Bloxham School, also called All Saints' School, is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

co-educational day and boarding school of the British public school tradition, located in the village of

Bloxham Bloxham is a village and civil parish in northern Oxfordshire several miles from the Cotswolds, about southwest of Banbury. It is on the edge of a valley and overlooked by Hobb Hill. The village is on the A361 road. The 2011 Census recorded ...

, three miles (5 km) from the town of

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The present school was founded in 1860 by Philip Reginald Egerton and has since become a member of the

Woodard Corporation Woodard Schools is a group of Anglican schools (both primary and secondary) affiliated to the Woodard Corporation (formerly the Society of St Nicolas) which has its origin in the work of Nathaniel Woodard, a Church of England priest in the Anglo-C ...

. The current headmaster is Paul Sanderson, who took over from Mark Allbrook in 2013. The school has approximately 515 pupils. Founded as a school of the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

, Bloxham is a member of the

Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the United ...

History

Hewett's school

The original school on the site in the north of the village of Bloxham was founded in 1853 by John William Hewett (1824-1886), a local

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

.Old Bloxhamist Society, 'J. W. Hewett:1853-1857', ''A History of Bloxham School'' (H.E. Boddy & Co. Ltd, Banbury, 1978), 1-12. The school was supported by

Samuel Wilberforce Samuel Wilberforce, FRS (7 September 1805 – 19 July 1873) was an English bishop in the Church of England, and the third son of William Wilberforce. Known as "Soapy Sam", Wilberforce was one of the greatest public speakers of his day.Natural Hi ...

who commissioned the diocesan architect,

George Edmund Street George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Victorian Gothic Revival. Though mainly an eccle ...

, to draw up plans for the new school buildings.Sherwood & Pevsner, ''The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire'' (Penguin Books Ltd, 1974), p. 480-1. Street's design was described by ''

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...

'' as the 'most beautiful modern Gothic buildings ever devoted in England to a scholastic purpose'. The foundation stone was blessed by Wilberforce on 7 June 1855. Hewett's plans were for a school for 100 commoners, 40 scholars and an unspecified number of choristers. In February 1855 a trust for the school was established, naming it All Saints' Grammar School, with the intent of providing for 'the liberal education of the sons of the clergy, gentry, Naval, Military and professional men and others'. Hewett contributed his own extensive library and the bulk of the funds for the ambitious building project. By mid-1856, Hewett was bankrupt and the school had failed to attract sufficient numbers of boys, who were expected to pay unusually high fees. Hewett's school, with several dozen pupils and incomplete buildings, was closed in April 1857. The school trust approached

Nathaniel Woodard Nathaniel Woodard (; 21 March 1811 – 25 April 1891) was a priest in the Church of England. He founded 11 schools for the middle classes in England whose aim was to provide education based on "sound principle and sound knowledge, firmly groun ...

for help, but he was uninterested in buying or supporting the school.

Egerton's school

Photograph of Bloxham School, circa 1890

In 1859, Hewett's dilapidated school buildings were bought for £1,615 by Philip Reginald Egerton, a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

curate working in

Deddington Deddington is a civil parish and small town in Oxfordshire about south of Banbury. The parish includes two hamlets: Clifton and Hempton. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,146. Deddington is a small settlement but has a co ...

. Like Hewett, he was strongly influenced by the

and sought to establish a new school to teach its values.Old Bloxhamist Society, 'P. R. Egerton: The Years of Risk, 1859-1864', ''A History of Bloxham School'' (H.E. Boddy & Co. Ltd, Banbury, 1978), 13-30. Egerton adopted the previous foundation's name of All Saints' School, and its motto, but based the school's ethos on that of his alma mater,

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

. He sought the backing of several notable academics and clergymen, including Wilberforce, Woodard and

Henry Liddon Henry Parry Liddon (1829–1890), also known as H. P. Liddon, was an English theologian. From 1870 to 1882, he was Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford. Biography The son of a naval capta ...

