The Leys School is a co-educational

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, England. It is a day and boarding school for about 574 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and a member of the

Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the United ...

History

The nineteenth century saw the founding of a large number of new schools in Britain, especially by the churches—including the Wesleyan Methodist Church. Although there were already several leading schools that offered an education for the sons of

ministers Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...

of the church, some Methodists were asking also for schools to be established for sons of lay church members. The Methodist Conference set up a committee to look at the possibility of starting a new school at either

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. Following several visits to Cambridge, they discovered that a twenty-acre (80,000 m²) site called "The Leys Estate" was being offered for sale. The estate was situated within easy reach of the city centre on the

Trumpington Road Trumpington Road is an arterial road (part of the A1134) in southeast central Cambridge, England. It runs between the junction of Trumpington Street and Lensfield Road at the northern end to the junction of the High Street in the village of T ...

, and it was close to the

River Cam The River Cam () is the main river flowing through Cambridge in eastern England. After leaving Cambridge, it flows north and east before joining the River Great Ouse to the south of Ely, at Pope's Corner. The total distance from Cambridge to ...

and to a number of Cambridge Colleges. The estate was acquired for the sum of £14,275 on 27 September 1872. The Reverend Doctor W. F. Moulton, who had been the secretary of the committee, was asked to become headmaster of the new school. The school opened on 16 February 1875 with sixteen boys, all from English Methodist families. After two years there were 100 pupils. During the twentieth century, The Leys grew significantly and by 1930 the number of pupils had reached 271. During

World War II 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 ...

, the school temporarily moved to the Atholl Palace Hotel in Pitlochry, Scotland, returning to Cambridge in 1946. During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, the school was designated the auxiliary headquarters to the Regional Seat of Government for Cambridge in time of war. Today the majority of the pupils are boarders and since the admission of girls to the

Sixth Form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

in the 1980s, the school has become fully co-educational. It now accepts pupils from the age of eleven, rather than the age of thirteen as it was before. Leys Gates

Due to its location, the school is popular with

academics as a place to send their children, as well as a place to teach. For example, the

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

Stephen Hawking sent his son to the school and gave a number of talks to its pupils.

Principles

Despite its

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

traditions it has, for more than fifty years, been liberal on religion (although never secular). Many pupils received

confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...

into the

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 ...

in the

school chapel A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

, and some others have had religious backgrounds from faiths other than the Christianity. Despite its religious liberalism, The Leys is predominantly a Christian school and they state openly that "The School’s Christian ethos lies at the heart of our education philosophy." Pupils attend chapel services twice a week; a weekday service on a Friday afternoon plus Sunday services with the whole boarding community on a monthly basis with a weekly service with just their House on another specified day of the week. In addition,

Holy Communion The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted ...

takes place once a term. The school motto is "''In Fide Fiducia''" (Latin for "In Faith, Trust"), which is also the motto for its associated

prep school Preparatory school or prep school may refer to: Schools *Preparatory school (United Kingdom), an independent school preparing children aged 8–13 for entry into fee-charging independent schools, usually public schools *College-preparatory school, ...

St Faith's School St Faith's School is an independent preparatory day school on Trumpington Road, Cambridge, England, for girls and boys aged four to thirteen. The headmaster is Crispin Hyde-Dunn, and the school has in excess of five hundred children. St Faith's ...

. The two schools make up The Leys and St Faith's Foundation. The school song is Rev. B. Hellier's ''Χαίρετε''.

Academic results

In 2019, 52% of pupils scored A*-A for their A-Levels examination, whereas 83% scored A*-A for their GCSEs.

Sport

The main sports played by boys during the three terms are: *

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

(Autumn) * Rowing *Grass and

AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...

Hockey (Spring) *

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

(Summer) *

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

*Football Girls play: *Hockey (Autumn) *

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

(Spring) *

(Summer) The school has a range of sports facilities spread across its site. Other than the above-mentioned sports, the sports pitches include

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

and AstroTurf tennis courts and a football pitch. The AstroTurf pitches are fully lit for night-time play. Indoor facilities include a fully equipped fitness centre, a sports hall for indoor sports such as

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

, three squash courts and an aerobics studio. The school has a 25-meter heated indoor swimming pool and a rowing boathouse on the

as well as several boats. The Leys swims, competing against

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

(the only team to do so), and on a national level at the annual ''Bath Cup''. There is also a very active rowing club, with a newly refurbished boat house in position on the Cam, shared with King's, Churchill and Selwyn Colleges. Along with sailing (at St. Ives), this is a minority sport, counted among "pitch games" (the school's name for non-

team sport A team sport includes any sport where individuals are organized into opposing sports team, teams which compete to win or cooperate to entertain their audience. Team members act together towards a shared objective. This can be done in a numb ...

