Twyford School is a co-educational,

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 ...

, preparatory boarding and day school, located in the village of Twyford,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, England.

History

Twyford states itself to be the oldest preparatory school in the United Kingdom. It moved to its present site in 1809, but there has been a school for boys in Twyford since the seventeenth century. During the nineteenth century buildings were added, including a large schoolroom built during the 1820s, and a mid-Victorian chapel. Original buildings are still used and form part of today's campus. In 1859, while

George Kitchin George William Kitchin (7 December 1827 – 13 October 1912) was the first Chancellor of the University of Durham, from the institution of the role in 1908 until his death in 1912. He was also the last Dean of Durham to govern the university. ...

was master of the school, his friend

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

took a photograph of Kitchin and his class of nine boys.

Current status

A series of developments coincided with the admission of girls to the school, and have continued in recent years. Building works and improvements have been undertaken, although historic fabric has generally been retained. In addition the sports grounds and other outdoor facilities have been upgraded. Twyford is a private school, and a registered charity. It accepts both day pupils and boarders, and has a pre-preparatory school on the same campus for children below the age of five. It has capacity for around 400 pupils between the ages of 3 and 13, with boarders being accepted from the age of 8. It is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

school.

Headmasters

*To 1692: Rev. Thomas Brown, alias WeatherbyJohn Dudley Browning, ''Education in the 18th Century'' (1979), p. 105: "In 1692 the Reverend William Husband, alias Bernard, succeeded the Reverend Thomas Brown, alias Weatherby, as headmaster at Twyford." *From 1692: Rev. William Husband, alias Bernard *1855 to 1861: Rev. George Kitchin, later

Dean of Winchester The Dean of Winchester is the head of the Chapter of Winchester Cathedral in the city of Winchester, England, in the Diocese of Winchester. Appointment is by the Crown. The first incumbent was the last Prior, William Kingsmill, Catherine Ogl ...

in 1883, then

Dean of Durham The Dean of Durham is the "head" (''primus inter pares'' – first among equals) and chair of the Chapter, the ruling body of Durham Cathedral. The dean and chapter are based at the ''Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cu ...

from 1894 to 1912, and from 1908 to 1912, Chancellor of the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

*1862 to 1887: Reverend Lathom Wickham''The Diaries of Lewis Carroll'' Volume 2 (1954), p. 387: "Lathom Wickham ometime of Christ Church, Headmaster of Twyford School 1862-87brought a son to matriculate here harles Townshend Wickham, became Headmaster of Twyford on his father's retirement *1887: Reverend Charles Townshend Wickham *1939 to 1963: Reverend Robert ("Bob") G. Wickham *1963 to 1983: David. T. Wickham MA (Oxon) *1983 to 1996: Peter Richard Douglas Gould *1996 to 2003: Philip Fawkes *2003 to 2009: Dr David Livingstone *2009 to 2020: Dr Steve Bailey, previously a master at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

*2020 Andrew Harvey In 1984, Donald Leinster-Mackay noted that "The Wickham family have provided headmasters for Twyford School since 1834.

Notable old boys

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

(1688–1744), poet * Thomas Talbot (1727–1795), Roman Catholic bishop * James Talbot (1726–1790), priest * William Loring (1811–1895), Royal Navy officer *

Thomas Hughes Thomas Hughes (20 October 182222 March 1896) was an English lawyer, judge, politician and author. He is most famous for his novel ''Tom Brown's School Days'' (1857), a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had attended. ...

(1822–1896), lawyer and author *

Thomas Baring, 1st Earl of Northbrook Thomas George Baring, 1st Earl of Northbrook, (22 January 182615 November 1904) was a British Liberal statesman. Gladstone appointed him Viceroy of India 1872–1876. His major accomplishments came as an energetic reformer who was dedicated to ...

(1826–1904) *

Philip Sclater Philip Lutley Sclater (4 November 1829 – 27 June 1913) was an England, English lawyer and zoologist. In zoology, he was an expert ornithologist, and identified the main zoogeographic regions of the world. He was Secretary of the Zoological ...

(1829–1913), lawyer and zoologist * Sir Robert Biddulph (1835–1918), soldier *

Charles Eamer Kempe Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lichg ...

