Charterhouse School

(God having given, I gave)
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public school
Independent
day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, president =
, head_label = Head
, headmaster = Alex Peterken
, r_head_label = Second Master
, r_head = Andrew Turner
, chair_label = Chair of Governors
, chairman = Vicky Tuck
, founder = Thomas Sutton
, fundraiser =
, specialist =
, address = Charterhouse Road
, city = Godalming
, county = Surrey
, country = United Kingdom
, postcode = GU7 2DX
, local_authority =
, dfeno = 936/6041
, urn = 125340
, ofsted =
, staff = ≈550
, enrolment = ≈800
, gender = Co-education
, lower_age = 13
, upper_age = 18
, houses = 15
, colours = Pink, grey and maroon
, publication = ''The Carthusian''
''The Charterhouse Review''
''The Chouse Views''
, free_label_1 = Former pupils
, free_1 = Old Carthusians
, free_label_2 =
, free_2 =
, free_label_3 = School song
, free_3 = ''Carmen Carthusianum''
, website =

Charterhouse is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Originally founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charterhouse Square, Smithfield, London, it educates over 800 pupils, aged 13 to 18 years. Charterhouse is one of the 'great' nine English public schools reported upon by the Clarendon Commission in 1864 and is a member of the Rugby Group schools.

History

In May 1611, the London Charterhouse came into the hands of Thomas Sutton (1532–1611) of Knaith, Lincolnshire. He acquired a fortune by the discovery of coal on two estates which he had leased near Newcastle-on-Tyne, and afterwards, removing to London, he carried on a commercial career. In 1611, the year of his death, he endowed a hospital on the site of the Charterhouse, calling it the hospital of King James, and in his will he bequeathed moneys to maintain a chapel, hospital ( almshouse) and school. He died on 12 December, and subsequently the will was hotly contested but upheld in court, and the foundation was finally constituted to afford a home for eighty male pensioners (gentlemen by descent and in poverty, soldiers that have borne arms by sea or land, merchants decayed by piracy or shipwreck, or servants in household to the King or Queen), and to educate forty boys.

Charterhouse established a reputation for excellence in hospital care and treatment, thanks in part to Henry Levett, an Oxford graduate who joined the school as a physician in 1712. Levett was widely esteemed for his medical writings, including an early tract on the treatment of smallpox. Levett was buried in Charterhouse Chapel and his widow married Andrew Tooke, the headmaster of Charterhouse.

The school was moved to its present site in 1872 by the then headmaster, William Haig Brown – a decision influenced by the findings of the Clarendon Commission of 1864.

The school bought a site atop a hill just outside Godalming. In addition to the main school buildings (designed by architect Philip Charles Hardwick), they constructed three boarding houses, known as Saunderites (once the headmaster's house, pronounced "sarnderites" rather than "sornderites"), Verites and Gownboys (for scholars, who were entitled to wear gowns). The school was built by Lucas Brothers, who also built the Royal Albert Hall and Covent Garden.

The school continued to expand over the 20th century. Further land was bought to the north and west, increasing the grounds to over , and a new school chapel was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (perhaps best known for designing the red telephone box) and consecrated in 1927 to commemorate almost 700 pupils who died in the First World War, making it the largest war memorial in England. Around 350 names have been subsequently added to commemorate those who died in the Second World War and other more recent conflicts.

An addition to the campus was seven new Houses, built in the 1970s, replacing late Victorian boarding houses which were demolished in 1977. Other newer buildings include the Art Studio, the John Derry Technology Centre, the Ben Travers Theatre, the Ralph Vaughan Williams Music Centre, the Halford Hewitt Golf Course, the Queen's Sports Centre, the Sir Greville Spratt athletics track and Chetwynd, a hall of residence for girls. In 2003, the School renovated its onsite Library. 2006 saw the opening of The Beveridge Centre for the Social Sciences. In 2007, a £3m Modern Languages building was completed.

In 2007, Roy Hattersley, former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and minister, reported on a visit to Charterhouse in the Guardian newspaper. After describing his impression that " he chapels geometric spires and minarets proclaim complete confidence that Charterhouse educates men who are destined to rule the universe", he said: "Academically and pastorally, it is near to beyond criticism. And after only a brief glimpse of the school, I have no doubt that I would have been ecstatically happy there. But its existence allows the rich and the powerful to ignore the world beyond its boundaries." He therefore concluded that his aspiration to abolish private education in the 1970s was "totally justified".

The 2017 ISI Educational Quality Inspection Report noted that ‘Pupils' academic and other achievements are high and often exceptional. Pupils' successes in external competitions, in academic distinctions and in sport, music and the creative and aesthetic arts are exceptional. Pupils' social development is outstanding. Pupils are polite, courteous and respectful of one another and of the adults who care for them. Relationships between pupils and staff are excellent. Pupils mature into independent and self-motivated pupils over the course of their time at school and are extremely well prepared, not only for the next stage of their lives, but also to contribute to society at large.’

Charterhouse originally accepted boys only. The school began accepting girls in sixth form in 1971. In 2017 the school announced that it is moving to full co-education from the age of 13, and will welcome the first girls into Year 9 in September 2021. There will be girls in every year group from September 2023.

School terms

There are three academic terms (known as Quarters) in the year,
* The Oration Quarter (OQ), from early September to mid December.
* The Long Quarter (LQ), from mid January to late March. Therefore, it traditionally had the distinction of being the shortest third of the school year, despite its name.
* The Cricket Quarter (CQ), from late April to late June or early July.

