Blundell'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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

co-education Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

al boarding and

day A day is the time rotation period, period of a full Earth's rotation, rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, ...

school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton,

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the time, and moved to its present site on the outskirts of the town in 1882. While the full boarding fees are £45,750 per year, the school offers several scholarships and bursaries, and provides flexi-boarding. The school has 360 boys and 225 girls, including 117 boys and 85 girls in the Sixth Form, and is a member of the

Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), formerly known as the Headmasters' Conference and now branded HMC (The Heads' Conference), is an association of the head teachers of 351 private fee-charging schools (both boarding schools ...

History

Peter Blundell, one of the wealthiest merchants of Elizabethan England, died in 1601, having made his fortune principally in the cloth industry. His will set aside considerable money and land to establish a school in his home town "to maintain sound learning and true religion". Blundell asked his friend John Popham,

Lord Chief Justice The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English a ...

of England, to carry out his wishes, and appointed a number of local merchants and gentry as his first trustees (known as

feoffee Under the feudal system in England, a feoffee () is a trustee who holds a fief (or "fee"), that is to say an estate in land, for the use of a beneficial owner. The term is more fully stated as a feoffee to uses of the beneficial owner. The use ...

s). The position of feoffee is no longer hereditary, but a number of notable local families have held the position for a considerable period: the first ancestor of the current chairman of the governors to hold that position was elected more than 250 years ago, and the Heathcoat-Amory family have a long tradition of service on the Governing Body, since Sir John Heathcoat-Amory was appointed in 1865. The Old Blundell's School was built to be much larger and grander than any other in the West Country, with room for 150 scholars and accommodation for a master and an usher. The Grade 1 listed building is now in the care of the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

and the forecourt is usually open to visitors. One ex-Blundell's boy was the writer R. D. Blackmore, who in the novel '' Lorna Doone'' set the stage for a fight between John Ridd and Robin Snell on the Blundell's triangular lawn. Peter Blundell's executors established links with

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, and with

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (historically known as "Sussex College" and today referred to informally as "Sidney") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1 ...

, and large sums were settled to provide for scholarships for pupils of the school to attend those colleges. The prep school St Aubyn's was moved to the Blundell's campus in 2000, taking over the day-boy house Milestones and the Sanatorium, and was renamed Blundell's Prep School. It has about 250 pupils aged from three years to eleven. The headmaster is Andy Southgate.

2024 attempted murder

In 2024, a pupil at the school was found guilty of attempted murder of two other students and one of the staff using a hammer; he had been 16 at the time of the assaults in 2023. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' said that "a troubling picture emerged of aspects of life at the 400-year-old school", with bullying, children having weapons and unrestricted access to their mobile telephones. The boy was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 12 years. In November 2024, Mrs Justice Cutts lifted the anonymity orders and named him as Thomas Wei Huang from Malaysia.

Sport

Rugby

Rugby is the main sport played at Blundell's in the Autumn and Spring terms. The earliest mention of "football" in the Blundellian was in 1861 and the first recorded "rugger" match played by boys at Blundell's was in 1868 against Tiverton Rugby Club, making the school one of the oldest anywhere formally to play the game. The Blundell's crest still hangs in the main room at Twickenham in recognition of this. OBs Dave Lewis

Gloucester Rugby Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was formed in 1873 and since 1891 has played its home matches ...

, Matt Kvesic and Will Carrick-Smith

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

all currently play in the Aviva Premiership. Sam Maunder, brother of Jack Maunder, plays for England U18 squad.

The Russell

One annual tradition is the school's cross-country run known as the Russell, named after Old Boy Jack Russell, a vicar and dog-breeder. It was first run in 1887, and 2009 saw the 129th run.

Southern Railway Schools Class

The School lent its name to the thirty-third steam

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

( Engine 932) in the Southern Railway's Class V of which there were 40. This class was also known as the Schools Class because all 40 of the class were named after prominent English public schools. ''Blundell's'', as it was called, was built in 1934. The locomotive bearing the school's name was withdrawn from service in January 1961. In 2009 Hornby produced a model of this particular Schools class locomotive. As the product photograph shows, while the name of this locomotive has been variously quoted as ''Blundells'' or ''Blundell's'', the apostrophe does actually appear on the nameplate.

