Monkton Combe School

Monkton Combe School is an independent boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 2 to 18, located in the village of Monkton Combe near Bath in Somersetshire, England. It is a member of the Rugby Group of independent boarding schools in the United Kingdom.[1]

Monkton Combe School
The Chapel, Monkton Combe School
Location
Monkton Combe, near Bath , Somerset , BA2 7HG England
Coordinates	51.3569°N 2.3270°W
Information
Type	Public school Independent school Boarding school
Motto	Latin: Verbum Tuum Veritas (Thy Word is Truth)
Established	1868
Founder	The Revd Francis Pocock
Head Master	Christopher Wheeler (Senior School), Catherine Winchcombe (Prep School)
Gender	Coeducational
Age	2 to 18
Enrolment	711 (all three schools from September 2015)
Houses	Eddystone (MSS Boys) Farm (MSS Boys) Grange (MSS Girls) School (MSS Boys) Clarendon (MSS Girls) Nutfield (MSS Girls) Hatton (MPS Mixed): Easterfield (MPS Mixed) Kearns (MPS Mixed) Howard (MPS Mixed) Jameson (MPS Mixed)
Colour(s)	Red, white, blue
Former pupils	Old Monktonians
Website	http://www.monktoncombeschool.com

The Senior School in Monkton Combe village admits children aged from 13 to 18 (pupil numbers are around 500); the Preparatory School in Combe Down village admits children aged from 7 to 13 and the adjacent Pre-Preparatory has classes in Nursery (ages 2-3), Kindergarten (3–4), Reception (4–5) and Years 1 and 2 (5–7). The Senior School and Preparatory School have a strong boarding tradition; however, day pupils comprise one third of the Senior School and are in the majority in the Preparatory School. Since 1992 when it merged with Clarendon School for Girls the school has been fully co-educational. The Senior School operates three boys' boarding houses and three girls' boarding houses, all in Monkton Combe village.

History

Monkton Combe School was founded in 1868 by the Revd Francis Pocock, the vicar of Monkton Combe and former Chaplain to John Weeks, the Bishop of Sierra Leone, to educate the sons of overseas missionaries.[2] The School retains its strong evangelical Christian heritage.

During the 20th century the school was one of the UK's strongest rowing schools; one-fifth of the 23-strong men's GB rowing squad at the 1948 Olympics consisted of Old Monktonians: I M Lang, Michael Lapage, Alfred Mellows, W G R M Ran Laurie, P C Kirkpatrick.

The School became progressively co-educational in the late 20th century. In 1989, girls were admitted into the Sixth Form, with Nutfield House being built to accommodate them in the village. In 1992, the School became fully co-educational, merging with Clarendon School for Girls, an all-girls' school founded in 1898 that shared a similar Christian ethos to Monkton Combe School.

The Junior School

The Junior School was established with four pupils in 1888 in Combe Lodge, a private house in Church Road, Combe Down, by Charles Howard, the son-in-law of the then Senior School Principal, the Revd R.G. Bryan. The Junior School moved into purpose-built premises in June 1907, which it still occupies. After expanding rapidly, the Junior School purchased another large house in Church Road (Glenburnie/Alma Villa) in the early 1920s, which it occupied initially as a boarding house. In 1937, Monkton Pre-Preparatory School was founded in Glenburnie, before transferring to a bespoke building in the grounds of the Junior School in 2016. In 2006 the Junior School was renamed Monkton Preparatory School.

Literature

The official history of the school's first hundred years was published in A Goodly Heritage: A History of Monkton Combe School 1868–1967 by former Senior School master A. F. Lace, published in Bath by Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1968.[3] This was updated in 2017 by the former Junior School headmaster Peter LeRoy to form an official history of the school's first 150 years, entitled A Delightful Inheritance.[4] The history of the Junior School to 1955 was written by schoolmaster Johnnie Walker, in a pamphlet entitled Three Score Years and Ten, published in 1956 by Fyson & Son of Bath.

Sports awards to Old Monktonians

The school has produced six Olympic rowing medallists. Each represented Great Britain and three won Gold medals. One Old Monktonian achieved an Olympic Gold Medal representing Great Britain at men's hockey. Another Old Monktonian captained the England Netball Team which won Gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Old Monktonians row as the Monkton Bluefriars.

