Emanuel School is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

, co-educational day school in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batt ...

, south-west London. The school was founded in 1594 by Anne Sackville, Lady Dacre and Queen Elizabeth I and occupies a 12-acre (4.9 ha) site close to Clapham Junction railway station. The school is part of the

Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the Un ...

and at the start of the 2017–18 academic year had 907 pupils between the ages of ten and eighteen, paying fees of £17,997 per year. It teaches the

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

and

A-Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...

syllabuses.

History

Emanuel School is one of five schools administered by the United Westminster Schools' Foundation. It came into being by the will of Anne, Lady Dacre, dated 1594. She was the daughter of Sir Richard Sackville by his wife Winifred, a daughter of Sir John Bruges (otherwise Brydges), Lord Mayor of London in 1520-21. Her brother was

Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset (153619 April 1608) was an English statesman, poet, and dramatist. He was the son of Richard Sackville, a cousin to Anne Boleyn. He was a Member of Parliament and Lord High Treasurer. Biography Early li ...

. She married Gregory Fiennes of

Herstmonceaux Herstmonceux ( , ; ) is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England, which includes Herstmonceux Castle. The Herstmonceux Medieval Festival is held annually in August. History The name comes from Anglo-Saxon ...

and Chelsea, 10th Baron Dacre, in November 1558. He died on 25 September 1594 and she followed him, dying on 14 May (buried 15 May) 1595. Her epitaph states: :''Faeminei lux clara chori, pia, casta, pudica, aegis subsidium, pauperibusque decus''. Dacre wrote that one of the main aims of the foundation should be "for the bringing up of children in virtue and good and laudable arts so that they might better live in time to come by their honest labour." With Dacre's benefaction in 1594, Emanuel Hospital (almshouses and school), as it was first called, began. The children wore long brown tunics, rather similar in cut to those still worn by pupils at Christ's Hospital. Thanks to the interest of

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

, cousin to Dacre, a charter was drawn up, and the school and

almshouses An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certai ...

were established on a site at Tothill Fields,

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

. Mention is made of the hospital and similar foundations in an undated letter written by

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel '' Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

, entitled ''A Scheme for a Royal Palace in the Place of White-Hall''. In 1883, the school sought larger, newer buildings for the children, and the boy boarders, as they all then were, moved to the present buildings on the edge of Wandsworth Common. These had been established originally in the late 1850s as Royal Victoria Patriotic School for Boys, funded by the Royal Patriotic Fund, for children orphaned during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

; the building was designed by

Henry Saxon Snell Henry Saxon Snell (4 April 1831 – 10 January 1904) was a noted architect who specialised in health facilities and designed many London hospitals and other public buildings. He was the author of two significant architectural books: ''Hospital Co ...

. A sister building some south, and now known as the Royal Victoria Patriotic Building, housed the Royal Victoria Patriotic School for Girls.

Headmasters and headmistresses

*A. Towsey, 1883–1894 * A. Chilton, 1894–1905 * H. Buchanan-Riley, 1905–1913 * S. Goodwin, 1914–1927 * G. H. Wyatt (acting), 1927–1928 * C. M. Broom, 1928–1953 * J. B. Grundy, 1953–1963 * W. S. Hipkins (acting), 1964 * C. C. Kuper, 1964–1975 * P. Hendry, 1975–1984 * P. F. Thomson, 1984–1994 * Tristram Jones-Parry, 1994–1998 * Anne-Marie Sutcliffe, 1998–2004 * Mark Hanley-Browne, 2004–2017 * Robert Milne, 2017–

Chaplains

Emanuel is an Anglican foundation with the chapel situated in the main building above the library. Daily chapel services are led by the chaplain with regular Holy Communion services and musical concerts. Confirmation is available with the chaplain who holds regular confirmation classes for pupils, whilst the chapel is open for the use of pupils, teachers, staff and parents every day. Paintings of Moses and Aaron that formed part of the altarpiece of St. Benet Fink are now held in chapel.

Clapham Junction rail crash

On 12 December 1988, pupils and teachers were first on the scene of the

Clapham Junction rail crash The Clapham Junction railway crash occurred on the morning of 12 December 1988, when a crowded British Rail passenger train crashed into the rear of another train that had stopped at a signal just south of Clapham Junction railway station in Lon ...

, which happened adjacent to the school. They were later commended for their service by Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, and the pupils received an "Outstanding Endeavour" award from the

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

children's programme, ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Te ...

''. The school was used as a casualty centre.

Sport

The school has a rowing club called the

Emanuel School Boat Club Emanuel School Boat Club is a rowing club on the River Thames, based at Dukes Meadows, Chiswick, London. History The club belongs to Emanuel School and has 70 boats and a rowing tank for training at their boathouse. The club was the dominant fo ...

Notable Old Emanuels

References

External links

*
Old EmanuelsHeadmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
{{coord, 51.4566, -0.1734, type:edu, display=title 1594 establishments in England Educational institutions established in the 1590s Independent co-educational schools in London Independent schools in the London Borough of Wandsworth Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference