Monkton Combe School

51°21′25″N 2°19′37″W / 51.3569°N 2.3270°W / 51.3569; -2.3270InformationTypePublic school
Private boarding schoolMottoLatin: Verbum Tuum Veritas
(Thy Word is Truth)
Established1868; 156 years ago (1868)FounderThe Revd Francis PocockHead MasterChristopher Wheeler (Senior School), Catherine Winchcombe (Prep School)GenderCoeducationalAge2 to 18Enrolment711 (all three schools from September 2015)HousesEddystone (MSS Boys)

Farm (MSS Boys)

Grange (MSS Girls)

School (MSS Boys)

Clarendon (MSS Girls)

Nutfield (MSS Girls)

Hatton (MPS Mixed):

• Easterfield (MPS Mixed)
• Kearns (MPS Mixed)
• Howard (MPS Mixed)
• Jameson (MPS Mixed)

Colour(s)Red, white, blueFormer pupilsOld MonktoniansWebsitehttp://www.monktoncombeschool.com

Monkton Combe School is a public school (fee-charging boarding and day school), located in the village of Monkton Combe near Bath in Somerset, England.

It is a member of the Rugby Group of independent boarding schools in the United Kingdom.^[1]

Monkton Combe School was founded in 1868 by the Revd. Francis Pocock, a former curate to the Bishop of Sierra Leone in the 1850s.^[2]

Historic buildings

Several of the school's buildings are listed, including the main Senior school block known as The Old Farm,^[3] and the part of the Terrace Block known as The Old Vicarage.^[4]

Head Masters/Principals

The following have been Head Masters or Principals of Monkton Combe School:^[5]

Name	Years as Head Master
Revd F. Pocock	1868–1875
Revd R.G. Bryan	1875–1895
Revd W.E. Bryan	1895–1900
Revd N. Bennett	1900
Revd J.W. Kearns	1900–1926
Revd E. Hayward	1926–1946
D.R. Wigram	1946–1968
R.J. Knight	1968–1978
R.A.C. Meredith	1978–1990
M.J. Cuthbertson	1990–2005
R. Backhouse	2005–2015
C. Wheeler	2016–Present

Sports awards

According to the school's website, it has produced six Olympic rowing medalists. Each represented Great Britain and three won gold medals. Students row as the Monkton Bluefriars Boat Club.

One Old Monktonian achieved an Olympic Gold Medal representing Great Britain at men's hockey. Another Old Monktonian captained the England Netball Team which won Gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.^[6]

Notable members of staff

• Revd. R.W. Ryde, 1866–1909, Classics Master
• A.S. Sellick, 1878–1958, Cricket Master
• G.F. Graham Brown, 1891–1942, History Master and former pupil
• F. Vallis, 1896–1957, Association Football and Cricket Master
• T.M. Watson, 1913–1994, French Master
• N.D. Botton, 1954–, History Master
• M. Wells, 1979–, Rowing Master

Notable alumni (Old Monktonians)

19th Century

• George Somes Layard, 1857–1925, barrister, journalist and man of letters
• Harry Martindale Speechly, 1866–1951, Canadian doctor
• Montague Waldegrave, 5th Baron Radstock, 1867–1953, peer
• Count Vladimir Alekseyevich Bobrinsky, 1868–1927, Tsarist politician from the Second to the Fourth Duma
• Count Paul Bobrinsky, 1869–1919, Peter's twin and Russian counter-revolutionary
• Count Peter Bobrinsky, 1869–1932, Paul's twin and Russian counter-revolutionary
• Harry Colt, 1869–1951, widely regarded as the father of golf course architecture
• Ernest Crosbie Trench 1869–1960, British civil engineer
• Sir Ernest Wills, 3rd Baronet 1869–1958, part-owner of W. D. & H. O. Wills and Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire
• Edwyn Bevan 1870–1943, British philosopher and Hellenistic historian
• Archibald Kennedy, 4th Marquess of Ailsa 1873–1943, British peer, barrister and soldier
• Horatio Powys-Keck, 1873–1952, first class cricketer
• Alfred Young 1873–1940, mathematician and inventor of the Young diagram and Young tableau^[7]
• Lieutenant Colonel Richard Annesley West 1878–1918, recipient of the Victoria Cross for sacrificing his life for his men
• Lieutenant Colonel Eric Marshall, 1879–1963, Antarctic explorer in Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition
• Frank Lugard Brayne 1882–1952, administrator in the Indian Civil Service
• Revd. William Thompson 1885–1975, Bishop of Iran
• Hugh Norton 1890–1969, Archdeacon of Sudbury
• Revd. Francis Graham Brown 1891–1942, Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and Bishop of Jerusalem
• Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Peirse 1892–1970, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Air Force and of RAF Bomber Command^[8]
• Dr. Sir Clement Chesterman 1894–1983, medical missionary at Yakusu in the Congo with the Baptist Missionary Society
• Harold Gilbee Anderson (1896–1977), medical missionary to China with the Church Mission Society