. The project was initially funded by Egerton's wealthy wife, Harriet, and received its first pupil on 31 January 1860. Under the personal leadership of Egerton, Bloxham initially provided education for middle class boys in the public school tradition, although classics was originally not widely taught. In 1861 there were 29 pupils and by 1863 there were 60. Thanks to Wilberforce's continued support, Street drew up new plans for expanding the

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

school buildings, and additional money was provided by

John Hubbard, 1st Baron Addington John Gellibrand Hubbard, 1st Baron Addington PC (21 March 1805 – 28 August 1889), was a City of London financier and a Conservative Party politician. Hubbard was born at Stratford Grove, Essex, the son of John Hubbard and his wife Marianne M ...

and

John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough (2 June 18224 July 1883), styled Earl of Sunderland from 1822 to 1840 and Marquess of Blandford from 1840 to 1857, was a British Conservative cabinet minister, politician, peer, and noblem ...

. The new buildings were unveiled in 1864 in the presence of

Thomas Parker, 6th Earl of Macclesfield Thomas Augustus Wolstenholme Parker, 6th Earl of Macclesfield (17 March 1811 – 24 July 1896) was a British peer. Before inheriting the earldom, he sat in the House of Commons as Conservative Member of Parliament for Oxfordshire from 1837 until ...

and

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...

. The Chapel Wing, the last of Street's buildings, was opened on 21 February 1873. The school quickly grew, rising to two hundred pupils in twenty years. Despite Egerton's plans for the school to provide for local farmers and tradesmen, a report in 1870 found that most of the boys were from professional, ecclesiastical and military families. An 1879 plan by Egerton and Liddon to affiliate the school with

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to th ...

never came to fruition, and Egerton was forced to look elsewhere to ensure the school's long-term viability. The Bloxham School Trust was established in 1884, and in 1897 the school was admitted into the

. Frederick Scobell Boissier, father of Harrow headmaster

Arthur Boissier Arthur Paul Boissier (25 January 1881 – 2 October 1953) was an English schoolmaster who was headmaster of Harrow School, and a wartime civil servant. He was a cricketer who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1901 ...

, taught at Bloxham from 1878 to 1898 and was headmaster from 1886. Education at the school focused on the notions of religious and civic duty, and the Anglo-Catholic nature of the foundation of the school remained a defining feature. Proposals to secularise the school by renaming it 'Bloxham College' were rejected in 1911 and 1951. Bloxham's first headmaster to not be a priest was only appointed in 1925. During the 1890s, Bloxham shrank in size as the local provision of

state education State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

improved. The

Education Act 1902 The Education Act 1902 ( 2 Edw. 7 c. 42), also known as the Balfour Act, was a highly controversial Act of Parliament that set the pattern of elementary education in England and Wales for four decades. It was brought to Parliament by a Conservat ...

worsened the situation, as did a growing prejudice against

high church The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...

practices in schools. The school's impressive academic record and high

Oxbridge Oxbridge is a portmanteau of Oxford and Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most famous universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collectively, in contrast to other British universities, and more broadly to de ...

entrant rates in the 1900s helped it to survive. By the 1910s, a prefect system, house rivalries, corporal punishment and

fagging Fagging was a traditional practice in British public schools and also at many other boarding schools, whereby younger pupils were required to act as personal servants to the eldest boys. Although probably originating earlier, the first account ...

confirmed Bloxham's identity as a conforming public school, although the latter two practices were abolished in the 1970s. Like many public schools, Bloxham suffered disproportionately high casualties during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, in which over 400 current and former pupils served and 79 were killed. The school survived the subsequent economic depression, and embarked upon a series of ambitious educational and building reforms led by the school's first lay headmaster,

Armitage Armitage is a village in Staffordshire, England on the south side of the Trent and Mersey Canal south just outside of the market town of Rugeley and north of the city of Lichfield, and noteworthy for the Armitage Shanks sanitary porcelain fact ...

. During the 1960s the school pioneered a tutoring system in which boys of multiple year groups shared a tutor. This system has since been imitated by many other boarding schools. Girls started to be admitted into the sixth form in small numbers in the early 1970s and the school became fully co-educational in 1998. The Lower School, for pupils aged 11–13, was opened in 1994.

