Uppingham School

History

In 1584 Uppingham School was founded with a hospital, or almshouse, by Archdeacon Robert Johnson. The original 1584 schoolroom in Uppingham churchyard is still owned by the school and is a Grade I listed building. The original hospital building is now incorporated in the School Library.

The first recorded Uppingham schoolboy was Henry Ferne from York, who was chaplain to Charles I. Another prominent early schoolboy was the Jesuit Anthony Turner, one of the martyrs of the Popish Plot.

In the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries Uppingham remained a small school of 30–60 pupils, with two staff. Despite its small size, pupils then regularly gained places and scholarships to Oxford and Cambridge universities. During that period, various lasting features of life in the school developed. It became a full boarding school, with all pupils having individual studies. This pattern was set around 1800 and some of the original studies survive, although no longer used as such. The first recorded school play was performed in 1794 and Uppingham has a thriving theatre. The main recreation in the 19th century was cricket – the first recorded cricket match, described in the school magazine, was in 1815 – and the game still thrives there. In 1846 the institution of school praepostors, or prefects, was established. The praepostors are called "pollies" around the school. One of the earliest Old Boys to gain fame was Thomas Bonney, a pupil in the 1850s, who became the most distinguished geologist of his time, and president of the Alpine Club. Until at least 1853, the school was known as "Uppingham Grammar School."

Edward Thring transformed the school from a small, local grammar school into a large, well-known public school, with 330 pupils. During his headship on 4 April 1876 the entire school, consisting of 300 boys, thirty masters, and their families, moved temporarily to Borth in Wales after an outbreak of typhoid ravaged the town as a result of the poorly maintained water system. In Borth the school took over the disused Cambrian Hotel and a number of boarding houses, remaining there for fourteen months. The move was successful in saving the school from a serious epidemic and the move to Borth is commemorated in an annual service held in the school chapel.

Thring also won national and transatlantic reputation as an original thinker and writer on education. At a time when mathematics and classics dominated the curriculum, he encouraged many ‘extra' subjects: French, German, science, history, art, carpentry, and music. In particular, Thring was a pioneer in his introduction of music into the regular system of education. He opened the first gymnasium in an English school, the forerunner of the present sports hall, and later added a heated indoor swimming pool. He commissioned a number of buildings, notably the chapel designed by the Gothic Revival architect G. E. Street.

Recent developments

In 2005 the school was one of fifty of the country's leading independent schools which were fined for exchanging information on planned fee increases, exposed by The Times. Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared. However, Jean Scott, the head of the Independent Schools Council, said that independent schools had always been exempt from anti-cartel rules applied to business, were following a long-established procedure in sharing the information with each other, and that they were unaware of the change to the law (on which they had not been consulted). She wrote to John Vickers, the OFT director-general, saying, "They are not a group of businessmen meeting behind closed doors to fix the price of their products to the disadvantage of the consumer. They are schools that have quite openly continued to follow a long-established practice because they were unaware that the law had changed."

In May 2010, a pupil rebellion was staged over the expulsion of several sixth-form pupils. For a day, 500 pupils failed to attend classes and formed protests in aid of the dismissed pupils.

In March 2011, twice Olympic gold medallist Sebastian Coe officially opened the school's new sports centre. The building includes a large sports hall, 25m swimming pool, a 50-station fitness studio, squash courts, gymnasium and two dance studios. It was designed by ORMS Architecture Design and is part of the school's plans to develop the western campus buildings. The school now has, in a converted squash court behind the theatre, a climbing wall facility, installed in 2010.

In November 2014, Sir Alec Jeffreys officially opened the school's new science centre which, along with an extension to the Leonardo Centre, completed the new 'Western Quad'.

In 2018, the cricket pavilion was listed as Grade II by Historic England.

In 2024, the school opened its first dedicated house for day pupils, named Li Kwok Po House after Old Uppinghamian and Hong Kong banker and politician, Sir David Li Kwok Po.

Academic results

In 2019, 45% of pupils scored A*-A for their A-Levels examination, whereas 70% scored A*-A for their GCSEs.

In 2023, 69 percent of students achieved grades 9-7 in their GCSE exams, while 51 percent attained A* or A grades in their A-level exams.

Houses

There are nine boys' boarding houses at Uppingham, informally split into three groups:

The 'Hill Houses' are Brooklands, Fircroft and Highfield (1863);

The 'Town Houses' are School House, Lorne House, West Deyne (1859) and West Bank (1866);

The 'Country Houses' are Meadhurst and Farleigh.

There are six girls' boarding houses: Johnson's, The Lodge (sixth form only), Fairfield, New House, Constables and Samworths'. Samworths' was built in 2001 as the first house for girls aged 13 to 18; it was named after the Samworth Brothers, Old Uppinghamians, who helped to finance the construction.

There is one day house at Uppingham introduced in September 2024. Li Kwok Po House is based in what used to be the Thring Centre and is named after Sir David Li Kwok Po, who was the first Uppinghamian from Hong Kong in 1954.

There is also a Lower School house at Uppingham, introduced in September 2025. The dedicated Lower School is a co-educational house for pupils in Year 7 and Year 8.

Notable alumni

For a list of notable alumni, see List of Old Uppinghamians

Military

Five Old Uppinghamians have won the Victoria Cross:

In the First World War:

Arthur Moore Lascelles

George Allen Maling

Thomas Harold Broadbent Maufe

John Stanhope Collings-Wells

In the Second World War:

Willward Alexander Sandys-Clarke

Headmasters

1641–1666: Francis Meres

1840–1853: Henry Holden

1853–1887: Edward Thring (1821–1887)

1887–1907: Edward Carus Selwyn

1907–1915: Harry Ward McKenzie, later head of Durham School

1916–1934: Reginald Owen (1887–1961), later archbishop of New Zealand

1934–1944: John Wolfenden, later Lord Wolfenden

1944–1965: Martin Lloyd

1965-1975: John Royds

1975–1982: Coll Macdonald

1982–1991: Nicholas Raymond Bomford

1991–2006: Stephen Winkley

2006–2016: Richard Harman

2016– : Richard Maloney, previously head of Bede's School, Eastbourne

Notable staff

George Howson (1886–1900), reforming headmaster of Gresham's School

Hugh Jackman (1987), actor (assistant master, PE teacher)

Chris Read, former England cricketer

Nick De Luca, former Scottish rugby player

Tyrone Howe, former Irish and Lions rugby player

Walter Greatorex, composer and organist

Southern Railway Schools Class

The 24th steam locomotive (Engine 923) in the Southern Railway's class V (of which there were 40) was originally named Uppingham, but the name was changed after objections from the school.

This class was also known as the Schools Class because all 40 of the class were named after prominent English public schools. 'Uppingham', as it was called, was built in December 1933 and had its name changed to Bradfield on 14 August 1934.