St Philip's Grammar School, in Hagley Road,
Edgbaston
Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre.
In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...
,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, was a Roman Catholic state
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 ...
for boys. It was closed in 1976, but continued as a Sixth Form College until 1995.
History
St Philip's was founded when two priests of the
Birmingham Oratory took over an existing Catholic Grammar School in 1887. It should not be confused with the Oratory School founded by
John Henry Newman
John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...
in 1859 and which later moved to
Pangbourne
Pangbourne is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Thames in Berkshire, England. Pangbourne has its own shops, schools, Pangbourne railway station, a railway station on the Great Western main line and a vill ...
, near
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
.
The school started in the Little Oratory on 19 September 1887 until the main building was completed on 13 December 1887. The longest-serving teacher in the school's history was Francis Thomas Leighton, who served as "Second Master" (Deputy Head) from 1911 until 1945, having served as Headmaster when the School was evacuated to Ludlow in 1941. His two sons, and later, grandson, also attended the school. FT Leighton finally left to found an independent Preparatory School, Leighton House School, serving as a "feeder" school for St Philip's. The school ceased to accept new entrants as a boys' Grammar School in 1976, while the 1975 cohort progressed through to 1980.
Sixth form college
It became St Philip's Roman Catholic
Sixth Form College
A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate Di ...
in 1976, with around 800 sixth formers. In October 1992, due to only 30% of the intake being Catholic, the board of governors unsuccessfully attempted to change it to an 11-16 boys' secondary school, resulting in the ''Hagley Road'' site closing in August 1995. It temporarily became a site of
South Birmingham College
South & City College Birmingham is a further education and higher education college in Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), ...
from 1995 but was vacated in 2005. The main school buildings were demolished in the early months of 2012.
Notable alumni
*
Eamon Duffy
Eamon Duffy (born 1947) is an Irish historian. He is a professor of the history of Christianity at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow and former president of Magdalene College.
Early life
Duffy was born on 9 February 1947, in Dundalk, I ...
, Professor of the History of Christianity at the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
* Patrick Gallaher CBE, Chairman of North West Gas from 1974–82, and of Wales Gas Board from 1970–74, and President of the
IGasE from 1977–78
*Sir Francis Griffin, Director of the
NEC
is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...
from 1970–74, 1976–80
*
John Jenkins,
Ambassador to Iraq since 2009
*
Paul Keenan, composer
*
Alfred Knight VC, OBE served in WW1 and later at Ministry of Labour
*
Squadron Leader
Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...
Peter Latham, later
Air Vice-Marshal
Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...
,
[''A History of St Philips, from Beginning to Beginning'', Margaret Worsley, Wine Press, Tamworth, 1997; ] Station Commander of
RAF Tengah ''Tengah'' is an Indonesian and Malay word meaning "Central". It can be found in topography, e.g.
*Kalimantan Tengah
*Tengah Islands or Central Archipelago.
*Tengah, Singapore
*Tengah Air Base
The Tengah Air Base is a military airbase of ...
from 1969–71
* Paul Francis Leighton,
Broadcaster and
BBC Radio 2 Newsreader, 1981-2000.
[''A History of St Philips, from Beginning to Beginning'' by Margaret Worsley, Wine Press, Tamworth 1997, ]
*
Jim McCarthy, CEO of
Poundland
Poundland is a British variety store chain founded in 1990. It once sold most items at the single price of £1, including clearance items and proprietary brands. The first pilot store opened in December 1990 following numerous rejections by ...
*
Don Maclean
Don Maclean (born 1942/1943) MBE KSS is an English actor and comedian, who appeared on the BBC television series '' Crackerjack'' with Michael Aspel, Peter Glaze and Jan Hunt in the 1970s.
Born in Birmingham, he attended Clifton Road S ...
,
entertainer
An entertainer is someone who provides entertainment in various different forms.
Types of entertainers
* Acrobat
* Actor
* Archimime
* Athlete
* Barker
* Beatboxer
* Benshi
* Bouffon
* Circus performer
* Clown
* Club Hostess/Host
* Co ...
and presenter of ''
Crackerjack''.
*
Daniel Moylan
Daniel Michael Gerald Moylan, Baron Moylan (born 1 March 1956) is an English Conservative politician and a member of the House of Lords, holding dual British and Irish citizenship.
Before being created Baron Moylan in September 2020, he had ...
, banker and Conservative politician
*
Stephen Nash, swimmer
*
Anthony E. Pratt, inventor of the board game
Cluedo
''Cluedo'' (), known as ''Clue'' in North America, is a murder mystery game for three to six players (depending on editions) that was devised in 1943 by British board game designer Anthony E. Pratt. The game was first manufactured by Waddin ...
*
Terence Rigby, actor
*
Francis Farrell, Musician (Supertramp)
*
William Slim
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
- Between 1903 and 1910, William Slim attended St Phillip's and King Edward's. As Field Marshal Slim, he served as the British commander-in-chief in Southeast Asia during World War II.
*
Joseph Spence, Master of Dulwich College
*
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
and his brother Hilary Tolkien: In 1902, the Tolkien family moved to a house in Edgbaston next door to the Birmingham Oratory and the school. Tolkien had been attending
King Edward's School but was moved to St Philip's. Later, he won a Foundation Scholarship to King Edwards and returned to his former school.
*
John Warnaby
John Warnaby is a British actor who has appeared extensively in film and television.
Career
In 1996, Warnaby appeared at the National Theatre in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's ''War and Peace''. In 2006, he appeared in ''The L ...
, Actor
* Lawrence Holder - CEO of Cathedral Capital and Member of the Council of Lloyds
[ ]
*
Gerard Tracey, archivist, writer, editor and scholar.
* Paul Crawford, Professor of
Health Humanities,
The University of Nottingham
, mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom
, established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status
, type = Public
, chancellor ...
.
* Sir
Simon Campbell, CBE, FRS, FMedSci, International Director of Research Pfizer, Signatory to patent of Viagra; Past President of the Royal Society of Chemistry; Visiting Professor at the Universities of Bristol and São Paulo, board of advisors Universities of Leeds and Kent; Consultant FAO
See also
*
Saint Philip Neri
Philip Romolo Neri ( ; it, italics=no, Filippo Romolo Neri, ; 22 July 151526 May 1595), known as the "Second Apostle of Rome", after Saint Peter, was an Italian priest noted for founding a society of secular clergy called the Congregation of t ...
*''A History of St Philips, from Beginning to Beginning'', Margaret Worsley, Wine Press, Tamworth, 1997,
References
External links
Tolkien Trail*
Discussed in Parliament in October 1993
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Philip's School
Grade II* listed buildings in the West Midlands (county)
Defunct schools in Birmingham, West Midlands
Boys' schools in the West Midlands (county)
Defunct grammar schools in England
Defunct Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Birmingham
Educational institutions established in 1887
Educational institutions disestablished in 1976
1887 establishments in England
1976 disestablishments in England
Edgbaston