Queens College Boys' High School, more commonly referred to as Queen's College (or simply QC), is a fee-paying

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

for boys situated in the town of

Queenstown, Eastern Cape Queenstown, officially Komani, is a town in the middle of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, roughly halfway between the smaller towns of Cathcart and Sterkstroom on the N6 National Route. The town was established in 1853 and is cu ...

. Established in 1858 first as Prospect House Academy, it is the oldest school in the Border region and among the 100 oldest schools in South Africa. The college is associated with ''Queen's College Boys' Junior School'', which was established on 15 November 1957, a year before the high school marked 100 years of existence.

History

Queen's College started as ''Prospect House Academy'' when Mr C.E Ham first opened the doors to his school on 21 April 1858 at 6 Shepstone Street in Queenstown. The school was situated in an outbuilding on the property and consisted of a single room with a mud floor and holes in the wall for ventilation. The enrollment had reached 30 boys by 1859 and was also known as the Queenstown District School. It was in receipt of a government grant of £50, backdated to the initial opening of the school. From inception the school offered boarding facilities, in the home of Mr Ham, conveniently situated directly across the road from the schoolhouse. In 1864, a dispute regarding financial support for the school by the district council, led to the abrupt closure of the school by Mr Ham and he ceased teaching in order to open a general store in the town. Boys returning from their holiday in July 1864 discovered that their school house had been let to another tenant and their schoolmaster had become a haberdasher. Public concern was such that a committee was formed, which decides that St Michael's Grammar School should assume the mantle of Prospect House Academy by accepting the status of a government-aided school. The resulting amalgamated school becomes the Public School for Boys and classes are held in a billiard hall. It was only in 1910 that the school was renamed Queen's College.

Headmasters

*Mr. CE Ham (1858–1864) *Mr. G Elliot (1864–1865) *Mr. R McCormick (1865–1867) *Mr. Frederic John Beswick (1867–1899) *Mr. B Noaks (1899–1900) *Mr. GFH Clark (1901–1904) *Mr. H Wilkinson (1904–1929) *Mr. A Parry-Davies (1930–1939) * Mr. HQ Davies (1940–1964) *Mr. TW Higgs (1965–1973) *Mr. DH Schroeder (1974–1992) *Mr. CP Harker (1993–2010) *Mr. DCP Lovatt (2011–2012) *Mr. BJ Grant (2013–2017) * Mr. J van der Ryst (2018–present)

School facilities

*4 science and biology labs *Design and Technology facility *Media centre *Library *Music centre *4 full sized cricket fields *8 turf wickets for practices *3 indoor cricket nets *2 squash courts *7 rugby fields *400m Cinder athletes track *1 floodlit AstroTurf *50m swimming pool *Water polo pool *2 basketball courts *Gym *School Hall *Memorial Hall

Hostels

The school has currently has three hostels; Whitson House, Athlone House and Connaught House. Whitson caters for students in Grades 8–9, Connaught for students in Grades 10–12 and Athlone for Students in Grades 9-10. Athlone was reopened in 2021 after many years of closure. All hostel boys belong to as Beswick House, a name taken from the school's fourth headmaster. Originally, Whitson House was the first hostel of the school and was built in 1904. It was later renamed Connaught House. In 1932, this hostel was closed leading to the later opening of hostels Athlone and De Vos Malan in 1939. In 1975, Connaught House was renamed Whitson House after old boy Mr H Whitson. The new Connaught House was built in 1979. After a decline in Boarders in the early 2000s most of the hostels were closed and converted into classrooms. Hostels outside campus were sold.

Sports and cultural programmes

Sports

The main sports fields are the Queen’s College Victoria Recreation Grounds (rugby and athletics) and the Chris Harker Astro (hockey) where first team matches are played. The naming of the astroturf being a misnomer which suggests that it is soley owned by the school, when it is actually a shared facility amongst local schools. *

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

* Cross country *

Hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

Squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

Cultural

*Agronomy Club *Adventure Club *Brass Band *Marimba Band *Blood Peer Promotors *Chess Society *Choir *Computer Club *Debating Society & Public Speaking *Do It Yourself (DIY) *Drama *Driver Training *Ecowatch *First Aid Society *Queen's Gym *Interact Club *Library Society *Photographic Society *The Queen's Quote *Representative Council of Learners (RCL) *Students' Christian Association (SCA)

Notable Old Boys

Sport

Rugby and Cricket

Other sports

* Glen Dell, Advanced World Aerobatic Champion in 2004 and Red Bull Air Race competitor (1974) *

Le-Neal Jackson Le-Neal Jackson (birth 30 September 1994) is a South African field hockey player. International career Jackson made her debut for the test, RSA v USA in Durban. Shortly after this announcement, he was also named in the squad for the 2022 Africa ...

, South African field hockey player

Business and the arts

Allister Sparks Allister Haddon Sparks (10 March 1933 – 19 September 2016) was a South African writer, journalist, and political commentator. He was the editor of ''The Rand Daily Mail'' when it broke Muldergate, the story of how the apartheid government sec ...

, journalist, author and former editor of

The Rand Daily Mail ''The Rand Daily Mail'' was a South African newspaper published from 1902 until it was controversially closed in 1985 after adopting an outspoken anti-apartheid stance in the midst of a massive clampdown on activists by the security forces. The ...

(1950) * Alan Scholefield, journalist and writer (1947) * Don Pinnock, criminologist, naturalist and journalist (1965) * Gideon Khobane, CEO of SuperSport (1995) *Gary Hartley, writer, director, producer, editor and 2021

Mail and Guardian The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...

Top 200 Eminent and Accomplished Young South Africans (2004) *Loyiso Mkize, visual artist, creator of "Kwezi" - South Africa's first ever superhero and artist for DC comics (2005) *Ayabonga Cawe, economist, broadcaster and author (2008)

Politics

*Errol K. Moorcroft,

Progressive Federal Party The Progressive Federal Party (PFP) ( af, Progressiewe Federale Party) was a South African political party formed in 1977 through merger of the Progressive and Reform parties, eventually changing its name to the Progressive Federal Party. For it ...

and

Democratic Party (South Africa) The Democratic Party (DP) was the name of the South African political party now called the Democratic Alliance. Although the Democratic Party name dates from 1989, the party existed under other labels throughout the apartheid years, when it wa ...

politician, MP for Albany district 1981–1987, 1989–1994 (1956)

Military

* John ("Jack") Sherwood Kelly, VC CMG DSO, recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

(also attended

Dale College Dale College Boys' High School (Simply often known as ''Dale College'') is a State school, public English language, English medium high school for boys situated in the town of Qonce in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa; It is one of the ...

, Selborne College and St. Andrews College) * Norman Walsh, Rhodesian and Zimbabwean air marshal (1949)

References

{{ECSchools Schools in the Eastern Cape Educational institutions established in 1858 Boarding schools in South Africa 1858 establishments in the British Empire Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality