450 Years of Harrow

Much has been written, in its 450th year, about the founding of Harrow School (first given this name by the Governors in 1703). The roots of some of the School’s distinguishing features and customs go almost as deep; many others are of more recent, and sometimes surprising, origin.

Looking north up Church Hill, c. 1840s. Thomas Wood; lithograph, printed by Hullmandel & Walton

The east wing was added to the original schoolroom in 1819.

BUILDINGS

Although John Lyon died in 1592, work did not start on building the first schoolroom until after the death of his wife Joan in 1608. It was not completed until 1615 and, after that, no other significant School buildings were constructed until the addition of the east wing to the original schoolroom in 1819. This new wing contained form rooms, a library and the first Speech Room (now the Old Speech Room Gallery).

Work on the first School Chapel began in 1839, but it was not until 1857 that another building specifically for the purpose of academic teaching was constructed. New Schools was built on the site of the old Dancing School, which the Dancing Master had been given permission to build, at his own expense, in the 1760s when dancing was considered a more important part of a gentleman’s education than many academic subjects. When New Schools opened, boys discovered that by tying the handles of two doors together, you could trap the inmates of two form rooms inside.

The first House built with the purpose of boarding boys was probably Church Hill, which was erected in 1846 by Mr Middlemist near the site of the War Memorial Building. Bradbys was the first of Harrow’s current Houses designed specifically for boarding – The Head Master’s, Druries, Moretons, The Grove, The Park and West Acre were existing private houses that were remodelled, extended and in some cases, as they seemed to be prone to burning down, rebuilt. Bradbys was constructed in 1848 by the Rev H Keary.

Macharie Wildblood was the first registered pupil.

THE FIRST HARROVIANS

The first pupil has traditionally been recognised as

Macharie Wildblood, the son of the Vicar of St Mary’s Church and a Governor of the School. Macharie’s name was registered, and mysteriously later crossed out, on 7 August 1615.

John Lyon’s 1591 statutes allowed for boys other than the ‘30 poor scholars’ recorded on the charter to be educated at his school. These ‘foreigners’ had to pay for their tuition and accommodation. The first foreigner for whom there is a record and is one Hammond Claxton in 1630. He was probably a relative of Edward Claxton, who was a Governor from 1638 to 1654. The first foreigner of whom anything is known is William Baxter, who arrived from the Welsh borders in 1668. It is said that he spoke only Welsh when he came to the School, but he is recorded as later saying that ‘he first heard the Muses at Harrow’.

MASTERS

William Launce was a 27-year-old MA of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a man of no particular distinction, when he was appointed the first Master of the Free

Grammar School of John Lyon in 1615. William’s younger brother, Thomas, was appointed as Usher, a second teacher, so beginning a tradition of Masters ‘keeping it in the family’ that continued into the 19th century.

In the interim between Joan Lyon’s death in 1608 and the official opening of the Free Grammar School in 1615, however, a precursor school, also funded by John Lyon, existed, probably located in a building that once stood in what is now part of St Mary’s Churchyard. Sometime after Joan Lyon died, the Governors elected ‘a schoolmaster at the free schole’. The man who could therefore be considered Harrow’s first Master, Anthony Rate, had been a tutor in the Gerard family, members of which were instrumental in helping John Lyon obtain his royal charter.

In 1650, as the School had grown larger, the Head Master, William Hide, organised for poor children in Harrow and surrounding villages to be taught to read in English by ‘Dames’ appointed by the Governors. In the same year, he secured funds from the Governors to pay a ‘Writing Master’. Although he was not the first one

EE Bowen to be employed, the first Writing Master of whom there is a record is Henry Reeves, who was appointed in 1748. One of his sons, also Henry, succeeded him as Writing Master and was appointed the first official School Librarian in 1802.

In the School’s early years, Latin and Greek were the only subjects that could be taught. During the 18th century, this limited curriculum was supplemented by teaching in mathematics, history and modern languages, and accomplishments such as dancing, drawing and fencing, which had come to be considered an indispensable part of an aspiring gentleman’s education. These subjects had to be taught outside the prescribed timetable, and boys had to pay extra for them. The first teachers were people unconnected with the School. Later, School-appointed ‘Extra Masters’ were employed in their place, although they were still paid directly by pupils. In 1819, Jacob Marillier was employed expressly to teach mathematics; the first science Master, George Griffiths, was appointed in 1867. Eventually, in 1869, the Modern Side was established, giving boys the choice between following the traditional classical route by joining the Classical Side (considered appropriate for the brightest boys), or the Modern Side, where the main subjects were history, mathematics, modern languages and natural science. The first Head of the Modern Side was Edward Bowen, lyricist of many Harrow songs.

It is not clear when ‘technology’ was first introduced to Harrow. Plans for the new Physics School, which opened in 1971, included, according to a report in The Harrovian, an area ‘where computer, project and “technology” rooms have their being’. The first ‘microprocessor’ was eventually introduced into the School in 1979. On Speech Day in 1981, the Head Master, Michael Hoban, announced plans for ‘the introduction into our curriculum of education on a wider scale in the use of microprocessors; of the creation of a commodious audiovisual room for general use; of the establishment of a media centre to feed the various departments and to keep their individual pieces of equipment in good trim’. In 2017 Dr Chris Crowe was made the first Head of Computer Studies.