Facilities and buildings

The School maintains a range of sporting facilities including an indoor swimming pool, sports halls with fully equipped gymnasia, three astroturf pitches (two full size and one half size), nine grass and three hard tennis courts, two boathouses with access to the River Avon and many acres of grounds. Many buildings are of Bath stone, in the same style as those in and around the city of Bath, and in keeping with the traditional architectural style of the area.

Many of the school's facilities are made available for the use of local schools, such as Combe Down Primary School and local children's sports clubs.

Several of the school's buildings are listed, including the main Senior school block known as The Old Farm,[5] and the part of the Terrace Block known as The Old Vicarage.[6] In 2008 the Senior School completed a 5 million pound project which involved re-building, extending and re-furbishing its Mathematics and Science departments. In June 2012, a new 3.2 million pound Music centre was opened for use by Dame Felicity Lott. A new Art & Design centre was opened in 2016.

Boarding

Many of the pupils are either weekly or full-time boarders. The Senior school maintains six boarding houses, three of which are for girls (Nutfield, Clarendon and Grange) and three for boys (Eddystone, School and Farm).[7] The Preparatory school operates one boarding house with a floor for boys and a floor for girls (Hatton). There are many traditions in each house, as well as many inter-house competitions throughout the year. Students are allowed to visit the City of Bath each weekend. Lessons take place on Saturday mornings with sporting matches against other schools taking place on most Saturday afternoons.

List of Head Masters

The following have been Head Masters of Monkton Combe School:

Name	Years as Head Master
The Revd F. Pocock	1868–1875
The Revd R.G. Bryan	1875–1895
The Revd W.E. Bryan	1895–1900
The Revd N. Bennet	1900
The Revd J.W. Kearns	1900–1926
The Revd E. Hayward	1926–1946
D.R. Wigram	1946–1968
R.J. Knight	1968–1978
R.A.C. Meredith	1978–1990
M.J. Cuthbertson	1990–2005
R. Backhouse	2005–2015
C. Wheeler	2016–Present

Other notable masters

• The Revd R.W. Ryde, 1866–1909, Classics Master
• Mr G.F. Graham Brown, 1891-1942, History Master
• Mr F. Vallis, 1896–1957, Association Football and Cricket Master
• Mr T.M. Watson, 1913-1994, French Master
• Mr N.D. Botton, 1954–, History Master
• Mr M. Wells, 1979–, Rowing Master

Notable Old Monktonians

19th Century births

• George Somes Layard, 1857-1925, leading barrister, journalist and man of letters
• Harry Martindale Speechly, 1866-1951, leading Canadian doctor
• Montague Waldegrave, 5th Baron Radstock, 1867-1953, peer
• Count Vladimir Alekseyevich Bobrinsky, 1868–1927, Tsarist politician from the Second to the Fourth Duma
• Count Paul Bobrinsky, 1869-1919, Peter's twin and Russian counter-revolutionary
• Count Peter Bobrinsky, 1869-1932, Paul's twin and Russian counter-revolutionary
• Harry Colt, 1869–1951, widely regarded as the father of golf course architecture
• Ernest Crosbie Trench CBE, TD, 1869–1960, British civil engineer
• Sir Ernest Wills, 3rd Baronet CStJ, JP, 1869-1958, part-owner of W. D. & H. O. Wills and Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire
• Edwyn Bevan OBE, FBA, 1870-1943, British philosopher and Hellenistic historian
• Archibald Kennedy, 4th Marquess of Ailsa DL, JP, FSRGS, 1873-1943, British peer, barrister and soldier
• Horatio Powys-Keck, 1873-1952, first class cricketer
• Alfred Young FRS, 1873–1940, mathematician and inventor of the Young diagram and Young tableau[8]
• Lieutenant Colonel Richard Annesley West VC, DSO & Bar, MC, 1878–1918, recipient of the Victoria Cross for sacrificing his life for his men
• Lieutenant Colonel Eric Marshall, CBE, MC, 1879-1963, Antarctic explorer in Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition
• Frank Lugard Brayne CIE, CSI, MC, VD, 1882-1952, administrator in the Indian Civil Service
• The Right Revd William Thompson CBE, DD, 1885-1975, Bishop of Iran
• The Venerable Hugh Norton OBE, 1890-1969, Archdeacon of Sudbury
• The Right Revd Francis Graham Brown, OBE, DD, 1891-1942, Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and Bishop of Jerusalem
• Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Peirse KCB, DSO, AFC, 1892–1970, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Air Force and of RAF Bomber Command[9]
• Dr Sir Clement Chesterman Kt, OBE, 1894-1983, medical missionary at Yakusu in the Congo with the Baptist Missionary Society