Buildings and facilities

Bloxham School has grounds which cover approximately in the village of Bloxham. The Neo-Gothic complex of buildings designed by George Edmund Street, called Main School, dominates the school and the north end of the village. It contains two boarding houses, Crake and Wilson, the dining hall, the Masters' Dining Room, the Headmaster's office, the chapel, the 1894 Egerton Library and a number of classrooms. Palmer House, built in 1874 in the Neo-Gothic style, is the school hospital. Egerton House, on the edge of the school campus, was built in 1876 as the Headmaster's House, and was enlarged in 1886. The school's Great Hall was completed in 1937 and was built in the traditional Cotswold style. The Victorian-era Wesley Theatre, a former

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

chapel, is the school theatre. The Science Block was built between 1959 and 1966. Wilberforce House was built in the late 1960s and Raymond House was opened in 1971 by

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

. Recent building developments include the Raymond Technology Centre, the expansion of the Lower School building and the Vallance Library which was opened by

Colin Dexter Norman Colin Dexter (29 September 1930 – 21 March 2017) was an English crime writer known for his ''Inspector Morse'' series of novels, which were written between 1975 and 1999 and adapted as an ITV television series, ''Inspector Morse'', fro ...

in April 2006. New squash courts have also been built next to the Dewey Sports Centre, and the art school has been increased in size. The extension to the 1901 music school was completed in the summer of 2007, and officially opened by

Aled Jones Aled Jones, (born 29 December 1970) is a Welsh singer and radio and television presenter. As a teenage chorister, he reached widespread fame during the mid-1980s. Since then he has worked in television with the BBC and ITV, and radio (for Cla ...

in November 2008. The Lower School is located in a modernised building called The White Lion, a former public house on the edge of the school campus. Bloxham has a

chapel which can accommodate approximately two hundred people. It was built at first-floor level with classrooms beneath, giving it an elevated position. At its west end is a balcony and organ loft, with an octagonal turret containing the bell tower rising above Main School. At the east end of the chapel is a large ''Te Deum'' window made by

Clayton and Bell Clayton and Bell was one of the most prolific and proficient British workshops of stained-glass windows during the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century. The partners were John Richard Clayton (1827–1913) and Alfred Bell (1832� ...

in memory of Wilberforce. The chapel also contains a

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or ...

, windows in memory of Egerton and the

Boer Wars The military history of South Africa chronicles a vast time period and complex events from the dawn of history until the present time. It covers civil wars and wars of aggression and of self-defence both within South Africa and against it. It in ...

, and monuments to the school's war dead. The

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...

was designed by Bucknall in 1912. The smaller Liddon Chapel, adjacent to the main chapel, is used as a classroom. Bloxham School has four large playing fields, three of which are used for cricket in the summer term. It has two

AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...

all-weather pitches, which are used for hockey and tennis, as well as additional hard tennis courts. The Dewey Sports Centre, opened by

Anne, Princess Royal Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of ...

in 1986, has an indoor sports hall, a well-equipped gym and a climbing wall. Along with the swimming pool, which was extensively refurbished in 2014, it is available for public use. Bloxham also has

Fives Fives is an English sport believed to derive from the same origins as many racquet sports. In fives, a ball is propelled against the walls of a 3- or 4-sided special court, using a gloved or bare hand as though it were a racquet, similar to ...

courts. Deer Park is where the bursary is situated, as well as some of the buildings used by the CCF, including the armoury and shooting range. Woollen Hale, the house of Bloxham headmasters since 1986, is located on the top of Hobb Hill, overlooking playing fields and the Main School.

Houses

Like most traditional public schools, houses form the basis of school organisation and are incorporated into the boarding system. There are seven boarding houses within the senior school, as well as one day house (Merton). The boarding houses are Crake, Egerton, Raymond, Seymour, Stonehill, Wilberforce and Wilson, with Raymond, Stonehill and Wilberforce being the girls' houses. There is also a junior boarding house, Park Close, for the first form (Year 7) and second form (Year 8) weekly boarders, but all junior pupils are members of Exham House. The school operates a house based tutor system, in which pupils of several year groups share a tutor within one house. All houses are made up of both boarders and day pupils, who are called 'dayboarders'. House captains are appointed each year and make up part of the school's prefect body. The two oldest houses are Crake and Wilson, previously called School House, with all the other houses constituted later. The newest boarding house to be built was Seymour, which was finished in 1982. Although Stonehill and Merton, in the current establishment were the last to be constituted but in older buildings than Seymour. Houses provide a focal point for social and sporting activity, with keen rivalries existing between different houses.