(1837–1907) designer of stained glass *

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (17 August 1840 – 10 September 1922), sometimes spelt Wilfred, was an English poet and writer. He and his wife Lady Anne Blunt travelled in the Middle East and were instrumental in preserving the Arabian horse bloodlines ...

(1840–1922), poet * Thomas Garnier (1841–1898), clergyman and cricketer * Robert Moberly (1845–1915), priest * Edwin Dodgson (1846–1918), clergyman and missionary, brother of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) * Sir Henry Hallam Parr (1847–1914), soldier *

Sir Hubert Parry Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 18487 October 1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Born in Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, Richmond Hill in Bournemouth, Parry's first major works appeared in 18 ...

(1848–1918), composer *

Arthur Woollgar Verrall Arthur Woollgar Verrall (5 February 1851, Brighton – 18 June 1912, Cambridge) was a British classics scholar associated with Trinity College, Cambridge, and the first occupant of the King Edward VII Chair of English. He was noted for his transl ...

(1851–1912), classical scholar *

George Kemball Major-General Sir George Vere Kemball, KCMG, CB, DSO, R.A. (1859–1941) was a British Army officer of the 19th and early 20th century. He was a career officer in the British Army spending most of his career in India and Africa. Early life a ...

(1858–1941), soldier *

Edward Christian Edward Christian (3 March 1758 – 29 March 1823) was an English judge and law professor. He was the older brother of Fletcher Christian, leader of the mutiny on the ''Bounty''. Life Edward Christian was one of the three sons of Charles Ch ...

(1858–1934), footballer and tea-trader * John Rawlinson (1860–1926), lawyer and politician *

Walter Congreve General Sir Walter Norris Congreve, (20 November 1862 – 28 February 1927), was a British Army officer in the Second Boer War and the First World War, and Governor of Malta from 1924 to 1927. He received the Victoria Cross, the highest award f ...

(1862–1927), soldier * Arthur Christian (1863–1926), Royal Navy officer *

Edwyn Alexander-Sinclair Admiral Sir Edwyn Sinclair Alexander-Sinclair, (born Alexander; 12 December 1865 – 13 November 1945) was a Scottish Royal Navy officer, notable for firing the first shots of the Battle of Jutland, and for leading a squadron of light ...

(1865–1945), Royal Navy officer * John Poynder Dickson-Poynder, 1st Baron Islington (1866–1936), Governor General of New Zealand *

Andrew Hamilton Russell Major General Sir Andrew Hamilton Russell (23 February 1868 – 29 November 1960) was a senior officer of the New Zealand Military Forces who served during the First World War. Born in Napier, New Zealand, Russell spent most of his youth in Engl ...

(1868–1960), New Zealand soldier *

Walter Roch Walter Francis Roch (20 January 1880 – 3 March 1965), sometime MP (Lib.) for Pembrokeshire from 1908 to 1918 was a Welsh politician and landowner, whose political career ended when he continued to support H.H. Asquith over David Lloyd Geor ...

(1880–1965), landowner and politician *

John Minshull-Ford Major-general (United Kingdom), Major-General John Randle Minshull-Ford (12 May 1881 – 1 April 1948) was a senior British Army officer who briefly served as Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey before the Occupation of the Channel Islands, Germ ...

(1881–1948), soldier and Lieutenant Governor of GuernseyNotable OTs by Twyford Society
at twyfordschool.com, archived by archive.org, accessed February 2019 *

Roscow Shedden Roscow George Shedden (13 May 1882 – 11 December 1956) was an Anglican colonial bishop in the first half of the 20th century. Born into the family of Sir George Shedden of Paulespury Park, at East Cowes he was educated at Twyford School, Winc ...

(1882–1956), bishop * Clarence Napier Bruce (1885–1957), sportsman * Sir George Gater (1886–1963), soldier and civil servant *

Roland Philipps Roland Erasmus Philipps, (27 February 1890 – 7 July 1916) was a writer and a leading Scout official. He was the second son of John Philipps, 1st Viscount St Davids and his first wife, Leonora Gerstenberg. He was educated at Twyford School, W ...

