Wrekin College

Wrekin College

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Motto	Aut vincere aut mori (Either to conquer or to die)
Established	1880
Type	Public School Independent day and boarding school
Religion	Church of England
Headmaster	Dr Haydn Griffiths
Chaplain	Revd. Michael Horton MA (Cantab)
Founder	Sir John Bayley
Location	Sutherland Road Wellington Shropshire TF1 3BH England
Students	c. 450
Gender	Co-educational
Ages	11–18
Houses	Bayley,      Clarkson,      Lancaster,      Roslyn,      Tudor,      York. Former houses:      Hanover,      Norman,      Eastfield,      Saxon. Windsor,
Colours
Alumni	Old Wrekinians
Website	wrekincollege.com

Wrekin College is an independent co-educational boarding and day school located in Wellington, Shropshire, England. It was founded by Sir John Bayley in 1880 and is known as ‘The School in the Garden’ owing to its extensive grounds and playing fields. Part of the Allied Schools, it is also a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

History

The school was founded in 1880 as Wellington College by Sir John Bayley. In 1915 less than 100 acres (0.40 km²) of the Lilleshall Hall estate were purchased from the Duke of Sutherland, who retained the Hall and 50 acres (200,000 m²). In 1920, it was sold to the Revd Percy Warrington, a Church of England clergyman and renamed Wrekin College. The influential Anglican Clergyman E. J. H. Nash was chaplain from 1929–1932. The Rev. Canon Guy Pentreath was a notable headmaster from 1943 to 1952. Girls were introduced to the sixth form by headmaster Geoffrey Hadden in 1975. It became fully co-educational in 1983. There are currently 420 pupils of which 10% are boarders and 50% are girls. The school now admits pupils from the age of eleven.

In 2006, the trust was merged with that of the Old Hall Preparatory School (founded 1845), which moved from its original site in the Old Hall on Limekiln Lane to the site of Wrekin College.

During the First World War the college refused to give up the rugby posts, to be scrapped as raw materials for the war effort however they did donate the railings on the walls down Sutherland Road.

In 1907, The Old Wrekinian Association, (OWA), was created by just a small group of 14 past pupils and has today almost 4000 members who have subscribed to the mailing list. The sole purpose of the OWA is to help past students keep in touch with not only one another but also the school. The OWA Record magazine is published twice a year and it contains news of the OWA members and the school. There are eight officials of the OWA, and they are as follows:

President: Barrie Roberts (N.51-55) Chairman: Andrew Huxley (W.81-86) Vice-Chairman: Chris Jones (W.82-87) Treasurer: David Ellison (T.54–58) Auditor: David Stevens (N.58–62) Secretary: Mervyn Joyner (Staff 62–94) Social Secretary: Serena Kyle (C.75–77) Secretary 200 Club: Mervyn Joyner (Staff 62-94)

They meet at least twice a year along with the current Wrekin College headmaster, OW School Governors and OW Branch representatives.

The OWA website can be accessed here: http://www.wrekincollege.com/old-wrekinians/2303.html

Old Wrekinians

See also: Category:People educated at Wrekin College

• Harry Andrews (1911–1989), British stage and film actor
• William R. P. George (1912–2006), Welsh poet
• Sir Peter Gadsden (1929–2006), former Lord Mayor of London (1979), businessman
• Brian Epstein (1934–1967), music entrepreneur and manager of The Beatles
• Sir John Roch (1934– ), former Lord Justice of Appeal
• Field Marshal Rt Hon the Lord Inge KG, GCB, PC, DL (1935 – ), former Chief of Defence Staff
• Malcolm Bruce (1944- ), LibDem MP
• Sir Ian Blair (1953 – ), Metropolitan Police Commissioner (2005–2008)
• Bob Warman (1948 – ), television presenter
• James Faulkner (1948 – ), Voice/television actor
• Jean-Paul Duminy (1984– ), South African International cricketer
• Rory Kleinveldt (1983– ), South African International cricketer
• Richard Benson QC (1946) criminal law advocate
• His Honour Judge John Charles Price, Circuit Judge
• Tudor John (1966 – ) creator of the Neptune Regatta, the yacht race to the equator

External links

• Official website
• Bayley's Children: A History of Wrekin College 1880–2005
• The Allied Schools
• UK Boarding Schools Guide ProfileThe Good Schools Guide
• The Good Schools Guide