Epsom College Totally Explained

Everything about Epsom College totally explained

Epsom College is a co-educational Public School in Epsom, Surrey, England and is a member of the Headmasters' Conference. It caters for both boarding and day pupils.
It was founded in 1855 to provide support for poor members of the medical profession; specifically pensioners and orphans ("Foundationers"). Its long-standing association with medicine was estimated in 1980 as having helped almost a third of its 10,000 alumni enter that profession.

Foundation

The school was founded in 1853 by Dr. John Propert as The Royal Medical Benevolent College, the aims of which were to provide accommodation pensioned medical doctors or their widows in the first instance, and to provide a "liberal education" to 100 sons of "duly qualified medical men" for £25 each year.
The establishment of the College was the culmination of a campaign begun in 1844 by the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, the forerunner of the British Medical Association. The scheme saw the medical profession was

"in regard to charitable institutions for the aged and infirm, the widow and the orphan, the worst provided of all professions and callings"

and took as its aim the alieviating of poverty and debt. Discussions were chaired by Sir John Forbes, Physician to Prince Albert and the Royal Household, and followed similar plans establishing schools for the Clergy and the Royal Navy in desiring to raise money to found "schools for the sons of medical men", providing an education which would otherwise be "beyond the means of many parents".
   By 1851, the Medical Benevolent Society had limited itself to the foundation of a single Benevolent College, and met in Treasurer John Propert's house in New Cavendish Street, Marylebone. The new campaign's fundraising activities included dinners, which were attended by numerous doctors and Members of Parliament, and concerts, for example on 4 July 1855 one such event included composer Hector Berlioz conducting the UK premier of his symphonic suite Harold in Italy.
   The foundation stone was laid on the 6 July 1853, and almost two years later on 25 June 1855 the College was formally opened by Prince Albert and his son, the future King Edward VII in front of an unexpectedly large crowd of around 6,000. Queen Victoria consented in March of that year to become patron, a relationship which has continued with British monarchs ever since; King Edward VII after the death of his mother, King George V, King Edward VIII in 1936, King George VI from 1937, and then the current Queen until the present.
   Its long-standing association with medicine was estimated in 1980 as having helped almost a third of its 10,000 alumni enter that profession.
   In the 1920s the junior school-side of the college was run down, the College catering only for 13-18 year olds as a result. In 1976 Girls were first allowed into the sixth-form, and 20 years later co-education was introduced throughout.
   Its campus is situated on the outskirts of Epsom, near to Epsom Downs on the North Downs, the racecourse of which is most famous for holding the Epsom Derby every year. The architecture principally consists of buildings built since 1853 mainly in a style influenced by the Gothic revival of the era and by what Prince Albert described as the "pointed style of the 14th Century"

Houses

House Name	Composition	Colours	Named after	Motto	Founded	Housemaster/Mistress
Carr (C)	Boarding/Day Boys	Green and Black	Dr. William Carr	Pro Christo et Patria Dulce Periculum	1883	Mike Day
Crawfurd (Cr)	Boarding/Day Girls	Purple and White	Raymond Crawfurd, Member of Council	Durum Patientia Frango	1935 as a Day Boys House	Helen Keevil
Fayrer (Fa)	Boarding Boys	Blue and White	Sir Joseph Fayrer	Quo Aequior eo Melior	1897 as a Junior Boys House	Paul Williams
Forest (F)	Boarding Boys	Yellow and Black	An early College Benefactor		1883	Green and White	Former Headmaster Rev. T.N. Hart-Smith-Pearse	1931 for Foundationers aged under 13
Holman (H)	Boarding Boys	Red, White and Black	Treasurer Sir Constantine Holman		1897 as a Junior Boys House	Joanna Vernon-Hardcourt
Robinson (Rn)	Day Boys	Green and White	Michael Hampshire
Wilson (W)	Boarding Girls	White and Black	Sir Erasmus Wilson	Expecta Cuncta Superna	1871, as an independent Boarding Boys House, named 1883	Miss K Adams
White House (Wh)	Boarding 6th form Girls	White and Yellow	Original Building Name		1976	Celine Winmill

House colours are seen in the stripes in the ties worn by the majority of boys (those not wearing colours or prefect's ties) or on a rectangular brooch worn by the girls. They are also used in house rugby and athletics tops.
Also available for purchase at the on-site school shop (Lester Bowden) are house cufflinks with the house colours, edged with a gold rim. These are new for September 2007.

