Wellesley College is a boys-only independent primary school founded in 1914 as Croydon in

Days Bay Days Bay is a residential area in Lower Hutt in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is walled on three sides by steep bush-clad slopes. Most of its level land is occupied by Williams Park and an independent boys' prima ...

Eastbourne, New Zealand Eastbourne () is a suburb of Lower Hutt, a part of Wellington, New Zealand. Lying beside the sea, it is a popular local tourist destination via car from Petone or from ferry crossings from Wellington Harbour, central Wellington. An outer suburb ...

. It was a boarding school which also took day pupils. The Croydon name continues in Wellesley's Croydon House but the school's name was changed to Wellesley when Croydon and Wellesley were amalgamated in 1940. Wellesley or Banks Commercial College had been in central Wellington on The Terrace. Wellesley became a day school about 1972.

An Anglican Diocesan school

Wellesley provides classes for boys from Year 0 to Year 8. The school's roll is currently managed to a level of around 340 boys providing an average class size of 23. While core Christian values are maintained representatives of other beliefs have always been a part of Croydon and Wellesley. Team and athletic sports are provided for and there is a full complement of the necessary facilities. The sheltered waters of Day's Bay and its bush-clad backdrop give opportunities for less structured activities. The curriculum includes the performing arts and visual arts. Now only a day school until 1970 its core was a boarding school drawing boys from remote-dwelling farming families all over the central North Island, Rangitikei,

Hawkes Bay Hawke's Bay () is a region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region is named for Hawke Bay, which was named in honour of Edward Hawke. The region's main centres are the cities of Napier and Hastings, while the more rural ...

and

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service t ...

plus a fair share of city boys. On school-days more boys, then as now, came by ferry or bussed from Wellington and the many parts of the Hutt. The school's acquisition of the fine grounds and the first accommodation came about through a commercial failure.

History

Day's Bay House was built in 1903 for ship-owner, J H Williams, turned ferry service and eastern-harbour property developer. His Wellington Steam Ferry Company Limited made the heart of Day's Bay a destination resort and sports complex. The hotel operation met with only moderate success and in 1913 with its immediate surrounds, 4 acres, it was sold to Miss Gladys Sommerville so she might expand her successful Croydon School then still based at 81 Hill Street Thorndon.History of the harbour ferry. Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 22, 26 July 1922, Page 5

Williams Park

The remaining property was then bought by the Wellington City Council and is named Williams Park.

Croydon

With little or no change, Day's Bay House became Croydon Preparatory School for Boys. The old croquet-lawn became the sports field and in the 1920s the hotel's bowling-green became the boys' tennis courts. The rugby field remained at the southern side of the driveway but was not part of school grounds. The Pavilion and its amusements like the ferries and their wharf became part of (out-of-bounds) school life. Cobar Port Nicholson ferry

Upstairs on the northern side two pairs of bedrooms became dorms 1 and 2 and the upstairs guest sitting-room became dorm 3. Ultimately the (lightly) enclosed upstairs central verandah became a dormitory for the bigger boys. A comparatively well built first-floor room was added on high posts at the north-east corner to form a sick-bay. The main sitting-room was used by the principal but otherwise all accommodation and facilities were used as for the hotel. Boys were not permitted to use the main staircase. Two corrugated-iron walled additions were made at the back of the main building; an assembly hall cum gymnasium with a very rarely used fireplace all on the same level as the main building and a two-storied block of four small classrooms up on the slope behind it, each with a tiny fireplace. The stairs to the upper floor were dramatically steep. Infant classes remained in the north-facing rooms of the main building by the gymnasium. Miss Sommerville returned to Thorndon to direct the school from her house in Hill Street. The school flagpole was the mast of the ''Cobar''. The ''Cobar'' was built to be the luxurious steam yacht of a mining magnate, William Longworth, of

Port Stephens (New South Wales) Port Stephens, an open youthful tide-dominated drowned-valley estuary, is a large natural harbour of about in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia. Port Stephens lies within the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Mar ...

and

Point Piper, New South Wales Point Piper is a small, harbourside Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, east of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, in the Local government in Australia, local govern ...

and principal of The Great Cobar Copper Mining Company Limited in northern New South Wales, Australia. The mining company struck temporary financial difficulties. ''Cobar'' was less than four years old, Williams had attended its launching, and his Wellington Ferry Company snapped it up, sailed it over from Sydney and made the NSW coastal vessel a Day's Bay ferry. ''Cobar'' became so much part of the community its name has since been recycled for successors. She was able to carry 900 passengers but licensed for just 745 people.Harbour ferry services. Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 73, 29 March 1910, Page 7

Wellington Diocesan Boys' School —Croydon

In April 1919 the Wellington Diocesan Church Schools Board purchased Croydon (and also Mrs Swainson's school renaming it Marsden).New Anglican Boy's School. ''Evening Post'', Volume XCVII, Issue 81, 7 April 1919, Page 8 Croydon would be a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

. The Board already had day schools in: Waverley,

Masterton Masterton () is a large town in the Wellington Region, Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand that operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa ...

