St Marylebone Grammar School

St Marylebone Grammar School (SMGS) was a grammar school located in the London borough of the City of Westminster, from 1792 to 1981. History Philological School Founded as the Philological Society by Thomas Collingwood, under the patronage of the Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, its object was to help "the heads of families, who by unexpected misfortune, have been reduced from a station of comfort and respectability." Founded in Mary Street (later renamed Stanhope Street, N.W. 1), it moved to Marylebone Road in 1827. Its fortunes improved largely due to Edwin Abbott, headmaster from 1827 to 1872. After Abbott, the school's financial position deteriorated. Grammar school In 1901 it was accepted in trust by the London County Council and renamed St Marylebone Grammar School. After World War II it recovered. Under headmaster Philip Wayne it developed artistic activities, acquired shared use of playing fields in Sudbury Hill, and established a country base in the village of Forest Green, near Leith Hill. In 1957 the motto "ex animo tamquam Deo" ("from the heart, as from God") was added to the school's crest at the suggestion of the deputy headmaster Kenneth Crook.