Queen's College Boys' High School, more commonly referred to as Queen's College (or simply QC), is a fee-paying government English medium high school for boys situated in the town of

Komani Komani may refer to: * Official name of Queenstown, South Africa, Eastern Cape * Komani River, a river in South Africa * Lake Komani, a reservoir in Albania ** Komani Hydro Power Plant * Norman Komani, Zimbabwean football player See also

* Co ...

in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Established in 1858 first as Prospect House Academy, it is the oldest school in the Border region and among the 100 oldest schools in South Africa. The college is associated with ''Queen's College Boys' Primary School'', which was established on 15 November 1957, a year before the high school marked 100 years of existence.

History

Queen's College started as ''Prospect House Academy'' when Mr C.E Ham first opened the doors to his school on 21 April 1858 at 6 Shepstone Street in Queenstown. The school was situated in an outbuilding on the property and consisted of a single room with a mud floor and holes in the wall for ventilation. The enrollment had reached 30 boys by 1859 and was also known as the Queenstown District School. It was in receipt of a government grant of £50, backdated to the initial opening of the school. From inception the school offered boarding facilities, in the home of Mr Ham, conveniently situated directly across the road from the schoolhouse. In 1864, a dispute regarding financial support for the school by the district council, led to the abrupt closure of the school by Mr Ham and he ceased teaching in order to open a general store in the town. Boys returning from their holiday in July 1864 discovered that their school house had been let to another tenant and their schoolmaster had become a haberdasher. Public concern was such that a committee was formed, which decides that St Michael's Grammar School should assume the mantle of Prospect House Academy by accepting the status of a government-aided school. The resulting amalgamated school becomes the Public School for Boys and classes are held in a billiard hall. It was only in 1910 that the school was renamed Queen's Colleg

Headmasters

*Mr. CE Ham (1858–1864) *Mr. G Elliot (1864–1865) *Mr. R McCormick (1865–1867) *Mr. FJ Beswick (1867–1899) *Mr. B Noaks (1899–1900) *Mr. GFH Clark (1901–1904) *Mr. H Wilkinson (1904–1929) *Mr. A Parry-Davies (1930–1939) * Howard Davies (hurdler), Dr. HQ Davies (1940–1964) *Mr. TW Higgs (1965–1973) *Mr. DH Schroeder (1974–1992) *Mr. CP Harker (1993–2010) *Mr. DCP Lovatt (2011–2012) *Mr. BJ Grant (2013–2017) * Mr. J van der Ryst (2018–present)

School facilities

*3 science and biology labs *Design and Technology facility *Media centre *Library *Music centre *10 gaming specialized computers *4 full sized cricket fields *8 turf wickets for practices *3 indoor cricket nets *2 squash courts *7 rugby fields *400m tartan Athletics Track *1 floodlit AstroTurf *2 basketball courts (tar) *Gym *School Hall *Memorial Hall *8 tennis courts (clay)

Hostels

The school currently has three hostels; Whitson House, Athlone House and Connaught House. Whitson caters for students in Grades 8–9, Connaught for students in Grades 10–12 and Athlone for Students in Grades 9–10. Athlone was reopened in 2021 after many years of closure. All hostel boys belong to Beswick House, a name taken from the school's fourth headmaster. Originally, Whitson House was the first hostel of the school and was built in 1904. It was later renamed Connaught House. In 1932, this hostel was closed leading to the later opening of hostels Athlone and De Vos Malan in 1939. In 1975, Connaught House was renamed Whitson House after old boy Mr H Whitson. The new Connaught House was built in 1979. After a decline in boarders in the early 2000s most of the hostels were closed and converted into classrooms. Hostels outside campus were sold.

Sports and cultural programmes

Sports

Queen's College has a long-standing tradition of annual derby days for both summer and winter sports with traditional rivals such as Dale College, Grey High School, St. Andrew's College, and Selborne College, dating back to at least the 1900s. Grey College was also a significant rival, but the yearly derby between these two rugby giants lost momentum, with 1996 marking the last of the annual clashes. Queen's College is one of only two schools in South Africa equipped with an 8-lane tartan track. Completed in early 2024, the track meets the criteria to host national athletics events, and Queen's is set to host the National Junior Athletics Championships in 2025. The main sports fields include the Queen's College Victoria Recreation Grounds, used for rugby and athletics; the Chris Harker Astro, where first team hockey matches are played; and the Parry-Davies Field, home to the first cricket team matches as well as rugby games. While the Chris Harker Astro is named after the school, it is a shared facility with Queenstown Girls' High School and Balmoral Girls' Primary School. The following sports are offered at Queen's: *

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), competitio ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

* Cross country *

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

Hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

* Squash *

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

Cultural activities

The following cultural activities are offered at Queen's: *Art Club *Blood Peer Promoters *Chess *Debating and Public Speaking *Drama *Eco-Watch *First Aid *Interact Society *Library Society *Marimba Band *Photography *Piscatorial Society *QCTV *Queen's Quote *Queen's Think Tank *Robotics and Coding Club *Students' Christian Association (SCA) *The Twelve Club *Xhosa Society *E-Sports Club

Notable Old Boys

Sport

Rugby and Cricket

Other sports

* Glen Dell, Advanced World Aerobatic Champion in 2004 and Red Bull Air Race competitor (1974) * Le-Neal Jackson, South African field hockey player

Business and the arts

* Allister Sparks, journalist, author and former editor of The Rand Daily Mail (1950) * Alan Scholefield, journalist and writer (1947) * Don Pinnock, criminologist, naturalist and journalist (1965) * Gideon Khobane, CEO of SuperSport (1995) * Gary Hartley, writer, director, producer, editor and 2021

Mail and Guardian The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sys ...

Top 200 Eminent and Accomplished Young South Africans (2004) * Loyiso Mkize, visual artist, creator of "Kwezi" - South Africa's first ever superhero and artist for DC comics(2005) * Ayabonga Cawe, economist, broadcaster and author (2008) * Yanga Ntshakaza, professionally known as, 'Yanga Chief', is a rapper, song-writer and record producer(2005)

Politics

*Errol K. Moorcroft,

Progressive Federal Party The Progressive Federal Party (PFP) () was a South African political party formed in 1977 through merger of the Progressive and Reform parties, eventually changing its name to the Progressive Federal Party. For its duration, it was the main parl ...

and

Democratic Party (South Africa) The Democratic Party (DP; ) was a South African political party that was the forerunner of the Democratic Alliance. Although the Democratic Party name dates from 1989, the party existed under other labels throughout the apartheid years, when it ...

politician, MP for Albany district 1981–1987, 1989–1994 (1956)

Military

* John ("Jack") Sherwood Kelly, VC CMG DSO, recipient 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 ...

(also attended Dale College,

Selborne College Selborne College is a semi-private English medium male-only school situated in the suburb of Selborne and Belgravia (the suburb was named after the school) of East London in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa; it is one of the few colle ...

and St. Andrews College) * Norman Walsh, Rhodesian and Zimbabwean air marshal (1949)

References

{{ECSchools Schools in the Eastern Cape Educational institutions established in 1858 Boarding schools in South Africa 1858 establishments in the British Empire Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality