Hele's School was a boys'

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 school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

, and latterly a comprehensive school, in the city of

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England.

Elize Hele’s bequest

Elize Hele Elize Hele (1560–1635) (''alias'' Ellis, Latinized to Elizeus) of Fardel in the parish of Cornwood, Devon and of Parke in the parish of Bovey Tracey, Devon, was an English lawyer and philanthropist.'House of Commons Journal Volume 7: 6 ...

was born in 1560 at Winston Manor near

Plympton Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down river to Plym ...

. He was a lawyer of the

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, had been treasurer to

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

and was a major property owner in South and West

. Following the death of his only child, Walter, at the age of 11, Hele decided to bequeath a number of his estates for "some godly purposes and charitable uses".Kellys Directory of Devonshire 1923 He died in 1635 and was buried in

Exeter Cathedral Exeter Cathedral, properly known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city of Exeter, Devon, in South West England. The present building was complete by about 140 ...

. In 1656 his trustees, Sir John Maynard and Elize Stert apportioned money for the foundation of the Blue Maid's Hospital (later renamed

The Maynard School The Maynard School is an independent and selective day school for girls aged 4–18 in the city of Exeter in Devon. Founded in 1658, the school is the second oldest girls' school in the country, only predated by the Redmaids' High School in ...

) and, in 1658 for the establishment of

Hele's School Hele's School, formerly Plympton Grammar School, is a mixed Academy school and Sixth Form in the Plympton district of Plymouth, England, east of Plymouth city centre. Until 31 March 2011, Hele’s was a community school funded by the Local Ed ...

in Plympton. For nearly 200 years, the immediate descendants of Sir J. Maynard received the remaining income from the bequest and distributed it to private charities as they thought fit Legal proceedings resulted in depriving the descendant of Sir J. Maynard (the surviving trustee) of all control over the funds, which were thereupon vested in the Crown.

The first school

The Government made to the inhabitants of

a grant of £1500 for the building of a boys' school, with a further £300 a year for its continual maintenance. Hele's Endowed School opened on 15 January 1850 in Hele Road, St David's Exeter with a capacity for 88 boys who received instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, mathematics, English grammar and history. Those under 10 years old paid 21s, and those over paid 42s per year. The school buildings were extended in 1909 and in 1921 it came under the control of Exeter City Council. In 1931, further new buildings were added, designed by the City Architect. In 1938 plans were mooted to relocate the school to Quarry Lane in

Heavitree Heavitree is a historic village and parish situated formerly outside the walls of the City of Exeter in Devon, England, and is today an eastern district of that city. It was formerly the first significant village outside the city on the road to ...

, but these were put in abeyance due to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. On 1 November 1938 the first School Squadron of the Air Cadet Defence Corps in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

was founded at Hele's School as No.13 Squadron of the

Air League The Air League is an aviation and aerospace non-profit organisation based in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's largest provider of aviation and aerospace scholarships and bursaries. The Air League aims to inspire, enable, and support the next ...

. The squadron evolved into the school's combined cadet force. In 1959, the school moved to a new site at Southam Farm, next to Quarry Lane, and the Hele Road site was taken over by Exeter College. During the summer of 2005, many of the old Hele's Buildings at Exeter College were demolished to make way for new facilities, although some of the

Gothic Revival 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 ...

buildings from the 1850s remain.

The second school

Work commenced on a new school building, designed by William (Bill) Chapple under the direction of Vinton Hall the city architect, in Quarry Lane in 1958 and the new school opened its doors on 1 September 1959. The school also took over the old army camp site used by Exeter Technical SchoolThe Old Heleans' Society
. Retrieved on 2008-02-20. on the other side of the Exeter by-pass. This became known as "The Annex" – a concrete footbridge over the by-pass (still standing) connected the two sites. The school was now Exeter's boys’ grammar school, entrance to which was by the

Eleven plus exam The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academic ...

. Bishop Blackall School was Exeter's girls’ grammar school. The school war memorial, 13 feet wide and made of English oak designed by

Harry Hems Harry Hems (12 June 1842 – 5 January 1916) was an English architectural and ecclesiastical sculptor who was particularly inspired by Gothic architecture and a practitioner of Gothic Revival. He founded and ran a large workshop in Exeter, Devon ...

& Co., was relocated to the entrance of the main school hall.

Comprehensive

In 1973 control of the school passed from

Exeter City Council Exeter City Council is the council and local government of the city of Exeter, Devon. History Proposed unitary authority status The government proposed that the city should become an independent unitary authority within Devon, much like neighb ...

Devon County Council Devon County Council is the county council administering the English county of Devon. Based in the city of Exeter, the council covers the non-metropolitan county area of Devon. Members of the council (councillors) are elected every four years to ...

under local government reorganisation and Hele's School lost its status as a grammar school becoming a Comprehensive. The school's sixth form was also abolished, with pupils moving to Exeter College on completion of GCE O Levels.

Merger

In 1983 Hele's was merged with Bishop Blackall school on the Quarry Lane site and was renamed St Peter's (called

St Peter's Church of England Aided School St Peter's Church of England Aided School is one of Exeter's five state sector high schools. The school was awarded language college status in 2002. The current headteacher of the school is Phil Randall. The old school building was knocked dow ...