(1890–1916), soldier, killed in action *

Alban Arnold Alban Charles Phidias Arnold (19 November 1892 — 7 July 1916) was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer. The son of The Reverend Charles Lowther Arnold, he was born in July 1916 at Tattenhall, Cheshire. He educated at Tw ...

(1892–1916), cricketer *

Ernest Fraser Jacob Ernest Fraser Jacob (12 September 1894 – 7 October 1971) was a British medievalist and scholar who was President of the Chetham Society, Lancashire Parish Register Society and Ecclesiastical History Society. Education He was educated at Tw ...

(1894–1971), scholar * Gerald Vernon (1899–1963), bishop *

William Andrewes Admiral Sir William Gerrard Andrewes (3 November 1899 – 21 November 1974) was a Royal Navy officer who served in World War I and World War II, commanded the British and Commonwealth Naval Forces and Task Force 95 (part of the United Nations ...

(1899–1974), Royal Navy officer * Ralph George Scott Bankes (1900–1948), barrister * Sir Michael Perrin (1905–1988), nuclear physicist *

Richard Crossman Richard Howard Stafford Crossman (15 December 1907 – 5 April 1974) was a British Labour Party politician. A university classics lecturer by profession, he was elected a Member of Parliament in 1945 and became a significant figure among the ...

(1907–1974), politician *

Amherst Barrow Whatman Lieutenant colonel Amherst Barrow "Brownie" Whatman MBE (1 November 1909 – 5 November 1984), FIEE, was a British wireless operator and radio engineer. He was the only child of Major Amherst Blunt Whatman and Myrtle Ellen Waller Barrow. He fol ...

(1909–1984), radio engineer * Claude Sclater (1910-1986), naval officer *

Lynch Maydon Lieutenant-Commander Stephen Lynch Conway Maydon (15 December 1913 – 2 March 1971) was a British Navy officer and politician who had a brief career in government. Maydon's father John, after whom Maydon Wharf in Durban is named, was a membe ...

(1913–1971), naval officer and politician * George Rudolf Hanbury Fielding (1915–2005), soldier *

Terence Edward Armstrong Terence Edward Armstrong (7 April 1920 – 21 February 1996) was a British polar geographer, sea ice specialist, writer, and expert on the Russian Arctic. Career Terence Edward Armstrong was educated at Twyford School,Desmond Norman Nigel Desmond Norman, (13 August 1929 – 13 November 2002) was an aircraft designer and aviation pioneer. Norman co-founded Britten-Norman in 1954, was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1970, and served as chairman a ...

(1929–2002), aircraft designer *

Jock Bruce-Gardyne John Bruce-Gardyne, Baron Bruce-Gardyne (12 April 1930 – 15 April 1990), was a British Conservative Party politician. Son of Captain Evan Bruce-Gardyne, DSO, RN, 13th Laird of Middleton, and a member of a Scottish landholding family who have ...

, (1930–1990), politician *

Douglas Hurd Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, (born 8 March 1930) is a British Conservative Party politician who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1979 to 1995. A career diplomat and political secretary to P ...

(born 1930), politicianDouglas Hurd, ''Memoirs'' (2003), p. 52 *

Mark Tully Sir William Mark Tully, KBE (born 24 October 1935) is the former Bureau Chief of BBC, New Delhi, a position he held for 20 years. He worked with the BBC for a total of 30 years before resigning in July 1994. The recipient of several awards, Tu ...

(born 1935), BBC overseas correspondent *

Humphrey Taylor Humphrey Vincent Taylor (5 March 1938 – 17 February 2021) was an English Anglican clergyman who served as the sixth Suffragan Bishop of Selby. Crockfords On line- accessed Sunday 23 March 2008 Biography He was educated at Twyford, Harrow an ...

(born 1938), bishop * Christopher Orlebar (1945–2018), Concorde pilot *

Ralph Palmer, 12th Baron Lucas Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

(born 1951), publisher and politician *

Andrew Longmore Sir Andrew Centlivres Longmore (born 25 August 1944), styled The Rt Hon. Lord Justice Longmore, is a British lawyer and judge. Educated at Winchester College and Lincoln College, Oxford, he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1966 a ...

(1953–2019), cricketer and journalist

References

External links

School WebsiteProfile
on the

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