Religion

Chapel

The founder of Bloxham, P. R. Egerton, envisaged Bloxham as a school which would take in the sons of local families and turn out young men ‘well educated in the Christian faith.’ Religion still plays a major role in the life of the school and this is focussed on the Chapel of All Saints. Two

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

ic services are held each week for the pupils in the chapel, and Morning Prayer is held every day. For larger school occasions such as Founderstide (the founder's day) and Christmas, the school uses

St Mary's Church, Bloxham The church of Our Lady of Bloxham, informally called St Mary's Bloxham, is the Church of England parish church in Bloxham, Oxfordshire. It is notable for its 14th-century tower and spire, which is the highest in Oxfordshire. It is unusually larg ...

. The chaplain plays an important part in school life and is helped by a team of chapel prefects. Special arrangements are made for non-Anglicans to attend their own places of worship if required. The school has hosted the Bloxham Festival of Faith and Literature since October 2011.

Bloxham Project

The Bloxham Project is an inter-school council started in the 1960s to address the role of religion in schools. It was started by the Chairman of Bloxham School Council and the school chaplain, Donald Dowie. The first Bloxham Conference on Public School Religion took place in 1967 at Bloxham School, and today approximately 120 independent schools take part in the project. It is a full-time organisation which continues to promote Christian educational values in the United Kingdom. The project is currently run from

Ripon College Cuddesdon Ripon College Cuddesdon is a Church of England theological college in Cuddesdon, a village outside Oxford, England. The College trains men and women for ministry in the Church of England: stipendiary, non-stipendiary, local ordained and lay min ...

near

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where several of Bloxham's headmasters have been educated.

Sport

Sport plays a significant role in Bloxham life, with afternoons on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays being allocated to games' practices and matches for pupils in years 9–13. Every pupil in the school is involved in sport, with the aim being that each pupil will represent the school in at least one team during their time at Bloxham. The major sports are rugby, hockey and cricket for boys, and hockey, netball and tennis for girls. Other sports played at Bloxham include squash, athletics, swimming, golf, riding, polo, target shooting, clay pigeon shooting, fives, sailing, cross-country and badminton. The school's main sporting rivals include

Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster ...

St Edward's School, Oxford St Edward's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Oxford, England. It is known informally as 'Teddies'. Approximately sixty pupils live in each of its thirteen houses. The school is a member of the Rugby G ...

Warwick School Warwick School is a selective, independent day and boarding school in Warwick, England in the public school tradition. Known until about 1900 as King's School, Warwick, it is believed to have been founded by Æthelflæd of Mercia in 914 AD ...

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

and

Magdalen College School, Oxford Magdalen College School (MCS) is a public school (English independent day school) in Oxford, England, for boys aged seven to eighteen and for girls in the sixth form. It was founded by William Waynflete about 1480 as part of Magdalen College, ...

. Bloxham participates annually in the

NatWest Schools Cup The National Schools Cup are a set of annual English schools' rugby union cup competitions, with the U18 Cup being the main competition. The finals of the Cup and Vase competitions are held at Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twicke ...

for rugby union. Bloxham has recently won national titles in shooting, polo and riding, and regional titles in rugby, hockey and sailing.

Societies and pastimes

Bloxham has several societies, some of which are pupil-run. Notable school societies include the Scholars Society, the Debating Society and the Common Room Society. The Choral Society, or Chapel Choir, sing twice a week during the school's chapel services. Clubs include a Photography Club, a Wildlife Club and a Model Railway Club. Bloxham School was host of the British Youth Go Tournament in 2011. Pupils can take part in other activities, such as the

Duke of Edinburgh Award The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, that has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and young ...

, drama, community service, dance, adventure training, horse riding and management and horticulture. Bloxham runs a

Combined Cadet Force The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), which operates in schools, and normally includes Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force sections. Its aim is to "provide a ...

(CCF) for pupils in third form (Year 9) and above. This was founded in 1910 as the school's

Officers' Training Corps The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst ...

