Hawtreys Preparatory School was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

boys' preparatory school in England. First established in

Slough Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...

, it later moved to

Westgate-on-Sea Westgate-on-Sea is a seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of Kent, England. It is within the Thanet District, Thanet Districts of England, local government district and borders the larger seaside resort of Margate. Its two sandy ...

, then to

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the England–Wales border, Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5 road (Great Britain), A5, A483 road, A483 and A495 road, A495 ro ...

, and finally to

Tottenham House Tottenham House is a large Grade I listed English country house in the parish of Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, about five miles southeast of the town of Marlborough. It is separated from the town by Savernake Forest, which is part of the Tottenha ...

near

Great Bedwyn Great Bedwyn is a village and civil parish in east Wiltshire, England. The village is on the River Dun about southwest of Hungerford, southeast of Swindon and southeast of Marlborough. The Kennet and Avon Canal and the Reading to Taunt ...

, Wiltshire. Until 1916 it was known as St Michael's School. In 1994, the school merged into

Cheam School Cheam School is a mixed preparatory school located in Headley, in the civil parish of Ashford Hill with Headley in Hampshire. Originally a boys school, Cheam was founded in 1645 by George Aldrich. History The school started in Cheam, Surre ...

, near Newbury, Berkshire.

History

The school was founded in 1869 by the Reverend John Hawtrey. He had been a boy at Eton, from the age of eight. In later life he became a master at Eton and was offered his own house of boys. He decided to remove all of the younger boys from the school. With the permission of Eton College, he took the lowest two forms out to a separate school in

and housed them in what is now St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School. The new school was known as St Michael's School and was opened on 29 September 1869 (

Michaelmas Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christian festival observed in many Western Christian liturgical calendars on 29 Se ...

). John Hawtrey's son,

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

, removed the school to Westgate-on-Sea early in 1883. After Edward Hawtrey died in 1916, the name of the school was changed to Hawtreys. The school buildings were requisitioned during the Second World War and the school moved to

in Shropshire, to the home of Sir William Wynn-Williams. In 1946 it moved again to

, a large Palladian

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

near the village of

, Wiltshire, in the heart of Savernake Forest, when the last private owner, George Brudenell-Bruce, 6th Marquess of Ailesbury, retired to

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

. Throughout the history of the school, a close connection was maintained with Eton College, to which many boys moved at the age of thirteen. Gerald Watts was headmaster from 1975 to 1990. When he left Hawtreys, numbers fell fast, falling from 128 to 50 in two years. Those taking their sons out of the school included Kanga Tryon, who complained that the atmosphere was "no longer as it ought to be"."Gerald Watts"
(obituary), ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 12 April 2003
archived
at archive.ph, accessed 25 December 2024 In 1994, unable to survive, Hawtreys merged with

, which is formally called ''Cheam Hawtreys'', but generally known simply as ''Cheam''."Transfer Fees Wheeze Cuts Old School Ties"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 10 July 1994, accessed on 15 October 2011 "Hawtreys School Staff and Pupils" were listed in the credits of '' A Feast at Midnight'' (1994), a British comedy film about a prep school, made in the last operational year of Hawtreys.

Old Hawtreyans

:And see :People educated at Hawtreys Tottenham House front

* Field Marshal Lord Alexander (1891–1969) * Sir Euan Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, 3rd Baronet (born 1966), property manager * Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley KG (1867–1947),

British prime minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. Modern pri ...

* George Barclay, Battle of Britain pilot * Johnnie Boden, shirt-manufacturer * David Brudenell-Bruce, 9th Marquess of Ailesbury (born 1952) * Detmar Blow (1867–1939),

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

* Henry Cookson Guinness Book of Records as member of first team to reach the Antarctic

Pole of inaccessibility In geography, a pole of inaccessibility is the farthest (or most difficult to reach) location in a given landmass, sea, or other topographical feature, starting from a given boundary, relative to a given criterion. A geographical criterion of i ...

in 2007 * Robert St Leger Fowler (1891–1925), cricketer *

Zac Goldsmith Frank Zacharias Robin Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith of Richmond Park, (born 20 January 1975) is a British politician, life peer and journalist who served as Minister of State for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environmen ...

(born 1975), Conservative politician, environmentalist and editor of ''

The Ecologist ''The Ecologist'' was a British environmental journal/magazine, published from 1970 to 2009. Founded by Edward Goldsmith, it addressed a wide range of environmental subjects and promoted an ecological systems thinking approach through its news ...

'' * George Peabody Gooch (1873–1968), historian, social and political activist * Simon Hart (born 1963), Conservative politician and

Secretary of State for Wales The secretary of state for Wales (), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Ki ...

* Thomas Lange, hotelier, philanthropist, & author * Dai Llewellyn, 4th Baronet (1946-2009), socialite * Sir Roddy Llewellyn, 5th Baronet (born 1947), partner of

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. ...

and

horticulturalist Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

* Oliver Messel (1904–1978), artist and

stage designer Scenic design, also known as stage design or set design, is the creation of scenery for theatrical productions including plays and musicals. The term can also be applied to film and television productions, where it may be referred to as prod ...

* Jake Meyer, Mountaineer * Sir Anthony Rupert Milburn, 5th Baronet (born 1947), landowner * Edward Moss (1911–1944), first-class cricketer and Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve officer * Sir Peter O'Sullevan (1918–2015),

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

racing commentator * John Seymour, 19th Duke of Somerset (born 1952) * Henry Somerset, 12th Duke of Beaufort (born 1952) * Mark Stone, journalist and Sky News Foreign Correspondent * Dorian Williams, rider and broadcaster

Notable staff

* G. Wilson Knight taught at the school from 1923 to 1925"Knight, George Edward Wilson" in ''Contemporary Literary Critics'' (Springer, 2015)
p. 307
/ref>

Notes

External links

Cheam School
{{authority control 1994 disestablishments in England 1869 establishments in England Boarding schools in Berkshire Boarding schools in Kent Boarding schools in Wiltshire Boys' schools in Berkshire Boys' schools in Kent Boys' schools in Wiltshire Defunct schools in Berkshire Defunct schools in Kent Defunct schools in Wiltshire Educational institutions disestablished in 1994 Educational institutions established in 1869 Defunct boarding schools in England