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'Cheltenham College' is a famous English coeducational independent school in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.
The first of all the major public schools of the Victorian period, it was opened in July 1841. An Anglican foundation, it is known for its classical, military and strong sporting traditions.
It was included in the 1893 book ''Great Public Schools'' (written by E. S. Skirving, S. R. James, Henry Churchill and Maxwell Lyte) which included a chapter on each of what they regarded to be England's ten greatest public schools.

Contents

Work and service

Sport

Houses

Victoria Crosses won by Old Cheltonians

Display of Victoria Crosses

George Cross recipient

Headmasters and Principals

Principals (1841-1919)

Headmasters (1919 - present)

Headmasters of the Junior School

Southern Railway School's Class

References

See also

External links

Work and service

More than 600 Old Cheltonians (former pupils) were killed in the service of their country in World War I, and more than 400 in World War II. Cheltenham's military past is recognised by the fact that it is one of only two schools (the other being Eton) to have its own military colours (last presented in 2000 by The Princess Royal).

Figures regarding those Old Cheltonians killed in the wars are recorded in the cloisters of the College chapel completed in the 1890s, which to a degree resembles King's College Chapel in Cambridge and is one of the finest chapels of any English public school. Most pupils are boarders, though there are also many day pupils. The school is now co-educational and maintains a strong academic reputation, with the majority of pupils going to The Russell Group Universities with a handful of the brightest pupils going on to Oxford and Cambridge universities.
Cheltenham has approximately 580 pupils (150 being day pupils) between the ages of 13 and 18 at a cost of about £25,000 a year, making it amongst the most expensive schools in the country.
There is also a prep school, Cheltenham College Junior School, most of whose pupils go on to the senior school.

Sport

Cheltenham has a strong sporting tradition, competing with larger single gender schools at the highest level. The first inter-school Rugby Football match was played between Rugby School and Cheltenham College, Cheltenham beating Rugby; and the "Cheltenham Rules" were adopted by the Rugby Football Union in 1887. In more recent years the school has enjoyed partiucular success at Raquets where, at times, they have dominated the Queen's Club Public Schools Competition; at Polo where they were National Schools Champions in 1997, 1998, 2004, & 2005 and Arena Champions in 2004, 2005 & 2006, and again at Rugby where they have reached the final of The National Schools 7's Festival four times in the last ten years, winning the competition in 1998, 2003 and 2004.

Houses

There are ten houses. Three of which are day houses; Southwood for the boys and Queens or Westal for the girls. Ashmead and Chandos are the girls boarding houses whilst the boys reside in either; Boyne House, Christowe, Hazelwell, Leconfield or Newick House. In Skirving's Book, ''Great Public Schools'', he talks of the individuality of each house and how a pupil's first thought would be for their House before the College.
== Former pupils (Old Cheltonian Hall of Fame)==
Distinguished alumni are many, and include in alphabetical order:

★ Lindsay Anderson (film director, shot the 1968 film ''If...'' chiefly at Cheltenham College);

★ Peter Atkinson, Conservative MP for Hexham 1992-

★ David Bivar (scholar, historian and archaeologist)

★ Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra;

★ Jonah Barrington (squash player, ex-world champion and ex-world number 1)

★ Andrew Cecil Bradley, (Shakespeare critic);

★ Chris Bryant, Labour MP for Rhondda 2001–;

★ Simon Danielli, Scottish international rugby player;

★ Nigel Davenport and son Jack Davenport (Actors)

★ Field Marshal Sir John Dill;

★ Prince Duleepsinhji, cricketer;

★ Sir Charles Eliot, British ambassador to Japan, 1919–25;

★ Sir John Bagot Glubb, Glubb Pasha, Commander of the Arab Legion, 1939–56;

★ Adam Lindsay Gordon, poet

★ Major-General Sir Colin Gubbins, (Head of S.O.E.);

★ H.L.A. Hart, One of the most influential jurisprudential thinkers of the 20th century

★ Michael Jopling, Baron Jopling. Conservative cabinet minister;

★ Plato Michael Kastanias (1949-2005)(Former Chief of Finance of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations);

