Mill Hill School

Mill Hill School

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Motto	Et virtutem et musas (Both virtue and learning)
Established	1807
Type	Public school Independent day and boarding
Headmaster	Dr Dominic Luckett
Chair of Governors	Dr Roger Chapman
Founder	Samuel Favell John Pye-Smith
Location	The Ridgeway Mill Hill Village London NW7 1QS England
DfE URN	101367 Tables
Students	640~
Gender	Co-educational
Ages	13–18
Houses	10
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, 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 ten day and boarding houses.

Dr Dominic Luckett became headmaster at the start of the 2007–2008 academic year. He was previously deputy headmaster of Worth School. He succeeded William R Winfield, MA. The site was once the estate of Ridgeway House, significant in the history of British botany, as the former home of botanist and gardener Peter Collinson.

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

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 teacher and originator 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 renamed as Grimsdell Pre-preparatory School in 1995.

History

School House at Mill Hill School

A committee of Nonconformist merchants and ministers, including John Pye Smith, founded the school 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 (0.49 km²) 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. 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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

Headmasters at Mill Hill School

The following have been Headmasters at Mill Hill School:

Name	Years as Headmaster
Reverend John Atkinson	1807–1810
Reverend Maurice Phillips	1811–1818
Reverend Dr John Humphreys	1819–1825
Dr James Corrie	1825–1827
George Samuel Evans	1828 January–June
Robert Cullen	1829–1831
Reverend H. L. Berry	1831–1834
Thomas Priestley	1834–1852
Reverend Philip Smith	1852–1860
Reverend Dr William Flavel	1860–1863
Reverend Philip Chapman Barker	1863–1864
Reverend George Donald Bartlet	1864–1868
Dr Richard Francis Weymouth	1869–1886
Charles Arthur Vince	1886–1891
Dr John David McClure (later Sir)	1891–1922
Maurice Leonard Jacks	1922–1937
Dr Thomas Kingston Jerry	1938–1940
Arthur Rooker Roberts	1940–1943
Maurice Leonard Jacks	1943–1944
Reverend Dr John Sheldon Whale	1944–1951
Roy Moore CBE	1951–1967
Michael Hart CBE	1967–1974
Alan Fraser Elliot	1974–1978
William Allan Phimester	1978–1979
Alastair Carew Graham	1979–1992
Euan Archibald MacFarlane MacAlpine	1992–1995
William Winfield	1995–2007
Dr Dominic Luckett	2007–present

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, a registered charity under English law. 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: Mrs Lynn Duncan BSc
• Grimsdell – a pre-preparatory day school for pupils aged 3–7. Head: Mrs Pauline E R Bennett-Mills, Cert Ed
• The Mount School – a girl's day school for pupils aged 7–13. Head: Ms. Catherine Cozens BSc.

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 events in recent rugby history include:

• 1993 Winners of Middlesex Cup
• 1994 Tour to South Africa and Australia, Ben Levenstein England Schools U-18s
• 1995 Peter Mensah England A
• 1997 Adrian Flavin England Schools U-18s
• 1999 Gerald Arasa England U-21s
• 2000 Tour to South Africa, Winners of the Middlesex Cup
• 2003 Tour to Australia and Fiji, the most successful to date
• 2004 Finalists of the Middlesex Cup
• 2005 Tour to Canada
• 2007 Tour to New Zealand
• 2007 Winners of Middlesex Cup
• 2007 Visit of South Africa Rugby team to Mill Hill School
• 2008 1st XV complete an unbeaten season
• 2008 Winners of Middlesex Cup
• 2009 Winners of Middlesex Cup
• 2012 Tour to Chile and Argentina

Notable alumni

See also: Category:People educated at Mill Hill School

• Michael Bishop, Baron Glendonbrook, businessman
• Jasper Britton, actor
• Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain, neurologist
• David Buck, actor
• Richard Burns, poet
• Francis Cammaerts
• James Challis, astronomer
• Ernest Cook, English philanthropist and businessman (grandson of Thomas Cook)
• Frank Cook, joint owner of Thos. Cook & Sons, world's largest travel agency (eldest grandson of Thomas Cook)
• Chris Corner, producer and songwriter
• Francis Crick, A sculpted bust of Francis Crick by John Sherrill Houser, which incorporates a single 'Golden' Helix, was cast in bronze in the artist's studio in New Mexico, US. The bronze was first displayed at the Francis Crick Memorial Conference (on Consciousness) at the University of Cambridge's Churchill College on 7 July 2012; it was bought by Mill Hill School in May 2013, and was displayed at their inaugural Crick Dinner on 8 June 2013.
• Richard Dimbleby, broadcaster
• John Richard Easonsmith, officer
• Tanika Gupta. Playwright and Scriptwriter
• Joseph Hardcastle, Liberal Member of Parliament
• Sir Norman Hartnell, fashion designer
• Francis Heron, England footballer and FA Cup winner
• Hubert Heron, England footballer and FA Cup winner
• Peter Youngblood Hills, actor
• Stanislav Ianevski, actor
• Chaz Jankel, musician
• Simon Jenkins, newspaper columnist, editor and author
• Michael Kempster, Court of Appeal judge, Hong Kong
• Keith Levene, musician, Public Image Limited
• Nick Leslau, businessman
• Malcolm Mackintosh, Special Operations Executive operative and intelligence analyst
• Bob Marshall-Andrews, politician
• Harry Melling, actor
• Thanos Papalexis, businessman
• Adam Rossington, Middlesex cricketer
• Vir Sanghvi, journalist, columnist, and talk show host
• Ernest Satow, British scholar, diplomat and Japanologist
• Henry Shaw, botanist
• Roger Spong, international rugby union footballer, England and Great Britain
• Mitchell Symons, journalist and writer
• Sir Denis Thatcher, husband of the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
• David Tinker, officer
• Roger Toulson, Justice of the Supreme Court
• Patrick Troughton, actor
• Austin Vince, long distance adventure motorcyclist
• Eric A. Walker, Professor Emeritus of Imperial History at the University of Cambridge
• Herbert Ward, explorer, writer and sculptor, whose statue Grief was presented to the school by the artist
• Daniel Sharman, actor
• David Dayan Fisher, actor
• Seb Fontaine, house music DJ

The 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.

Further reading

• Roderick Braithwaite. "'Strikingly Alive', The History of the Mill Hill School Foundation 1807–2007"; Phillimore & Co.; ISBN 978-1-86077-330-3

External links

• Mill Hill School
• Belmont School
• Grimsdell
• The Mount School
• Profile on ISC website
• Friends of Mill Hill School
• Old Millhillians Club
• Mill Hill at War, 1914–1919
• Francis Crick talking about his time at Mill Hill on Peoples Archive
• Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust's early history of Mill Hill School