Harrow School

Coordinates	52°6′13″N19°40′3″N
Name	Harrow School
Size	200px
Latitude	51.573103
Longitude	-0.333792
Motto	("Let the Fortune of the House Stand")("The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God")
Motto pl	Yes
Established	1572 (1243)
Type	Independent school, Boarding school
Religion	Anglican
Head label	Head Master
Head	Barnaby J Lenon
Chair label	Chairman of the Governors
Chair	Mr R C Compton
Founder	John Lyon of Preston
Street	Harrow on the Hill High Street
City	London Borough of Harrow
County	London
Country	United Kingdom
Postcode	HA1 3HP
Staff	~200 (full-time)
Enrollment	~800 pupils
Gender	Male
Lower age	13
Upper age	18
Houses	13
Colours	Blue & White
Publication	The Harrovian
Free label 1	Former pupils
Free 1	Old Harrovians
Free label 2	Badges
Free 2	Rampant LionCrossed Arrows
Website	http://www.harrowschool.org.uk/

Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was officially founded by John Lyon under a Royal Charter of Elizabeth I in 1572.

The school has an enrollment of approximately 800 boys spread across twelve boarding houses, all of whom board full time.

Harrow has many traditions and rich history, which includes the use of boaters, morning suits, top hats and canes as uniform. Its long line of famous alumni include eight former Prime Ministers (including Winston Churchill, Jawaharlal Nehru and Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston), numerous foreign statesmen, former and current members of both houses of the UK Parliament, two Kings and several other members of various royal families, 19 Victoria Cross holders, and a great many notable figures in both the arts and the sciences. It is one of the original nine English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868.

History

Various schools in the same location have educated boys since 1243, but the school in its current state was founded in February 1572 under the Royal Charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I to John Lyon, a local wealthy farmer. In the school's initial charter six original governors were named, including two members of the Gerard family of Flambards, and two members of the Page family of Wembley and Sudbury Court. It was only after the death of Lyon's wife in 1608 that the construction of the first school building began. It was completed in 1615 and remains to this day, however it is now much larger. The school grew gradually over time but growth became rapid during Imperial times as British prosperity grew. Lyon died in 1592, leaving his assets to two causes, the lesser being the school, and by far the greater beneficiary being the maintenance of a road to London, 10 miles (16 km) away. The school owned and maintained this road for many years following Lyon’s death and the whole school still runs along this 10 mile road in an event called “Long Ducker” every November. At its beginning, the primary subject taught was Latin, and the only sport was archery. Both subjects were compulsory; archery was dropped in 1771. Although most boys were taught for free, their tuition paid for by Lyon's endowment, there were a number of fee-paying "foreigners" (boys from outside the parish). It was their presence that amplified the need for boarding facilities. By 1701 for every local there were two foreign pupils; this was used as a way to generate funds for the school as fees increased. By 1876 the ratio was so high that John Lyon Lower School was brought under the authority of the governors of the Upper School so that the school remained within its charge of providing education for the boys of the parish. It is now known as The John Lyon School and is a prominent independent school in England. It maintains close links with Harrow.

The 20th century saw the innovation of a central dining hall, the demolition of small houses and further modernisation of the curriculum. Presently there are approximately 800 boys boarding at Harrow. Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling £3,000,000 into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared.

The School Governors recently introduced Harrow to the international community by opening two new schools, one in Beijing, China, and Harrow International School in Bangkok, Thailand. Also, in 2012 a new Harrow International School will open in Hong Kong.

Notable alumni

Harrow has many notable alumni, who are known as Old Harrovians, including seven former British Prime Ministers including Winston Churchill and Robert Peel (the creator of the modern Police Force and founder of the Conservative Party), and the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. In addition, nineteen Old Harrovians have been awarded the Victoria Cross.

An alternative uniform, Sunday dress, worn every Sunday and for public engagements, consists of a morning suit; a black tailcoat, pinstriped trousers, a black waistcoat, black tie, braces and a white shirt. Variations include a grey waistcoat for those in the top sports teams, red waistcoats for members of “The Guild”, which is the school’s arts society and a hat with black speckles for boys in the 1st XI Cricket.

All school monitors wear a top hat instead of the Harrow boater and carry a personalised cane. The Head of School has the distinction of wearing full white tie as Sunday Dress.

The Harrow uniform achieved notoriety in the mid 20th century when a 1937 photograph of two Harrovians in Sunday Dress being watched by three working class boys was taken outside Lord's Cricket Ground. The photograph was placed on the front cover of the News Chronicle (now the Daily Mail) the following morning under the tagline "Every picture tells a story". The picture was soon reproduced in other national publications and became, and remains, one of the most popular symbols of the class divide in the United Kingdom.

Practices

Every new boy who enters the school is given a two week period of time called "grace" when he is not fully subject to all school rules and is shown the ropes by an assigned boy in the year above called a "Shepherd". When this period of time ends the boy sits the "new boys' test" which tests general knowledge of the school’s traditions. Some time later all new boys also sing a solo in front of their house at a house songs, officially ending their time as a new boy.

All boys are required to wear their hats when going to or from lessons and to "cap" all teachers (also known as "beaks") who pass them which is done by the boy raising his forefinger to the brim of his hat.

