Tottenham Grammar School (TGS) was a

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 Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

in North London, with local football connections. Its history goes back beyond the 1631 bequest by the Duchess of Somerset. It closed in 1988, but it created the Tottenham Grammar School Foundation.

History

A Tottenham school had existed for centuries. Its origins are unclear, possibly dating back to 1456 but in 1631 a legacy was left by Sarah, Duchess of Somerset to extend the existing school house and provide free education to poor children from

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

. She left The duchess left £250 to enlarge Tottenham's "parish school" because it was the family seat of her third husband

Henry Hare, 2nd Baron Coleraine Henry Hare, 2nd Baron Coleraine (21 April 1636 – 15 July 1708) was an English politician, peer and antiquary. Life Baptised at Totteridge, Hertfordshire, 21 April 1636, he was the eldest surviving son of Hugh Hare, 1st Baron Coleraine, by h ...

. She left £1,000 to buy apprenticeships and £1100 to create an endowment to pay the wages of a schoolmaster and an usher.

Tottenham Hotspur

In 1882, pupils from the school and from St John's Presbyterian School formed Hotspur F.C. at All Hallows' Church. The name came from the Hotspur

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

Club, of which boys from the school were members. This football club subsequently became Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Former building

In 1910, the old school was knocked down apart from the Masters House (later to be destroyed by bombs in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

). The new building on Somerset Road, built by

Middlesex County Council Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965. The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the cou ...

, was used as the school until 1937. The new building was opened by Algernon Seymour, 15th Duke of Somerset on 12 October 1910, and cost £10,327. The school had four houses - Somerset, Morley, Bruce and Howard. In 1971 it became the Education Department of Haringey Council.

New building

On 26 February 1938 due to increased numbers at the school, a site was opened on Creighton Road near White Hart Lane by Middlesex County Council. It housed 450 boys. In the early part of the war, at the time of

the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

, the boys were evacuated to

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

, to be taught at King Edward's Grammar School in the afternoons. The boys lived around the village of

Writtle Writtle is a village and civil parish west of Chelmsford, Essex, England. It has a traditional village green complete with duck pond and a Norman church, and was once described as "one of the loveliest villages in England, with a ravishing va ...

, west of Chelmsford; some also went to

Hatfield Peverel Hatfield Peverel is a village and civil parish at the centre of Essex, England. It is located 6 miles (10 km) north-east from Chelmsford, the nearest large city, to which it is connected by road and rail. The parish includes the hamlets ...

, specifically

Hatfield Peverel Priory Hatfield Peverel Priory (also known as Hatfield Priory) was a Benedictine priory in Essex, England, founded as a secular college before 1087 and converted into priory as a cell of St Albans by William Peverel ''ante'' 1100. It is in the English ...

. From 1941, once the Blitz had finished (10 May 1941). An Army Cadet Corps was formed, along with an Air Training Corps in 1942 - 1571 Squadron, now known as Aylward Squadron.

V2 explosion

On 15 March 1945, a

V-2 The V2 (), with the technical name '' Aggregat-4'' (A4), was the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during the Second World War in Nazi Germany as a " ven ...

rocket landed on the corner of White Hart Lane and Queen Street, killing two fourth-year boys, with another losing his right arm.

New buildings

In 1960 new buildings opened for the sixth form and laboratories. By this time the school had 700 boys.

Comprehensive

In 1967 the school merged with the Rowland Hill Secondary Modern School in Lordship Lane, which was named after Sir Arthur Rowland Hill and had opened in 1938, to form the Somerset School, a voluntary-controlled boys'

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 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 restricted on the basis ...

. The school's houses were now Baxter, Coleraine, Drayton and Hill. Due to falling numbers this school closed in 1988, by which time it was situated on one site on White Hart Lane. The Lower School was demolished to become a housing estate on Somerset Close. The Upper School was demolished in 1989, becoming a housing estate on Somerset Gardens, and a site for

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated to MDX) is a public research university based in Hendon, northwest London, England. The university also has campuses in Dubai and Mauritius. The name of the university is ...

- halls of residence for the Tottenham Campus, which closed in 2005 (the former St Katharine's College teacher training college).

Foundation

The sale of the school provided £9.1 million, which was used to set up a charitable foundation, the Tottenham Grammar School Foundation.

Notable former pupils

George Petros Efstathiou George Petros Efstathiou (; born 2 September 1955) is a British astrophysicist who was Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge from 1997 to 2022, where he was also the first director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmology fro ...

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, sociologist of religion * Sir

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, Labour MP from 1970 to 1974 for

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, and from 1974 to 1987 for

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* Si
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, and President from 1985 to 1986 of the

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, and from 1988 to 1990 of the

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* Prof William James, Professor of Botany from 1959 to 1967 at

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Gary Lefley Gary Lefley (born 1954) was the general secretary for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) from 1990 to 1994. Born in Tottenham, he was educated at Tottenham Grammar School and the University of East Anglia where he joined the CPGB and met ...

, general secretary for the

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, radio DJ * D
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* John Mastel CVO CBE, police officer * Sir

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, and father of

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* Sir

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, comedian (

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)

Other "Tottenham" schools

* Tottenham County School, a co-educational grammar school on ''Selby Road'' - became Tottenham School in 1967, then White Hart Lane School in 1983 when it merged with the Wood Green Comprehensive School * Tottenham High School for Girls on ''High Road'', became the High Cross Girls' School in 1967Tottenham High School

References

External links

Tottenham Grammar School Foundation
{{authority control Defunct grammar schools in England Boys' schools in London Defunct schools in the London Borough of Haringey Tottenham Hotspur F.C. 1631 establishments in England Educational institutions established in the 1630s Educational institutions disestablished in 1988 Explosions in London Buildings and structures in the United Kingdom destroyed during World War II 1988 disestablishments in England

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 Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...