Aldenham School

The school was founded in 1597 by Richard Platt, a proprietor of a London brewery and Master of the Brewers' Company in 1576 and 1581. In 1596 Queen Elizabeth I granted him letters patent to build "the Free Grammar School and Almshouses" at Aldenham; the foundation stone was laid in 1597. Before Platt died in 1600 he obtained an endowment for the School by a covenant between himself and the Brewers' Company. It became a village elementary school, taking in private pupils.[1]

In the early 19th century an investigation by the Education Charities Commission of the Poor led to the Tudor Grammar School being demolished and replaced by two new schools: a lower school providing an elementary education for the local population, and a grammar school for fee paying boarders.[2]

In the 1860s, the Platt estate in St Pancras, London, which provided the endowment of the school, was compulsorily purchased for the construction of St Pancras railway station. In a measure described by the headmaster of the time as "a violent act of confiscation", more than half of the £81,000 paid in compensation was diverted by the Charity Commissioners, acting under the Endowed Schools Act 1869. In the scheme approved in 1875, £20,000 went to the North London Collegiate School and Camden School for Girls, £13,333/6/8d to support secondary education in Watford (see Watford Grammar School for Boys), and £8000 to elementary schools at Medburn (serving Radlett) and Delrow (serving Aldenham).[2]

The school has expanded and girls have been admitted throughout, thus paving the way for the school to become fully co-educational.

A new Sixth Form Centre was opened in 2012 providing study and recreation facilities for Sixth Formers under one roof.

In the summer of 2016, massive restorations were carried out on Beevor's and McGill's House, improving and updating the boarding facilities.

Owing to the increasing number of girls in Aldenham's intake, as of September 2017, Riding's House will become a girls day house.

In 1997, Aldenham celebrated its 400th anniversary, or Quatercentenary, which led to what was known at 'The 400 Appeal' being established. Through different events the appeal aimed to raise as much money as possible, to help the school expand ready for the 21st century.

The Quatercentenary began with a launch party with fireworks and a re-enactment of Richard Platt receiving the letters patent from Elizabeth I to build the school. The guest for the evening was Cilla Black.

There was also an OA Reunion Day and a 'Festival of the Car', along with a football match: Aldenham vs Watford F.C.

The school was also visited during the year by The Princess Royal, who came to open the new artificial turf pitch that had been built as a result of money raised by the appeal.

Sport has long been major part of the extracurricular activities at the school. In 1825 Aldenham became the second place, after Eton College, to write down rules for its code of football.[3] The Good Schools Guide called Aldenham "A seriously sporty school", as well as "Intensely competitive."[4]

Beevor's House c.1910

McGill's House

Aldenham has six senior houses and two junior houses. The three oldest houses – McGill's (gold), Beevor's (red) and Paull's (sky blue) – are each named after their first Housemaster. They were joined in 1962 by Kennedy's (orange). Today McGill's, Beevor's and Kennedy's accommodate boarding boys and some day boys. Leeman's (pink) and Riding's (blue) were created in 1991 from the Evens and Odds parts of the former School House to cater for day boys (the latter has changed again - see next). Since the school became coeducational in 2003, Paull's (sky blue) was the house of all senior girls, whether day or boarding. A Paull's Annexe was opened in September 2012 to accommodate Sixth Form Day girls. Since then, the number of girls has increased still further, and Riding's House, which was formerly a boys' Day House, has been converted to become the girls' Senior Day House (September 2017). Pupils in years 7 and 8 belonged to Martineau's (green), which is divided into eight tutor groups: Beck, Collier, Elliot, Foster, Griffin, Mason, Neale and Swayne. But in September 2020, a second junior House (Woodrow's) will open for day pupils of this age. This has been necessary because of the tremendous popularity of the school and the need for expansion.

[5]

Aldenham was used to film additional interior scenes in the 1968 classic British film If...., directed by Lindsay Anderson. The most frequently used room was the main school Dining Room containing the portrait of Aldenham's founder Richard Platt. Aldenham was used for scenes in Tom Brown's Schooldays (2005 film), and features often in television. It was used for some scenes in the British satire Greed (2019 film).