Early 20th Century births

• Michael Head, 1900-1976, leading composer, singer and musical educator
• Dr W. E. Shewell-Cooper, MBE, FLS, FRSL, FRHS, 1900-1982, organic gardening pioneer
• Percival Spear OBE, 1901-1982, historian and civil servant in India
• The Very Revd Kenneth Mathews, OBE, DSC, 1906-1992, Dean of St Albans
• R. C. Hutchinson, 1907-1976, best-selling novelist
• David Howard Adeney, 1911–1994, missionary in China and East Asia[10]
• Jim Broomhall, 1911-1994, historian and medical missionary to China with the China Inland Mission
• Charles Sergel, 1911-1980, Olympic rower and medical missionary to Uganda
• The Very Revd Gonville ffrench-Beytagh, 1912–1991, Dean of Johannesburg and anti-apartheid activist.
• Major-General John Frost CB, DSO & Bar, MC, DL 1912–1993, leader of airborne forces during the Battle of Arnhem
• Colin Butler, OBE, FRS, 1913-2016, entomologist who first isolated the pheromone
• Martyn Cundy, 1913-2005, reforming mathematical educator and academic
• Thorley Walters, 1913-1991, leading actor
• Thomas Watson, 1913–1994, first-class cricketer
• Professor John Anderson Strong CBE, FRSE, FRCP, FRCPE, 1915–2012, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
• Dr Ran Laurie, 1915–1998, Olympic rowing champion and physician
• J. Desmond Clark, 1916–2002, influential archaeologist and Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley[11]
• The Right Revd Maurice Wood DSC, 1916-2007, Principal of Oak Hill Theological College and Bishop of Norwich
• Lt Kevin Walton GC DSC, 1918–2009, Antarctic explorer
• Squadron Leader James MacLachlan, DSO, DFC & Two Bars, 1919–1943, flying ace
• The Right Revd Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, 1920-1990, Bishop of Iran
• The Right Revd Graham Leonard, KCVO, 1921-2010, Bishop of London
• The Right Revd David Brown, 1922-1982, Bishop of Guildford and missionary
• Prince Asrate Kassa GCVO, 1922-1974, Viceroy of Eritrea
• Pilot Officer Alfred Mellows DFC, 1922-1997, Olympic rower
• Arthur Wallis, 1922-1988, itinerant Bible teacher and author
• Captain David Eyton-Jones, 1923-2012, SAS officer during Operation Tombola, businessman and chaplain
• Michael Lapage, 1923-2018, Olympic rower and missionary
• Colonel David Wood, MBE, 1923–2009, last surviving officer of Operation Deadstick
• Professor David Marshall Lang, 1924-1991, Professor of Caucasian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies
• Senator Andy Thompson, 1924-2016, leader of the Ontario Liberal Party
• Major General Sir Philip Ward KCVO, CBE, 1924–2003, GOC London District and Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex
• The Revd Allan Rutter, 1928-, first class cricketer and vicar
• Christopher Buxton, OBE, 1929-2017, property developer and President of The Abbeyfield Society
• The Right Revd John Bone, 1930-2014, Bishop of Reading
• Count Michel Didisheim, 1930-2020, Private Secretary and Chief of the Royal Household to Albert, Prince of Liège
• Adrian Mitchell, 1932–2008, poet, novelist and playwright[12]
• Barclay Palmer, 1932-2020, Olympic athlete
• Professor Gerald Blake, 1936-, Professor Emeritus of Geography at Durham University and former Principal of Collingwood College, Durham
• John Barnard Bush CVO, OBE, CStJ, DL, JP, 1937–, land-owner and former Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire
• Michael Mortimore, 1937-2017, geographer and a prolific researcher of issues in the African drylands
• Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Stear KCB, CBE, DL, 1938–2020, Deputy Commander in Chief, Allied Forces Central Europe
• The Right Revd Stephen Sykes, 1939-2014, Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge and Bishop of Ely
• Michael Barton Akehurst, 1940–1989, international lawyer
• Peter Webb, 1940-, Olympic rower
• Sir Tim Lankester KCB, 1942–, former President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford
• Professor Nick Jardine FBA, 1943-, Emeritus Professor at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge
• Sir Richard Stilgoe OBE, DL, 1943–, leading songwriter, lyricist and musician
• Bernard Cornwell OBE, 1944–, historical novelist
• The Right Revd Ian Cundy, 1945–2009, Bishop of Lewes and Bishop of Peterborough[13]
• Sir Richard Dearlove KCMG, OBE, 1945-, Head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1999 until 2004 and former Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge
• The Venerable Ricky Panter, 1948-, Archdeacon of Liverpool
• Nigel Sinclair CBE, 1948-, Hollywood producer
• Sir Iain Torrance KCVO, Kt, TD, FRSE, 1949–, Pro-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen and former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