s). Other pitch games, include squash,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

, Eton Fives and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

. Famous Leysian sportsmen include Neil White (Olympic hockey in 1948); Freddie Brown (Captain of England's cricket team); Geoff Windsor-Lewis (Wales Rugby, 1960); Paul Svehlik (England and Great Britain Hockey); and Neil Christie (Olympic rowing, 1976 and 1980).

Houses

There are 11 houses at The Leys, the oldest being School House founded in 1878. *School is a thirteen to eighteen boys' boarding house with 30–35 boarders and 18–20 home boarders. *West is a thirteen to eighteen boys' boarding house with room for 45–48 boarders with 25–30 home boarders. *North A is a boys' boarding house of 40–45 boarders and fifteen to twenty home boarders. North A House is located on the upper quad, opposite the chapel and adjacent to the Day Houses. *Bisseker is part of the co-educational day house (known internally by its former name of North B House). *Barker is a mixed day house with roughly 50 people. *Barrett Typically around 50 people in each day house. *Dale is a girls' boarding house with 38-42 boarders and 17–20 home boarders. *Fen is a girls' thirteen to eighteen boarding house with 45–50 boarders and twenty to 25 home boarders. The Leys School, Cambridge

* East is the Sixth Form boys' house with 27–30 boarders. * Granta is the Sixth Form girls' house with 30 boarders and up to two home boarders. * Moulton is the junior eleven to thirteen house for twenty to 25 boarders and 35–40 day pupils.

''Goodbye, Mr. Chips''

The setting for popular novel and play ''

Goodbye, Mr. Chips ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' is a novella about the life of a school teacher, Mr. Chipping, written by English writer James Hilton and first published by Hodder & Stoughton in October 1934. It has been adapted into two feature films and two televi ...

'' is believed to have been based on The Leys where author James Hilton was a pupil (1915–1918). Hilton is reported to have said that the inspiration for the protagonist, Chips, came chiefly from W.H. Balgarnie, one of the masters at The Leys (1900–30) who was in charge of the Leys Fortnightly (where Hilton's first short stories and essays were published). Over the years old boys have written to Geoffery Houghton, a master of The Leys for a number of years and a historian of the school, confirming the links between Chips and Balgarnie. As with Mr. Chips, Balgarnie died at the school, at the age of 82, having been linked with the school for 51 years and living his last years in modest lodgings opposite the school. Again, like Mr. Chips, Balgarnie was a strict disciplinarian, but would also invite boys to visit him for tea and biscuits. Hilton wrote, upon Balgarnie's death that "Balgarnie was, I suppose, the chief model for my story. When I read so many other stories about public school life, I am struck by the fact that I suffered no such purgatory as their authors apparently did, and much of this miracle was due to Balgarnie.

Furthermore, the facial hair of one of the masters at The Leys earned him the nickname "Chops," a likely inspiration for Mr. Chips' name.

The Leys Memorial

The Memorial Chapel, The Leys School, Memorial Chapel of The Leys is situated on the grounds of the school. It was built as a memorial to the first headmaster of The Leys,

William Fiddian Moulton William Fiddian Moulton (14 March 1835 – 5 February 1898) was an English Methodist minister, biblical scholar and educator. Biography William's father, James Moulton, was a Wesleyan Methodist minister and he had at least three other brothers, ...

. Plans for the chapel, designed by architect Robert Curwen, were first presented to the school's second headmaster, W. T. A. Barber; he deemed the project an unnecessary luxury. Services were held in the school hall until 1904 when the governors approved the chapel's construction. The cost, including all furnishings, was estimated in 1925 to have been £39,000. The foundation stone was laid at the marble West Door by

Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont (later Duchess of Albany; 17 February 1861 – 1 September 1922) was a member of the British royal family by marriage. She was the fifth daughter and child of George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, a ...

on 8 June 1905 and the chapel was consecrated on 27 October 1906. The building's design is

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, to complement the surrounding buildings. All visible woodwork is in

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

. The roof comprises elaborately worked tussels and tracery work, somewhat after the lines of the famous roof of

Westminster Hall The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

. The floor is of alternating black and white marble. The chapel was designed to seat 350 boys, with the west balcony reserved for household staff. In the First World War, 927 Leysians joined the armed services and 146 of them died. A memorial to the old Leysians who died, costing £48,000 and funded by donation, was on 6 June 1920 unveiled by the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was Du ...

