__NOTOC__ Willington Independent Preparatory School is situated in

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, south-west

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

History

The school was founded in 1885. It was situated in

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

, London, to cater for the boys of the growing middle class population of the area. The school's main purpose was to prepare pupils for

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 ...

entrance exams, with a number gaining

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

s, the first in 1888 to Francis Whipple for attendance at Merchant Taylors' School. Many scholarships for academic, sport, music and art are still awarded to students. After being housed at other villa-type sites in West

, the school moved to 5 Colinette Road in 1916, where it remained until 1990. By the early 1900s it had a role of about seventy boys including, from 1910 to 1921, about ten boarders, looked after by a matron. After the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1939, the majority of boys were evacuated to

Uckfield Uckfield () is a town in the Wealden District of East Sussex in South East England. The town is on the River Uck, one of the tributaries of the River Ouse, on the southern edge of the Weald. Etymology 'Uckfield', first recorded in writing as ...

in Sussex, and after fall of France in 1940 to Tawstock Court in Devon. By September 1942 all boys had returned to London, with the school resuming as before. In 1961 the school became a charitable trust, it previously being owned by the Head, who sold it on to the next incumbent. Two new wings were added to the school building in 1968 and 1971, with the facilities improved and modernised. By 1975 the role had increased to 150. The school moved to its current location in Wimbledon in 1990. It was originally established and run as a school for boys aged 7 to 13, with the minimum age lowered to 4 in the 1930s. In 2020 it began a transition to become co-educational, offering an education to both boys and girls, aged 3 to 11.

Students

Notable former students include: *

Dallas Bower Dallas Bower (25 July 1907 – 18 October 1999) was a British director and producer active during the early development of mass media communication. Throughout his career Bower’s work spanned radio plays, television shows, propaganda shorts, ani ...

, film and radio director and producer *

Maurice Bowra Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra, (; 8 April 1898 – 4 July 1971) was an English classical scholar, literary critic and academic, known for his wit. He was Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1970, and served as Vice-Chancellor of the Univer ...

, classical scholar and academic *

Esmond Knight Esmond Penington Knight (4 May 1906 – 23 February 1987) was an English actor. He had a successful stage and film career before World War II. For much of his later career Knight was half-blind. He had been badly wounded in 1941 while on active ...

, actor *

Basil Liddell Hart Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart (31 October 1895 – 29 January 1970), commonly known throughout most of his career as Captain B. H. Liddell Hart, was a British soldier, military historian and military theorist. He wrote a series of military histo ...

, historian and military theorist *

John McAnally Vice Admiral John Henry Stuart McAnally, (born 9 April 1945) is a former Royal Navy officer who served as Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies from 1998 to 2001. He was educated at Willington School in Putney and then Westmins ...

, vice-admiral *

Sir Frank Newnes, 2nd Baronet Sir Frank Hillyard Newnes, 2nd Baronet (28 September 1876 – 10 July 1955) was a British publisher, businessman and Liberal politician. Family and education Frank Hillyard Newnes was born in Manchester,''The Times'', 11 July 1955, p.13 the son ...

, publisher and MP *

Lawrence Oates Lawrence Edward Grace "Titus" Oates (17 March 188017 March 1912) was a British army officer, and later an Antarctic explorer, who died from hypothermia

, Antarctic explorer *

Graham Pollard Henry Graham Pollard (known as Graham Pollard) (7 March 1903 – 15 November 1976) was a British bookseller and bibliographer. Early life Pollard was the son of the historian Albert Pollard and was born in Putney, London on 7 March 1903. ...

, bookseller and bibliographer *

Robert Renwick, 1st Baron Renwick Robert Burnham Renwick, 1st Baron Renwick, KBE (4 October 1904 – 30 August 1973), known as Sir Robert Renwick, 2nd Baronet, from 1932 to 1964, was a British industrialist and public servant. Renwick was the only son of Sir Harry Renwick, 1st ...

, businessman * Francis Whipple, mathematician and meteorologist

Notes

References

* * * * (Access date 8 April 2021) * (Access date 8 April 2021) * (Access date 27 April 2021) {{authority control 1885 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 1885 Independent co-educational schools in London Independent schools in the London Borough of Merton Preparatory schools in London Buildings and structures in Wimbledon, London