. Bloxham is one of the few schools in the country to have been granted its own

cap badge A cap badge, also known as head badge or hat badge, is a badge worn on uniform headgear and distinguishes the wearer's nationality and/or organisation. The wearing of cap badges is a convention commonly found among military and police forces, as w ...

and many former members have served with distinction in the British armed forces. Most terms there is a CCF over-night expedition and a range day. The CCF was formerly affiliated with the

Royal Green Jackets The Royal Green Jackets (RGJ) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, one of two "large regiments" within the Light Division (the other being The Light Infantry). History The Royal Green Jackets was formed on 1 January 1966 by the amalgama ...

and is now affiliated with its successor regiment,

The Rifles The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions, plus a number of companies in other Army Reserve battalions. Each battalion of The Rifles was formerly ...

. The school has a music department which offers professional tuition in brass, guitar, keyboard, organ, percussion, singing, strings and woodwind. The school magazine is called ''The Bloxhamist'' and is published at the beginning of every Michaelmas term.

Prefects

The school’s prefect system was introduced in its current form by Armitage in the late 1920s.Old Bloxhamist Society, ''A History of Bloxham School'' (H.E. Boddy & Co. Ltd, Banbury, 1978), 118. Prefects were solemnly initiated in chapel, and once in office they were responsible for much of the daily administration of the school. Prefects were in charge of most discipline and a prefectural code was introduced; school prefects could give up to six strokes with a cane, and house prefects three. Today the school has various grades of prefect, all drawn from the Upper Sixth, each with different responsibilities and privileges: *School captains: One boy and, since coeducation, one girl. They lead the body of school prefects and meet daily with the headmaster. They are called the Head Boy and the Head Girl. *School prefects: Their duties include keeping order, supervising the wellbeing of pupils and representing the school at events. They have numerous privileges. They wear gold trim on their jackets and a black tie with the school crest. *House captains: The senior pupil in each of the boarding houses. They lead the house prefects in their house and represent the house at events. They usually have a larger study in the boarding house, and are usually also school prefects. *School Sacristan: Two prefects, who aid the school’s chaplain in day-to-day running of the chapel and promotion of the Christian ethos in the school. Leads the pastoral prefects and wears a blue tie with the school crest and cross, and a gold cross badge. Are also school prefects. *House prefects: A group of six to eight senior pupils in each of the boarding houses. Have duties within the house, including supervising prep, the dormitories and helping to keep order. They wear a black tie with multiple school crests on it, each in the house colour. *Pastoral Prefects: A group of twelve prefects who help to keep order in chapel and promote the Christian ethos in the school. They wear a gold cross badge.

Motto and arms

The motto of Bloxham School is taken from Hewitt's 1853 school. A quotation from the

Book of Proverbs The Book of Proverbs ( he, מִשְלֵי, , "Proverbs (of Solomon)") is a book in the third section (called Ketuvim) of the Hebrew Bible and a book of the Christian Old Testament. When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different ...

, it is ''Justorum Semita Lux Splendens'' (Latin), which translates as "The path of the just is a shining light". Until 2009, the school arms was that of the Egerton family, although this usage was never registered with the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...

. It is now a stylised version of the original coat-of-arms.

Fees

The termly school fees as of June 2022 for a senior full boarding pupil are £12,295 per term (£36,885 per annum), and £9,430 per term (£28,290 per annum) for day borders. This is a 20.6% increase from the 2014/15 academic year for full boarders. Bloxham was the third most expensive school in Oxfordshire in 2015.