. The memorial consists of four rows of names divided in the middle by a statue of an armoured

St George Saint George (Greek language, Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin language, Latin: Georgius, Arabic language, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christians, Christian who is venerated as a sa ...

, below which is written "To The Immortal Memory of Old Leysians Who Fell In The War Of 1914–1919", and in large block capitals the words "My Marks And Scars With Me To Be A Witness For Me That I Have Fought His Battles Who Now Will Be My Reward." The chapel has fourteen windows; the Governors commissioned H. J. Salisbury to decorate them according to a unified theme.^{clarification needed Clarification, clarifications, or clarify may refer to:

* Clarification (journalism)
* Clarification (cooking), purification of broths
* Clarification, preparation of clarified butter
* Clarification and stabilization of wine
* Clarification (wa ...
'']} The work was modelled on the windows of the King's College Chapel, Cambridge. Because the Leys is a Methodist school, the work was required to be simple and avoid complex symbolism. All but one of the windows depicts passages from the New Testament concerning the story of

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

; the large window over the main entrance instead shows ten Old Testament subjects forecasting the coming of the

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...

. The

Pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

is made of oak and has a brass inscription reading "To the Glory of God and for the Preaching of His holy word this Pulpit was carved by Anne Hobson, Helen Mary Chubb, and George Hayter Chubb, and presented by the latter to The Leys, October, 1906."

The Leys Thistle

The Scottish community at the school set up the 'Leys Thistle' in October 1915 in order to unite Scottish families while they were away from Scotland. The 'Thistle' was created by Scottish members of North 'A'. Following the first meeting on Halloween 1915, the 'rush to join was tremendous' and many applicants were said to have lied about Scottish heritage to get into the club, such was the demand. The publication of the society was called the 'Leys Thistle' and the first publication was in March 1917. The motto of the club is ''

Nemo Me Impune Lacessit ''Nemo me impune lacessit'' (''No one provokes me with impunity'') () was the Latin motto of the Royal Stuart dynasty of Scotland from at least the reign of James VI when it appeared on the reverse side of merk coins minted in 1578 and 1580. It ...

'' or 'no one touches me with impunity'. The first publication of 'The Leys Thistle' states that the club had only three rules: * 'That we, a brotherhood of fellows, united with each other to help and do anything can do to live up to the glorious traditions of Scotland.' * 'To be an influence for good in the School: although we can't do much, still we can live decent and clean sportsmen's lives.' * "To keep the society going: although the older fellows are leaving, still we look to younger generations to keep the flag flying.'

Notable alumni

Known as Old Leysians, they include:

Academia

* James Moulton (School House 1875-82) * Sir John Clapham (North 'A' House, 1887–92): Historian *

Reginald Hine Reginald Leslie Hine (25 September 1883 – 14 April 1949) FSA, FRHS was a solicitor and historian whose writings centred on the market-town of Hitchin in Hertfordshire and its environs. He committed suicide in 1949 by jumping in front of a t ...

, Historian (West House 1898-1901) *

Louis Arnaud Reid Louis Arnaud Reid (18 February 1895 - 26 January 1986) was a British philosopher who held the foundation chair in Philosophy of Education at the London University Institute of Education. He was a founding contributor to the ''British Journal o ...

(School House 1910-12): writer on aesthetics; foundation professor of the philosophy of education, London Institute of Education; Leys Board of Governors *

Eric A. Havelock Eric Alfred Havelock (; 3 June 1903 – 4 April 1988) was a British classicist who spent most of his life in Canada and the United States. He was a professor at the University of Toronto and was active in the Canadian socialist movement du ...

(North 'B' House 1917-22): Classicist *

J. J. C. Smart John Jamieson Carswell Smart (16 September 1920 – 6 October 2012), was a British-Australian philosopher and was appointed as an Emeritus Professor by the Australian National University. He worked in the fields of metaphysics, philosophy of sc ...

(School House 1934-37): Scottish-Australian philosopher *

Christopher Smout Thomas Christopher Smout CBE, FBA, FRSE, FSA Scot, FRSGS (born 19 December 1933) is a Scottish academic, historian, author and Historiographer Royal in Scotland. Early life One of the five sons of Arthur Smout, Christopher Smout was educated ...