Early 20th Century

• Michael Head, 1900–1976, composer, singer and musical educator
• Dr. W. E. Shewell-Cooper, 1900–1982, organic gardening pioneer
• Percival Spear, 1901–1982, historian and civil servant in India
• Revd. Kenneth Mathews, 1906–1992, Dean of St Albans
• R. C. Hutchinson, 1907–1976, novelist
• David Howard Adeney, 1911–1994, missionary in China and East Asia^[9]
• Jim Broomhall, 1911–1994, historian and medical missionary to China with the China Inland Mission
• Charles Sergel, 1911–1980, Olympic rower and medical missionary to Uganda
• Revd. Gonville ffrench-Beytagh, 1912–1991, Dean of Johannesburg and anti-apartheid activist.
• Major-General John Frost, 1912–1993, leader of airborne forces during the Battle of Arnhem
• Colin Butler, 1913–2016, entomologist who first isolated the pheromone
• Martyn Cundy, 1913–2005, reforming mathematical educator and academic
• Thorley Walters, 1913–1991, actor
• Thomas Watson, 1913–1994, first class cricketer
• Professor John Anderson Strong, 1915–2012, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
• Dr. Ran Laurie, 1915–1998, Olympic rowing champion and physician
• J. Desmond Clark, 1916–2002, influential archaeologist and Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley^[10]
• The Right Revd. Maurice Wood, 1916–2007, Principal of Oak Hill Theological College and Bishop of Norwich
• Harold Jameson (1918–1940), first-class cricketer
• Lt Kevin Walton, 1918–2009, Antarctic explorer
• Squadron Leader James MacLachlan, 1919–1943, flying ace
• Revd. Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, 1920–1990, Bishop of Iran^{[dubious – discuss]}
• Revd. Graham Leonard, 1921–2010, Bishop of London
• Revd. David Brown, 1922–1982, Bishop of Guildford and missionary
• Prince Asrate Kassa, 1922–1974, Viceroy of Eritrea
• Pilot Officer Alfred Mellows, 1922–1997, Olympic rower
• Arthur Wallis, 1922–1988, itinerant Bible teacher and author
• Captain David Eyton-Jones, 1923–2012, SAS officer during Operation Tombola, businessman and chaplain
• Michael Lapage, 1923–2018, Olympic rower and missionary
• Colonel David Wood, 1923–2009, last surviving officer of the capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges
• Professor David Marshall Lang, 1924–1991, Professor of Caucasian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies
• Senator Andy Thompson, 1924–2016, leader of the Ontario Liberal Party
• Major General Sir Philip Ward, 1924–2003, GOC London District and Lord Lieutenant of West Sussex
• Revd. Allan Rutter, 1928-, first class cricketer and vicar
• Christopher Buxton, 1929–2017, property developer and President of The Abbeyfield Society
• Right Revd. John Bone, 1930–2014, Bishop of Reading
• Count Michel Didisheim, 1930–2020, Private Secretary and Chief of the Royal Household to Albert, Prince of Liège
• Adrian Mitchell, 1932–2008, poet, novelist and playwright^[11]
• Barclay Palmer, 1932–2020, Olympic athlete
• Professor Gerald Blake, 1936-, Professor Emeritus of Geography at Durham University and former Principal of Collingwood College, Durham
• John Barnard Bush, 1937–, land-owner and former Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire
• Michael Mortimore, 1937–2017, geographer and a researcher of issues in the African drylands
• Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Stear, 1938–2020, Deputy Commander in Chief, Allied Forces Central Europe
• Revd. Stephen Sykes, 1939–2014, Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge and Bishop of Ely
• Michael Barton Akehurst, 1940–1989, international lawyer
• Peter Webb, 1940-, Olympic rower
• Sir Tim Lankester, 1942–, former President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford
• Professor Nick Jardine, 1943-, Emeritus Professor at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge
• Sir Richard Stilgoe, 1943–, songwriter, lyricist and musician
• Bernard Cornwell, 1944–, historical novelist
• Revd. Ian Cundy, 1945–2009, Bishop of Lewes and Bishop of Peterborough^[12]
• Sir Richard Dearlove 1945-, Head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1999 until 2004 and former Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge
• Ricky Panter, 1948-, Archdeacon of Liverpool
• Nigel Sinclair 1948-, Hollywood producer
• Sir Iain Torrance 1949–, Pro-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen and former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
• Sir David Haslam 1949- Former Chair of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and President of BMA and RCGP

Late 20th Century

• Professor Sir Robert Lechler, 1951–, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences and Professor of Immunology at King's College London
• John Reed, 1951-, former Archdeacon of Taunton
• Julian Colbeck, 1952-, musician and businessman
• Professor Mike Cowlishaw, 1953–, programmer and scientist
• Howard Milner, 1953–2011, tenor
• James Hawkins, 1954-, artist and film-maker
• Canon Nigel Biggar 1955-, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford
• Chris Anderson, 1957–, Journalist and publisher, Owner of TED and curator of TED Talks.
• Stephen Warren, 1957–, Professor of Astrophysics at Imperial College London
• John Kiddle, 1958-, Archdeacon of Wandsworth
• Sir Charles Farr, 1959–2019, Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee and Head of the Joint Intelligence Organisation
• Lieutenant General Tim Evans, 1962-, former Commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps
• Steve Williams, 1976–, Olympic rowing champion
• Rowley Douglas, 1977-, Olympic coxswain champion
• James Frith, 1977-, former Member of Parliament for Bury North
• Stefan Booth, 1979-, actor
• Seyi Rhodes, 1979–, television presenter and investigative journalist
• Alex Partridge, 1981–, Olympic rower and World Rowing champion
• Ama Agbeze, 1982–, former Captain of the England national netball team
• Josh Ovens, 1989-, farmer and former player for Bath Rugby
• Professor Phil Hockey, 1959–2013, South African ornithologist, director of the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town.^[13]

21st Century

• Ben Wells, 2000-, first class cricketer

References

External links

• Monkton Combe School website
• Bluefriars Boatclub website
• Senior School Good Schools Guide Report
• Monkton Combe village website