Queen's College (QC) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

Georgetown, Guyana Georgetown is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Guyana. It is situated in Demerara-Mahaica, region 4, on the Atlantic Ocean coast, at the mouth of the Demerara River. It is nicknamed the "Garden City of the Caribbean." It is t ...

History

It was established in 1844 by Bishop William Piercy Austin as an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

grammar school for boys and was aimed at educating the colonial elite. The school was temporarily quartered at what is the current location of the High Court before moving to another property at Main and Quamina Street until 1854. The current site of Bishops' High School was the location of Queen's College from 1854 to 1918. From there it moved to another property at Brickdam and Vlissingen Road, until 1951, when it moved to its current location. The final move saw significant expansion of classrooms and facilities, however an arson attack destroyed 1997. In 1876, the Compulsory Denominational Education Bill secularized education and it became Queen's College of British Guiana as a national institution funded by the government. and in 1975 became

co-ed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

. The library was opened in 1880 and the school produced a variety of student papers, starting in 1881 as Our College Gazette, QC Gazette, the Queen's Chronicle and, the QC Lictor newspaper in 1950. The school also produced The Queen's College Magazine yearly from about 1912 to the 1974-76 edition.

Accomplishments

The school has received the Dennis Irvine Award for academic excellence in the Caribbean 3 times and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations premier science award 6 times.

Traditional Organization

The school has a

House system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth countries and the United States. The school is divided into subunits called "houses" and each student is allocated to o ...

of 10 houses, named in honor of famous people to the history of Guyana; William Exley Percival,

Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion ...

, Bishop Austin,

Benjamin D'Urban Lieutenant General Sir Benjamin D'Urban (16 February 1777 – 25 May 1849) was a British general and colonial administrator, who is best known for his frontier policy when he was the Governor in the Cape Colony (now in South Africa). Early ...

, Edward Oliver Pilgrim, Frederick Thomas Weston,

Edwin Moulder Edwin Moulder (9 October 1873 – 21 November 1942) was a Guyanese cricketer. He played in sixteen first-class matches for British Guiana from 1901 to 1913. He was born in Friendship Village, East Coast Demerara. His father was a former vi ...

, Charles Campbell Woolley, John Henry Dacres Cunningham, and Captain Howard Nobbs. By convention, siblings are often put into the same house, and could also apply to other relatives and the children of previous students.

Notable alumni

* Michael Abbensetts, playwright *

Norman Beaton Norman Lugard Beaton (31 October 1934 – 13 December 1994) was a Guyanese actor long resident in the United Kingdom. He became best known for his role as Desmond Ambrose in the Channel Four television comedy series ''Desmond's''. The writer S ...

, actor *

E. R. Braithwaite Eustace Edward Ricardo Braithwaite (June 27, 1912 – December 12, 2016), publishing as E. R. Braithwaite, was a Guyanese-born British-American novelist, writer, teacher and diplomat best known for his stories of social conditions and racia ...

, novelist *

Forbes Burnham Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham (20 February 1923 – 6 August 1985) was a Guyanese politician and the leader of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana from 1964 until his death in 1985. He served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1980 and then as its f ...

, former president * John Carter, politician, lawyer and diplomat *

Martin Carter Martin Wylde Carter (7 June 1927 – 13 December 1997) was a Guyanese poet and political activist. Widely regarded as the greatest Guyanese poet, and one of the most important poets of the Caribbean region, Carter is best known for his p ...

, poet * Guy E. L. de Weever, author of ''The Children's Story of Guyana'' * Phil Edwards, athlete, physician *

Tommy Eytle Thomas Daniel Hicks Eytle (16 July 1926 – 19 June 2007)Wilmer, Val"Tommy Eytle" (obituary) ''The Guardian'', 27 July 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2017. was a Guyanese calypso musician and actor. Although born in Guyana, Eytle's career was based in ...

, actor and calypso musician * Rhona Fox, actress * David Granger, former president *

Roger Harper Roger Andrew Harper (born 17 March 1963) is a Guyanese former cricketer turned coach, who played both Test and One Day International cricket for the West Indies cricket team. His international career lasted 13 years, from 1983 to 1996, and he w ...

, former West indies cricketer *

Wilson Harris Sir Theodore Wilson Harris (24 March 1921 – 8 March 2018) was a Guyanese writer. He initially wrote poetry, but subsequently became a novelist and essayist. His writing style is often said to be abstract and densely metaphorical, and his sub ...

, novelist * Samuel Hinds, Prime Minister * Dr. Cheddi Jagan, former president *

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

, athlete * Sir Lionel Luckhoo, lawyer *

Trevor Phillips Sir Mark Trevor Phillips (born 31 December 1953) is a British writer, broadcaster and former politician who served as Chair of the London Assembly from 2000 to 2001 and from 2002 to 2003. He presented '' Trevor Phillips on Sunday'', a Sunday ...

, British politician *

Robert Cyril Gladstone Potter Robert Cyril Gladstone Potter (1899–1981) was an educator and composer from Guyana and the namesake of the Cyril Potter College of Education. He also composed the national anthem of Guyana, '' Green Land of Guyana''. Potter was born at Graham's ...

, educator and composer of ''

Dear Land of Guyana, of Rivers and Plains "Dear Land of Guyana, of Rivers and Plains" is the national anthem of Guyana. Robert Cyril Gladstone Potter composed the music, while the lyrics were authored by Archibald Leonard Luker. Two separate contests were held to determine the words and ...

'' *

Walter Rodney Walter Anthony Rodney (23 March 1942 – 13 June 1980) was a Guyanese historian, political activist and academic. His notable works include ''How Europe Underdeveloped Africa'', first published in 1972. Rodney was assassinated in Georgetow ...

, historian, politician * Arthur J. Seymour, literary critic, poet, biographer

References

External links