Shardlow Hall was a school in

Shardlow Shardlow is a village in Derbyshire, England about southeast of Derby and southwest of Nottingham. Part of the civil parish of Shardlow and Great Wilne, and the district of South Derbyshire, it is also very close to the border with Leicester ...

, a village seven miles south of

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

in the

English Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefordshi ...

. It was founded by B.O.Corbett, who had played football for England, as a preparatory school for boys. One of its notable students was John Harris, who wrote under the name

John Wyndham John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (; 10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969) was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his name ...

.John Wyndham biography
goliath.ecnext.com, accessed 6 September 2008

Origins

The school was founded in Shardlow Hall in a structure built in 1684 as a home for the Fosbrooke family. B.O.Corbett, whose brother C.J. "John" Corbett was already the headmaster of another boys' school on Kedleston road in

, obtained the hall. The headmaster had earned a Soccer Blue for

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

and played for the Corinthians and once for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1906 against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

.EnglandFC.com
, accessed 7 September 2008 Wwwinter29

The school was founded in 1911; the following year the head married Ella Stagg in Essex. Within three years Britain was at war with

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and both the headmaster and the students were fundraising for wounded soldiers. In 1915 a new law known as the ''Finance (No. 2) Act'' was enacted. This law was intended to prevent companies from making large profits because of the war; however, it affected all companies, not just those who were involved in arms and supplies to the armed forces.The Rise of the English Prep School
Donald Leinster-Mackay, Taylor & Francis, 1984, p.235, , accessed 6 September 2008 In this case "companies" included schools. The excess profits tax was calculated by comparing pre-war and wartime profits; however, companies that had seen growth because they had just started could see their profits cut by fifty per cent. The school's charges were set at twenty-five guineas per year, but additional charges were made for linen, the doctor and music lessons. O.E.P. Wyatt, who went on be a headmaster at

Maidwell Hall Maidwell Hall is a Grade II listed building in Maidwell, West Northamptonshire, England. The mostly 18th-century house was extensively damaged in a fire and remodelled in 1902. It is now Maidwell Hall School, a coeducational preparatory school fo ...

from 1929 to 1963, was previously at Shardlow Hall. The head, Mr. Corbett, went on to retire on hundreds of acres of land that he bought, some of which he gave to the state.

Notable former pupils

*Major Michael Argyle, (1915–99) Judge * Geoffrey Sharman Dawes CBE, FRS (1918–2006) Director of the Nuffield Institute for Medical Research *Very Rev. Thomas Ashworth Goss (1912–75) Canon of Winchester *John Harris also known as

in 1915 *

Arthur Frederick Crane Nicholls Brigadier Arthur Frederick Crane Nicholls, (6 February 1911 – 11 February 1944) was a British Army officer who was awarded the George Cross for gallantry and leadership on active service with the Special Operations Executive in Albania in ...

(1911–1944), soldier and heroRoderick Bailey, ‘Nicholls, Arthur Frederick Crane (1911–1944)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 200
accessed 6 Sept 2008
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shardlow Hall (School) Boys' schools in Derbyshire Defunct schools in Derbyshire Educational institutions established in 1911 History of Derbyshire 1911 establishments in England * Educational institutions disestablished in 1933 1933 disestablishments in England