Sport

Cricket

Hockey

Hockey, previously a minor (optional) sport, became a major sport after the opening of the new pitches behind the maths block. While the pitches were completed for September 1966, the autumn term was devoted to stone picking parties, and the hockey season started in January 1967. Hockey had been played previously on the Chudleigh rugby and cricket pitches.

Rugby

In 2001, the Epsom College U15 team won their age group in Daily Mail Cup, beating The John Fisher School by 17-12 at Twickenham in the Final. In 2006, the U16 Epsom sevens team won the 2006 Sevens National Championship at Rosslyn Park by beating Millfield 29-19.

Rifle shooting

The college has (one of) the best rifle teams in the country, having won the prestigious Ashburton Shield at the annual Bisley Rifle Championships ten times since 1990.

Eccentricities

The Athletics Term

Until the winter of 1965, Epsom College was probably unique in holding athletics in the coldest months of the year, between January and April. This meant that the long jump pit was often frozen. The track surrounded the First XV pitch, and was either frozen or waterlogged.

The Fives Courts

Near Chapel Pitch, there are the remnants of several open air fives courts, one of which is said to be a doubles court. In the late 1960s these were functional courts, albeit of odd design.

Principal Feeder Prep Schools

Headmasters

Unless otherwise noted, information taken from .

(1855 - 1870) Doctor Robinson Thornton, M.A. (Oxon), D.D.

(1870 - 1855) The Rev. William de Lancy West, M.A. (Oxon), D.D.

(1885 - 1889) The Rev. William Cecil Wood, M.A. (Cantab)

(1889 - 1914) The Rev. Thomas Northcote Hart-Smith, M.A. (Oxon)

(1914 - 1922) The Rev. Canon Walter John Barton, M.A. (Oxon)

(1922 - 1939) The Rev. Canon Arnold Cecil Powell, M.A. (Cantab)

(1939 - 1962) Henry William Fernyhough Franklin, M.A. (Oxon)

(1962 - 1970) Archibald Duncan Dougal MacCullum, T.D., M.A., F.R.S.A.

(1970 - 1982) Owen John Tressider Rowe, M.A. (Oxon) (previously headmaster of Giggleswick School)

(1982 - 1992) Dr John B. Cook, BSc, Ph.D., AKC

(1993 - 2000) Anthony (Tony) Beadles, M.A. (OE, Forest)

(2000 - ) Stephen Borthwick

Sundry Items of Interest

There is a Schools Class steam engine named after the school (also here

Wartime plane crash on Epsom racecourse

by an ex Hart Smith pupil

Southern Railway School's Class

The School lent its name to the thirtyeighth steam locomotive (Engine 937) in the Southern Railway's Class V of which there were 40. This Class was also known as the Schools Class because all 40 of the class were named after prominent English public schools. 'Epsom', as it was called, was built in 1934.The locomotive bearing the School's name was withdrawn in the early 1960s.

Notable Alumni

Past pupils are called (OEs)

A to D

David Alexander (Cr 51-56) (b 17 November 1937, d 13 November 2002), the co-founder and former chairman and managing director of Lion Publishing

Roger Bluett (R 39-42), oriental art and antiques dealer, Chairman of the Museum of East Asian Art in Bath

Roland Boys Bradford (left 1907) recipient of the Victoria Cross during First World War

Professor Neville Butler, Paediatrician

Paul Burke (G 1989-1991), Irish International Fly Half, currently with Leicester

Warwick Charlton (b 9 March 1918, d 10 December 2002, conceived of, had built, and sailed the Mayflower II, replica of the Mayflower, in 1957 from Plymouth, Devon, to Plymouth, Massachusetts

E to K

McCormack Charles Farrell Easmon (left 1907), Doctor, Campaigner for Racial Equality in Sierra Leone, and founder of the Sierra Leone Museum

Michael Fallon Member of Parliament for Sevenoaks

Stewart Granger (left 1923), Hollywood Actor

Colonel Tony Hewitt (b 13 September 1914, d 30 June 2004), awarded an MC for a daring escape from a Japanese PoW camp after the fall of Hong Kong on Christmas Day 1941

Ciara Janson, Actress (best known as Nicole Owen from Hollyoaks)

Lieutenant-Commander Dicky Kendall, placed a two-ton mine under the German battleship Tirpitz in Operation Source

L to R

Derek (William) Lambert (b 10 October 1929, d 2001), Thriller writer, also journalist

Philip Gadesden Lucas, (C 1918-1918) (b 1902, d 1981) George Medallist.

Sir Anthony McCowan, (b 12 January 1928, d 3 July 2003), Lord Justice of Appeal from 1989 to 1997

Major Alastair McGregor (G 32-36), won the DSO and the MC while serving with the SAS behind enemy lines during the Second World War

James MacKeith, (b 29 October 1938, d 5 August 2007), Forensic Psychiatrist

Sir Halford John Mackinder, Geographer

Gyles Mackrell, (P 1898-1905) (b 1888, d 1959), George Medallist.

Jonathan Maitland (Cr 74-79), ITV Television journalist

Mark Mardell, Television Journalist, Radio Journalist

Gerald Milsom, Entrepreneur and restaurateur

Toby Nash, (real names Lancelot Lester Nash, but always known as Toby), (b 4 February 1920, d 6 July 2005), awarded an MC in 1942 while serving with an anti-aircraft battery in Burma.

Bob Nixon (left 1940), Cricket Broadcaster, Rhodesia

Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (1947 - 1952 H), Leader of Biafra during the war with Nigeria

Pareg Patel (1989-1994), Full bore rifle Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist 2006

Nick Paton-Walsh, (R 1990-1995) Foreign Correspondent for Channel 4 News, formerly with The Guardian

Terence Pepper G 1962-67, Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery

John Piper (left 1919), Cubist artist

Geoffrey Pope, Director of the Royal Aircraft Establishment

Sir Philip Powell, (b 15 March 1921, d 5 May 2003) half of one of the most important British architectural partnerships - Powell & Moya - with Hidalgo Moya, of the post-war period

Richard Ratner, (b 21 September 1949, d 7 October 2007) HS & G 1961-68, retail industry analyst and a vice-chairman at Seymour Pierce, the boutique broking house; cousin of Gerald Ratner.

Major-General Jim Robertson, (b 23 March 1901, d 11 February 2004), (C 24-28), commanded the 1/7th Gurkha Rifles in Burma and the 1/6th Gurkha Rifles in Malaya; a formidable field commander, he was awarded two DSOs and was four times mentioned in dispatches.

S to Z

John Scarlett, head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)

Edward Smyth, orthopaedic surgeon and an intrepid mountaineer, skier and sailor

Flaxman Charles John Spurrell, Archaeologist and Photographer

Lt-Col Alex Simson, (b 2 February 1918, d 20 July 2004), awarded an MC in 1943 while leading mine-clearing parties in the last phase of the battle for Tunis

Joe Strummer, co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist and lead singer of the English punk rock band The Clash, and later The Mescaleros

Graham Sutherland (left 1918) Artist

Andrew Vallance Owen Doctor / MD of BUPA

Jeremy Vine H 1976-82, BBC Television journalist and Radio Presenter, brother of Tim

Tim Vine H 1980-85, comedian, brother of Jeremy

Nicholas Witchell, BBC Television journalist

Julian Worricker R 1976-80, BBC Radio journalist

Notable Staff

Robert Roseveare, Bletchley Park cryptographer

Nigel Starmer-Smith, Taught Geography while for England rugby union team, prior to his TV Rugby commentary role at the BBCFurther Information

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