★ William Edward Hartpole Lecky (Irish historian);

★ Martin Horwood, Liberal MP for Cheltenham;

★ Percy Alexander MacMahon,more information;

★ John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn;

★ Lt. Colonel Philip Neame, VC, DSO, gold medallist for rifle shooting (1924 Summer Olympics, Paris);

★ Rageh Omaar (BBC world affairs correspondent, now with Al Jazeera);

★ Endicott Peabody, founder of Groton School, Massachusetts;

★ General Sir Hugh Michael Rose, KCB CBE DSO QGM;

★ Sir Charles Scott, British ambassador to Imperial Russia, 1898–1904;

★ General Sir Charles Warren (1840-1927), (Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police at the time of the Whitechapel Murders);

★ Patrick White (Nobel prize-winning novelist)

★ Edward Adrian Wilson (polar explorer, died with Robert Falcon Scott in 1912). A painting of Cheltenham by Wilson is in the Town Museum. A photograph of him is there too.

Victoria Crosses won by Old Cheltonians

Fourteen Victoria Crosses have been won by Old Cheltonians^[1], with only Eton College (37), Harrow School (19), Haileybury College (17), and Wellington College (15), having higher totals.^[2] A replica of the Boyes VC is on permanent display in the library (Big Modern) with photographs of all 14 Victoria Cross winners and a world map showing where they were won. Below the Victoria Cross display a selection of other medals won by Old Cheltonians is displayed intermittently.
The alphabetical list of names, with age and rank at the time of the deed which merited the award of the Victoria Cross, is as follows:

★ BOGLE, Lieutenant Andrew Cathcart (28) Andrew Cathcart Bogle.

★ BOOTH, Sergeant Frederick Charles (27) Frederick Charles Booth.

★ BOYES Midshipman Duncan Gordon (aged 17, the youngest). Duncan Gordon Boyes^[3].

★ BOYLE, Lieut. Commander Edward Courtney (32) Edward Courtney Boyle.

★ CHANNER, Captain George Nicolas (32) George Nicolas Channer.

★ FORBES-ROBERTSON, Lieutenant Colonel James (34) James Forbes-Robertson.

★ GRANT, Lieutenant John Duncan (27) John Duncan Grant.

★ HART, Lieutenant Reginald Clare (31) Reginald Clare Hart.

★ MELVILL, Lieutenant Teignmouth (37) Teignmouth Melvill.

★ McDONELL, Mr. William Fraser (28) William Fraser McDonell.

★ MOOR, Second Lieut. George Raymond Dallas (19) George Raymond Dallas Moor.

★ NEAME, Lieutenant Philip (26) Philip Neame.

★ REYNOLDS, Captain Douglas (32) Douglas Reynolds.

★ RYDER, Commander Robert Edward Dudley (34) Robert Edward Dudley Ryder.

Display of Victoria Crosses

VCs on public display: Bogle, Boyle, Melvill, Moor, Neame, Reynolds, Ryder (7)
VCs location unknown, presumed in private hands: Booth, Boyes, Channer, Forbes-Robertson, Grant, Hart, McDonell (7)

George Cross recipient

★ KEMPSTER, Major André Gilbert (né Coccioletti). Royal Armoured Corps; Algeria, 21 August 1943 ^[4]
The Times of November 10, 1943, p. 4, states:

“On August 21, 1943, near Phillipeville, Major Kempster was carrying out grenade throwing practice with two others in the same pit. A grenade which was thrown by Major Kempster rolled back into the pit. Major Kempster attempted to scoop the grenade out of the pit but failed to do so. By this time detonation was due. Without hesitation Major Kempster threw himself on the grenade just before it exploded and received fatal injuries. By his self-sacrifice, Major Kempster undoubtedly saved the lives of the two other occupants of the pit. Major Kempster’s act meant certain death, and he must have known this at the time. His was a supreme act of gallantry.”

