Maritzburg College
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Maritzburg College | |
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| Pro Aris et Focis | |
| Established | 1863 |
|---|---|
| School type | Public, Boys |
| Locale | Urban |
| Grades | 8 - 12 |
| Headmaster | Mr R Jury |
| Exam board | KZN |
| Location | Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| Students | 1,200 boys |
| Colors | Red, black and white |
| Fees | R 21 000 p.a. (boarding) R 13 100 p.a. (tuition) |
| Website | www.maritzburgcollege.org.za |
Maritzburg College, known locally as College, is a public high school for boys situated in the city of Pietermaritzburg, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
It was founded in 1863 and is the oldest high school in KwaZulu-Natal and also one of the oldest schools in South Africa. Today, it is regarded as one of the prime institutions of its kind in South Africa and is attended by about 750 day scholars and 400 boarders.
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[edit] History
Maritzburg College was originally founded as the Pietermaritzburg High School in 1863 in order to accommodate the influx of children arriving at the relatively new city of Pietermaritzburg and its surrounding farmlands within the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. As the school swelled, city architects were commissioned to build a larger classroom and boarding block, which was completed in 1888 and later became known as "Clark House", honouring the school's third headmaster, Mr RD Clark (MA (Oxon)), who is often referred to as "the Father of College". Clark House is a well-known Pietermaritzburg landmark and carries South Africa's heritage seal, certifying it as a national monument. A similar honour was bestowed on the school's Victoria Hall, which was completed in 1897 (Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee year) and which served as a British Army hospital from late 1899 until mid-1900 during the Second Boer War.
[edit] Sports
Over the years, the school has established itself as a leading force at sports, especially rugby, cricket and hockey, with regular fixtures against its rival schools such as Durban High School (founded in 1866) and Glenwood High School in Durban, and the local private schools: Michaelhouse, Hilton College and Kearsney College. Records show College to be the strongest sporting school in the province in sports such as rugby, cricket and hockey.
In more recent years, the school's search for greater sporting competition has taken it beyond the province's borders, and each year in winter it has derby days against Grey College in Bloemfontein and Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (known as "Affies") and Pretoria Boys High School in Pretoria, at which about 700 College boys take part.
Major sporting events between all these schools are usually large affairs, attracting big crowds and plenty of school-style participation.
The school, from 1942 to 1982 had Skonk Nicholson on its teaching and coaching staff, who is iconic with Maritzburg College and schoolboy rugby, and well-respected in the South African rugby community as having nurtured many Collegians to national and international sporting fame.
Amongst its many notable Old Boys (known as Old Collegians), it can count about 180 sporting internationals, including 18 Old Collegians who have captained South African national sides. Four Old Collegians attented the 2004 Olympic Games, with Darien Townshend winning a gold medal as part of the world record-setting SA 4 x 100 freestlye team, and Don Cech winning a bronze medal in the rowing.
These days, Maritzburg College offers a wide variety of sports, including rugby, cricket, hockey, athletics, swimming, water polo, tennis, shooting, soccer, basketball, squash and golf.
The school maintains a respected sporting reputation; Saturdays during the summer months can often yield 30 cricket teams (and under 14P XI has occasionally been produced), and 27 rugby teams and 18 hockey teams during winter.
[edit] School crest
The school crest is a red shield with a crossed carbine and assegai (a traditional Zulu weapon), over the Latin scroll bearing "Pro Aris et Focis" (For Hearth and Home). Considerable debate has taken place over the years as to the precise origins of the school's rather belligerent crest and colours of red, black & white. A popular belief is that they highlight the various skirmishes, battles and wars between the British and the Zulu that took place in the late 1800s, with the colours representing the warring parties (white and black) and the blood that was shed between them (red). As recently as 2005, this issue had not been conclusively settled by the school's Archives Committee. As an aside, 7 Old Collegians perished during the famous Battle of Isandhlwana, at which over 1 300 British and colonial troops were slaughtered by the Zulus on 22 January 1879, during the Zulu War. A memorial in honour of those fallen Old Boys was unveiled on the battlefield in 1969.
[edit] "Fagging" and discipline
Over the years, some Old Collegians and parents have been outspoken about College's allegedly outmoded system of "fagging" - where a second year boy waits upon and serves the senior boys, as a butler would. However, this system - together with the general "privilege" system that underpins the school's ethos and sense of discipline - is carefully monitored by the staff, hostel masters and senior prefects. College's rigorous structure of traditions and concepts date back to similar styles found in pre-1900 British boarding schools, and this is perhaps the only school where this structure is retained to something like its original extent.