Taihape Taihape is in the Rangitikei District of the North Island of New Zealand. It serves a large rural community. New Zealand State Highway 1, State Highway 1, which runs North to South through the centre of the North Island, passes through the town ...

(St Margaret's), Marton, Hawera, and at St Mark's Wellington. Board personnel were: Dr Sprott (bishop), Miss Baber (Marsden school), Rev R Franklin ( St Barnabas Roseneath, diocesan organising secretary), Messrs. A E Mabin, W J Birch, G Shirtcliffe and J F Studholme.Arthur Emerson Mabin (c1867-1944) of Levin & Co, William John Birch (1842–1920) of Marton, Sir George Shirtcliffe (1862–1941) prominent in Wellington's financial and business community, Joseph Francis Studholme (1866–1930) of

(later of

Fendalton Fendalton is a suburb of Christchurch, in the South Island of New Zealand. History Fendalton was originally known as Fendall Town, named after the original settler of the land, Walpole Chesshyre Fendall (1830–1913). Fendall emigrated fr ...

) The generous help of the last four men as guarantors was acknowledged by the bishop when the school re-opened on 6 June 1919. The bishop advised that failing health had obliged Miss Sommerville to retire and she would not remain head of the school having given her "strong opinion" that the school should have a headmaster. The Rev R H Hobday had been appointed. The opening ceremony concluded with the hearty singing of the

National Anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

. The new name for the school did not persist: soon it reverted to Croydon.Peter Harcourt, ''The Life and Death of Croydon School 1907–1940.'' P&P Publishing 1990

Wellesley College

Wellesley College, at 98 The Terrace, Wellington, was registered in 1938 to W. H. Stevens Ltd. In 1940 William Hutton Stevens leased the premises of Croydon School from the Wellington Diocesan Board and moved his day school, Wellesley College, which had been situated on The Terrace, to Day's Bay and into them.Wellesley absorbs Croydon. ''Evening Post'', Volume CXXIX, Issue 27, 1 February 1940, Page 13 The pupils of the Wellington Diocesan School for Boys (Croydon) were taken over by W. H. Stevens Ltd.; and the company was required to provide for religious instruction in accordance with the doctrines of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

in co-operation with the local vicar. Over some lasting resistance, Stevens declared the two schools merged. Stevens had taught locally at

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: New Zealand * Wellington College, Wellington, New Zealand * Wellington College of Education, now the Faculty of Education of Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand * Wellington Girls' College, Wellington, N ...

for 15 years, being on the staff in 1917, before becoming head of Wellesley College, in 1933.Banks's —later Banks— Commercial College established a primary and secondary boys day school in Wellington in 1915. By 1920 it had 150 pupils and new premises were found for it in three houses at 96–102 The Terrace, later the site of Shell House now Transpower House. When it re-opened at the beginning of 1921 to distinguish it from Banks Commercial College it was named Wellesley College. ''The Evening Post'', 17 December 1920 He carried out the school merger in 1949, and retired in 1965. He was free in the use of corporal punishment with a

strap A strap, sometimes also called strop, is an elongated flap or ribbon, usually of leather or other flexible materials. Thin straps are used as part of clothing or baggage, or bedding such as a sleeping bag. See for example spaghetti strap, s ...

he called "Dr. Tawse", referring to the Scottish

tawse The tawse, sometimes formerly spelled taws (the plural of Scots taw, a thong of a whip), is an implement used for corporal punishment. It was used for educational discipline, primarily in Scotland, but also in schools in a few English cities ...

Wellington Diocesan Board's Wellesley College

In 1965 the Diocesan Board regained management of the premises and in the end elected to retain the name Wellesley. The corrugated-iron additions with the sick-bay annexe and laundry were demolished and new buildings erected there and on the former bowling-green tennis courts. New classrooms were opened at the beginning of 1969 and the new gymnasium / hall at the beginning of the 3rd term of the same year.

St Martin's church

The little Arts & Crafts style church was put beside the school in 1922 at what is now 2 Pitoitoi Road. Much of its external character was given by its proportions, the fashionable way it had been painted and its high white-washed pebble-dash walls. At services a parishioner played its

harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

and there was sometimes

evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. It is loosely based on the canonical hours of vespers and compline. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which ...

as well as

matins Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning (between midnight and dawn). The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which w ...

