Eastbourne College
Public school
Private day and boarding
Coordinates50.7627°N 0.2811°E
Established1867
Religious affiliationChurch of England
PresidentPeregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire
Head labelHeadmaster
HeadTom Lawson
Chair labelChairman of the College Council
ChairNicky Eckert[1]
FoundersWilliam Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire and other prominent Eastbourne citizens
AddressOld Wish Road
CityEastbourne
CountyEast Sussex
CountryEngland
Postal codeBN21 4JY
Local authorityEast Sussex County Council
OfstedSC050547
Urn114650
Staff200~
Enrolment600~
GenderCo-educational
Lower age13
Upper age18
Houses5 day, 5 boarding
ColoursEastbourne Navy
Eastbourne Red
PublicationThe Eastbournian
The Old Eastbournian
AlumniOld Eastbournians
Websiteeastbourne-college.co.uk
MascotStag
ChaplainDaniel Merceron

Eastbourne College is a co-educational fee-charging school in the English public school tradition, for boarding and day pupils aged 13–18, in the town of Eastbourne in East Sussex on the south coast of England. The college's headmaster is Tom Lawson.

Overview

The college was founded by William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, and other prominent Eastbourne citizens in 1867.[citation needed]

The college is in the Lower Meads area of Eastbourne, a mainly residential area. Most of the school buildings are on a central campus area but many others are scattered in the immediate vicinity, such as the Beresford hockey and the links rugby pitches.

The motto, Ex Oriente Salus, is a play on "Eastbourne", meaning "The haven [the bourne] from the East". Salus also means health or salvation, the latter making an allusion to Christ, who came, from the English point of view, from the east.

History

Charles Hayman, an Eastbourne medical practitioner and member of the town's first council, together with other prominent local citizens, decided an independent school should be established and the support of William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, was sought. He was supportive of the venture and provided 12 acres (5 hectares) of land for purchase at a modest price. This link with the Cavendish family is evidenced by the stag in the arms of the school.

From 1867 to 1869, it occupied Ellesmere Villa, now called Spencer Court; the location is now marked by a blue plaque. Architect Henry Currey was assigned by the duke to design a new school building, and College House, now School House, was built in 1870. The school chapel was constructed that same year.

During the 1880s, the school went through an impoverished period. Through the intervention of George Wallis, first mayor of Eastbourne and the work of new headmaster Charles Crowden, formerly of Cranbrook School, the school was saved from financial disaster.[2]

The college admitted its first girls in 1969 when the sixth form became coeducational, becoming one of the first HMC schools to admit girls. The college is now fully coeducational.

In 2005 the school was one of fifty of the country's leading private schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times, which had allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents.[3] Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared.[4]

Boarding and day houses

Boarding houses
  • Gonville (boys)
  • Nugent (girls)
  • Pennell (boys)
  • School (girls)
  • Wargrave (boys)
Day houses
  • Blackwater (girls)
  • Craig (boys)
  • Powell (boys)
  • Reeves (boys)
  • Watt (girls)
Former houses
  • Arnold (mixed; flexi boarding[clarification needed])

Many of these houses were donated to the school in wills and named after their benefactors; for example, Powell was given to the college by Stanley Powell.

Extracurricular activities

Combined Cadet Force

The school's CCF corps was founded in 1896.[2]

Sport

Sport is played at the many facilities around the college (including College Field which has been used for training by teams such as South Africa upon arrival in the UK and some internationals) and at various locations around the town acquired by the college. Former pupils who have achieved sporting success include rugby players Hugo Southwell (Scotland and London Wasps) and Mark Lock (Leeds Tykes), and cricket player Ed Giddins.

Each term at the college has a single primary sport:

TermBoysGirls
MichaelmasRugby unionHockey
LentHockeyNetball
SummerCricketTennis

There are also alternative sports, including football, cross country, swimming, golf, tennis, squash, rowing, sailing, rugby fives, fives, and rounders. The school owns a boat house nearby the campus.[5][6]

Birley Centre

On 17 October 2011, Gus Christie, chairman of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, opened the Birley Centre.[7] It was named after Michael Birley, former headmaster of Eastbourne College (1956–1970), and now has facilities such as a recording studio and a state of the art theatre space.