Late 20th Century births

• Professor Sir Robert Lechler FRCP, FRCPath, FMedSci, 1951–, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences and Professor of Immunology at King's College London
• The Venerable John Reed, 1951-, former Archdeacon of Taunton
• Julian Colbeck, 1952-, musician and businessman
• Professor Mike Cowlishaw FREng, 1953–, leading programmer and scientist
• Howard Milner, 1953-2011, leading tenor
• James Hawkins, 1954-, artist and film-maker
• The Revd Canon Nigel Biggar 1955-, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford
• Chris Anderson, 1957–, Journalist and publisher, Owner of TED and curator of TED Talks.
• Stephen Warren, 1957–, Professor of Astrophysics at Imperial College London
• The Venerable John Kiddle, 1958-, Archdeacon of Wandsworth
• Sir Charles Farr CMG, OBE, 1959–2019, Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee and Head of the Joint Intelligence Organisation
• Lieutenant General Tim Evans, CB, CBE, DSO, 1962-, former Commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps
• Steve Williams OBE, 1976–, Olympic rowing champion
• Rowley Douglas MBE, 1977-, Olympic coxswain champion
• James Frith, 1977-, former Member of Parliament for Bury North
• Stefan Booth, 1979-, actor
• Seyi Rhodes, 1979–, television presenter and investigative journalist
• Alex Partridge, 1981–, Olympic rower and World Rowing champion
• Ama Agbeze MBE, 1982–, former Captain of the England national netball team
• Josh Ovens, 1989-, farmer and former player for Bath Rugby

References

1. "Monkton Combe School". Monkton Combe School website. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
2. Lace, A F (1968). A Goodly Heritage. ISBN 0950368806.
3. "Senior School History". Monkton Combe School. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
4. LeRoy, Peter (2017). A Delightful Inheritance. Monkton Combe School Enpterprises. ISBN 199986980X.
5. "Monkton Combe School, the main or old block known as The Old Farm". historicengland.org.uk. English Heritage. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
6. "Monkton Combe School, the part of the Terrace Block known as The Old – Vicarage". historicengland.org.uk. English Heritage. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
7. www.monktoncombeschool.com/senior/boarding.html
8. p.9.
9. L, Klemen (1999–2000). "Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Edmund Charles Peirse". Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941–1942.
10. David Ellis (17 May 1994). "Obituary: David Adeney". The Independent Features. p. 14.
11. Secretary, Office of the Home; Sciences, National Academy of (21 November 2003). Biographical Memoirs. National Academies Press. ISBN 9780309527699.
12. Burgess, Kaya (22 December 2008). "Adrian Mitchell Shadow Poet Laureate dies aged 76". The Times. London.
13. "The Right Reverend Ian Cundy". The Daily Telegraph. London. 11 May 2009.

See also

• Monkton Bluefriars
• Clarendon School for Girls

External links

• Monkton Combe School website
• Bluefriars Boatclub website
• Senior School Good Schools Guide Report
• Monkton Combe Village Website