The Hospital and Free School of King Charles II, Oxmantown, also called The King's Hospital (KH; ) is a Church of Ireland co-educational independent day school, day and boarding school situated in Palmerstown, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on an 80-acre campus beside the River Liffey, called Brooklawn, named after the country houses situated on the site and in which the headmaster and his family reside. The school is also a member of the HMC Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the BSA. Founded in 1669, it is one of the oldest schools in Ireland and was also known as the Blue Coat School. Although priority is given to those of the main Protestant denominations, as a Christianity, Christian school, it is attended by students of other Christian denominations and other faiths. The school's colours are navy and gold. The school crest is three burning castles with the date "1669", almost identical to the crest for Dublin city. The current headmaster is Mark Wallace.

History

Founding

The school was founded in 1669 as The Hospital and Free School of King Charles II and was located in Queen Street, Dublin. King's Hospital was a continuation of the old Free School of Dublin. On 5 May 1674, the school opened with 60 pupils, including 3 girls. During the early seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, it was used as the site of elections to the Parliament of Ireland, Irish Parliament's Dublin City (Parliament of Ireland constituency), Dublin City constituency. When this was changed to the The Tholsel, Dublin, Tholsel for the 1713 1713 Irish general election, general election, it led to the Dublin election riot.

New building of 1783

From 1783 to 1971, the school was located in Blackhall Place, Dublin, later the headquarters of the Law Society of Ireland in a building and amongst a street plan that was designed by the architect Thomas Ivory (Irish architect), Thomas Ivory and encompassed much of what was previously the land of Oxmantown Green. The take-over of Morgan's School (1957) contributed to steadily increasing numbers of students, and by 1970, a need for extra space and facilities led to the move from the city centre to a modern purpose-built school set in its own site on the banks of the River Liffey in Palmerstown, County Dublin.

Erwin Schrödinger

A 57-year-old manuscript by the Nobel Prize in Physics winning physicist Erwin Schrödinger resurfaced at the school in 2012. Entitled "Fragment From An Unpublished Dialogue Of Galileo", it was written for the school's 1955 edition of the annual ''Blue Coat'' magazine to coincide with Schrödinger leaving Dublin to take up his appointment as Chair of Physics at the University of Vienna. Schrödinger wrote the manuscript for the school's former English teacher and Editor of the Blue Coat magazine, Ronnie Anderson (now deceased), a friend of Schrödinger when he lived in Dublin. It is now in the possession of King's Hospital alumnus Professor Jonathan Coleman (physicist), Jonathan Coleman in CRANN at Trinity College Dublin.

Structure

The school is co-educational and caters for some 720 pupils, with 408 day pupils and 292 boarders in 2023/24. The King's Hospital has students from all over Ireland and from overseas. Students from Germany and Spain are the most common international students. The School is divided into five boarding House system, houses: Bluecoat, Mercer, Grace, Morgan and Ormonde and five-day pupil houses. Each boarding house has its own resident housemaster or housemistress.

Sport

The school has a gymnasium and sports hall with an advanced fitness centre. The school also has access to a swimming pool, astroturf hockey pitches, rugby pitches and tennis courts. Various sports are played on campus and training is provided by staff. The school has teams for rugby, hockey, cricket, athletics, cross-country, badminton, soccer, basketball and swimming. Rugby has been the most competitive boys sport for many years with the team playing at a high level. They regularly compete in the Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup, Leinster Schools Senior Cup reaching the final in 1982 and have won the Vinnie Murray Cup on two occasions in 2006 and 2015. They have also won the Leinster Schools Rugby Senior League, Leinster Schools Senior League twice in 1997 and 2004.They have produced two men's senior internationals as well as three Rugby Sevens Olympians.

Notable past pupils

* Jack Boothman - Former President of the Gaelic Athletic Association, GAA (1994 and 1997) * Jonathan Coleman (physicist), Jonathan Coleman - lecturer in the School of Physics in CRANN at Trinity College Dublin and the 2011 Science Foundation Ireland 'Researcher of the Year' * Harvey du Cros - financier; the founder of the pneumatic tire industry based on the discovery of John Boyd Dunlop * Niall Hogan - co-founder of Touchtech Payments, bought by billion-dollar online global payments company Stripe (company), Stripe in 2019 * Laura Modi - founder of American infant formula company Bobbie. * Randal Plunkett, 21st Baron of Dunsany - film producer * Charles Tyndall - 13th Bishop of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh. * Robert Warke - 18th Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross * John Weir (loyalist), John Weir - Loyalist murderer and member of the Glenanne gang;

Politics

* Robert Dowds - former Labour Party (Ireland), Labour Party TD for the Dublin Mid-West (Dáil constituency), Dublin Mid-West constituency from 2011 to 2016. * Roderic O'Gorman - Green Party (Ireland), Green Party leader and former Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth * Leo Varadkar - 14th Taoiseach of Ireland (2017–2020 and 2022–2024)

Music and Arts

* Denise Chaila - Irish and Zambian rapper, singer, poet, grime and hip-hop artist based in Limerick. * John and Edward Grimes - members of the pop duo Jedward * Lisa Hannigan - Irish folk/pop singer famous for her recordings with Damien Rice * Lara McDonnell - Irish actress * Tom Murphy (actor), Tom Murphy - Tony Award-winning Irish actor * Andy Orr - member of the pop group Six (band), Six * Kathryn Thomas - Irish television presenter

Sports

* Grainne Clancy - former Irish international cricketer. * Noel Mahony - first-class cricketer for Ireland cricket team, Ireland and president of the Cricket Ireland, Irish Cricket Union, also taught mathematics at the school. * Angus McKeen - former Leinster and Ireland rugby prop forward * Robin Roe - former captain of the Ireland national rugby union team. Also capped with the British & Irish Lions and Barbarian F.C., The Barbarians

Olympians

; Ireland at the Olympics, Ireland * Kathy Baker (rugby union), Kathy Baker - Rugby Sevens in 2024 Summer Olympics, 2024 * Natalya Coyle - Modern Pentathlon in 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012, 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016 * Ian Fitzpatrick (rugby union), Ian Fitzpatrick - Rugby Sevens in 2020 Summer Olympics, 2020 * Heike Holstein - Dressage in 1996 Summer Olympics, 1996, 2000 Summer Olympics, 2000, 2004 Summer Olympics, 2004, 2020 Summer Olympics, 2020 * Erin King - Rugby Sevens in 2024 Summer Olympics, 2024 * Patrick McMillan - Downhill Skiing in 2018 Winter Olympics, 2018 * Sara Tracey - Track and Field in 2012, 2016 * Carlos O'Connell - Decathlon in 1988 Summer Olympics, 1988 * Judy Reynolds - Dressage in 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016 * Camilla Speirs - Dressage in 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 ; Nigeria at the Olympics, Nigeria * Seye Ogunlewe (athlete), Seye Ogunlewe - Sprinter in 2016 Summer Olympics, 2016

Notable headmasters

*1922–1927: John Mason Harden

References

External links

The King's Hospital website

KHPPU - The King's Hospital Past Pupil Union website
{{DEFAULTSORT:King's Hospital, The Secondary schools in South Dublin (county) Educational institutions established in the 1660s Boarding schools in Ireland Private schools in the Republic of Ireland Anglican schools in the Republic of Ireland Bluecoat schools 1669 establishments in the British Empire Baroque architecture in Ireland