Headmasters and Principals

The present headmaster is John Richardson, formerly head of Culford School.
The full list of past principals and headmasters is contained in Cheltenham College Who's Who 5th edition, 2003, and is as follows:

Principals (1841-1919)

★ Rev. Alfred Phillips, D.D. 1841-44

★ Rev. William Dobson 1845-59

★ Rev. Henry Highton 1859-62

★ Rev. Alfred Barry, D.D. 1862-68

★ Rev. Thomas William Jex-Blake 1868-74

★ Rev. Herbert Kynaston, D.D. 1874-88

★ Rev. Herbert Armitage Jarnes, D.D. 1889-95

★ Rev. Robert Stuart de Courcy Laffan 1895-99

★ Rev. Reginald Waterfield, D.D. 1899-1919

Headmasters (1919 - present)

★ Henry Harrison Hardy 1919-32

★ Richard Victor Harley Roseveare 1932-37

★ Arthur Goodhart Pite 1937-38

★ John Bell 1938-40

★ Alan Guy Elliott-Smith 1940-51

★ Rev. Arthur Godolphin Guy Carleton Pentreath 1952-59

★ David Ashcroft 1959-78

★ Richard Martin Morgan 1978-90

★ Peter David Vaughan Wilkes 1990-97

★ Paul Arthur Chamberlain 1997-2004

★ John Stephen Richardson 2004-

Headmasters of the Junior School

★ Rev. Thomas Middlemore Middlemore-Whithard 1863-65

★ Rev. Christopher Edward Lefroy Austin 1885-96

★ Francis Joseph Cade OC 1986-1910

★ Charles Thornton OC 1911-23

★ Basil Allcot Bowers OC 1923-33

★ William Donavan Johnston 1933-46

★ Hugh Alan Clutton-Brock 1946-64

★ William Philip Cathcart Davies 1964-86

★ David John Allenby Cassell 1986-91

★ Nigel Iain Archdale 1992-

Southern Railway School's Class

The School lent its name to the twentysixth steam locomotive (Engine 925) in the Southern Railway's Class V of which there were 40. This Class was also known as the Schools Class because all 40 of the class were named after prominent English public schools. 'Cheltenham', as it was called, was built in 1934.'Cheltenham' is owned by the National Railway Museum at York.Herring, Peter, ''Classic British Steam Locomotives'' (Abbeydale Press: London, 2000) Section "V ('Schools') Class" Pages 124 to 125 ISBN 1-86147-057-6

References

1. Michael Croke Morgan, (1968), ''Cheltenham College: The First Hundred Years'', page 219, (published for the Cheltonian Society by Sadler)
2. Fully referenced cited article on number of VCs, school by school, can be found at List of Victoria Crosses by School
3. http://www.dhs.kyutech.ac.jp/~ruxton/boyes.html
4. http://www.gc-database.co.uk/recipients/KempsterAG.htm



★ ''Cheltenham College: The First Hundred Years'' by Michael C. Morgan [Chalfont St. Giles: Richard Sadler, for the Cheltonian Society, 1968]. A formal history, starting with the meeting on 9 November 1840 of Cheltenham residents (presided over by Major-General George Swiney) who decided to set up a 'Proprietary Grammar School' and appointed a committee to achieve this. ISBN unknown/unavailable.

★ ''Then & Now: An Anniversary Celebration of Cheltenham College 1841-1991'' by Tim Pearce, (Cheltonian Society, 1991). The author explains in the Preface that this is "more of a scrap book than a formal history, and like all scrap books it reflects the tastes and interests of its compilers and depends on what in the way of pictures and documents may be available to them". ISBN 0-85967-875-X

★ ''Cheltenham College Who's Who'', 5th edition ed. John Bowes, (Cheltonian Society, 2003) No ISBN on book.

★ ''Floreat'', A collection of photographs of College life from the 1960s and early 1970s compiled by the late M.F. Miller, a physics master at the school

See also

★ Cheltonian Society

★ College Ground, Cheltenham

External links

★ Cheltenham College website

★ Charles Dallenger Chenery was one of the first assistant masters at the school.

★ Independent Schools Inspectorate Report on Cheltenham College

★ Public schoolboys starting to show their class in the professional ranks

★ The Cheltonian Society - the official website of Old Cheltonians

★ OC profiles

★ History of Cheltenham College

★ To fail them all their days?