Mill Hill School is a coeducational independent day and boarding school located in Mill Hill, north London. A member of the HMC, it is one of a handful of independent boarding schools in London. The school educates approximately 640 pupils, spread across ten day and boarding houses.
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History
A committee of Nonconformist merchants and ministers, including John Pye Smith, founded the school for boys on 25 January 1807. They located it outside the boundary of London because of "dangers both physical and moral, awaiting youth while passing through the streets of a large, crowded and corrupt city". The school is in peaceful, secure and rural surroundings, but by today's standards very close to Central London. A boarding school was opened in the house once occupied by Peter Collinson, with about 20 boys. The Rev J Atkinson was the first headmaster and chaplain until 1810.
Mill Hill School occupies a 120-acre (49 ha) site, part of which formed the gardens of Ridgeway House, the house of the botanist Peter Collinson. He was one of the most important importers of rare and exotic plants into English gardens. Many of the species that he introduced to Mill Hill in the 18th Century continue to flourish today in the grounds of the School. In 1746 Collinson planted Britain's first hydrangea on the grounds, now located adjacent to School House.
The estate was purchased by the botanist Richard Salisbury in 1802, Ridgeway House became the setting for a long-running scientific dispute between the new owner and his guest, James Edward Smith. The flora of Mill Hill was supplemented by the work of the amateur botanist Richard William Bowry Buckland (died 1947), governor of the foundation from 1878 to 1889, who cultivated a garden in the south-west of the school's grounds for the enjoyment of future generations. He wrote in his diary:
In 1939, Mill Hill School's premises were taken over by the British government and the school was evacuated to St. Bees School in Cumberland for the duration of the Second World War. Collinson House, a school for girls, was named for it. A St Bees Association was founded in commemoration of this period of evacuation in the school's history by Michael Berry OBE and David Smith.
Mill Hill first admitted Sixth Form girls in 1975 and became fully co-educational in 1997. The BBC news website usually uses a picture taken at Mill Hill School for articles about boarding schools.
In 2005 the school was one of 50 of the country's leading independent schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times. Together they had driven up fees for thousands of parents. 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. It is to benefit persons who were students at the schools during the cartel period.
On March 2007, Mill Hill celebrated its bicentenary. To mark the occasion, the school was granted a new coat of arms by Robert Noel, Her Majesty's Lancaster Herald.
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Houses
Mill Hill School is divided into houses. These are:
Boarding houses
- Burton Bank - Named to commemorate its original position on Burton Hole Lane
- Collinson - Named after Peter Collinson, who once owned what is now the estate
- Ridgeway - Collinson's original house on the site
- New House - New girls' boarding house in the building previously occupied by Priestley and Cedars day houses.
Day houses
- Atkinson - Named after the first Headmaster, the Reverend J Atkinson
- Cedars - Named in honour of the cedars planted by Peter Collinson
- McClure - Named after Sir John McClure, Headmaster at the turn of the 20th century
- Murray - Named in honour of teacher and originator of the Oxford English Dictionary; who began compiling his dictionary while a master at Mill Hill
- Priestley - Named after Headmaster Thomas Priestley
- School House - Named after Tite's famous building constructed in the 1820s
- Weymouth - Named after Headmaster Dr R Weymouth
Winterstoke House was converted into Grimsdell Mill Hill Pre-Preparatory School, in 1995.
Heads
In January 2016, Mrs. Frances King became the first female Head of Mill Hill School.
The following have been Heads at Mill Hill School:
Architecture
Chapel
Unveiled in 1896, the school chapel is a basilica in form. The architect was Basil Champneys, well known for his work at the University of Oxford and Winchester College.
School House
Designed by Sir William Tite, famous for his work on the London Royal Exchange, School House was erected in 1825 and is described as being in the Greco-Roman style.
Boarding houses
Although the number of day pupils has risen over recent years, both full and weekly boarding at Mill Hill is still possible.
Faculties and other
The School occupies a number of buildings within its site of both traditional and modern styling.
Bicentennial and sesquicentennial celebrations
The school celebrated its bicentenary year during 2007. To honour this landmark in the school's history a service was held at St Paul's Cathedral. Additionally, the school held the visit of HRH Countess of Wessex to officially open the school's new Favell building. An Acer x freemanii was planted in her honour adjacent to the School House garden.
The anniversary was further marked by the publication of 'Strikingly Alive', The History of the Mill Hill School Foundation 1807-2007 by School Historian, Roderick Braithwaite; the school's Archivist is Dr. Pamela Johnson.
The school was also visited by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on its 150th anniversary in 1957. This was commemorated by the planting of a Cedar on Top Terrace (the grassed area in front of the School house portico), in her honour.
