War recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.Cloutman was commissioned into the Kent Fortress...
      
       VC
      Victoria Cross
      The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
      
       MC
      Military Cross
      The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
      
      

Headmasters of Berkhamsted School, 1544–1996

Between the School's opening in 1544 and the formation of the Collegiate School in 1997, there were 30 Headmasters, whose average length of service was 15 years.

1. Richard Reeve (1544–1555)


2. William Barker (1555–1567)


3. William Saltmarsh (1567–1600)


4. Thomas Hunt (1600–1636)


5. Henry Hunt (1636)


6. William Pitkin (1636–1643)


7. Timothy Taylor (1643–1648)


8. Archibald Ogle (1648–1651)


9. Thomas Hawes (1651–1661)


10. Peter Berkenhead (1661–1662)


11. Thomas Fossan (1662–1668)


12. Edmund Newboult (1668–1685)


13. Thomas Wren (1685–1691)


14. John Theed (1691–1734)


15. Evan Price (1734–1748)



16. Thomas Bland (1753–1788)


17. John Dupré (1788–1805)


18. Thomas Dupré (1805–1842)


19. Edward John Wilcocks (1842–1850)


20. John Robert Crawford (1850–1864)


21. Edward Bartrum (1864–1889)


22. Thomas Charles Fry (1889–1911)


23. Charles Henry Greene (1911–1927), father of Graham Greene
    Graham Greene
    Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
    
    


24. Henry Lael Oswald Flecker (1927–1931)


25. Cuthbert Machell Cox (1931–1946)


26. Claude Ronald Evers (1946–1953)


27. Basil Hugh Garnons Williams (1953–1972)


28. John Loraine Spencer (1972–1983)


29. Charles Jonathan Driver (1983–1989)


30. Keith Howard Wilkinson (1989–1996)


• Charles Jonathan Driver, principal between 1983–1989, was a well-known South African writer and poet (usually published as CJ Driver), who had gone into exile due to his opposition to Apartheid.



External links

• Official website
• Greene Shoots Theatre. Formed from past and present pupils from Berkhamsted School – perform regularly at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
• Berkhamsted School Remembrance. Information about Berkhamsted School during the Great War.
• The Old Berkhamstedians. The old boys' and girls' organisation of Berkhamsted School.
• The Graham Greene Birthplace Trust Organise the annual Graham Greene Festival in October at the School with an array of prestigious visiting speakers.
• Berkhamsted School Interactive Planner. An interactive planning service showing school events.
• "Fee-paying school faces legal test on bullying", a 2002 report in The Daily Telegraph.
• Information from the Independent Schools Council
• 1938 Pathé newsreel of Swedish drill on the grass quad
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