Saint Ronan's School is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

co-educational preparatory school for boys and girls from 3 to 13 years located in Hawkhurst in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it fac ...

, England. It currently has about 440 pupils, the majority of them day pupils, although boarding is available from Monday night through to Thursday night for all pupils from Year 4 upwards. The present headmaster is William Trelawny-Vernon. The school was named Tatler UK Prep School of the Year in 2017-2018 and TES Prep School of the Year 2021.

History

The school was founded in 1883 and was originally located in

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

. During the Second World War, the school was evacuated to Bicton Park near

Exmouth Exmouth is a port town, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the 5th most populous settlement in Devon. Histor ...

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 i ...

, but afterwards moved to its present location in Tongswood House. The house was remodelled in the late 19th century for William Cotterill, owner c. 1868 to 1892, of a mercantile family from Birmingham. Tongswood later belonged to Charles Eugene Gunther (died 1931), head of the Liebig Extract of Meat Company which later became known as OXO, who was High Sheriff of Kent in 1926. Sir Richard Vassar-Smith, 3rd Baronet, was headmaster from 1957 to 1971, and was succeeded by his son, Sir John Vassar-Smith, 4th Baronet, who was headmaster of the school until his retirement in 1997.

Notable alumni

Former pupils of Saint Ronan's School include: *

Lindsay Anderson Lindsay Gordon Anderson (17 April 1923 – 30 August 1994) was a British feature-film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading-light of the Free Cinema movement and of the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered fo ...

, film and theatre director * Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith, colonial administrator and hereditary peer * Christopher Battiscombe, diplomat *

Richard Rodney Bennett Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (29 March 193624 December 2012) was an English composer of film, TV and concert music, and also a jazz pianist and occasional vocalist. He was based in New York City from 1979 until his death there in 2012. Zachary Wo ...

, composer * Bill Benyon,

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Mark Bonham Carter, Baron Bonham-Carter Mark Raymond Bonham Carter, Baron Bonham-Carter (11 February 1922 – 4 September 1994) was an English publisher and politician. He was created a life peer in 1986. Early life He was the son of the Liberal activists Sir Maurice Bonham-Cart ...

and publisher *

Raymond Bonham Carter Raymond Henry Bonham Carter (19 June 1929 – 17 January 2004) was a British banker and a member of the prominent Bonham Carter family. Early life He was born in Paddington, London, to Sir Maurice Bonham-Carter (1880–1960), a politician and ...

, banker *

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, soldier * Richard Bridgeman, 7th Earl of Bradford, peer and restaurateur *

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* Patrick Chichester, 8th Marquess of Donegall, peer * Iain Cochrane, 15th Earl of Dundonald, peer * Sampson Collins, cricket journalist * Peter Dickinson, author and poet * Frank Gardner, journalist (BBC Security Correspondent) * Michael Grylls,

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, composer * David Heathcoat-Amory,

* Osbert Lancaster, cartoonist * Laddie Lucas,

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officer, left-handed golfer, author and

Donald Maclean (spy) Donald Duart Maclean (; 25 May 1913 – 6 March 1983) was a British diplomat who conveyed government secrets to the Soviet Union. As an undergraduate, Maclean openly proclaimed his left-wing views, and was recruited into the Soviet intelligenc ...

* Christopher Makins, 2nd Baron Sherfield, peer, Anglo-American diplomat, foreign policy expert, and author * César Mange de Hauke, art dealer *

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, British soldier, lawyer and

* Francis Newall, 2nd Baron Newall, peer * Martin Nourse, Lord Justice of Appeal of England and Wales * John Palmer, 4th Earl of Selborne, British peer, ecological expert, and businessman * Matthew Parish, olympic rower * Thomas Ponsonby, 3rd Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede, Chairman of the

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, Labour Chief Whip 1982-1990 *

John Raven John Earle Raven (13 December 1914 – 5 March 1980) was an English classical scholar, notable for his work on presocratic philosophy, and amateur botanist. Early life and education John Raven was born on 13 December 1914 in Cambridge, the ...

, Classical scholar and

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

''John Raven by his Friends'', edited by John Lipscomb and R. W. David. Published privately by Faith Raven, 1981, , page 12 * Sir Charles Richardson, army general * E. Clive Rouse, archaeologist *

Charles Saumarez Smith Sir Charles Robert Saumarez Smith (born 28 May 1954) is a British cultural historian specialising in the history of art, design and architecture. He was the Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 2007 until ...

, British cultural historian specialising in the history of art, design and architecture * Mark Shand,

travel writer The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern per ...

and conservationist *

Philip Sidney, 2nd Viscount De L'Isle Philip John Algernon Sidney, 2nd Viscount De L'Isle, (born 21 April 1945) is a British peer and former soldier. Life and career Lord De L'Isle is the only son of William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle and his wife Jacqueline (née Vereker), a ...

, peer * James Simpson, naval officer and explorer * Michael Whinney, Church of England bishop

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Ronan's School Preparatory schools in Kent Hawkhurst Church of England independent schools in the Diocese of Rochester Educational institutions established in 1883 1883 establishments in England