Cheam School
| Established | 1645 |
|---|---|
| Type | Preparatory school |
| Religion | C of E |
| Headmaster | Mr Mark Johnson |
| Founder | George Aldrich |
| Location |
Headley Hampshire RG19 8LD England Coordinates: 51°21′13″N 1°15′28″W / 51.35364°N 1.25764°W |
| DfE number | 850/6006 |
| DfE URN | 116520 Tables |
| Students | 428 as of February 2016 |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Ages | 2–13 |
| Houses | Aldridge, Beck, Gilpin, Tabor |
| Colours | Red & Blue |
| Website | School website |
Cheam School is a mixed preparatory school located in Headley, in the civil parish of Ashford Hill with Headley in the English county of Hampshire. It was founded in 1645 by George Aldrich.
History
The school started in a house called Whitehall in Cheam, now the site of a museum and visited on an annual basis by the younger children. The first event of any real note in the School's history was the Great Plague of London in 1665, when there was a great exodus from the City of London and villages like Cheam were suddenly overrun by children who had been sent there by wealthy parents in an attempt to escape the ravages of the plague.
In 1719, the School moved to Tabor Court, where it remained for over 200 years. The move from Cheam to the present site, previously a country house known as Beenham Court, took place in 1934, when the area was developing from a quiet leafy village to a busy suburb. Just before it moved, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was a pupil there. His son, Charles, Prince of Wales, was also a pupil at this school.
Present day
The school has occupied its present home on the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire, with nearly 100 acres (400,000 m2) of grounds, since 1934. There are four houses (known as divisions): Aldrich (yellow), Beck (green), Gilpin (red), and Tabor (blue). The school colours are red and blue.
The current headmaster is Mark Johnson, who has been in post since 1998, and in 2007 he won the Tatler Magazine award for 'Best Headmaster of a Prep School'. Cheam now educates both boys and girls between the ages of three and thirteen and takes day-pupils as well as boarders.
Headmasters
- 1755-1777: William Gilpin [1]
- 1947–1963: Peter Beck[2]
- ?-1998: Christopher Evers
- 1998–present: Mark Johnson
Notable alumni or former pupils
- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, consort of Elizabeth II
- Charles, Prince of Wales, heir apparent of Elizabeth II
- Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, Prime Minister, 1801–1804
- Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe
- Lord Berners, painter and composer
- Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley, England's first Ashes winning captain
- Hugh Childers, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1882–1885
- Randolph Churchill, Conservative cabinet minister and father of Winston Churchill
- Robert S. de Ropp researcher in biochemistry, and writer on human potential
- Digby Mackworth Dolben, poet
- Reginald Drax, admiral
- William Fletcher rower
- William Gilpin (priest), 'Dr Syntax', headmaster 1752-1777
- Arthur Kinnaird, 11th Lord Kinnaird, footballer and banker
- Jake Meyer 7 summits mountaineer
- John Michell, writer and esotericist.[3]
- Sukhumbhand Paribatra, 15th Governor of Bangkok
- Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany, writer
- General Sir Harry North Dalrymple Prendergast VC, GCB (15 October 1834 – 24 July 1913) - recipient of the Victoria Cross
See also
Notes
- ↑ "William Gilpin 1724-1804". Hantsweb. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
- ↑ "PETER BECK Headmaster who caned Prince Charles — twice" (obituary) in The Times dated 4 June 2002, p. 27, from The Times Digital Archive, accessed 16 September 2013
- ↑ Screeton, Paul (2010). John Michell: From Atlantis To Avalon. Avebury: Heart of Albion Press. p. 2. ISBN 1-905646-16-X.