(North 'A' House 1947-52): Current Historiographer Royal *

Simon Keynes Simon Douglas Keynes, ( ; born 23 September 1952) is a British author who is Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon emeritus in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at Cambridge University, and a Fellow of Trinity College.< ...

(School House 1965-69):

Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon The Elrington and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon is the senior professorship in Anglo-Saxon at the University of Cambridge. The first chair was elected in 1878, when a gift endowed in 1867 by Joseph Bosworth, Rawlinsonian Professor of Angl ...

at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

*Professor James D. F. Calder (North 'A' House 1981-86): Orthopaedic Surgeon Fortius Clinic, Professor

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

*Professor

Raphael Loewe Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

(West House 1932-37) President of the Jewish Historical Society of England and professor of Jewish history

Business

Tanaka Ginnosuke is credited with the introduction of rugby to Japan. He was educated at the Leys School in Cambridge and then Trinity Hall, a college of Cambridge University. He introduced rugby to students at Keio University, in 1899, with the help of Edward ...

(North 'A' House 1890-93): Introduced

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

to Japan * J. Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank of Sutton Scotney (North 'B' House, 1901–06): Industrialist and film producer; founder of the

Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribu ...

Amschel Mayor James Rothschild Amschel Mayor James Rothschild (18 April 1955 – 8 July 1996) was a British businessman who was the executive chairman of Rothschild Asset Management of the Rothschild banking family of England. Early years and kinships Rothschild was born in ...

(Fen House 1968-72): Businessman and member of the prominent

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...

Politics/royalty

* John James Oddy (West House 1882-83): Conservative MP for Pudsey * Walford Davis Green (North 'B' House 1883-88): Conservative MP for Wednesbury * Sir Poonambalam Thyagarajan Rajan, (North 'B' House 1909-11) Chief Minister of Madras Presidency, British India, April 4 - August 24, 1946 *

Peter Oliver, Baron Oliver of Aylmerton Peter Raymond Oliver, Baron Oliver of Aylmerton, PC (7 March 1921 – 17 October 2007) was a British judge and barrister. Oliver was born in Cambridge, where his father, David Thomas Oliver, was a professor of law and fellow of Trinity Hall ...

(School House, 1934–38): Judge, barrister and member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

* Richard Taylor (North 'B' House, 1947–53): Physician and independent MP for Wyre Forest * King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa, current King of

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

(West House 1965-66) *

Brent Symonette Theodore Brent Symonette (born 2 December 1954) is a Bahamian businessman and Free National Movement politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for St. Anne's from 2007 to 2012 and 2017 to 2021. In his first term, he served as Deputy Prime ...

(North 'B' House 1968-73): Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of

The Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

* King 'Aho'eitu 'Unuaki'otonga Tuku'aho (North 'B' House, 1973–77): Current King of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

Science

Francis Arthur Bainbridge Francis Arthur Bainbridge FRS FRCP (29 July 1874 – 27 October 1921) was an English physiologist. History Bainbridge was born in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, in 1874 and educated at The Leys School. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, ...

(School House 1888-93):

Physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical a ...

; discoverer of the Bainbridge reflex *

Sir Henry Dale Sir Henry Hallett Dale (9 June 1875 – 23 July 1968) was an English pharmacologist and physiologist. For his study of acetylcholine as agent in the chemical transmission of nerve pulses (neurotransmission) he shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Ph ...

(School House, 1891–1894):

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...

rder of MeritSee e.g. Who's Who 1968> *

Donald Woods Winnicott Donald Woods Winnicott (7 April 1896 – 25 January 1971) was an English paediatrician and psychoanalyst who was especially influential in the field of object relations theory and developmental psychology. He was a leading member of the Britis ...

(North 'B' House, 1910–1914):

Pediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

and

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: + . is a set of Theory, theories and Therapy, therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a bo ...

Sir Donald Bailey Sir Donald Coleman Bailey, OBE (15 September 1901 – 5 May 1985) was an English civil engineer who invented the Bailey bridge. Field Marshal Montgomery is recorded as saying that "without the Bailey bridge, we should not have won the war." ...

(North 'B' House, 1916–1919):

Civil Engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

who invented the

Bailey bridge A Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge. It was developed in 1940–1941 by the British for military use during the Second World War and saw extensive use by British, Canadian and American military engineering units. A ...