Old Blundellians

The first known society of former pupils, known as Old Blundellians (OBs), was established as early as 1725.

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraving, engraver, pictorial social satire, satirist, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from Realism (visual arts), realistic p ...

engraved the letterhead for the invitation to a dinner for former pupils of the School in 1725 and the ticket for Tiverton School Feast in 1740. Notable former pupils include: * Robert Arundell, Governor of the Windward Islands and Barbados * Vernon Bartlett, journalist and politician * Edward Bellew, drainage inspector and winner of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

* Dominic Bess, England cricketer * R. D. Blackmore, author of '' Lorna Doone'' * Richard Bowring, Master of

Selwyn College, Cambridge Selwyn College, Cambridge is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1882 by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of George Selwyn (bishop of Lichfield), Georg ...

William Buckland William Buckland Doctor of Divinity, DD, Royal Society, FRS (12 March 1784 – 14 August 1856) was an English theologian, geologist and paleontology, palaeontologist. His work in the early 1820s proved that Kirkdale Cave in North Yorkshire h ...

, geologist * William Edward Buckley, professor of Anglo-SaxonFrederic Boase, ''Modern English Biography'', vol. 4 (Netherton and Worth, 1906), p. 2,007 * George Bull, theologian and bishop * Giles Bullard, High Commissioner to the West Indies * Charles Campion, food critic *

Bampfylde Moore Carew Bampfylde Moore Carew (1690-1758) was an English rogue, vagabond and impostor, who claimed to be King of the Beggars. Life Baptized at Bickleigh, Devon, on 23 September 1690, Bampfylde Moore Carew was the son of Reverend Theodore Carew, rec ...

, rogue and imposter * Aelred Carlyle, missionary and monk * Frederick William Cuming, 1900 Olympic gold medal winner as part of the UK cricket team * Charles Cornwallis Chesney, soldier and military writer * George Tomkyns Chesney, soldier and novelist * Ben Collins, Formula 3 racing driver and the infamous Stig * John Conybeare, Bishop of Bristol and notable 18th-century theologian * Natalie Dew, actress * John Davis, Welsh cricketer * Edward Dayman, hymn writer * John Ebdon, writer * John Eliot, English statesman * Tristan Evans, Drummer & backing vocals for UK based band The Vamps * Howard Ford, Olympic athlete * Charles Rossiter Forwood, lawyer and Attorney General of Fiji * Francis Fulford, Anglo-Catholic bishop of Montreal *

John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peach ...

, philosopher * Anthony Gifford, cricketer and educator * Michael Gilbert, writer of mysteries and thrillers * Douglas Gracey, Commander in Chief Pakistan Army 1948-51 * Charles Harper, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of St. Helena 1925–1932 * C. Brian Haselgrove mathematician best known for disproving the

Pólya conjecture In number theory, the Pólya conjecture (or Pólya's conjecture) stated that "most" (i.e., 50% or more) of the natural numbers less than any given number have an ''odd'' number of prime factors. The conjecture was set forth by the Hungarian mathe ...

in 1958 * Thomas Hayter, bishop of Norwich 1749–61, bishop of London 1761–62 * Abraham Hayward, man of letters * Archibald Hill, Nobel Prize winner * David Gordon Hines, developer of co-operatives in Tanganyika and Uganda * Walter Hook, Tractarian vicar of

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

* Ella Hunt, actress, dickinson, anna and the apocalypse, intruders * James Jeremie, academic and churchman * John Jeremie, governor of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

* C. E. M. Joad, intellectual, broadcasting personality and fare dodger * Philip Keun,

Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...

Captain and co-leader of the Jade-Amicol French resistance network. * Geoffrey Lampe, theologian and winner of the Military Cross * Wilfrid Le Gros Clark, surgeon, primatologist and paleoanthropologist who disproved Piltdown Man * Robin Lloyd-Jones, Author * Jeremy Lloyds, Test Cricket umpire * George Malcolm, army officer * Thomas Manton, Puritan clergyman * John Margetson, former British Ambassador to Vietnam, the United Nations, and the Netherlands. * Vic Marks, Somerset and England cricketer * Professor John Marrack, DSO, MC, Emeritus Professor of Chemical Pathology in the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

* Michael Mates, former MP (constituency of

East Hampshire East Hampshire is a local government district in Hampshire, England. Its council is based in the town of Petersfield, although the largest town is Alton. The district also contains the town of Bordon along with many villages and surroundin ...

