Stowe School

Not to be confused with Stow College.

Stowe School

Motto	Latin: Persto et Praesto ("I stand firm and I stand first")
Established	1923
Type	Independent School, Day & Boarding
Religion	Church of England
Headmaster	Dr Anthony Wallersteiner
Chaplain	Rev. R.B Jackson
Chairman of Governors	Christopher Honeyman Brown
Founder	Percy Warrington
Location	Buckingham Buckinghamshire MK18 5EH England
Local authority	Buckinghamshire
Students	760
Gender	Co-educational
Ages	13–18
Houses	12 Boarding houses
Colours	Blue, Red, Gold & White
Publication	The Stoic
Former pupils	Old Stoics
Website	www.stowe.co.uk

Coordinates: 52°01′57″N 1°01′08″W / 52.0326°N 1.0190°W / 52.0326; -1.0190

Stowe School is an independent school in Stowe, Buckinghamshire. It was founded on 11 May 1923 by J. F. Roxburgh, initially with 99 male pupils. It is a member of the Rugby Group and Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school is also a member of the G20 Schools Group. The headmaster, Dr Anthony Wallersteiner, was recognised as Tatler's Headmaster of the Year in 2007; the School was also shortlisted for the School of the Year award in 2009. The school is currently becoming fully co-educational. As of 2011^[update], there are 550 boys and 220 girls.

The school has been based since its beginnings at Stowe House, formerly the country seat of the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos. Along with many of the other buildings on the school's estate, the main house is now a Grade 1 Listed Building and is maintained by the Stowe House Preservation Trust.

The school is used as a first class cricket ground by Northamptonshire CCC, and is the home ground of the Northants Second XI.

On 4 April 1963 The Beatles performed at Stowe School, for which they were paid £100. They accepted a personal request from schoolboy David Moores, a fellow Liverpudlian.

In 2005 the school was one of fifty of the country's leading independent schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times, which had allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents.^[1] 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 designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared.^[2] However, Mrs Jean Scott, the head of the Independent Schools Council, said that independent schools had always been exempt from anti-cartel rules applied to business, were following a long-established procedure in sharing the information with each other, and that they were unaware of the change to the law (on which they had not been consulted). She wrote to John Vickers, the OFT director-general, saying, "They are not a group of businessmen meeting behind closed doors to fix the price of their products to the disadvantage of the consumer. They are schools that have quite openly continued to follow a long-established practice because they were unaware that the law had changed."^[3]

The Stowe Corner of Silverstone Circuit is named after the school.^[4]

Boarding houses

There are 12 boarding houses: 8 boy houses and 4 girl houses. These boarding houses are mostly named after members of the family of Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. Each house has a number or letter assigned to it.

Name	Named After	House Number/Letter
Bruce	Lady Mary Campbell (Married to Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos;One of her family names was Bruce)	1
Temple	Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham; Earl Temple	2
Grenville	George Grenville, the husband of Hester Temple, 1st Countess Temple, mother of Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, and sister of Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham	3
Chandos	Duke of Buckingham and Chandos;Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos	4
Cobham	Viscount Cobham;Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham	5
Chatham	William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, husband of Hester Grenville, sister of Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple	6
Grafton	There is no known family connection, the name coming from the local fox hunt, the Grafton Hunt, which takes its name in turn from the Duke of Grafton. Grafton also has a history of supplying the Stowe Beagles with talented Masters and Hunt Staff, many of whom have continued to become Masters of packs around the Country.	7
Walpole	This is not a family name. Named after Horace Walpole, who wrote some famous letters about his visits to Stowe in the 18th century. It was his father, Robert Walpole, who was the more notable Walpole in Britain's and Stowe's history, however. Viscount Cobham's political life started under Walpole but his subsequent opposition to him led Cobham to found a political dynasty that played a major part in politics until Victorian times (producing four Prime Ministers). To be named "Nugent" originally.	8
Nugent (Girls)	Lady Mary Nugent, daughter of Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent, married to George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham. Was originally the 'waiting house' that some new boys entered until their preferred house had a space.	N
Lyttelton (Girls - formerly Boys)	Baron Lyttelton,succeeded to the Viscounty of Cobham since Charles George Lyttelton, 5th Baron Lyttelton, after the death of the Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, and into which title the Barony is now merged. Originally "Stanhope House", which became the Careers, International, and Skills Development departments of the school. Named after Lady Hester Stanhope, niece of William Pitt the Younger, who was the niece of Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple	0
Queen's (Girls)	Opened in September 2007 and officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in November 2007 and thus named after her.	A
Stanhope (Girls)	Opened in May 2009 and officially opened by Sir Nicholas Winton.	B

Headmasters

• 2003- Anthony Wallersteiner
• 1989-2003 Jeremy Nichols
• 1979-1989 Christopher Turner
• 1964-1979 Bob Drayson
• 1958-1964 Donald Crichton-Miller
• 1949-1958 Eric Reynolds
• 1923-1949 J. F. Roxburgh (Founder)

Notable Old Stoics

Former pupils of Stowe School are known as Old Stoics and include:

• Michael Alexander
• Geoffrey Russell, 4th Baron Ampthill
• Major Jack Anderson, Victoria Cross recipient
• Lord Annan (author and Provost of King's College, Cambridge)
• 3rd Earl Attlee (House of Lords)
• Alexander Bernstein, Baron Bernstein of Craigweil (former television executive and a Labour Party member of the House of Lords)
• Oliver Bertram (Motor racing driver)
• Richard Boston (English journalist and author)
• John Boyd-Carpenter, Baron Boyd-Carpenter (British Conservative Party politician)
• Sir Richard Branson (business man)
• Marilyn Okoro (British 400m Athlete)
• Lord Justice Simon Brown (law lord)
• Florence Brudenell-Bruce, actress and model
• Martin Buckmaster, 3rd Viscount Buckmaster OBE
• James Burnell-Nugent, (Admiral in the Royal Navy)
• Henry Cavill (actor)
• Leonard Cheshire VC (airman and founder of the Cheshire Foundation)
• Simon Clegg (Former CEO of the British Olympic Association and current CEO of Ipswich Town Football Club)
• Oliver Colvile, MP
• John C. Corlette, became an architect and later teacher at Gordonstoun; founded Aiglon College, Switzerland, in 1949.
• John Cornford (poet)
• Andrew Croft (explorer and SOE agent)
• Alki David (Director, Actor, Screenwriter, Businessman, Philanthropist and Explorer)
• Chelsy Davy (Girlfriend of Prince Harry)
• Simon Digby, oriental scholar
• John David Eaton (Merchant - Canada)
• Martin Edwards (former chairman of Manchester United)
• Howard Goodall (Musician)
• Michael Grade (TV executive)
• Harry Gregson-Williams (Composer and 1st Music Scholar 1975)
• 2nd Earl Haig
• Edward Hardwicke, (actor)
• Lee Harris (musician and manager of The Blockheads)
• Sir Jack Hayward - (entrepreneur and owner of Wolverhampton Wanderers)
• Sir Nicholas Henderson (British diplomat)
• John Henniker-Major, 8th Baron Henniker (British diplomat)
• Roger Hodgson (musician) - founding member and vocalist of Supertramp
• Oscar Humphries (Journalist)
• Marc Koska, OBE (Inventor) (Designed K1 auto-disable syringe and credited with saving in excess of one million lives)
• Laddie Lucas CBE, DSO, DFC, airman, golfer, author and Member of Parliament (MP).
• Nicholas Walter Lyell, Baron Lyell of Markyate (former Solicitor-General and Attorney-General)
• Gavin Maxwell, author and naturalist
• Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine
• George Melly (jazz singer & art historian)
• Crispian Mills (musician)
• Christopher Robin Milne (son of A.A Milne)
• George Monbiot (left-wing journalist and political activist)
• Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk - herald
• David Niven, (actor)
• Toby O'Brien, journalist and public relations expert
• Anthony Quinton, Baron Quinton, political and moral philosopher, metaphysician, and materialist philosopher of mind.
• HSH Prince Rainier III of Monaco
• James Reeves (poet)
• Graham Riddick (British Conservative Party politician)
• John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Preston Candover (Grocer)
• David Shepherd (artist)
• Henrik Takkenberg (singer, songwriter)
• Karan Thapar (journalist)
• Michael Ventris (linguist who deciphered Linear B)
• Rollo Weeks (actor)
• Graeme White, (Cricketer, Northamptonshire)
• Sir Nicholas Winton MBE, British humanitarian, nicknamed the British Schindler
• Peregrine Worsthorne (journalist)

Notable masters

• Theodore Acland, housemaster 1924-1930, later headmaster of Norwich School

Cricket ground

The first recorded match on the school cricket ground came in 1928 when Stowe School played St Paul's School.^[5] Buckinghamshire played their first Minor Counties Championship match there in 1947, when it played Berkshire. From 1947 to 1982, the ground held 5 Minor Counties Championship matches, the last of which saw Bukcinghamshire play Bedfordshire.^[6] In addition, the ground has also hosted a single MCCA Knockout Trophy match which saw Buckinghamshire play Bedfordshire.^[7]

The ground has also held a single List-A match for Northamptonshire in the 2005 totesport League, when Northamptonshire played Gloucestershire.^[8]

The ground has also held 14 Second XI fixtures for the Northamptonshire Second XI in the Second XI Championship and Second XI Trophy to date.^[9][10]

See also

• List of schools in the South East of England
• List of independent schools in the United Kingdom
• List of boarding schools

Further reading

• Alasdair MacDonald, Stowe: House and School, London: W. S. Cowell, 1951

References

1. ^ Halpin, Tony (10 November 2005). "Independent schools face huge fines over cartel to fix fees". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article588559.ece. Retrieved 24 May 2010. 
2. ^ The Office of Fair Trading: OFT names further trustees as part of the independent schools settlement
3. ^ "Private schools send papers to fee-fixing inquiry". The Daily Telegraph (London). 01 March 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1455730/Private-schools-send-papers-to-fee-fixing-inquiry.html. Retrieved 15 March 2011. 
4. ^ http://www.silverstone.co.uk/php/hi_overview.html
5. ^ Other matches played on Stowe School Ground
6. ^ Minor Counties Championship Matches played on Stowe School Ground
7. ^ Minor Counties Trophy Matches played on Stowe School Ground
8. ^ List-A Matches played on Stowe School Ground
9. ^ Second XI Championship Matches played on Stowe School Ground
10. ^ Second XI Trophy Matches played on Stowe School Ground

External links

• Stowe School Website
• Old Stoic Society
• Stowe House Preservation Trust
• Cricket ground record at cricinfo
• The Allied Schools
• Department for Education Performance Tables 2009 (GCSE and equivalent)
• Department for Education Performance Tables 2009 (Post-16)
• Stowe School Ground at CricketArchive
• Stowe School Ground at Cricinfo