Neville Robinson Frank Neville Hosband Robinson (13 April 192519 October 1996) was an English physicist. Neville Robinson was educated at The Leys School in Cambridge, England, and Christ's College, Cambridge, where he read Physics. Robinson initially worked a ...

(School House, 1938–1943):

Physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

who achieved record low temperature * Sir Andrew Wiles (North 'A' House, 1966–1970):

Mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

, proved Fermat's Last Theorem

Sport

* Richard Bell (North 'B' House 1889-92), cricketer * G. LI. Lloyd:

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

(North 'B' House 1893-95)

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

international who played against England 1900, 1901 and 1903 * A. B. Flett (North 'B' House 1890-93): Scotland

international in 1901–00 * Tinsley Lindley (North 'B' & 'A' Houses 1884): Captained the

England football team The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affiliat ...

(1888, 1891) *

Frank Handford Frank Handford was an English rugby union international who played on four occasions for his country and was part of the first official British Isles team that toured South Africa in 1910. Early life Frank Gordon Handford was born in 1884 in ...

(North 'A' House 1900-01): English

international who played on four occasions for his country and was part of the first official British and Irish Lions team that toured South Africa in 1910''Football: The Rugby Union Game'' — Page 30 by Francis Marshall, Leonard R. Tosswill — Football — 1925 *

Wilfrid Lowry Wilfrid Malbon Lowry (; 14 July 1900, Wallasey – 4 July 1974, Heswall) was a rugby union wing who played for Birkenhead Park FC and for England in 1920. Personal life Lowry was born on Sandrock Road, in Wallasey and grew up in New Brighton, ...

(West House 1914-19):

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player for Birkenhead Park FC and England international in 1920 * Charles Sutton (East House 1921-24), Anglo-Chilean cricketer *

Denys Witherington Denys March Witherington (25 July 1921 – 16 February 1944) was an English first-class cricketer and British Army soldier. Witherington was born at Hendon in Sunderland in July 1921, one of three sons of Arthur Simpson and Catherine Withering ...

(West House 1933-38), cricketer * Freddie Brown (North 'A' House 1925-29): Captained

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

cricket team fifteen times between 1949 and 1951 * Alan Skinner (School House 1926-31):

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

cricketer for

Derbyshire County Cricket Club Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Derbyshire. Its limited overs team is called the Derbyshire Falcons ...

* David Skinner, (School House 1933-38) Captain of Derbyshire County Cricket Club * Paul Svehlik (North 'B' House 1960-65)

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

player who played 66 times for England and 31 times for Great Britain, including in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games . * Justin Benson (East House 1981-84):

cricketer for

Leicestershire County Cricket Club Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the count ...

and Ireland Captain * Georgie Gent (formerly Stoop) (Fen House 2001-02): Tennis player * Will Hooley (Barker House 2007-12):

player for Northampton Saints, Exeter Chiefs, and

Bedford Blues Bedford Blues are a rugby union club in the town of Bedford, England, currently playing in The RFU Championship. Bedford is one of the few towns in England where the rugby club is better supported than the football team. The Blues are a semi-pro ...

* James Albery (West House 2009-14):

Field Hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

player for

England Hockey England Hockey is the national governing body for the sport of field hockey in England. There are separate governing bodies for the sport in the other parts of the United Kingdom. History and organisation England Hockey was formed on 1 January 2 ...

Cambridge City Hockey Club Cambridge City Hockey Club is a field hockey club based at Wilberforce Road in Cambridge, England. Facilities at the Wilberforce Road Sports Ground were expanded to include three artificial pitches in October 2018. Founded in 1906 the club now ru ...

, and

Beeston Hockey Club Beeston Hockey Club is a field hockey club based in Beeston, England. The club was founded in 1907, and plays its home games at the Nottingham Hockey Centre in Nottingham. Beeston is nicknamed ''the Bees''. The men's 1st XI plays in the Men's ...

Andy Laws Andrew Robert Laws (born 21 September 1991) is an English former first-class cricketer. Laws was born at Reigate in September 1991. He was educated at The Leys School, before going up to Leeds Metropolitan University. While studying at Leeds M ...

(Bisseker House 2006-07, West House 2007-10) cricketer

Media

Eric Whelpton Eric George Whelpton (21 March 1894 – 13 February 1981) was a British writer, teacher and traveller. Early life and education Whelpton was born on 21 March 1894 in Le Havre, France, the son of the Revd George Whelpton, minister of Trinity Metho ...

