Wallingford Grammar School 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 the town of

Wallingford, Oxfordshire Wallingford () is a historic market town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, north of Reading, south of Oxford and north west of Henley-on-Thames. Although belonging to the historic county of Berkshire, it ...

(formerly

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

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 ...

, succeeded by

Wallingford School Wallingford School is a comprehensive co-educational secondary school with academy status located in the town of Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England. It was founded by Walter Bigg in 1659 in association with the Worshipful Company of Merchant ...

when

comprehensive education Comprehensive may refer to: * Comprehensive layout, the page layout of a proposed design as initially presented by the designer to a client. *Comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, th ...

was introduced in 1973.

History

When Walter Bigg, thought to have been Innkeeper of

St Giles in the Fields St Giles in the Fields is the Anglican parish church of the St Giles district of London. The parish stands within the London Borough of Camden and forms part of the Diocese of London. The church, named for St Giles the Hermit, began as the c ...

, a

Sheriff of London Two Sheriffs of the City of London are elected annually by the members of the City livery companies. Today's Sheriffs have only ceremonial duties, but the historical officeholders held important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ...

, Master of the

Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 111 Livery company, livery companies of the City of London. The Company, originally known as the ''Guild and Fraternity of St John the Baptist in the City of London'', was founded prior t ...

, and MP for Wallingford, died in 1659, he left £10 for the education of six poor boys at a school in Wallingford. The Wallingford Corporation Minute Book shows that the school was active in 1672. The school buildings were at St John's Green from 1717–80, through a lease bought with Bigg's endowment. When the lease ended the school transferred to the headmaster's house, and later the upper room in the Town Hall was used a schoolroom until 1863, when the school briefly closed.

School building

Th
school
was revived under the Endowed Schools Act of 1872, and Wallingford School, which still benefits from the Bigg Charity was formally established when a grammar school building was built on the corner of St George’s Road and Station Road in 1877 by Sidney Roberts Stevenson. The boys’ and girls’ schools were amalgamated onto one site in 1904.

Boys' school

In 1958 the girls were moved to Didcot Girls' Grammar School, the forerunner of Didcot Girls' School. In 1958, Blackstone Secondary Modern was built near ''Blackstone Road'' on ''St George's Road''. It was also known as Wallingford County Grammar School. It had a rowing team.

Dissolution

With the onset of comprehensive education in 1973, Blackstone was used as the lower school (taking age 11–13) and the old grammar school was the upper school (taking older children). In 1998 the school was centralised at the old secondary modern site, and the old grammar school converted to apartments.

Alumni

* Prof Malcolm Clarke, Senior Principal Scientific Officer of the

Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (MBA) is a learned society with a scientific laboratory that undertakes research in marine biology. The organisation was founded in 1884 and has been based in Plymouth since the Citadel Hil ...

1978–87 *

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Sir Frank King, Colonel Commandant 1974–79 of the Army Air Corps, and Director of Operations in Northern Ireland 1973–75 * Maj-Gen Norman Speller, Colonel Commandant of the

Royal Army Ordnance Corps The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equi ...

(RAOC) 1978–83 * Prof Michael Sheringham, Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature since 2004 at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, 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 List of oldest un ...

, and President 2002–04 of the

Society for French Studies The Society for French Studies, or SFS, is the oldest learned association for French Studies in the UK and Ireland. It aims to promote teaching and research in French Studies within higher education. the president is Professor Judith Still. S ...

Ann Packer Ann Elizabeth Packer MBE (born 8 March 1942) is an English former sprinter, hurdler and long jumper. She won a gold medal in the 800 metres and a silver in the 400 metres at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Biography In 1959 Packer won the E ...

, Olympic gold medallist, 800 metres 1964.

References

External links

Wallingford School

Wallingford History Gateway

WikiMapia
{{authority control Defunct grammar schools in England Educational institutions disestablished in 1973 Educational institutions established in 1877 Defunct schools in Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire District 1877 establishments in England 1973 disestablishments in England Wallingford, Oxfordshire