) * Hugh Morris, England cricketer and current Managing Director of the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

* Gordon Newton, Editor of the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' *

Christopher Ondaatje Sir Philip Christopher Ondaatje (; born 22 February 1933) between 2004 and 2024 The Earl of Rothes, Lord of Leslie and Sheriff of Fife, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian-English businessman, philanthropist, adventurer, writer and bob-sledding Olympi ...

, author and donor to the Labour Party * William Pillar, Fourth Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Supplies * John de la Pole, 6th Baronet * Ben Rice, novelist * John Rinkel, Olympic athlete * Jack Russell, Victorian hunting parson, dog breeder * Peter Schidlof, Austrian-British violist and co-founder of the Amadeus Quartet * Edward Seymour, 16th Duke of Somerset * Evelyn Seymour, 17th Duke of Somerset * Percy Seymour, 18th Duke of Somerset * Richard Sharp, England rugby captain * Richard Shore, cricketer * Frederick Spring, senior army officer * Trevor Spring, army officer * J. C. Squire, poet, writer, historian, and influential literary editor * Donald Stokes, industrialist and peer *

Jon Swain Jon Anketell Brewer Swain (born 1948) is a British journalist and writer. Swain's book ''River of Time: A Memoir of Vietnam ''chronicles his experiences from 1970 to 1975 during the Vietnam War, war in Indochina, including the Fall of Phnom Pen ...

, award-winning writer, whose memoirs were portrayed in the film '' The Killing Fields'' *

Frederick Temple Frederick Temple (30 November 1821 – 23 December 1902) was an English academic, teacher and Clergy, churchman, who served as Bishop of Exeter (1869–1885), Bishop of London (1885–1896) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1896–1902). Early ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury * Clem Thomas, Wales Rugby Captain * Georgia "Toff" Toffolo, television and media personality * Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet, English civil servant, governor of Madras * Henry Hawkins Tremayne, creator of the Lost Gardens of Heligan * John Van der Kiste, author * Walter Walker, controversial soldier and writer * Arthur Graeme West, war poet * John Whiteley, Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff 1949–53 * Cyril Wilkinson, Great Britain hockey player and Olympic Gold Medallist *

Geoffrey Willans Herbert Geoffrey Willans, RNVR, (4 February 1911 – 6 August 1958), an English writer and journalist, is best known as the creator of Nigel Molesworth, the "goriller of 3B" and "curse of St. Custard's", as in the four books with illustration ...

, humorist and co-author of

Nigel Molesworth Nigel Molesworth is a fictional character, the supposed author of a series of books about life in an English prep school named St Custard's. The books were written by Geoffrey Willans, with cartoon illustrations by Ronald Searle. The Moleswo ...

series * Matthew Wood, 1st Baronet, Lord Mayor of London, MP for the City of London and close friend of Queen Caroline *

John Wyndham John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (; 10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969) was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his name ...

, author whose work included '' The Day of the Triffids'' and '' The Midwich Cuckoos''

Headteachers

Notable former masters

Former masters of Blundell's have included: * Terry Barwell, cricketer * Manning Clark, historian * Neville Gorton, Bishop of Coventry * Malcolm Moss, politician * Grahame Parker, sportsman * C. Northcote Parkinson, naval historian and author of the bestselling book Parkinson's Law * Gilbert Phelps, writer and broadcaster * Lawrence Sail, poet * Willi Soukop, sculptor *

Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry ...

, poet and essayist * Mervyn Stockwood, missioner to the School and later Bishop of Southwark * Samuel Wesley (the Younger), poet and churchman

References

External links

Blundell's School website
*Profiles on the

Independent Schools Council The Independent Schools Council (ISC) is a non-profit lobby group that represents over 1,300 private schools in the United Kingdom. The organisation comprises seven independent school associations and promotes the business interests of its ...

website
Preparatory School
an
Senior School
* {{authority control 1604 establishments in England Educational institutions established in the 1600s Private schools in Devon Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Tiverton, Devon Boarding schools in Devon