Mill Hill School

Mill Hill School
Coat of arms of the school
Motto Instilling values, inspiring minds
Latin: Et virtutem et musas
Established 1807
Type Independent day and boarding
Interim Head Jane Sanchez
Chair of Governors Amanda Craig
Founder

Samuel Favell

John Pye-Smith
Location The Ridgeway
Mill Hill Village
London
NW7 1QS
England
51°37′08″N 0°13′50″W / 51.6190°N 0.2305°W / 51.6190; -0.2305Coordinates: 51°37′08″N 0°13′50″W / 51.6190°N 0.2305°W / 51.6190; -0.2305
DfE URN 101367 Tables
Students 640~
Gender Co-educational
Ages 13–18
Houses 11
Colours

Blue and Red

         
Former pupils Old Millhillians
Website www.millhill.org.uk

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 eleven day and boarding houses.

History

School House at Mill Hill School

A committee of Nonconformist merchants and ministers, including John Pye Smith, founded the school[1] 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.[2] 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 years bygone I pray to thee,
This willow here, my legacy
As I have sat, pray sit thee.
In shaded splendour
Millhillians; rest hither.

— (signed Richard Buckland)

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.[3]

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.[4][5]

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.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8]

In 2018, the school experienced controversy when it was featured in the music video of London rapper Stefflon Don. In it, she was shown nude in the changing room showers, dancing on tables in classrooms, and smoking marijuana in the dormitories.[9]

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 Sir James A. H. Murray, teacher and longtime editor 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, Frances King became the school's first female Head.[10]

The following people have served as Head:

NameTenure
Reverend John Atkinson1807 – 1810
Reverend Maurice Phillips1811 – 1818
Reverend Dr John Humphreys1819 – 1825
Dr James Corrie1825 – 1827
George Samuel Evans18281
Robert Cullen1829 – 1831
Reverend H. L. Berry1831 – 1834
Thomas Priestley1834 – 1852
Reverend Philip Smith1852 – 1860
Reverend Dr William Flavel1860 – 1863
Reverend Philip Chapman Barker1863 – 1864
Reverend George Donald Bartlet1864 – 1868
Dr Richard Francis Weymouth1869 – 1886
Charles Arthur Vince1886 – 1891
Dr John David McClure (later Sir)1891 – 1922
Maurice Leonard Jacks1922 – 1937
Dr Thomas Kingston Jerry1938 – 1940
Arthur Rooker Roberts1940 – 1943
Maurice Leonard Jacks1943 – 1944
Reverend Dr John Sheldon Whale1944 – 1951
Roy Moore CBE1951 – 1967
Michael Hart CBE1967 – 1974
Alan Fraser Elliot1974 – 1978
William Allan Phimester1978 – 1979
Alastair Carew Graham1979 – 1992
Euan Archibald MacFarlane MacAlpine1992 – 1995
William Winfield1995 – 2007
Dr Dominic Luckett2007 – 2015
Frances King2016 – 2018
Jane Sanchez (interim)2018 –

^1 Evans served as Head from January 1828 to June 1828.

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,[11] a registered charity under English law.[12] 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

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

  1. ↑ A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 1
  2. ↑  Boulger, George Simonds (1897). "Salisbury, Richard Anthony". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. 50. London: Smith, Elder & Co. sources: Journal of Botany, 1886.
  3. ↑ "Evacuation of Mill Hill School to St Bees". The St Bees Association. Archived from the original on 25 May 2005.
  4. ↑ "Private sector 'to loan teachers'". BBC News. 26 May 2007.
  5. ↑ Smith, Alison (3 January 2015). "Private schools 'feel downturn". BBC News.
  6. ↑ Halpin, Tony (10 November 2005). "Independent schools face huge fines over cartel to fix fees". The Times. London, UK. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  7. ↑ The Office of Fair Trading: OFT names further trustees as part of the independent schools settlement Archived 2 April 2014 at the UK Government Web Archive, oft.gov.uk; accessed 3 January 2014.
  8. ↑ "The Coat of Arms of Mill Hill School", MillHill.org.uk; accessed 3 January 2015.
  9. ↑ https://news.sky.com/story/mill-hill-school-seeks-legal-action-over-rapper-stefflon-dons-explicit-music-video-11479413
  10. ↑ King, Frances. "Mrs Frances King". Mill Hill School. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  11. ↑ Mill Hill School Foundation
  12. ↑ Charity Commission. THE MILL HILL SCHOOL FOUNDATION, registered charity no. 1064758.
  13. ↑ Grief at Mill Hill

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.
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