The Southern Railway made great use of steam locomotive names for publicity, and the carrying of pupils to boarding schools at the beginning and end of school terms was a significant traffic flow.[8] Locomotives of the 'V' or "Schools" class, introduced in 1930, were hence named after prominent English public schools. The fifteenth locomotive, no. 914, was named Eastbourne after the college. Built at Eastleigh in October 1932, no. 914 remained in service until withdrawn by British Railways in July 1961.[9]

Headmasters

  • 1867: Rev. J. R. Wood[10]
  • Rev. Thompson Podmore[10]
  • 1887–1888: Rev. G. R. Green[10]
  • 1888–1895: Rev. Dr Charles Crowden[10]
  • 1895–1900: M. A. Bayfield[10]
  • 1900–1906: Harry Thomson[10]
  • 1906–1924: Rev. F. F. S. Williams[10]
  • 1924–1929: E. C. Arnold[10]
  • 1929–1938: Gordon V. Carey[10]
  • 1938–1956: F. J. Nugee[10]
  • 1956–1970: Michael Birley[10]
  • 1970–1973: John Kendall-Carpenter
  • 1972–1973: Donald Perrens, acting headmaster[10]
  • 1973–1981: Simon Langdale[10]
  • 1981–1993: Christopher Saunders[10]
  • 1993–2005: Charlie Bush[10]
  • 2005–2016: Simon Davies[10]
  • 2016–present: Tom Lawson [10][11]

Notable alumni

Former pupils

See also:

Former pupils are known as Old Eastbournians, and are members of the Eastbournian Society,[12] formerly the Old Eastbournian Association.

Military

Victoria Cross holders

Two Old Eastbournians have won the Victoria Cross:[16]

Military Cross holders

Notable staff

  • Aleister Crowley, occultist and mystic. It was previously believed that Crowley was a pupil at Eastbourne College, but this myth was debunked in 2015 by the college's archivist, Michael Partridge.[17] Crowley did, however, work as an assistant in the chemistry laboratory to the Head of Science, Robert Edward Hughes, at age 18.[18]
  • Roger Knight, assistant master in 1970s
  • Min Patel, cricket coach
  • John Shepherd, cricket coach

Notes

  • College Archives - these can be found on the Eastbournian Society website under 'Digital Archives', or visited at the college by appointment.
  • Allom, Vincent Mulcaster; Eastbourne College (1967). Ex Oriente Salus - A Centenary History of Eastbourne College. ISBN 978-0950355900.

References

  1. ^ "Structure of the School"
  2. ^ "College Timeline". Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  3. ^ Halpin, Tony (2005-11-10). "Independent schools face huge fines over cartel to fix fees". The Times. Archived from the original on 10 March 2007.
  4. ^ "OFT names further trustees as part of the independent schools settlement". Office of Fair Trading. 21 December 2006. Archived from the original on 10 June 2008. Retrieved 25 July 2008.
  5. ^ StudyLink, Britannia (2021-08-20). "Eastbourne College Guide: Reviews, Rankings And More". Britannia StudyLink Malaysia: UK Study Expert. Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  6. ^ "Eastbourne College BC". British Rowing
  7. ^ "Birley Centre cements college links with town". Eastbourne Herald. 17 October 2011.
  8. ^ "Maunsell V 'Schools' class 4-4-0". Southern E-Group. 19 June 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2009.
  9. ^ "Maunsell V 'Schools' class 4-4-0 - Data". Southern E-Group. 10 February 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2009.
  10. ^ "A History of Music at Eastbourne College from its Foundation in 1867 until 2012 and the Opening of the Birley Centre", 31 January 2021
  11. ^ [1]
  12. ^ Eastbournian Society
  13. ^ Burke's Peerage, vol. 3 (2003), p. 3872
  14. ^ "Adam Mynott". BBC News. 12 July 2004. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  15. ^ "Player profile: John Young". CricketArchive. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  16. ^ Webster F.A.M. (1937), Our Great Public Schools (Butler & Tanner: London)
  17. ^ "Looking at the life of reviled poet and occultist". The Argus. 2015-08-14. Retrieved 2025-12-16.
  18. ^ Brock, William H (May 2018). "A College Science Teacher: Robert Edward Hughes". The Old Eastbournian 2017. – via Eastbournian Society.

Bibliography