Notable alumni

Current members of the school are known as 'Bloxhamists' with alumni referred to as 'Old Bloxhamists', or OBs for short. Notable OBs include: Military * Colonel Sir Thomas Boswall Beach CMG CBE * Brigadier-General Sir William Henry Beach CB CMG DSO * Air Vice-Marshal Thomas Bowler CB CBE * General Sir Adrian Bradshaw KCB OBE, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe * General Sir Edward Burgess, NATO Deputy Supreme Allied Commander * Garrison Sergeant Major Vivian Davenport MBE MC DCM & Bar * Major General Richard Roderick Davis CB CBE * Lieutenant David Eastwood CBE MC * Brigadier-General Wilfred Ellershaw, Aide-de-Camp to Lord Kitchener * Squadron Leader Dave Glaser DFC AE * Colonel L. A. Grimston CIE OBE VD * Major-General Reginald Hewer CB CBE MC * Air Marshal Sir Francis John Linnell KBE CB * Captain Harry Godfrey Massy-Miles MC * Colonel Sir Henry Allan Roughton May CB * Air Commodore Sir Dennis Mitchell KBE CVO DFC AFC * Squadron Leader C. T. N. Moore MBE * Admiral of the Fleet Sir Gerard Noel GCB KCMG, Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet * Lieutenant-General Dudley Sheridan Skelton CB DSO MC, Honorary Surgeon to HM King George V * Major-General Bruce M. Skinner CMG CBE MVO, Surgeon-General to the British Armed Forces * Major Derrick le Poer Trench DSO MC * Lieutenant St John Graham Young GC * Brigadier Dimitry Dimitrievitch Zvegintzov CBE OStJ Government and politics * Peter J P Barwell MBE, Lord Mayor of Birmingham 1992-3 * Sir Peter H. Clutterbuck CIE CBE VD, colonial civil servant in British India *

Alexander Granville Alexander Granville Pasha (1874 – 30 March 1929) was a British physician and colonial administrator in British Egypt. Biography Granville was born in Egypt, educated at Bloxham School and received his medical training at St Bartholomew's Hospi ...

CMG CBE, colonial administrator in Egypt * Sir Gerald Howarth, Conservative politician and Member of Parliament * Eustace Maude, 7th Viscount Hawarden, peer and colonial provincial governor in Sudan * E. H. D. Nicolls CMG OBE, British colonial official *

Denis Norman Denis R. Norman (March 26, 1931 – December 20, 2019) was a British-Zimbabwean politician who spent a total of twelve years in the Cabinet of Robert Mugabe. He was known as "Nothing Wrong Norman" due to his penchant for trying to put a posi ...

, former Government Minister in Zimbabwe * Frederic Urquhart, colonial administrator in Australia Religion * Fr Sergei Hackel, senior priest in Britain of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sourozh. * George Hand, Anglican bishop * Victor White, theologian and psychotherapist The arts * George S Elgood, painter *

Ross Nichols Philip Peter Ross Nichols (28 June 1902 – 30 April 1975) was a Cambridge academic and published poet, artist and historian, who founded the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids in 1964. He wrote prolifically on the subjects of Druidism and Celtic ...

, academic, poet, artist and historian * Stephen Reynolds, writer *

Tom Sharpe Thomas Ridley Sharpe (30 March 1928 – 6 June 2013) was an English satirical novelist, best known for his '' Wilt'' series, as well as ''Porterhouse Blue'' and ''Blott on the Landscape,'' all three of which were adapted for television. Life ...

, novelist *

Peter Snow Peter John Snow (born 20 April 1938) is a British radio and television presenter and historian. Between 1969 and 2005, he was an analyst of general election results, first on ITV and later for the BBC. He presented ''Newsnight'' from its laun ...

, painter, theatre designer and teacher. *

Albert Chevallier Tayler Albert Chevallier Tayler (1862–1925) was an English artist who specialised in portrait and genre painting, but was also involved in the plein air methods of the Newlyn School. He studied at Heatherley's School of Art, Royal Academy School ...

, painter *

Leonard Shuffrey Leonard Shuffrey (1852–1926) was a British architect and architectural designer of the late Victorian and Edwardian period. He was a leading figure of the aesthetic movement that had a significant impact on the development of buildings and ...

, the notable architect and architectural designer attended Bloxham between 1856 and 1867. *

Henry Tonks Henry Tonks, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, FRCS (9 April 1862 – 8 January 1937) was a British surgeon and later draughtsman and painter of figure subjects, chiefly interiors, and a Caricature, caricaturist. He became an influentia ...

FRCS, artist *

Pip Torrens Philip D'Oyly "Pip" Torrens (born 2 June 1960) is an English actor. Known for playing urbane, authoritative figures, Torrens portrayed courtier Tommy Lascelles in the Netflix drama ''The Crown'', aristocrat Lord Massen in the HBO series ''The ...