Songs

Songs have been an important part of Harrow life ever since John Farmer, a former head of music, wrote the first song in 1864. The school considers them to be a unifying force as they are sung by the boys in their houses every term. Songs are sung by the whole school to audiences of parents, former pupils of the school, and guests of honour that have, in the past, included members of the royal family and representatives from previous governments. The song Forty Years On has become known as the school song, although in reality it is one of many. It features a verse about Winston Churchill, and was heard in the film Young Winston.

Sport

Harrow has been instrumental in the development of a number of sports;

The sport squash was invented in Harrow out of the older game rackets around 1830 before the game spread to other schools, eventually becoming an international sport.

In the development of Association Football, Harrow was one of seven schools that met to develop the 1863 Cambridge Rules, which would influence the Football Association's first set of rules, the 1863 Laws of the game.

An annual cricket match has taken place between Harrow and Eton College at Lord's Cricket Ground since 1805. It is considered to be the longest-running cricket fixture in the world and is the oldest fixture at Lord's (see: Eton v Harrow).

Harrow has its own unique style of football called Harrow Football.The purpose of the game is to score a 'base', which is achieved by kicking the ball between a pair of vertical posts, located at each end of the ground, similar to rugby posts but without a cross-bar. This may be done either from open play or from 'yards' and the kick may be of any height. An important feature is the offside rule whereby a player must be behind the ball before he can play it. Handling is allowed from a kick on the volley: the ball may be caught and a call of "yards" allows the catcher a space of three running yards unmolested and a free kick out of the hands.

The Harrovian

The Harrovian is the school newspaper that is published weekly during term time. Its articles are written anonymously and the school stresses that the opinions expressed in the newspaper do not reflect school policy. The newspaper is published as both an organ of record and a forum for comment, debate and the expression of individual opinions in the school. The Harrovian is also published online by the Harrow Association.

Harrow curriculum

During their first year, boys (known as 'Shells' or 'Yearlings') take English, French, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, History, Geography, Latin, Religious Studies, Art, Music, Design Technology and Information Technology. Greek, Mandarin Chinese, German or Spanish are offered to boys with good linguistic ability, alongside or in lieu of French and Latin. Other (optional) languages such as Russian, Japanese, Portuguese and Italian are taught off-timetable. Classics (Latin and Ancient Greek) are considered very important at Harrow School.

During their second and third years('Removes' and Fifth Form) , boys work towards their GCSE examinations. By the end of the third year all boys will have taken English Language, English Literature, French, Mathematics, Religious Studies and a Science. In addition to these core subjects pupils choose, in a wide variety of combinations, four other subjects from History, Geography, Latin, Classical Civilisation, Greek, German, Spanish, Italian, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Music, Art and Design Technology.

The Peter Beckwith Harrow Scholarships, which effectively pay the school fees for the duration of the pupil's time at Harrow School, was featured in a Channel 4 Documentary.

Old Speech Room Gallery & Museum

The Old Speech Room Gallery & Museum is located in the Old Speech Room, which was built in 1819-1821 as a room to encourage public speaking.. The gallery was opened in 1976 to house the School's collections, which include Egyptian and Greek antiquities, English watercolours, Modern British paintings, books and natural history artefacts. There is a set of gilt Easter eggs created by contemporary gold and silversmith Stuart Devlin, which have been designed in the tradition of Fabergé eggs and include surprise interiors. There are also some sculptures, including portrait busts of such Old Harrovians as Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Lord Byron.

The paintings include Sir Winston Churchill's A Distant View of Venice, 1929. Other artists include George Romney, David Jones, Victor Pasmore and Richard Shirley Smith.

The Museum hosts themed exhibits from its collections. Admission is free.

Headmasters

See also

Harrow History Prize

List of Old Harrovians

List of Victoria Crosses by School

References

Literature

Rimmer, Rambles round Eton and Harrow, (London, 1882)

Thornton, Harrow School and its Surroundings, (London, 1885)

Harrow School Register, 1801-93, (London, 1894)

Minchin, Old Harrow Days, (London, 1898)

Williams, Harrow, (London, 1901)

Archibald Fox, Harrow, (London, 1911)

G. T. Warner, Harrow in Prose and Verse (London, 1913)

Christopher Tyerman, A History of Harrow School 1324-1991 (Oxford, 2000)

External links

Harrow School website

Harrow Association website

Harrow Development Trust website

Harrow School Enterprises

Hills and Saunders Photo archive- This site, now privately owned, contains an index and scans of photos of Harrow boys. The negatives date from as early as the 1800s and were taken on glass plates

Good Schools Guide">Profile at the Good Schools Guide

Harrow International School, Bangkok website

Harrow International School, Beijing website

Harrow School Outfitters website

Old Speech Room Gallery & Museum

Category:Boarding schools in England Category:Educational institutions established in the 1570s Category:1572 establishments Category:Education in Harrow * Category:Independent boys' schools in London Category:Racquets venues Category:Schools with Combined Cadet Forces Category:Squash in England Category:Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Category:Harrow School Category:Art museums and galleries in London Category:Museums in Harrow