St Albans School (Hertfordshire)
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- For other schools with a similar name, see St. Albans School
St Albans School is a private school in St Albans, England. Founded in 948 by Abbot Wulsin, St Albans School is one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom.
History
By c.1100 the School had built for itself such a high reputation that the renowned Norman scholar, Geoffrey de Gorham, applied for the post of Master. He was later to become Abbot of St Albans and the School then remained under the control of the Abbot until the dissolution of the Abbey in 1539.In 1549, the last Abbot was granted the right to establish a Grammar School by a private Act of Parliament. In 1553 the Abbey Church was sold to the town for £400: it became a protestant parish church for the new Borough of St Albans; the Lady Chapel at the east end was used as the schoolroom and maintained by the Mayor and burgesses. In 1570 Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and then living at nearby Gorhambury, put the financing of the School on a firmer footing through a Wine Charter.
In 1868, the school moved into the Abbey Gateway (which had been built in 1365 and, following the dissolution, had been used as a prison for 300 years). Since the 19th century there have been many additions to the school site, which now comprises a very interesting architectural mixture of buildings dating from the 14th century to the 1990s. The Woollam Playing Fields, a couple of miles away to the north of the city, provides an extensive, modern, outdoor sports facility for the School and the Old Albanian Sports Club. The site was officially opened in October 2002 by HRH the Duke of Gloucester .
The school still maintains strong links with the Abbey. Services are held there, including the annual Founders' Day service, and the school's music staff are usually also linked with the Abbey's musical staff. Andrew Parnell, organist and harpsichordist, was assistant master of music at the Abbey as well as being master of music and choirmaster at the school from 1976 to 2001. Simon Lindley had also held these posts; John Rutter's carol Jesus Child bears a dedication "for Simon Lindley and the choir of St Albans School".
School crest
The school crest comprises the cross of St Alban together with the School motto.The cross of St Alban is a gold diagonal cross (or saltire) (a cross, signifying that Alban was martyred, but diagonal, as he was beheaded, not crucified) on a blue field (or, in heraldic terms, Azure, a saltire Or).
The current school motto is Non nobis nati (Born not for ourselves). This dates back to the family of the twelfth century Geoffrey de Gorham (Master and subsequently Abbot of St Albans), and was introduced in 1994, thereby establishing a link between the School before and after the dissolution of the monastery in 1539.
Non nobis nati replaced the previous motto Mediocria Firma (Moderate things are surest, alternatively interpreted as The middle way is firmest, but generally satirised by boys of the school as Firmly mediocre), which was the motto of the Bacon family at Gorhambury (including Sir Nicholas and Sir Francis Bacon). This formed part of the Bacon crest, which for instance can still be seen outside the Verulam Arms public house in nearby Welclose Street and inside St Mary's Church, Redbourn, four miles to the northwest of St Albans.
General information
St Albans School is predominantly a single-sex school for boys, but has accepted girls for the last two years of study since 1991. In its earlier days it was known as St Albans Grammar School. It is often (erroneously) referred to as "The Boys' School", "St Albans Boys" and "The Abbey School" (thereby causing confusion with The Abbey C of E Primary School nearby which is almost always referred to as "The Abbey School", and the adjacent but now defunct Abbey National Boys' School, a name which is still borne by a building in nearby Spicer Street). The school has around 750 pupils, of which 35 are female.
The school operates a house system, whereby all members of the school are split into one of four Houses which are named after notable former pupils and staff: Hawking, Renfrew, Hampson and Marsh. Originally, these Houses were supposed to excel in the same areas as their namesakes; for example, Hampson would always win the athletics competition. However, it seems that the houses show less of these characteristics today, due to the random allocation of pupils into them. The current House system came into use in September 1994. The previous House names were Abbey, Breakespeare, Debenham, Pemberton, Shirley and School House, which, being the Boarding House, finished around 1960 when those boys in Boarding House were integrated into other Houses.
Each year the school publishes a magazine, typically of around 80 pages, called The Albanian. It is a collection of articles, reviews, sports round-ups, art, creative writing and other features that acts as the official annual record of the school. The magazine is produced by a small editorial team comprising two teachers and five students.
Headmasters since 1902
- Edgar Montague-Jones 1902-1931
- William Thomas Marsh 1931-1964
- Frank Ian Kilvington 1964-1984
- Simon Court Wilkinson 1984-1993
- Andrew Robert Grant 1993-
Notable teachers
- Bruce Balden (b. 1957), mathematician and participant in TV series Seven Up!
- Geoffrey de Gorham (d. 1146), scholar, Abbot of St Albans Abbey 1119-1146
- Tommy Hampson (1907-1965), middle distance runner (800m Gold Medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles)
- John Mole (b. 1941), poet, critic and jazz clarinettist. City of London Poet In Residence since 1998 (under the Poetry Society's Poet in the City scheme)
- James Shirley (1596-1666), playwright
Notable students
- Rod Argent (b. 1945), musician and songwriter
- Nicholas Breakspear (c.1100-1159), better known as Pope Adrian IV (1154-1159)
- Ralph Chubb (1892-1960), poet, printer, artist
- William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper (c.1665-1723), Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, grandfather of William Cowper, poet and hymnodist
- Stephen Hawking (b. 1942), cosmologist and theoretical physicist
- Alexander Neckam (1157-1217), scientist and teacher (became Master of the school in later life)
- Mike Newell (b. 1942), film director
- Matthew Paris (c.1200-1259), historian and monk
- Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn (b. 1937), archaeologist
- Sir Tim Rice (b. 1944), lyricist
- Sir Thomas Spencer Wells (1818-1897), surgeon
- Charles Williams (1886-1945), poet, novelist, publisher and theological writer
Ex-students of St Albans School are automatically members of the Old Albanian Club and are also eligible for membership of the school's masonic lodge, number 4999.
External links
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