Lambrook is an independent
preparatory school for 615 boys and girls, aged 3–13, set in of
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
countryside.
History
The school was founded in 1860 by Robert Burnside,
in a large country house built in 1853 by William Budd. Burnside initially employed only one master, and by 1879 there were twenty one boys, including two grandsons of Queen Victoria,
Albert, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein
Albert, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein (Albert John Charles Frederick Alfred George; 26 February 1869 – 27 April 1931), was a grandson of Queen Victoria. He was the second son of Victoria's daughter Princess Helena by her husband Prince Christian ...
and
Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein
Prince Christian Victor Albert Louis Ernst Anton of Schleswig-Holstein (14 April 1867 – 29 October 1900) was a member of the British royal family. He was the eldest son of Princess Helena, third daughter of Queen Victoria.
Early life
Pri ...
. Run as a traditional boys'
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
, Lambrook accepted only male pupils between the ages of 7 and 13 until 1993.
[''The Lambrook Legacy, 1860-1997: From Starched Collars to Sweatshirts: A History of Lambrook School'', pp. v, 3, 123, 132, by Isla Brownless. Evergreen Graphics, Aldwick, West Sussex; ]
In 1883, Edward Mansfield took over as headmaster, with 46 boys, and made substantial additions to the property, almost doubling its size. Mansfield's expansion saw Lambrook gain a reputation as an efficiently run and forward-looking school, although this came at significant financial cost, which placed the school's finances under considerable pressure.
It was around this time that what was later termed as 'a row', of undetermined origin and nature, took place,
which saw almost all of the pupils leave.
Upon the accession of Francis Browne in 1904, there were only 35 pupils and seven teaching staff, but by 1935 the school had expanded again to 59 boys. The current chapel was built under Francis Browne's tenure, in 1905. By 1945 there were 90 boys and a nearby residence, Westfield, was purchased to accommodate 30 pupils. When Archie Forbes took over in 1952 the school finances were at crisis point, and only improved by the time Philip Brownless, Archie Forbes' son-in-law, was appointed in 1956. However, substantial death duty liabilities hit Lambrook when Archie Forbes died in the same year, and the financial ruin that the school then faced was only averted in 1967, when Lambrook became a
Charitable Trust.
By 1971, there were 120 boys, increasing to 140 by 1997. Major expansions of the premises took place between 1978 and 1984 during the headmastership of Tom Clough, including a new teaching block, a squash court and an all-weather pitch. During this period the school gained an outstanding reputation for the high calibre of teaching and the academic and sporting achievements of its pupils.
Lambrook declined under the tenure of Michael Bickersteth (1989–92), with numbers dropping considerably, a trend not significantly changed by his successor Robin Badham Thornhill, who resigned in 1997 to take up the Headship of Summerfields, Oxford.
In 1993, a pre-prep department was opened with four children, increasing to 69 by 1997. In that year the Governors approved a merger with Haileybury Junior School in Windsor which was beset by the limitations of its site, and John Hare, headmaster of Haileybury was appointed to the new combined school, called Lambrook-Haileybury, with 200 children, now of both sexes, both boarders and day pupils.
Robert Deighton's tenure as Head saw the school flourish with numbers growing to over 450.
In July 2009, the school ceased links with Haileybury, and returned to the original name of Lambrook.
Current headmaster, Jonathan Perry, has been in place since 2010, having formerly been head of
Kingsmead School in
Hoylake
Hoylake is a coast, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the north west of the Wirral Peninsula, near West Kirby and where the River Dee, Wales, River Dee meets the Irish Sea. Historic counties of En ...
, which has since closed.
The school has of grounds and playing fields.
Notable former pupils
*
Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein
Prince Christian Victor Albert Louis Ernst Anton of Schleswig-Holstein (14 April 1867 – 29 October 1900) was a member of the British royal family. He was the eldest son of Princess Helena, third daughter of Queen Victoria.
Early life
Pri ...
,
grandson of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
and British Army officer who died during the
Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...
*
Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein
Albert, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein (Albert John Charles Frederick Alfred George; 26 February 1869 – 27 April 1931), was a grandson of Queen Victoria. He was the second son of Victoria's daughter Princess Helena by her husband Prince Christian ...
,
grandson of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
and Prussian army officer
*
W.O. Bentley
Walter Owen Bentley, MBE (16 September 1888 – 13 August 1971) was an English engineer who founded Bentley Motors Limited in London. He was a motorcycle and car racer as a young man. After making a name for himself as a designer of aircraft an ...
, English engineer and founder of Bentley Motors Limited
*
Lord Alfred Douglas
Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas (22 October 1870 – 20 March 1945), also known as Bosie Douglas, was an English poet and journalist, and a lover of Oscar Wilde. At Oxford he edited an undergraduate journal, ''The Spirit Lamp'', that carried a homoer ...
,
author, poet and lover of
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
*
Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Earl of Ancaster
Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Earl of Ancaster (29 July 1867 – 19 September 1951), known as Lord Willoughby de Eresby from 1892 to 1910, was a British Conservative politician.
Early life
Ancaster was born in London on 29 July 18 ...
,
Conservative Member of Parliament and peer
*
Raymond Asquith
Raymond Herbert Asquith (6 November 1878 – 15 September 1916) was an English barrister and eldest son of British prime minister H. H. Asquith. A distinguished Oxford scholar, he was a member of the fashionable group of intellectuals known as ...