• James Fowler (2006 – Present)
• Richard Harman (2000–2006)
• Stephen Borthwick (1994–2000)
• Michael Higginbottom (1983–1994)
• Peter Boorman (1974–1983)
• Paul Griffin (1962–1974)
• Geoffrey Mason (1949–1961)
• George Riding (1933–1949)
• Harvey Beck (1920–1933)
• Alfred Cooke (1900–1920)
• John Kennedy (1877–1899)
• Alfred Leeman (1843–1876)
• Thomas Spyers (1836–1842)
• Richard Foster (1834–1836)
• Jonathan Wilkinson (1824–1833)

Prior to 1824, before the school was rebuilt, the Headmaster was known as the Master:

• Joseph Summersby (1823–1825)
• Methusalem Davies (1800–1823)
• John Griffin (1792–1799)
• Rice Hughes (1785–1792)
• Samuel White (1774–1785)
• Joseph Cantrell (1767–1774)
• William Ellis (1757–1767)
• Gilber Allenson (1738–1757)
• Allen Allenson (1714–1738)
• Francis Thompson (1703–1714)
• John Button (1703–1703)
• Randolph Nicoll (1678–1703)
• William Swayne (1673–1678)
• Andrew Campion (1663–1673)
• William Elliot (1653–1663)
• Jeremy Collier (1648–1653)
• Robert Cresswell (1643–1648)
• Christopher Smyth (1634–1643)
• Roland Greenwood (1623–1634)
• Thomas Neale (1598–1623)

• Sir Samuel Wilks, FRS, (1824–1911), physician and pathologist.
• William Josiah Sumner Hammersley (1826–1886), journalist, sportsman, co-founder of Australian rules football
• Colonel Sir Robert Edis (1839–1927), architect
• Sir Alfred Gilbert (1854–1934), sculptor and goldsmith
• Sir William Laird Clowes (1856–1905), naval writer
• Stanley Owen Buckmaster, 1st Viscount Buckmaster (1861–1934), politician, judge and Lord Chancellor, 1915–1916
• Arnold McNair, 1st Baron McNair (1885–1975), legal scholar, judge of the International Court of Justice, 1946–1959, and first President of the European Court of Human Rights, 1959–1965
• Sir Wallace Akers (1888–1954), chemist and Director of Research, ICI, 1944–1953
• Leo Reid (1888–1938), cricketer
• Sir Kenneth Pickthorn, 1st Baronet (1892–1975), historian, politician, and President of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 1937–1944
• Group Captain Ernest Fawcus (1895–1966), cricketer and military officer
• Colonel Dennis Edward Francis Waight MC (1895–1984), professional soldier and World War I flying ace
• General Sir Richard Gale (1896–1982), General Officer Commanding 6th Airborne Division, 1943–1945, GOC British Airborne Corps, 1945, and Commander-in-Chief, British Army of the Rhine, 1952–1956
• James Mardall (1899–1988), first-class cricketer and British Army officer
• Thomas Rice Henn (1901–1974), literary scholar and writer
• Lawrence P. Williams (1905–1996), film production designer
• Raleigh Ashlin Skelton (1906–1970), cartographical historian
• Geoffrey Longfield (1909–1943), first-class cricketer and Royal Air Force officer
• Jack de Manio (1914–1988), radio broadcaster
• Sir Michael Kerr (1921–2002), High Court Judge and Lord Justice of Appeal
• Flying Officer Leslie Thomas Manser VC (1922–1942), RAF Officer and Bomber Pilot, awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for saving the lives of his crew.
• Sir Denys Roberts (born 1923), Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong, 1973–1978, and Chief Justice of Hong Kong, 1978–1988
• Churton Fairman, known as Mike Raven (1924–1997), radio disc jockey, author, actor and artist
• Peter Haigh (1925–2001), BBC Television presenter
• Colonel Sir Michael McCorkell (1925–2006), Northern Irish soldier
• Sir Kenneth Warren (born 1926), politician
• Sir David Mitchell (born 1928), politician
• Geoffrey Hewlett Thompson (born 1929), Bishop of Exeter, 1985–1999
• Field Marshal Richard Vincent, Baron Vincent of Coleshill (born 1931), Chief of the Defence Staff, 1991–1992
• Tuanku Muhriz ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir (born 1948), 11th Yang Di Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan
• Peter Dawes, Bishop of Derby, 1988–1995
• Sir Hugh Laddie (1946–2008), High Court Judge
• Sir Martin Sweeting, Director of the Surrey Space Centre and Chief Executive Officer of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
• Dale Winton (1955-2018), television presenter, BBC Radio 2 broadcaster
• Adrian Nicholas (1962–2005), skydiver
• Marcus Buckingham[6] (born 1966), award-winning author and motivational speaker
• Baroness Karren Brady (born 1969), Managing Director of West Ham United FC
• Matt Wallace (born 1990), Professional golfer
• Daniel Chatto (b. 1957), actor turned artist; husband of Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones

• Aldenham School Website
• Old Aldenhamian Society Website
• BBC School Profile
• UK Boarding Schools Guide Profile
• Profile at the Good Schools Guide