. Without its term-time boarders and within Eastbourne's parish the church building was removed in 1973 and the site sold. Duke of Wellington Photo cleaned

Houses

Wellesley as of 2014 has four houses:

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

Marlborough Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to: Places Australia * Marlborough, Queensland * Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993 * Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...

, Selwyn and

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

. *Wellington house is named after Arthur Wellesley, duke of Wellington *Marlborough house is named after John Churchill, duke of Marlborough *Selwyn house is named after George Augustus Selwyn, first bishop of New Zealand *Croydon, the newest house was voted by the boys and named after the old Wellesley Memorial to George Augustus Selwyn in Lichfield Cathedral

Memorial to George Augustus Selwyn in Lichfield Cathedral

Notable alumni

Georgina Beyer Georgina Beyer (November 1957 – 6 March 2023) was a New Zealand Labour Party politician who represented Wairarapa in the Parliament of New Zealand from 1999 to 2005, after serving as mayor of Carterton from 1995 to 1999. Beyer was the worl ...

(1957–2023), world's first transsexual MP *

Lord Cooke of Thorndon Robin Brunskill Cooke, Baron Cooke of Thorndon, (9 May 1926 – 30 August 2006) was a New Zealand judge and later a British Law Lord and member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. He is widely considered one of New Zealand's most ...

(1926–2006), judge * Marc Ellis (born 1971), rugby league and rugby union player, businessman, and television presenter *

Alan Gibbs Alan Timothy Gibbs (born 1939) is a New Zealand-born businessman, entrepreneur and former public servant. During the 1960s and 1970s, Gibbs was involved in manufacturing and investment banking, before overseeing the corporatisation of New Zeal ...

(born 1939), creator of the Aquada amphibious vehicle * Peter Harcourt (1923–1995), broadcaster, actor, playwright *

Jock Hobbs Michael James Bowie Hobbs (15 February 1960 – 13 March 2012), known as Jock Hobbs, was a New Zealand rugby union player and administrator. A flanker, he played for Canterbury and won 21 caps for the New Zealand national team, the All ...

(1960–2012), All Black and chairman of the New Zealand Rugby Union * Edgar Kain DFC (1918–1940), air ace of World War II * Sir John Ormond (1905–1995), chairman of the

New Zealand Meat Producers Board The New Zealand Meat Board is a statutory body which provides quota management on behalf of the Crown for meat exports to the United States, European Union and United Kingdom. To protect their own livestock industry these countries give limited a ...

* Sir John Todd KNZM (1927–2015), businessman; Dux in 1943 *

Selwyn Toogood Selwyn Featherston Toogood (4 April 1916 – 27 February 2001) was a New Zealand radio and television personality. Early life and family Born in Wellington on 4 April 1916, Toogood was the son of Henry Featherston Toogood and Ethel Lois Co ...

(1916–2001), radio and television personality * Robert Vance (born 1955), cricketer * John White (1911–2007), jurist * Richard Wilkins (born 1954), an Australian TV personality; runner-up Dux in his final year

Principals

* Ellen ''Gladys'' Sommerville (1884–1958), founder * Rev Richard Henry Hobday MA BD (1879) 1920–1922 * ''Claude'' Henry Thomas Skelley (1880–1962), 1922–1940 * William ''Hutton'' Stevens (1893–1980), 1940–1965 * John Bellamy, 1966–1969 * Pat Beatson, 1970–1972 * Arthur Curtis 1972–1977 * Graeme Dreadon 1978–1994 **Steve Girvan 1984–2020 (deputy) * Warren Owen 1995–2014 * Brendan Pitman 2015–2020 * Michael Bain 2021–present

Notable staff

Jack Lamason John Rider Lamason (29 October 1905 – 25 June 1961) was a cricketer who played for Wellington from 1927–28 to 1946–47, and for New Zealand, but not in Test matches. A hard-hitting middle order batsman and an occasional right-arm off brea ...

(1905–1961), NA Cricket representative 1935/1936 and 1937/1938. * Arthur Porritt (1900–1994), Sole Games Master 1919, New Zealand Olympic representative and Governor-General. A great athlete, like his friend David Cecil he required his name to be changed (to ''Tom Watson'') in the film ''

Chariots of Fire ''Chariots of Fire'' is a 1981 historical drama, historical Sports film, sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Summer ...

''. * Murray Beresford Roberts
Bad
', Graham Hutchins, Hodder-Moa, Auckland, 2010, page 1948,

Note

References

External links

Wellesley our first century — Centenary website

Wellesley College School Website

Wellington Diocese – Wellesley College
{{Authority control Boys' schools in New Zealand Educational institutions established in 1913 Primary schools in New Zealand Schools in Lower Hutt Independent schools in New Zealand 1913 establishments in New Zealand