Houses

There are four old boarding houses and ten new houses in the White Book (a directory of names) order. In Charterhouse vocabulary an ''old'' house is one which was founded in the early years of the school, as opposed to the ''new'' houses which were created later and are situated away from the main school. They are all distinguished by the colour of the pupils' ties, umbrellas and football team's stripes.

Memorial Chapel

Memorial Chapel, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and consecrated in 1927, commemorates the Carthusians who died in action: 700 in World War I and 350 in World War II.

Sports

Today, pupils take part in a range of sporting activities. The former England batsman and captain Peter May was educated at Charterhouse. Martin Bicknell, the former Surrey and England seam bowler joined the school as head of cricket following his retirement from the sport in 2006.

Cricket ground

The first recorded match on the school cricket ground came in 1859, when the school played Marlborough College. From its inception, the school has used the ground to take on a number of colleges in England. The cricket ground has held a single List-A match, which was played between Surrey and Warwickshire in the 1972 John Player League. Starting in 2006, the ground has held a number of Surrey Second XI fixtures in the Second XI Championship and Second XI Trophy.

Herbarium

The School's Herbarium carries the Index Herbariorum designation GOD and is maintained as The Charterhouse School Herbarium in the University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley.

The scope of the collections is mainly the British Isles, although some plants are from Europe, South Africa and eastern North America. The principal collectors were James Edward Moxon, Rev. George Brown Moxon, Rev. Tullie Cornthwaite, Rev. Samuel Titmas (first curator of Charterhouse Museum), Frederick Yorke Brocas, Andrew Bloxam, William Gardiner, James Buckman and John Drew Salmon. The collections are currently being digitised and being released by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, on the herbaria@home website.

Controversy

School fees cartel (2005)

In November 2005, the school was one of fifty of the country's leading independent schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by ''The Times'' newspaper, although the schools made clear that they had not realised that the change to the law (which had happened only a few months earlier) about the sharing of information had subsequently made it an offence. 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. Mrs 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 director-general of the Office of Fair Trading 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."

Gary Lineker accusations (2010)

In August 2010, former English footballer Gary Lineker publicly accused Charterhouse of failing his son, George, in his bid for a place at university. Lineker claimed that the school had used him as a 'guinea pig' by ditching A-Levels for the new Cambridge Pre-U. The school reacted by saying it was proud of its students' results. John Witheridge, then headmaster, defended the choice of the Pre-U as being more academically rigorous and educationally valid than the current A-Level standard in an article in ''The Spectator'' in August 2010.

Historic sexual abuse

In March 2012, it was reported that a 16-year-old had filmed fellow pupils while they showered, and stored the images on his laptop. The boy was taken into custody by Surrey Police for questioning. A police inquiry was subsequently established.

In April 2013, a physics teacher, Dean Johnson, resigned after allegations of an 'inappropriate relationship' with a former teenage girl pupil led to a police investigation. A police investigation followed, and resulted in a conviction after trial by a jury for the teacher who was found to be in possession of extreme pornography, which depicted a woman being hanged, in 2015; he was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. A professional misconduct panel later found:
* that he had sex with her in the classroom at the school;
* that he had communicated his fantasies to the girl over Facebook;
* that he had asked what her underwear size was before buying stockings and presenting them to her gift-wrapped;
* that the relationship became sexual weeks after the girl turned 18.

In 2018, Cathy Newman, who attended the school on a scholarship said that she was humiliated and sexually harassed while a pupil at the school. Other ex-pupils told ''The Times'' about experiences including a humiliating initiation ceremony at the school and flashing and groping incidents. Rebecca Willis, commenting on similar themes around the time reiterated these themes, but also commented on racism which resulted in Asian children leaving. The school has subsequently contacted former pupils to ask them to share concerns.

Film location

The school is occasionally used as a film location. It was used to represent the Palace of Westminster in the 2018 BBC drama '' Bodyguard''. It has previously been used in '' The Boys are Back'', ''Jupiter Ascending'', ''St Trinians 2'', ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' (an adaptation of a Charles Dickens novel), ''Foyle's War'', ''An Ideal Husband'', and ''Vampire Academy''.The Charterhouse on Joolz Guides
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Headmasters

Old Carthusians

Former pupils are referred to as Old Carthusians, and current pupils as Carthusians.

Victoria Cross holders

Three Old Carthusians have won the Victoria Cross:
*Victoria Cross
** Hunza-Nagar Expedition, India
***Lieutenant Guy Hudleston Boisragon (at Charterhouse from Oration Quarter (OQ) (Autumn Term) 1878 to OQ 1880). He later achieved the rank of brigadier. (1864–1931)
** Mohmand Campaign, Bilot, India
***Lieutenant James Morris Colquhoun Colvin (at Charterhouse from Cricket Quarter (CQ) (Summer Term) 1884 to CQ 1888). He later achieved the rank of colonel. (1870–1945)
**First World War
***Lieutenant Eric Archibald McNair (at Charterhouse from CQ 1907 to CQ 1913 – was Head of the School). He later achieved the rank of captain. (1894–1918)

See also

* List of English and Welsh endowed schools (19th century)

References

External links

Charterhouse School website
*

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Boys' schools in Surrey
Independent schools in Surrey
Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
Boarding schools in Surrey
International Baccalaureate schools in England
Racquets venues
Educational institutions established in the 1610s
1611 establishments in England
School buildings completed in 1872
Relocated schools
Cricket grounds in Surrey
Godalming
Surrey County Cricket Club grounds
Church of England independent schools in the Diocese of Guildford
Sports venues completed in 1859
Schools cricket