Mill Hill School

Public school in Mill Hill, London

Not to be confused with Mill Hill County High School or Mill Hill School, Derbyshire.

Mill Hill School

Address

The Ridgeway, Mill Hill

London

NW7 1QS

England

Coordinates| 51°37′08″N 0°13′50″W﻿ / ﻿51.6190°N 0.2305°W﻿ / 51.6190; -0.2305
Information
Type| Public school
Private day and boarding school
Motto| Latin: Et virtutem et musas
(Instilling values, inspiring minds)
Established| 1807; 218 years ago (1807)
Founders| Committee of Nonconformist merchants and ministers, including John Pye-Smith
Local authority| Barnet London Borough Council
Department for Education URN| 101367 Tables
Chair of Governors| Elliot Lipton
Head| David Benson[1]
Gender| Mixed
Age range| 13–18
Enrolment| 1,495[2]
Capacity| 1,661[2]
Campus size| 120 acres (49 ha)
Houses| 12
Colour(s)| Blue and red
Affiliation| Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
Alumni| Old Millhillians
Website| www.millhill.org.uk

Mill Hill School is a 13–18 co-educational private, day and boarding school in Mill Hill, London, England that was established in 1807. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

## History

[edit]

A committee of Nonconformist merchants and ministers, including John Pye-Smith founded the school,[3] originally called Mill Hill Grammar School,[4] for boys on 25 January 1807. They located it sufficiently distant of London at that time, because of "dangers both physical and moral awaiting youth while passing through the streets of a large, crowded and corrupt city". A boarding house was opened in the residence once occupied by Peter Collinson, with about 20 boys. John Atkinson was the first headmaster and chaplain until 1810.[citation needed][a]

Mill Hill School occupies a 120-acre (49 ha) site, part of which formed the gardens of Ridgeway House, the house of the botanist Peter Collinson. He was one of the most important importers of rare and exotic plants into English gardens. Many of the species that he introduced to Mill Hill in the 18th century continue to grow today in the grounds of the School.[citation needed] In 1746 Collinson planted Britain's first hydrangea on the grounds, now located adjacent to School House.

The estate was purchased by the botanist Richard Salisbury in 1802, Ridgeway House became the setting for a long-running scientific dispute between the new owner and his guest, James Edward Smith.[6] The flora of Mill Hill was supplemented by the work of the amateur botanist Richard William Bowry Buckland (died 1947), governor of the foundation from 1878 to 1889, who cultivated a garden in the south-west of the school's grounds for the enjoyment of future generations. He wrote in his diary:

> In years bygone I pray to thee,
>  This willow here, my legacy
>  As I have sat, pray sit thee.
>  In shaded splendour
>  Millhillians; rest hither.

> — (signed Richard Buckland)

In 1939, Mill Hill School's premises became a hospital. The school was evacuated to St. Bees School in Cumberland for the duration of the Second World War. Collinson House, a school for girls, was named for it. A St Bees Association was founded in commemoration of this period of evacuation in the school's history by Michael Berry and David Smith.[7]

Mill Hill first admitted sixth form girls in 1975 and became fully co-educational in 1997. The BBC news website usually uses a picture taken at Mill Hill School for articles about boarding schools.[8][9]

In 2005 the school was one of 50 of the country's leading independent schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times. Together they had driven up fees for thousands of parents.[10] 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. It is to benefit persons who were students at the schools during the cartel period.[11]

In March 2007, Mill Hill celebrated its bicentenary. To mark the occasion, the school was granted a new coat of arms by Robert Noel, Her Majesty's Lancaster Herald.[12]

In 2018, the school experienced controversy when it was featured in the music video of London rapper Stefflon Don. In it, she was shown nude in the changing room showers, dancing on tables in classrooms, and smoking marijuana in the dormitories.[13][14][15]

## Houses

[edit]

Mill Hill School is divided into houses. These are:

### Boarding houses

[edit]

* Burton Bank – Named to commemorate its original position on Burton Hole Lane
* Collinson – Named after Peter Collinson, who once owned what is now the estate
* Macgregor – Named after Mary Macgregor, the founder and first head of The Mount, Mill Hill International
* Ridgeway – Peter Collinson's original house on the site

Winterstoke House was converted into Grimsdell Mill Hill Pre-Preparatory School, in 1995.

### Day houses

[edit]

* Atkinson – Named after the first headmaster, John Atkinson
* Cedars – Named in honour of the cedars planted by Peter Collinson
* McClure – Named after Sir John McClure, headmaster at the turn of the 20th century
* Murray – Named in honour of Sir James Murray, teacher and longtime editor of the Oxford English Dictionary; who began compiling his dictionary while a master at Mill Hill
* Priestley – Named after headmaster Thomas Priestley
* School House – Named after Tite's famous building constructed in the 1820s
* Weymouth – Named after headmaster Richard Weymouth
* Winfield – Named after headmaster William Winfield

## Heads

[edit]

In January 2016, Frances King became the school's first female Head.[16]

The following people have served as Head:

Name | Tenure

|

John Atkinson | 1807–1810
Maurice Phillips | 1811–1818
John Humphreys | 1819–1825
James Corrie | 1825–1827
George Samuel Evans | 18281
Robert Cullen | 1829–1831
H. L. Berry | 1831–1834
Thomas Priestley | 1834–1852
Philip Smith | 1852–1860
William Flavel | 1860–1863
Philip Chapman Barker | 1863–1864
George Donald Bartlet | 1864–1868
Richard Francis Weymouth | 1869–1886
Charles Arthur Vince | 1886–1891
John David McClure (later Sir) | 1891–1922
Maurice Leonard Jacks | 1922–1937
Thomas Kingston Derry | 1938–1940
Arthur Rooker Roberts | 1940–1943
Maurice Leonard Jacks | 1943–1944
John Seldon Whale | 1944–1951
Roy Moore | 1951–1967
Michael Hart | 1967–1974
Alan Fraser Elliot | 1974–1978
William Allan Phimester | 1978–1979
Alastair Carew Graham | 1979–1992
Euan Archibald MacFarlane MacAlpine | 1992–1995
William Winfield | 1995–2007
Dominic Luckett | 2007–2015
Frances King | 2016–2018
Jane Sanchez | 2018–2023
David Benson | 2023–

^1 Evans served as head from January 1828 to June 1828.

## Architecture

[edit]

The chapel was opened in 1896. Designed by Basil Champneys, it is a basilica in form. The School House was designed by Sir William Tite, famous for his work on the London Royal Exchange, School House was erected in 1825 and is described as being in the Greco-Roman style. Other buildings within the site are of both traditional and modern styling. The cricket house was used as a set in the tenth episode of Inspector Morse.[citation needed] In honour of Patrick Troughton the Mill Hill theatre was dedicated to the actor and named the Patrick Troughton Theatre in 2007.[citation needed]

## The Mill Hill Education Group

[edit]

The school is run by the Mill Hill School Foundation (now known as The Mill Hill Education Group),[17] a registered charity under English law.[18] The Education Group offers education to boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in seven schools.[19] The Mill Hill Education Group's other schools are:

* Belmont – a day school for pupils aged 7 to 13. Head: Leon Roberts
* Grimsdell – a pre-preparatory day school for pupils aged 3 to 7.[20] Head: Kate Simon
* The Mount, Mill Hill International – a mixed day and boarding school for international pupils aged 11 to 16. Head: Sarah Bellotti.
* Cobham Hall – an independent day and boarding school for girls aged 11 to 18. Head: Wendy Barrett.[21]
* Lyonsdown – an independent preparatory school for girls aged 3 to 11. Head: Rittu Hall.
* Keble Prep – an independent preparatory school for boys and girls aged 4 to 13. Head: Perran Gill.
* St Joseph's In The Park – an independent preparatory school for boys and girls aged 2 to 11. Head: Douglas Brown.

## Notable alumni

[edit]

See also: Category:People educated at Mill Hill School

This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (August 2021)

|

* Nick Auterac, rugby union player
* Ethan Bamber, English county cricketer
* John Batten, physician to Queen Elizabeth II[22]
* Richard Berengarten, poet
* Michael Bishop, Baron Glendonbrook, businessman
* Jasper Britton, actor
* Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain, neurologist
* David Buck, actor
* Francis Cammaerts, Special Operations Executive (SOE) operative
* James Challis, astronomer
* Ernest Cook, English philanthropist and businessman (grandson of Thomas Cook)
* Chris Corner, producer and songwriter
* Francis Crick, molecular biologist, biophysicist and neuroscientist
* Misha Crosby, director, actor and producer
* Richard Dimbleby, broadcaster
* Sophia Dunkley, international cricketer
* John Richard Easonsmith, officer
* Sir Eric Errington, Bt., British barrister and Conservative Party politician
* Ivor Malcolm Haddon Etherington, mathematician
* David Dayan Fisher, actor
* Seb Fontaine, house music DJ
* Felix Francis, author of the 'Dick Francis' novels
* Nicholas Franks, professor of biophysics and anaesthetics at Imperial College London
* Ben Glassberg, conductor[23]
* Sarvepalli Gopal, Indian historian
* Inglis Gundry, composer, novelist, musicologist, music pedagogue and writer
* Tanika Gupta, playwright and scriptwriter
* Joseph Hardcastle, liberal member of Parliament
* Sir Norman Hartnell, fashion designer
* Hartley Heard, cricketer
* Thomas Helmore, choirmaster and choral historian and writer
* Francis Heron, England footballer and FA Cup winner
* Hubert Heron, England footballer and FA Cup winner
* Stanislav Ianevski, actor
* Chaz Jankel, musician
* Simon Jenkins, newspaper columnist, editor and author
* Robert Evan Kendell, psychiatrist
* Evgeny Lebedev, owner of Independent and Evening Standard newspapers
* Nick Leslau, businessman
* Keith Levene, musician, Public Image Limited
* Tom Lindsay, Rugby Union player
* Malcolm Mackintosh, Special Operations Executive (SOE) operative and intelligence analyst
* Norman Macrae, British journalist, former deputy editor of The Economist
* Ernest Maddox, eye surgeon and inventor of numerous optical instruments such as Maddox rod and Maddox wing
* Bob Marshall-Andrews, politician
* Harry Melling, actor
* Thanos Papalexis, convicted murderer
* Sajith Premadasa, Sri Lankan politician (Leader of the opposition)
* Adam Rossington, Middlesex cricketer
* Paul Sandifer, neurologist
* Vir Sanghvi, journalist, columnist, and talk show host
* Ernest Satow, British scholar, diplomat and Japanologist
* Daniel Sharman, actor
* Henry Shaw, botanist
* Tulip Siddiq, Labour Member of Parliament[24]
* George Spencer-Brown, mathematician
* Roger Spong, international rugby union footballer, England and Great Britain
* Mitchell Symons, journalist and writer
* Sir Denis Thatcher Bt., husband of the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
* David Tinker, Royal Navy officer killed in the Falklands War
* Lord Toulson, Justice of the Supreme Court
* Patrick Troughton, actor
* Austin Vince, long distance adventure motorcyclist
* Eric A. Walker, Professor Emeritus of Imperial History at the University of Cambridge
* Herbert Ward, explorer, writer and sculptor, whose statue Grief was presented to the school by the artist[25]
* Sir Frank William Wills Kt., architect, surveyor and Lord Mayor of Bristol; member of the Wills tobacco family
* Sir George Alfred Wills Bt. businessman and chairman of Imperial Tobacco
* William Wills, 1st Baron Winterstoke, businessman, Liberal politician, High Sheriff of Bristol & 1st chairman of Imperial Tobacco