). Considerable remodelling of the school building took place and the Annex was abandoned and later demolished to make way for a housing development. The main school buildings were demolished in 2005 to make way for a brand new St Peter's School building. The War Memorial was relocated to the balcony of the new school hall, along with a series of portraits of previous headmasters. As a result of the rebuilding five oval solid oak library tables, which were made by the Harry Hems company in 1930 and presented to Hele's School in memory of its late Headmaster Mr F G Snowball, and funded by private subscription, were removed to

Exeter School Exeter School is an independent co-educational day school for pupils between the ages of 7 and 18 in Exeter, Devon, England. In 2019, there were around 200 pupils in the Junior School and 700 in the Senior School. History The School traces its ...

in 2006.

Notable former pupils

Michael Addison, 3rd Viscount Addison Michael Addison, 3rd Viscount Addison (12 April 1914 – 23 March 1992), was a British civil servant and academic. Addison was the second son of Christopher Addison, 1st Viscount Addison, and his first wife, Isobel Mackinnon Gray. His father, a ...

* Donald Barber (1936-2000) – Astronomer * Prof

Anthony Barrett Anthony Gerard Martin Barrett FRS, FMedSci is a British chemist, and Sir Derek Barton Professor of Synthesis, Glaxo Professor of Organic Chemistry at Imperial College London. He is Director of the Wolfson Centre for Organic Chemistry in Medica ...

, FRS, FMedSci * Sir Anthony Battishill, chairman of the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

from 1986 to 1997, and of the

Student Loans Company The Student Loans Company (SLC) is an executive non-departmental public body company in the United Kingdom that provides student loans. It is owned by the UK Government's Department for Education (85%), the Scottish Government (5%), the Welsh ...

from 1998 to 2001 * Sir Edwin Chapman-Andrews CMG OBE, Ambassador to Sudan from 1956 to 1961 and to

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

from 1952 to 1956 * Frank Horne CBE, president from 1957 to 1958 of the British Grassland Society * Prof

W. G. Hoskins William George Hoskins (22 May 1908 – 11 January 1992) was an English local historian who founded the first university department of English Local History. His great contribution to the study of history was in the field of landscape history. ...

CBE (1908–92), president from 1972 to 1974 of the

British Agricultural History Society British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

* Prof John Ingram, Professor of Dermatology from 1958 to 1963 at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

, president from 1947 to 1948 of the

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* Sir Derek Jakeway CMG OBE,

Governor of Fiji Fiji was a British Crown colony from 1874 to 1970, and an independent dominion in the Commonwealth from 1970 to 1987. During this period, the head of state was the British monarch, but in practice his or her functions were normally exercised loca ...

from 1964 to 1968 * Rev Cecil Northcott, editor from 1945 to 1970 of ''

The Christian Century ''The Christian Century'' is a Christian magazine based in Chicago, Illinois. Considered the flagship magazine of US mainline Protestantism, the monthly reports on religious news; comments on theological, moral, and cultural issues; and reviews ...

'' *

Louis Osman Louis Osman (30 January 1914 – 11 April 1996) was an English artist, architect, goldsmith, silversmith and medallist. He is notable for the gold coronet he designed and made for the investiture in 1969 of Charles, Prince of Wales. His work as a ...

, architect, artist, goldsmith. Designer of the crown for the investiture of

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

* William Palfrey CBE, Chief Constable of

Lancashire Constabulary Lancashire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial county of Lancashire in North West England. The force's headquarters are at Hutton, near the city of Preston. , the force has 3,088 police officer ...

from 1969 to 1972 * Prof John Raymont OBE, Professor o
Zoology
from 1946 to 1978 at the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

* Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Ridgway (1950- ),

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2006-2011 *

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Harold Satterley CB CBE * John Scott (rugby union), England rugby international 1978-84 *

Brian Sedgemore Brian Charles John Sedgemore (17 March 1937 – 29 April 2015) was a British politician who served as a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 to 1979, and again from 1983 to 2005. He defected to the Liberal Democrats shortly after standin ...

, Labour MP for

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from 1983 to 2005 * Sir Robert Taylor CBE, chairman of

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from 1976 to 1983 * Sir Hugh Tett (1907–2001) – chairman of

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Petroleum from 1959 to 1967 * Derek Thomas CBE, chief executive of Surrey County Council from 1988 to 1995 * Prof Andrew Williams, D.Phil. MA MRSC (1937–2007) – University of Kent

Old Heleans' Society

The Old Heleans' Society was founded in 1896 in London. It presently has a membership of over 500 and holds an annual dinner in Exeter in May and in London in October. An annual magazine is published in April, containing news, views, events etc.

References

External links

Exeter - Hele's School War Memorial - Part 1 - 1914 - 1918

The Old Heleans' Society
{{authority control Educational institutions disestablished in 1983 Educational institutions established in 1850 Schools in Exeter Defunct schools in Devon Defunct grammar schools in England 1850 establishments in England 1983 disestablishments in England