, actor * Joseph Vernon Whitaker, Editor, ''The Bookseller'' Other *

Will Bratt William Bratt (born 13 April 1988 in Oxford) is a British racing driver. He previously competed in the British Touring Car Championship with Rob Austin Racing. Career T Cars After three years in Super 1 karting, Bratt moved into the T Cars s ...

, Formula Three racing driver *

Sheraz Daya Sheraz Daya is a British ophthalmologist. Daya founded the Centre for Sight in 1996, and works in stem-cell research and sight recovery surgery. Education Daya graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1984. Following this, he ...

, British Ophthalmologist * Saskia Jones, victim of the November 2019 London Bridge terrorist attack *

G. Kenneth Jenkins Gilbert Kenneth Jenkins (2 July 1918 – 22 May 2005) was a leading figure in 20th-century numismatics. He was the post-war generation's most important expert in the study of Greek coins and medals and would become Keeper of Coins and Medals at the ...

, Keeper of the Coins at the British Museum * Thomas Sanderson-Wells MBE * John Sergeant, journalist * Ward Thomas CBE DFC CdeG, Television Executive *

Alfie Barbeary Alfie Barbeary (born 5 October 2000) is an English rugby union player. having previously focused on hooker. Early life Born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, Barbeary grew up in Deddington, starting rugby at age eight with Banbury RUFC. Barbeary ...

, Rugby Union Player

Bloxham School war dead

The stone arch at the main entrance to the school was built to the memory of Bloxham pupils who have died in conflict, and the school chapel contains memorials to the school's war dead from multiple conflicts. Bloxham suffered a high casualty rate during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, in which 79 current and former pupils were killed. The portraits of the school's dead of the First World War are hung near the chapel.

Headmasters

The first five headmasters at Bloxham were ordained Anglican priests, with the first

lay Lay may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada *Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France *Lay, Iran, a village *Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community People * Lay (surname) * ...

headmaster being appointed in 1925. The portraits of former headmasters hang in the school dining hall. * Philip Egerton (1860–1886) * F. S. Boissier (1886–1898) * G. H. Ward (1899–1914) * Alexander Grier (1914–1919) * F. H. George (1919–1925) * Valentine Armitage (1925–1940) *K. T. Dewey (1940–1952) *R. S. Thompson (1952–1965) *D. R. G. Seymour (1965–1982) *M. W. Vallance (1982–1991) *D. K. Exham (1991–2002) * Mark Allbrook (2002–2013) * P. Sanderson (2013–present)

Notable masters

* Mark Allbrook, former Headmaster * Frederick Scobell Boissier, former Headmaster, father of

Cedric Boyns Cedric Nigel Boyns (born 14 August 1954) is an English former cricketer who played at first-class level for a few years in the late 1970s. He was born in Starbeck, Harrogate, Yorkshire and educated at Adams' Grammar School, Newport, Shropshi ...

, Housemaster * Philip Reginald Egerton, founder *

Felix Francis Felix Francis (born 1953) is a British crime writer. He is Dick Francis’ younger son. Felix studied physics and electronics at London University, and then started a 17-year career teaching Advanced Level physics at three schools, the last seven ...

, crime writer, Bloxham Head of Science 1984-1991 * Cyril Frost, artist and silversmith *

David Hatch Sir David Edwin Hatch, (7 May 1939 – 13 June 2007)
"''Just a Minute''" site wa ...

, student teacher *

Kenneth Spring Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom), Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Arthur Spring (23 October 1921 – 25 December 1997) was a British Army officer, artist and co-founder of the National Youth Theatre, National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. Ear ...

OBE, former Commander of the CCF, housemaster and art master

References

External links

*
Profile
at the

Independent Schools Council The Independent Schools Council (ISC) is a non-profit lobby group that represents over 1,300 schools in the United Kingdom's independent education sector. The organisation comprises seven independent school associations and promotes the busin ...

website {{Authority control Anglo-Catholic educational establishments Independent schools in Oxfordshire Woodard Schools Educational institutions established in 1860 Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference

People educated at Bloxham School A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, ...

G. E. Street buildings Gothic Revival architecture in Oxfordshire Church of England independent schools in the Diocese of Oxford Boarding schools in Oxfordshire 1860 establishments in England