Management
The school is run by the Mill Hill School Foundation, a registered charity under English law. The foundation offers education to boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in three schools. The foundation's other schools are:
- Belmont School - a day school for pupils aged 7-13. Head: Mr Leon Roberts
- Grimsdell - a pre-preparatory day school for pupils aged 3-7. Head: Mrs Kate Simon
- The Mount School - a mixed day and boarding school for international pupils aged 11-16. Head: Ms Sarah Bellotti.
Rugby
Mill Hill School has a range of sports. The school is traditionally known for its main sport, Rugby union, whose colours are chocolate brown and white. Rugby has been played at Mill Hill School since 1869. In 1930, three ex-pupils (Peter Howard, Roger Spong and Wilf Sobey) played in the England rugby team for a number of matches.
Notable alumni
- Michael Bishop, Baron Glendonbrook, businessman
- Jasper Britton, actor
- Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain, neurologist
- David Buck, actor
- Richard Berengarten, poet
- Francis Cammaerts
- James Challis, astronomer
- Ernest Cook, English philanthropist and businessman (grandson of Thomas Cook)
- Chris Corner, producer and songwriter
- Francis Crick, A sculpted bust of Francis Crick by John Sherrill Houser, which incorporates a single 'Golden' Helix, was cast in bronze in the artist's studio in New Mexico, US. The bronze was first displayed at the Francis Crick Memorial Conference (on Consciousness) at the University of Cambridge's Churchill College on 7 July 2012; it was bought by Mill Hill School in May 2013, and was displayed at their inaugural Crick Dinner on 8 June 2013.
- Richard Dimbleby, broadcaster
- John Richard Easonsmith, officer
- Ivor Malcolm Haddon Etherington, mathematician
- David Dayan Fisher, actor
- Seb Fontaine, house music DJ
- Nicholas Franks, Professor of Biophysics and Anaesthetics at Imperial College London
- Inglis Gundry, composer, novelist, musicologist, music pedagogue and writer
- Tanika Gupta, playwright and scriptwriter
- Joseph Hardcastle, Liberal Member of Parliament
- Sir Norman Hartnell, fashion designer
- Thomas Helmore, choirmaster and choral historian and writer
- Francis Heron, England footballer and FA Cup winner
- Hubert Heron, England footballer and FA Cup winner
- Peter Youngblood Hills, actor
- Stanislav Ianevski, actor
- Chaz Jankel, musician
- Simon Jenkins, newspaper columnist, editor and author
- Robert Evan Kendell, psychiatrist
- Evgeny Lebedev, owner of Independent and Evening Standard newspapers
- Keith Levene, musician, Public Image Limited
- Nick Leslau, businessman
- Malcolm Mackintosh, Special Operations Executive operative and intelligence analyst
- Norman Macrae, British journalist, former Deputy Editor of The Economist
- Ernest Maddox, eye surgeon and inventor of numerous optical instruments such as Maddox rod and Maddox wing
- Bob Marshall-Andrews, politician
- Harry Melling, actor
- Thanos Papalexis, businessman
- Sajith Premadasa, Sri Lankan politician
- Adam Rossington, Middlesex cricketer
- Paul Sandifer, neurologist
- Vir Sanghvi, journalist, columnist, and talk show host
- Ernest Satow, British scholar, diplomat and Japanologist
- Daniel Sharman, actor
- Henry Shaw, botanist
- Tulip Siddiq, Labour Member of Parliament
- George Spencer-Brown, mathematician
- Roger Spong, international rugby union footballer, England and Great Britain
- Mitchell Symons, journalist and writer
- Sir Denis Thatcher, husband of the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
- David Tinker, Royal Navy officer killed in the Falklands War
- Lord Toulson, Justice of the Supreme Court
- Patrick Troughton, actor
- Austin Vince, long distance adventure motorcyclist
- Eric A. Walker, Professor Emeritus of Imperial History at the University of Cambridge
- Herbert Ward, explorer, writer and sculptor, whose statue Grief was presented to the school by the artist
Patrick Troughton Theatre
In honour of Patrick Troughton the Mill Hill theatre was dedicated to the actor and named the Patrick Troughton Theatre in 2007.
References
Further reading
- Braithwaite, Roderick (2006). 'Strikingly Alive', The History of the Mill Hill School Foundation 1807-2007. Chichister: Phillimore & Co. ISBN 978-1-86077-330-3.
External links
- Official website
- Belmont School
- Grimsdell
- The Mount School
- Profile on ISC website
- Friends of Mill Hill School
- Old Millhillians Club
- Mill Hill at War, 1914-1919 at the Wayback Machine (archived 16 May 2014)
- Francis Crick talking about his time at Mill Hill on Peoples Archive
- Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust's early history of Mill Hill School
Source of article : Wikipedia
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