Sudbury Grammar School was a boys'

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school, ...

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

. The school was founded in 1491. In 1972, the school was amalgamated with other local schools to form Sudbury Upper School.

History

The school was founded in 1491 by a bequest of by the Warden of

Sudbury College The Church of St Gregory, Sudbury is a Church of England parish church, located in the town of Sudbury in Suffolk, England. First mentioned in the 10th century, most of the present building dates from the 14th and 15th centuries. The church famo ...

, the reverend William Wood, donating a building previously used as a farmhouse for the purpose and providing an income for a "good and honest man" to be the schoolmaster. In the early 19th century, the school's patron Sir Lachlan Maclean, appropriated the traditional income for the school and had the medieval farmhouse rebuilt at a cost of £700 so that it could be rented out as a private school. The townspeople brought a lawsuit against Maclean which resulted in the closure of the school in 1841 and finally brought about the establishment of a modern

in 1858. A new schoolroom and master's house were built to the design of Robert Philip Pope at a cost of £2,500, the Reverend John Cooke being the only staff member. By 1895 there were 38 day boys and 24 boarders. In 1909, control of the school passed from an independent trust to

West Suffolk County Council West Suffolk County Council was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of West Suffolk in east England. It came into its powers on 1 April 1889 and acted as the governing authority for the county until it was amalgamated with East Suff ...

. In 1923, the secondary school at

Hadleigh Hadleigh may refer to: *Hadleigh, Suffolk, a town in Suffolk **Hadleigh Railway, a seven and a half mile long single-track railway branch-line from Bentley to Hadleigh, Suffolk (now closed) **Hadleigh High School, a high school in Hadleigh, Suffolk ...

closed and the boys travelled by bus to Sudbury; extra classroom accommodation was provided in the form of an old army hut which the boys had to assemble themselves. In 1929, a playing field was acquired in Acton Lane and in 1939 a new building was started in the school playground, but was not completed until after the war. The analogous school for girls was Sudbury High School, which later became a bi-lateral school. There was flexible transfer from the Sudbury Secondary Modern School, a boys' school - upwards and downwards. In December 1966, seven sixth form boys made a formal protest about the admission of Prince Charles to

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, who they claimed had entered by a ''backdoor entry method''. Following the decision by the county council in 1966 to adopt the

Comprehensive system A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is re ...

, a new school was constructed in Tudor Road and Sudbury Grammar School finally closed in 1972. The school building was then used by All Saints Middle School until 1987, when it was acquired by

Babergh District Council Babergh may refer to the following places in England: * Babergh Hundred, a defunct hundred of the county of Suffolk, named for a "mound of a man called Babba" * Babergh District Babergh District (pronounced , ) is a local government district in ...

as sheltered accommodation, restoring the 1857 building, now known as William Wood House after the founder, and replacing the 1940s buildings with a sympathetic apartment block. The school hall, cloister and headmaster's house are Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

Former teachers

* Captain Robert Stewart Smylie, headmaster c.1911-1914; commissioned into the Royal Scots Fusiliers, killed in action during the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

on 14 July 1916 while serving as company commander to C Company, 1st Battalion. * Claude Abbott, Professor of English Language and Literature from 1932-54 at Durham University

Former pupils

William Holman Bentley William Holman Bentley (1855-1905) was an English missionary, Baptist Missionary Society BMS World Mission is a Christian missionary society founded by Baptists from England in 1792. It was originally called the Particular Baptist Society for t ...

(1855-1905), Baptist Missionary Society missionary in the Congo *

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...

, painter, two years below Robert Andrews, who he painted in his famous ''

Mr and Mrs Andrews ''Mr and Mrs Andrews'' is an oil on canvas portrait of about 1750 by Thomas Gainsborough, now in the National Gallery, London. Today it is one of his most famous works, but it remained in the family of the sitters until 1960 and was very little ...

'' (c. 1750) * Michael Goodman,

Child Support Commissioner A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger t ...

from 1993-8,

Social Security Commissioner The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability and survivor benefits. To qualify for ...

from 1979-98, and Professor of Law from 1971-6 at Durham University * Sir

Leander Starr Jameson Sir Leander Starr Jameson, 1st Baronet, (9 February 1853 – 26 November 1917), was a British colonial politician, who was best known for his involvement in the ill-fated Jameson Raid. Early life and family He was born on 9 February 1853, o ...

, Prime Minister from 1904-8 of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

, and the inspiration for

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much o ...

's famous 1895 poem ''

If— "If—" is a poem by English writer and poet Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), written circa 1895 as a tribute to Leander Starr Jameson. It is a literary example of Victorian-era stoicism. The poem, first published in '' Rewards and Fairies'' (19 ...

'' * Sir

George Murray Humphry Sir George Murray Humphry, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (18 July 1820 – 24 September 1896) was a professor of physiology and anatomy at Cambridge, surgeon, gerontologist and medical writer. Life He was born at Sudbury, Suffolk, Sudbury in ...

(1820-1896), professor of physiology and anatomy at Cambridge, surgeon, gerontologist and medical writer *

John Eric Loverseed John Eric Loverseed (4 December 1910 – 24 November 1962) was a pilot who flew with the Royal Air Force in 1930s, with Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War in 1937/38, and with the RAF again during the Battle of Britain. In 1943 he was el ...

, military pilot and politician * Prof Keith Morton, Professor of Numerical Analysis from 1983-97 at the

University of Oxford 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 world's second-oldest university in contin ...

, Professor of Applied Maths from 1972-83 at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

, and Winner in 2002 of the IMA Gold Medal * Venerable

Roy Southwell Roy Southwell was the first Archdeacon of Northolt from 1970 to 1980. Born in Sudbury on 3 December 1914, he was educated at Sudbury Grammar School and King's College London. After curacies in Wigan and Kennington he held incumbencies at I ...

Archdeacon of Northolt The Archdeacon of Northolt is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of London. As such he or she is responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy within its four area deaneries: Brent, Hillingdon, Ealing and Harrow. Th ...

, 1970 - 1980 *

Wickham Steed Henry Wickham Steed (10 October 1871 – 13 January 1956) was an English journalist and historian. He was editor of '' The Times'' from 1919 to 1922. Early life Born in Long Melford, England, Steed was educated at Sudbury Grammar School a ...

, Editor from February 1919 - November 1922 of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'' newspaper * Sir Roger Walters CBE, architect, commissioned the

Thames Barrier The Thames Barrier is a retractable barrier system built to protect the floodplain of most of Greater London from exceptionally high tides and storm surges moving up from the North Sea. It has been operational since 1982. When needed, it is c ...

* Andy 'Dog' Johnson, artist and illustrator * Prof Paul Senior, Director of Hallam Centre for Community Justice and latterly Emeritus Professor of Probation Studies at Sheffield Hallam University (1964-1970)

References

External links

* {{Schools in Suffolk 1491 establishments in England Educational institutions established in the 15th century Educational institutions disestablished in 1972 Grade II listed buildings in Suffolk Grade II listed educational buildings Defunct grammar schools in England Boys' schools in Suffolk * Defunct schools in Suffolk 1972 disestablishments in England Sudbury, Suffolk