[edit] Notable Old Collegians
Maritzburg College has produced a number of Old Boys who have distinguished themselves in many fields of human endeavour. Amongst its former scholars it can count 11 South African senators, 4 generals, an admiral, a Commissioner of Police, 7 Officers Commanding of the Natal Carbineers, South Africa's pre-eminent English author, 2 Chancellors of the University of Natal, 3 Directors of Education, an Anglican bishop, a Chief Justice, 9 judges, 3 Attorneys-General, and 21 Rhodes scholars.
College has produced numerous locally and internationally-acclaimed sportsmen, with a tally of 180 to date, and as such is considered to be the most produced by a single South African school
[edit] List of notable Old Collegians (by year of matriculation)
- Sir Henry Bale, KCMC, KZ (dux 1870), former South African cabinet minister and former Chief Justice of Natal
- Henry Nourse (circa 1874), founder of Nourse Mines and former chairman of South African Olympic Committee
- Major-General WEC Tanner (1884), former Chief of Staff of Union of South Africa Defence Force
- Judge Walter Thrash, MPC (1902), former South African senator and former Judge President of Natal
- HG “Nummy” Deane (circa 1910), former captain of South African national cricket team
- Prof Edgar Brookes (1911), former South African senator and former South African representative to the League of Nations
- Alan Paton (1918), author of Cry, the Beloved Country and political activist
- Philip Nel (1921), captain of "the Greatest Springboks" of 1937 - the only South African team to have defeated the All Blacks in New Zealand
- Hubert Freakes (1930), Rhodes scholar and former England national rugby union team player (killed whilst serving in the RAF during World War II)
- Lt-Gen Keith Coster, OBE (1936), former General Officer commanding the Rhodesian Army and Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of South Africa
- Lt-Gen Bob Rogers, DSO, DFC (1938), former Chief of the South African Air Force
- Cuan McCarthy (1945), fast-bowler in South African national cricket side
- Jackie McGlew (1948): former captain of South African national cricket team
- Rear-Adm Paul Wijnberg (1950), former OC of Natal Naval Command
- Cedric Savage (Harvard) (1955), former CEO and present chairman of the Tongaat-Hulett Group and former captain of South African national waterpolo team
- Paul Harris (Head Prefect 1967), CEO of the FirstRand Group
- Joel Stransky (1985), South African national rugby player
- Jonty Rhodes {Head Prefect 1987), South African national cricket player
- Pieter Dixon (1995): Super 12 Rugby Player
- Kevin Pietersen (1997), English national cricket player
- Butch James (1997), rugby player for Sharks and South African national teams
- Chad Erskine (1998), USA national rugby player
- Peter Grant, Stormers and Western Province rugby player
The school's Roll of Honour lists the names of over 250 former scholars who have given their lives in various battles and wars since the first Old Collegian casualty fell in 1871 (Robert Erskine, who was the son of the Colonial Secretary at the time).
[edit] Trivia
- College is the oldest high school in KwaZulu-Natal.
- College has produced more than 180 international sportsmen, including a former Mr America (bodybuilding), 18 SA captains, 8 captains of polo alone, four 2004 Olympians, and the "man who won the 2005 Ashes" for England, Kevin Pietersen.
- Its annual Reunion Day is often attended by more than 2,000 former scholars.
- College has retained many of its old traditions that often date back many generations - like the saying by juniors of "please" and "waiting at doors".
- The most Old Collegians killed in action on one day is 7 - at Isandhlwana in 1879 (see above) and at Gelib in Italian Somaliland in 1941, during the infamous "White Flag Incident" that claimed the lives of 13 Royal Natal Carbineers.
- Its old buildings are rumoured to still be inhabited by ghosts - including that of Mr WE "Fluff" Abbitt (long-time resident master of Clark House), Mr Clark himself, and the troubled souls of the dozens of British and colonial troops who died in the Victoria Hall when it was a fever ward during the Boer War.
- One of its more colourful former scholars was Bill Payn (scholar 1906-10), who played provincial sport in 5 disciplines, represented the Springbok rugby team against the British Isles in 1924, and gained lasting fame by running the 1922 Comrades Marathon in his rugby boots.