The Head Master’s The destruction by fire of the Head Master’s House, 1838 Thomas Wood; engraved by J C Oldmeadow, printed by W Clerk

HOUSES

The first foreigners who attended the School were

probably housed by local families. In 1650, William Hide was allowed by the Governors to lease a house instead of living in his quarters in the Schoolhouse. It is probable that he moved to this larger house so that he could supplement his income by charging some of these foreigners for board and lodging. Boys were certainly boarding with the Master when, in 1670, William Horne, was given an increased allowance by the Governors specifically for the purpose of setting up the house to accommodate them. The house, which was burnt down in 1838, stood on the same site as The Head Master’s now does. For many decades, boys boarded in houses known as Dames Houses and in houses owned or rented by Assistant Masters, who earned the bulk of their income in this way. In 1885, the School set up the Harrow Park Trust to buy The Park from its Master-owner and eventually all the principal Houses came into the School’s hands.

CONTIO LATINA

Today, Contio Latina is delivered by the Head of School.

From as early as the 1650s, boys were encouraged to display their proficiency in Latin by giving speeches in the language, often on festive occasions. The chief orator was likely to have been the ‘Janitor’ (probably the senior Monitor), and he would probably have received payment for his efforts. The first record of the occasion that came to be known as Contio Latina was in 1674, when a boy named John Dennis gave an ‘oration’ at the Governors’ annual audit meeting. Dennis went on to take a Founder’s Exhibition at Cambridge (from where he was sent down for sword fighting) and later became a minor poet, playwright and literary critic. The first Contiones were delivered by the boys who were the most proficient at Latin; it was not until the 19th century that it became the duty of the Head of School.

SPEECH DAY

Archery was one of the few physical activities

prescribed by John Lyon’s statutes of 1591. It does not seem to have been a sport that boys took part in with any special enthusiasm until, in 1678, the Governors ordered new archery butts to be provided for the ‘execution of the Founder’s wishes’ at a site nearer the School than the old ones. In 1684, a retired diplomat living in Harrow, Sir Gilbert Talbot, presented a prize of a silver arrow, for which six, and sometimes, 12 boys, in costumes amounting to fancy dress, competed annually. This competition became a highlight of the School year, with boys taking a month off schoolwork to practise. It seems to have been so significant that, in 1750 Head Master Thomas Thackeray adopted the crossed arrows as a School badge and subsequently added it to the lion on the School crest. The competition was held annually from 1697 until 1771, when the event is said to have become unacceptably rowdy and the Head Master, Dr Heath, unwilling to allow the boys to devote so much time to practising. In its place, Dr Heath instituted not one but three Speech Days, in May, June and July. These involved senior boys declaiming Greek or Latin oratorical monologues, or occasionally extracts from the Aeneid and, later, Shakespeare. In 1820, the reading of prizewinning essays and compositions was introduced, probably the forerunner of the handing out of prizes today. Speech Days were reduced to two in 1829 and one in 1844.

Musician John Farmer was first employed, and paid, by

boys from Harrow’s Musical Society in 1862. At the time, music was regarded with a degree of suspicion by the School but, in 1864, Farmer was eventually appointed School Organist and Instructor in Music by Head Master Montagu Butler, and conducted the first-ever concert given by boys in a School building. Farmer encouraged the participation of all boys in massed singing sessions and persuaded the House Masters to let him come into the Houses for evening singing parties. Grove Hill and Moretons were the first to welcome him. The first Harrow song written by a Master was Io Triumphe. The first song with English lyrics, Willow the King, was written by Edward Bowen 1867.

What could be considered the first Churchill Songs took place when Sir Winston Churchill attended Songs in 1940. He returned the following year and these ‘Songs visits’ continued annually almost until the end of his life. Today, Churchill Songs is held every year in his memory.

The Glees and Twelves competition also seems to have been established soon after John Farmer’s arrival. The Harrovian of 27 May 1871 records: ‘The successful House in the glee singing was again the Rev. Dr. Butler’s, after a close contest with Mr. Hayward’s House. For the best set of twelve voices, Mr. Hayward’s House easily carried off the palm’.

SONGS

The Musical Society c. 1858

SCHOOL DRESS

Today’s School dress has its roots in sportswear. Until the middle of 19th century, Harrovians wore the ordinary costume of the time. In the 1850s, most boys had adopted the combination of a tailcoat, black waistcoat, striped trousers, black tie and a type of top hat known as a beaver, with any variation frowned upon as “swagger”; younger boys wore coats without tails. The straw hat seems to have originated in a hat worn for cricket in the 1820s, and it had become common as summer wear during the 1830s; sometime in the 1860s, it became the preferred weekday headgear. By 1881, some boys had adopted grey flannel trousers to wear with their tails at cricket, and by 1888 they had come into general use, along with a blue jacket that had been introduced during the 1880s for games. By 1900, there were two distinct styles of dress: formal School dress and the greyers and bluer combination, known as half-change. During the First World War, bluers and greyers with a white shirt, black tie and straw hat were first adopted as standard School dress for reasons of economy. After the war, the difficulty in obtaining straw meant that compulsory wearing of the hat fell temporarily into abeyance, much to the concern of many boys. The Harrovian of 23 October 1946 included a poem in its honour:

Pride of our Hill, once gracing every head, How art thou fallen since the days of yore! The waste of frolic, scarcity and war Conspire to make thee all but gone and dead. Once thou wert Harrow, it could well be said: And Herga’s sons could then be known for sure By the faint mark that ‘neath their crowns they bore. What will now serve to make them known instead? The loyalties we learned upon the Hill, The spirit of good friendship and fair play, The things that matter – all are with us still, Though their straw symbol’s nearly passed away. With a straight bat we’ll yet play a straight game; Hats or no hats, we’ll go on just the same.

AF Anderson (The Park 18861) R Atkinson (Small Houses and The Head Master’s 18602)

Today’s School dress and Sunday dress

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A Timeline History of Harrow School 1572 to the Present by Dale Vargas. A History of Harrow School by Christopher Tyerman. Harrow by J Fischer Williams. Harrow School Yesterday and Today by E D Laborde. Harrow School ed by Edward W Howson and George Townsend Warner.