Haileybury and Imperial Service College

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This article refers to the school in England. For its Australian counterpart, see Haileybury College, Melbourne.

Haileybury College

Haileybury College is a famous British independent school, sometimes referred to as a public school, founded in 1862. It is a modern co-educational boarding school welcoming pupils at 11+, 13+ and 16+. Over 750 pupils go to Haileybury, of which 452 live at Haileybury for either week nights or for an entire half term. The pupils, numbering around 100, who are aged 11-13 study in a separate building with a boarding house just for the boys that reside at the school; the girls who wish to "board" aged 11-13 stay in one of the main school houses.(Albans)The day girls in the main school (13+) go into Hailey house.

1 History
2 Present day
3 Notable alumni
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

The school is located at Hertford Heath, near Hertford, 20 miles from central London in rural countryside on a site occupied until 1858 by the East India Company College. Its architect, William Wilkins, later designed the National Gallery in London, and Downing College Cambridge, which bear some similarities. The school is built around four ranges which enclose an area known as Quad, which is the largest academic quadrangle in the UK and one of the largest in the world.^{[citation needed]}

The buildings reopened as Haileybury in 1862. The large dome which dominates the skyline was added as part of Arthur Blomfield's Chapel, completed in 1877. The dome was badly damaged by fire when only a year old and had to be extensively repaired. On 7 July 1932 the Memorial Dining Hall was opened by the future King George VI & Queen Elizabeth as a monument to former pupils who had died in the Great War. In the past 20 years it has been used to commemorate deaths in all conflict countries, typically the wreaths for these countries are placed by pupils from those countries. For a number of years this building was one of the largest unsupported domes in Europe and it has very interesting acoustics. Until the 1990s the entire school of over 700 pupils dined within this building at a single sitting for breakfast, lunch and supper all brought to a silence for the grace before and after each meal by a massive brass howitzer shell, captured from a German gun emplacement during World War I which had been converted into a gong. A gilded plaster boss in the centre of this dome represents an oak tree being struck by lightning. Known as Little Lightning Oak this decoration is a representation of Lightning Oak, the massive oak tree which stands on Terrace, the area of grass in front of the School and visible in this photograph. This tree was struck by lightning and all but destroyed but, miraculously, re-sprouted. The tree was seen as a metaphor for the school, decimated by war but growing back stronger. In 1942, Haileybury absorbed the Imperial Service College, which had already absorbed the United Services College.

As well as the Memorial Dining Hall, there are other impressive memorials to 1,436 alumni who perished in wars. The War Memorial on Terrace which originally commemorated those lost in World War I was unveiled by General Sir Alexander Godley, KCB, KCMG on 7 July 1923. This was designed by former pupil Sir Reginald Blomfield. Known as The Cross of Sacrifice this simple stone cross with a bronze sword applied was the prototype for a memorial that can now be found in every Commonwealth War Cemetery and has been used for many other war memorials around the world.

Seventeen former Haileybury pupils have received the Victoria Cross, and three the George Cross.

In the late twentieth century, reforming headmaster David Jewell took charge of Haileybury. The current headmaster is Stewart Wesley and is responsible for making the school fully co-educational.^[1]

[edit] Present day

Today Haileybury is a co-educational school for 11-19 year-olds, with recent girls' boarding houses, (Colvin, Melvill, Allenby, Albans, and Hailey) and many facilities. There are still 7 boys houses in the school, (Edmonstone, Lawrence, Bartle Frere, Kipling, Batten, Thomason and Trevelyan). The Ayckbourn Theatre is a fully functional modern theatre. The college chapel organ was built by Klais in 1997, with two manuals and thirty stops. There is a modern sports centre and a synthetic running track. Haileybury has a rackets court, built in 1908, which is unusual in having a double gallery. During World War II, it was damaged by the blast from a V-2 Rakete (sic) and was not restored until 1952 due to the school being evacuated from bombing risks. The school supports a professional coach (Mr Cauldron) making it one of the 12 schools in England to have a racket court and coach.

Groups originating from Haileybury support a number of charities such as The Children's Trust in Tadworth, the Home Farm Trust and the Boys' Club in Stepney once managed by Old Haileyburian Clement Attlee and Changing faces - a charity designed to help tortured and disfigured victims come to terms with their affliction. Attlee was noted for his promotion of fellow Old Haileyburians.

The school has was featured in the Tv drama "A Class apart".

Haileybury is attached to a junior school, Lambrook Haileybury, at Winkfield Row, near Bracknell, where it moved in 1998 from Windsor. Recently (2006/2007) Haileybury has linked with a Haileybury in Kazakhstan where all English GCSE's will be taught. However the majority of the students will be Kazakhstan students rather than English speakers. [1]

Haileybury also hosts the annual "Haileybury Model United Nations" Conference, in which many schools, such as Bancroft's School, plus schools from many countries including Greece, Sweden, participate

[edit] Notable alumni

Past pupils are known as Old Haileyburians.

[edit] Arts

Michael Aitkens
Alan Ayckbourn
John Blofeld, Taoist and Buddhist author
Reginald Blomfield
Dom Joly
Rudyard Kipling
Quentin Letts
Chris Lowe (BBC journalist & news presenter)
Simon MacCorkindale
Dmitri Petrov
Stephen Mangan
John McCarthy (journalist)
Chris Nolan
Hoyt Richards Model and Actor
Joe Saward, sports journalist and author
Arthur Thomas
Herbert Trench
Rex Whistler - Reginald John 'Rex' Whistler

[edit] Armed Forces

[edit] Business

[edit] The Church

John Jamieson Willis - Bishop of Uganda

[edit] The law

[edit] Learning

Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot
Bonamy Dobrée
W. H. C. Frend
Peter Ladefoged, prominent linguist and phonetician
Robert Liddell
William Muir
Humphry Osmond
Frank Podmore
George Speaight

[edit] Politics

Clement Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee
Hugh Bayley
Sir Geoffrey de Freitas
Barry Gardiner
Nick Herbert
Christopher Mayhew, Baron Mayhew
David Garro Trefgarne, 2nd Baron Trefgarne
Sir Edward Wakefield

[edit] Civil service

[edit] Sports

Tom Askwith
Sir Stirling Moss
Maharajkumar of Vizianagram - Indian cricketer

[edit] Miscellaneous

[edit] References

^ The Times, Obituaries, July 2006

[edit] External links

Official site
Kipling House — One of the 7 boys' houses in the school.
Melvill House — One of the 5 girls' houses in the school.
Haileybury Images — Images of Haileybury.
Edmonstone House — One of the 7 boys' houses in the school.
photo — The central turquoise circle is the Chapel dome on the south range of the 'Quad'. The larger turquoise circle is the copper covered dome of the Memorial Dining Hall.
The Haileybury Society
Walk around Haileybury
Junior school
Imperial Service College
Rackets
Running track
Haileybury College, Melbourne, Australia

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