(North 'B' House 1909-12): Author, basis for fictional character Lord Peter Wimsey * James Hilton (School House 1915-18): Author whose works include ''

'' and ''

Lost Horizon ''Lost Horizon'' is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called ''Lost Horizon'', in 1937 by director Frank Capra. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamaser ...

'' * Ralph Izzard (West House 1924-28): Journalist, author, British Naval Intelligence Officer, inspiration for the

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...

novel Casino Royale and one of the inspirations for its protagonist

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

The Life of Ian Fleming, John Pearson, p. 194-195, (

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

, London, 1966) *

Malcolm Lowry Clarence Malcolm Lowry (; 28 July 1909 – 26 June 1957) was an English poet and novelist who is best known for his 1947 novel ''Under the Volcano'', which was voted No. 11 in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels list.

(West House, 1923–27): Author whose works include ''

Under the Volcano ''Under the Volcano'' is a novel by English writer Malcolm Lowry (1909–1957) published in 1947. The novel tells the story of Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic British consul in the Mexican city of Quauhnahuac, on the Day of the Dead in November ...

''. *

John Simon (critic) John Ivan Simon (né Simmon; May 12, 1925 − November 24, 2019) was an American author and literary, theater, and film critic. After spending his early years in Belgrade, he moved to the United States, serving in the United States Army Air Forc ...

: (School House 1938-39) Cultural critic for

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...

and other publications *

Sir Alastair Burnet Sir James William Alexander Burnet (12 July 192820 July 2012), known as Alastair Burnet, was a British journalist and broadcaster, best known for his work in news and current affairs programmes, including a long career with ITN as chief presente ...

(School House, 1942–46):

Journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and broadcaster; editor of

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

from 1965 to 1974; long-serving

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, N ...

newscaster * J. G. Ballard (North 'B' House, 1946–49): Author whose works include '' Empire of the Sun'' * Christopher Hitchens (North 'B' House, 1962–66): Journalist and religious and literary critic * Peter Hitchens (West House, 1965–67): Journalist and

polemicist Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topics ...

* Martin Bell (East House 1952-56) British UNICEF (UNICEF UK) Ambassador, a former broadcast war reporter and former independent politician * Jack Saunders (Moulton House 2004-06, West House 2006-11) Radio 1 DJ

Other

Richard Heffer Richard Heffer (born 28 July 1946 in Cambridge) is a British actor, best known for his roles on television in the 1970s and 1980s. His film career included appearances in ''Women in Love'' (1969), '' Waterloo'' (1970), ''Penny Gold'' (1973), ''Th ...

(West House, 1959–64): Actor. *

Michael Latimer Michael James Latimer (6 September 1941 – 25 June 2011) was a British television stage and film actor who later in his career turned to writing, directing and producing. Early life Latimer was born in Calcutta, where his father had a busines ...

(East House, 1955–59): Actor. * Michael Rennie (West House, 1924–26): Actor *Sir Kenneth Hollings (North 'A' House 1932-35):

Judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

and

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

recipient. * Sir John Royce, (West House 1958-63) British

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

. *Col. Mark Cook (North B House 1956-61) Commander of the British Contingent of the UN Protection Force in Croatia 1992. Founder of charity ''

Hope and Homes for Children Hope and Homes for Children (HHC) is a British registered charity operating and working with children, their families and communities in several countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Africa, to help children grow up in safe and productiv ...

.'' *

G. David Green Sir Gregory David Green, (1948) is a former Chairman of the Dartington Hall Trust and The Prince's School of Traditional Arts. He is a former director-general Old Leysian Cricket Club
" which plays in the Cambridgeshire league.

Headmasters

* W. F. Moulton 1875–1898 *W.T.A. Barber 1898–1919 *H. Bisseker 1919–1934 *W.G. Humphrey 1934–1958 *W.A. Barker 1958–1975 *B.T. Bellis 1975–1986 *T.G. Beynon 1986–1990 * John C.A. Barrett 1990–2004 *Mark Slater 2004–2013 *Martin Priestley 2014–

References

External links

*
Old Leysians who died in World War I
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leys School, The 1875 establishments in England Boarding schools in Cambridgeshire Educational institutions established in 1875 Independent schools in Cambridgeshire Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Methodist schools in England Schools in Cambridge

History

Principles

Academic results

Sport

Houses

''Goodbye, Mr. Chips''

The Leys Memorial

The Leys Thistle

Notable alumni

Academia

Business

Politics/royalty

Science

Sport

Media

Other

Headmasters

See also

References

Further reading

External links