,
eldest son of wartime Prime Minister
H. H. Asquith
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...
and member of
The Coterie
The Coterie was a fashionable and famous set of English aristocrats and intellectuals of the 1910s, widely quoted and profiled in magazines and newspapers of the period. They also called themselves the "Corrupt Coterie".
Members
Its members in ...
, killed during the
Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...
*
Arthur Asquith
Brigadier General The Honourable Arthur Melland Asquith, (24 April 1883 – 25 August 1939) was a senior officer of the Royal Naval Division, a Royal Navy land detachment attached to the British Army during the First World War. His father, H. H ...
,
British officer during World War I; third son of Prime Minister
H. H. Asquith
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...
*
Herbert Asquith,
poet, novelist, lawyer. Second son of H. H. Asquith
*
Raymond Raikes
Raymond Montgomery Raikes (13 September 1910 – 2 October 1998) was a British theatre producer, director and broadcaster. He was particularly known for his productions of classic dramas for BBC Radio's "World Theatre" and "National Theatre of ...
, British theatre producer, director and broadcaster
*
John Aubrey-Fletcher
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher, 7th Baronet (22 August 1912 – 19 June 1992) was a British baronet, who played first-class cricket for Oxford and was a British Army soldier.
Born in Kensington, Aubrey-Fletcher was the ...
, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher, 7th Baronet (22 August 1912 – 19 June 1992), British baronet who played first-class cricket for Oxford and was a British Army soldier.
*
W.C. Sellar
Walter Carruthers Sellar (27 December 1898 – 11 June 1951) was a Scotland, Scottish humourist who wrote for Punch magazine, ''Punch''. He is best known for the 1930 book ''1066 and All That'', a tongue-in-cheek guide to "all the history you ...
,
author, ''
1066 and All That
''1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, Comprising All the Parts You Can Remember, Including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates'' is a tongue-in-cheek reworking of the history of England. Written by W. C. Sellar and R. J ...
''
*
Eric Dorman-Smith
Brigadier Eric Edward "Chink" Dorman-Smith (24 July 1895 – 11 May 1969), who later changed his name to Eric Edward Dorman O'Gowan, was an Irish officer whose career in the British Army began in the First World War and closed at the end of the ...
,
County Cavan
County Cavan ( ; gle, Contae an Chabháin) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Border Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is base ...
native British Army officer during World War II; subsequent supporter of Irish republicanism
*
Oswald Phipps, 4th Marquess of Normanby
Oswald Constantine John Phipps, 4th Marquess of Normanby, (29 July 1912 – 30 January 1994), styled Earl of Mulgrave until 1932, was a British peer and philanthropist for blind people.
Early life
The eldest son of Constantine Phipps, 3rd Ma ...
KG, British peer and Knight of the Garter
*Sir
Roy Redgrave
George Ellsworthy "Roy" Redgrave (26 April 1873 – 25 May 1922) was an English stage and silent film actor. Redgrave is considered to be the first member of the Redgrave acting dynasty.
Early life
Born George Edward Redgrave in 122 Kenningt ...
,
former Major General Commanding the Household Division of the British Army
*
James Meade
James Edward Meade, (23 June 1907 – 22 December 1995) was a British economist and winner of the 1977 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences jointly with the Swedish economist Bertil Ohlin for their "pathbreaking contribution to the ...
, Nobel Prize–winning economist
*
Sandy Millar
John Alexander Kirkpatrick Millar (born 13 November 1939), known as Sandy Millar, is a retired Anglican bishop who, on 27 November 2005, was consecrated in Kampala as an assistant bishop in the Province of Uganda, in a joint initiative of Henry Lu ...
, retired Anglican bishop, vicar of
Holy Trinity Brompton
Holy Trinity Brompton with St Paul's, Onslow Square and St Augustine's, South Kensington, often referred to simply as HTB, is an Anglican church in London, England. The church consists of six sites: HTB Brompton Road, HTB Onslow Square (former ...
and founder of the
Alpha course
*
Alistair Irwin
Lieutenant General Sir Alistair Stuart Hastings Irwin, (born 27 August 1948) is a retired British Army officer and a former Adjutant-General to the Forces.
Early life
Irwin was born on 27 August 1948 in Dundee. He was educated at Lambrook prep ...
, Adjutant General to the British Army 2003 to 2005
*
Max Evans,
Scottish rugby player
*
Thom Evans
Thom Evans (born 2 April 1985) is a Scottish former international rugby union player and model. He last played on the wing
for Glasgow Warriors in the Celtic League. Evans's rugby career ended aged 24 on his tenth appearance for Scotland when h ...
,
Scottish rugby player
*
Alex Pettyfer
Alexander Richard Pettyfer (born 10 April 1990) is a British actor and model. He appeared in school plays and on television before being cast as Alex Rider, the main character in the 2006 film version of ''Stormbreaker''. Pettyfer was nominated ...
,
actor
References
External links
ISBI schools database review of Lambrook HaileyburyThe Good Schools Guide
{{authority control
1860 establishments in England
Preparatory schools in Berkshire
Educational institutions established in 1860
Independent schools in Bracknell Forest
Winkfield