Winchester College is a public school situated in the city of Winchester in Hampshire, in the south of England. It could be said to be the original public school, with others, such as Eton College, being modelled on it. Officially "Collegium Santae Mariae prope Wintoniensem", or "St. Mary's College, Winchester", the college is commonly referred to as "Win: Coll:" or just "Winchester". According to the school, at over 600 years old, Winchester has the longest unbroken history of any school in England.

History

Winchester College was founded in 1382 by William of Wykeham, the Bishop of Winchester and High Chancellor of England, who also founded New College, Oxford. Current and former pupils are still referred to as Wykehamists after the founder.

The school's original purpose was to educate "seventy poor and needy scholars". Since the Scholars now only get 50% off their school fees, the majority aren't as "poor and needy" as their predecessors. However, the school continues to offer bursaries of up to the full amount in cases of genuine financial need. Starting in 2005, new Scholars entering College, the Scholars' house, will have a basic scholarship of 25% with additional means-tested bursaries.

The school also took a few paying students, known as "Commoners". Originally there were only about 10, rising steadily until the early 19th century, when their numbers were approximately equal to those of the Scholars. In the late 1850s and throughout the 1860s, the numbers expanded dramatically as nine new boarding houses were built. One more boarding house was built in 1905, bringing the total to the current 11 (including College, which continues to occupy the original 14th century buildings), and the total number of pupils to almost 700. A twelfth boarding house is currently in the planning stage.

As of May 2003, the current headmaster is Mr T R Cookson , who succeeded Dr. Nicholas Tate , when he resigned in 2003[1]. Dr Ralph Townsend will take over from Mr Cookson when he retires in September 2005.

Winchester Notions

A notion is a manner or tradition peculiar to Winchester College. The word notion is also used to refer to the dialect of English spoken at the school. See Notion (slang).

Winchester College Football

Winchester College has its own game, Winchester College Football

Former pupils

Famous former pupils include:

• Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury
• Thomas Beckington, statesman
• Richard Pace, diplomat
• William Grocyn, scholar
• William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury
• Roger Ascham, scholar and writer
• Henry Wotton, author and diplomat
• John Davies, poet
• Thomas James, librarian
• Edward Nicholas, statesman
• Thomas Otway, dramatist
• Sir Thomas Browne, polymath, scholar
• William Somerville, poet
• Edward Young, poet
• Robert Lowth, Bishop of London
• Edward Wortley Montagu, author
• William Collins, poet
• Joseph Warton, literary critic and academic
• Thomas Warton, Poet Laureate
• Thomas Burgess, author
• William Lisle Bowles, poet
• Richard Mant, writer
• William Page Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley, Lord Chancellor
• Christopher Wordsworth, Bishop of Lincoln
• Robert Lowe, 1st Viscount Sherbrooke, statesman
• Anthony Trollope, author
• George Bruce Malleson, author
• Samuel Rawson Gardiner, historian
• William Sealey Gosset, chemist
• G. H. Hardy, mathematician
• Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, general
• George Mallory, climber of Mount Everest
• Arnold J. Toynbee
• Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, Battle of Britain commander
• Sir Oswald Mosley, fascist leader
• Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the Labour Party
• Dr Robert Conquest, historian specialising in Stalin's purges
• Geoffrey Howe, Lord Howe of Aberavon, politician
• George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, Tory MP
• Freeman Dyson, Physicist and Mathematician
• Tim Brooke-Taylor, comedian
• Sir Richard Noble, designer of the ThrustSSC
• Joss Whedon, television scriptwriter
• Hugh Dancy, actor

List of Boarding Houses

Each house has an official name, used mainly as a postal address, and an informal name, usually based on the familiar name of the original housemaster. Each house also has a letter assigned to it, in the order of their founding, to act as an abbreviation.

College does not have an informal name, although the abbreviation Coll: is sometimes used, especially on written work. It also has a letter assigned to it, X, but it is considered bad form to use this other than as a laundry mark.

External link

• Winchester College website