## References

[edit]

Notes

1. ^ John Atkinson was later head of Wymondley College.[5]

Citations

1. ^ "Mill Hill School". Retrieved 3 May 2024.
2. ^ a b "Mill Hill School Foundation". Get information about schools. GOV.UK. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
3. ^ A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 1
4. ^ Chilton, Trevor (March 2016). "The remaining Peter Collinson trees at Mill Hill" (PDF). Mill Hill Preservation Society.
5. ^ "Wymondley Academy (1799–1833)". Dissenting Academies Online. Queen Mary Centre for Religion and Literature in English. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
6. ^ Boulger, George Simonds (1897). "Salisbury, Richard Anthony" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 50\. London: Smith, Elder & Co. "sources: Journal of Botany, 1886."
7. ^ "Evacuation of Mill Hill School to St Bees". The St Bees Association. Archived from the original on 25 May 2005.
8. ^ "Private sector 'to loan teachers'". BBC News. 26 May 2007.
9. ^ Smith, Alison (3 January 2015). "Private schools 'feel downturn". BBC News.
10. ^ Halpin, Tony (10 November 2005). "Independent schools face huge fines over cartel to fix fees". The Times. London, UK. Archived from the original on 10 March 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
11. ^ The Office of Fair Trading: OFT names further trustees as part of the independent schools settlement Archived 2 April 2014 at the UK Government Web Archive, oft.gov.uk; accessed 3 January 2014.
12. ^ "The Coat of Arms of Mill Hill School", millhill.org.uk; accessed 13 December 2020.
13. ^ "Mill Hill school seeks legal action over rapper Stefflon Don's explicit music video".
14. ^ "Stefflon Don music video forces Mill Hill School apology". BBC News. 23 August 2018.
15. ^ "Stefflon Don – how the rapper's new video taught a private school a lesson". TheGuardian.com. 22 August 2018.
16. ^ King, Frances. "Mrs Frances King". Mill Hill School. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
17. ^ "Mill Hill School Education Group".
18. ^ "THE MILL HILL SCHOOL FOUNDATION, registered charity no. 1064758". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
19. ^ "The Mill Hill School Foundation Announces More School Mergers". 8 February 2022. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
20. ^ Adonis, Andrew; Bright, Martin (15 February 1998). "A through train for the monied". The Observer. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
21. ^ "Cobham School" (PDF). Retrieved 23 February 2021.
22. ^ "Sir John Batten". www.telegraph.co.uk. 23 October 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
23. ^ Alumni, Mill Hill School (11 February 2019). "Ben Glassberg New Principal Conductor At Glyndebourne". Mill Hill Alumni. Mill Hill School. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
24. ^ "Tulip Siddiq". 11 February 2019.
25. ^ Grief at Mill Hill

## Further reading

[edit]

* Braithwaite, Roderick (2006). 'Strikingly Alive': The History of the Mill Hill School Foundation 1807–2007. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. ISBN 978-1-86077-330-3.
* Brett-James, Norman G. The Book of Remembrance and War Record of Mill Hill School 1914-1918 (1919)
* Brett-James, Norman G. The Book of Remembrance and War Record of Mill Hill School 1939-1945 (1948)
* Brett-James, Norman G. The History of Mill Hill School 1807-1923 (revised ed. 1923)

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mill Hill School.

* Official website
* Profile on ISC website
* Old Millhillians Club
* Mill Hill at War, 1914–1919 at the Wayback Machine (archived 16 May 2014)
* Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust's early history of Mill Hill School

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