- Source: Wrekin College
Wrekin College is a private co-educational boarding and day school located in Wellington, Shropshire, England. It was founded by Sir John Bayley in 1880. It is now co-located with a preparatory school, The Old Hall School, founded by 1835. The two schools merged their governance and formed one trust in 2007.
Part of the Allied Schools, it is also a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
Histories of the two schools of the combined trust
= Wrekin College
=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 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 the year 1983. There are currently approximately 560 pupils including a number of international boarders. The school admits pupils from the age of eleven.
= The Old Hall School
=The Old Hall Preparatory School was founded in 1835 by Dr J.E. (Joseph Edward) Cranage, providing originally for the education of boys only, being described in 1891 as:one of the most widely known and popular educational establishments for gentlemen's sons in the MidlandsIn founding the school, Cranage was inspired by the example of Thomas Arnold at Rugby School, he was aged just nineteen years at the time but had already completed an MA and PhD.
It operated for its first 160 years from a building understood to have been constructed in the 1400s. A chapel was added as a war memorial in 1922. That chapel has since been converted into a residence, but the memorial tablets were moved to the Wrekin College chapel.
Pupils of the school included Crown Princes of India, and David Morrieson Panton.
The writer Bruce Chatwin attended the school, The London Review of Books published The Seventh Day, practically the last story Bruce Chatwin wrote. The semi-autobiographical account of a “nervous and skinny boy with thick fair hair” who hated boarding school so much he developed a near fatal bout of constipation, the tale was largely based on the writer’s own experiences at The Old Hall.
The Old Hall appointed Ms Anna Karacan as headteacher in 2022, the first woman to hold the role in 188 years of the school to that point.
Merger of the Old Hall and Wrekin trusts.
In 2006, the trust was merged with that of The Old Hall Preparatory School (founded 1845), which moved from its original site on Limekiln Lane to the site of Wrekin College.
The resulting trust is called The Wrekin Old Hall Trust.
Headteachers
= Wrekin College
=2023- : Toby Spence
2016-2023: Tim Firth
1998-2011: Stephen Drew
Pre 1998
= The Old Hall School
=2022- : Anna Karacan
2007-2022: Martin Stott
Ronald Ward
Peter Worthington
Pre-1980s
Notable staff
Patrick Cormack, Baron Cormack (1939-2024) Conservative MP 1979 to 2010 - assistant house master at Wrekin College 1967-1969
Rev Canon Guy Pentreath (1902-1985) - headmaster of Wrekin College 1943-1952, later headmaster of Cheltenham College.
Sports
In 2023 Wrekin was named as one of The Cricketer’s Top 100 cricketing schools in the country and in 2022 both the Under 16 and Under 13 rugby teams were named county champions.
Cocurricular
A music school was opened in 2020 costing over £2m.
Flags
Wrekin college has a blue flag with a rampant lion and "Wrekin" written on it. It is unclear if the Old Hall has a its own flag.
Coats of arms
Wrekin college has been granted a coat of arms. The Old Hall School also has a coat of arms.
Royal visit
Queen Elizabeth II visited Wrekin on Friday 17 March 1967, having opened Shire Hall in Shrewsbury earlier that day. The Headmaster, Robert Dahl (Headmaster. 1952-71), greeted the Queen, and in his study presented a specially bound copy of B.C.W Johnson’s A Brief History of Wrekin College, whilst Head of School, David Franklin (W. 1961-67) was given the honour of presenting a cricket bat for her sons.
Old Wrekinian Association
In 1907 the Old Wrekinian Association (OWA) was created by 14 past pupils, it now has almost 6000 members. The purpose of the OWA is to help past students keep in touch with one another and the school. The OWA Record magazine is published twice a year.
Notable alumni
William Dyas MBE (1872-1940), first-class cricketer
Sir Albert Howard CIE (1873-1947), English botanist and pioneer of organic agriculture
Rupert Croft-Cooke MBE (1904–79), novelist and autobiographer
Harry Andrews CBE (1911–1989), British stage and film actor
James Forbes Blythe TD (1917-2018) Circuit Judge
William R. P. George CBE (1912–2006), Welsh poet
Sir Peter Gadsden GBE, AC (1929–2006), former Lord Mayor of London (1979), businessman
Brian Epstein (1934–1967), music entrepreneur and manager of The Beatles
Peter Inge, Baron Inge KG, GCB, PC, DL (1935–2022), former Chief of Defence Staff
Guy N. Smith (1939-2020), writer mainly of horror and science fiction
Malcolm Bruce, Baron Bruce (1944- ), former Liberal Democrat MP
Bob Warman MBE (1948 – ), television presenter
Ian Blair, Baron Blair QPM (1953 – ), Metropolitan Police Commissioner (2005–2008)
Brothers Barry (1955- ) and Bryan Jones (1961- ), cricketers
Peter Chelsom (1956- ), film director
John Charles Price, Circuit Judge
Christopher Blagden (1971- ), former British alpine skier who competed at the Albertville Winter Olympic Games, 1992
Footnotes
1. ^ Manwaring, Randle (2002). From Controversy to Co-Existence: Evangelicals in the Church of England 1914–1980. Cambridge: CUP. p. 57.
External links
Official website
Bayley's Children: A History of Wrekin College 1880–2005
UK Boarding Schools Guide Profile
The Good Schools Guide
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Brian Epstein
- Arthur Aikin
- Wrekin College
- Telford and Wrekin
- Wellington School
- Brian Epstein
- Iwerne camps
- Peter Inge, Baron Inge
- James Faulkner (actor)
- Telford
- Harry Andrews
- The Wrekin (UK Parliament constituency)
