Stonyhurst College
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Image:Stonyhurst college.jpg Stonyhurst College is the leading English Jesuit public school near Clitheroe, Lancashire, England. It is probably the most famous jesuit school in the world and continues to educate children from some of the grandest Catholic families.
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History
The story of Stonyhurst starts at St. Omer in France in 1592, where a college was founded by Father Robert Persons SJ for English boys, unable to receive a Catholic education in Elizabethan England. The school was driven from St. Omer in 1762, when the French Parliament turned against the Jesuits, the school being forced to move. It settled in Bruges where it continued until 1773 when it was again forced to move, reassembling at Liège. In 1794 yet another move was forced upon the school, and a new home was found at Stonyhurst Hall in Lancashire, given to the school by Thomas Weld. <ref name="history">{{ cite web |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14309b.htm |author=Francis Irwin (Catholic Encyclopaedia 1912) |title=Stonyhurst College |date=2003 |accessdate=2006-03-11 }}</ref>
Its alumni include three Saints, twelve Beati and seven recipients of the Victoria Cross.
An observatory was added in 1838, and during the 19th century the school prided itself on producing 'gentlemen philosophers'.
Motto
It is a longstanding practice that students at the school write A.M.D.G. in the top left hand corner of any piece of work they do. It stands for Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam which means To The Greater Glory Of God. At the end of a piece of work they write L.D.S. in the centre of the page. It stands for Laus Deo Semper which means Praise to God Always. These are both traditional Jesuit mottos.
School Organisation
Unlike most English public schools, Stonyhurst is organised horizontally by year groups (known as playrooms) rather than vertically by houses. Each playroom has an assigned playroom master, with each cohort moving through the playrooms, having a sequence of playroom masters (rather than being allocated into a house with housemaster for their whole time in the school, as happens in other schools).
All of the accommodation for boarders is contained within the college, under a single roof, with separate areas for each playroom.
Year Names
Currently, Stonyhurst has the following year names (with approximate ages):
Preparatory School: St Mary's Hall
- Preparatory ('Prep', 8-9)
- Elements (9-10)
- Lower Figures (10-11)
- Figures (11-12)
- Rudiments ('Ruds', 12-13)
Stonyhurst College
- Lower Grammar ('LG' 13-14)
- Grammar (14-15)
- Syntax (15-16, GCSE Year)
- Poetry (16-17)
- Rhetoric (17-18)
Lines
Rather than houses, Stonyhurst categorises pupils into Lines. The Lines and colours are as follows:
- Campion (Red) (after St Edmund Campion)
- St Omers (Yellow) (after St Omer, the town the school was founded in)
- Shireburn (Green) (after the Shireburn family that built Stonyhurst)
- Weld (Blue) (after the Weld family that donated Stonyhurst)
Cadet Corps
The Cadet Corps has the following Platoons, 7 of which are named after the School's VC winners:
Junior Company
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Senior Company
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Alumni
Stonyhurst's alumni includes
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, mystery writer who created Sherlock Holmes
- Herbert Cardinal Vaughan (Westminster Cardinal Archbishop Primate)
- Charles Waterton, naturalist
More recently, Old Stonyhurst in the public eye include
- Chris Morris, satirist
- Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC
A fuller list of alumni can be found here
Stonyhurst Rugby Union
Stonyhurst has been the Alma mater for twelve international rugby players from England (4), Ireland (6), USA (1) and Italy (1). Most recently they include: Iain Balshaw and Kyran Bracken who both played for England when they won the World Cup. Will Greenwood was also on the team and although he did not attend Stonyhurst he did attend the prep-school.
List of Rectors and Headmasters
Until 1961 the duties of headmaster fell to the rector. The following lists show the rectors from the start of the 20th century and the headmasters from the separation of the two positions. <ref name="rectors">{{ cite web |url=http://www.swan.ac.uk/history/research/spencer_project/historical/rectors.html |author=Maurice Whitehead |title=Rectors, presidents and headmasters of the English Jesuit college of St Omers, Bruges, Liège and Stonyhurst since 1593 |date=16 January 2006 |accessdate=2006-03-11 }}</ref>
Rector and Headmaster
- Pedro Gordon (1906 - 1907)
- William Bodkin SJ (1907 - 1916)
- Edward O'Connor SJ (1916 - 1924)
- Walter Weld SJ (1924 - 1929)
- Richard Worsley SJ (1929 - 1932)
- Edward O'Connor SJ (1932 - 1938)
- Leo Belton SJ (1938 - 1945)
- Bernard Swindells SJ (1945 - 1952)
- Francis Vavasour SJ (1952 - 1958)
- Desmond Boyle SJ(1958 - 1961)
Headmaster
- Frederick Turner SJ (1961 - 1963)
- George Earle SJ (1963 - 1971)
- Michael Bossy SJ (1971 - 1985)
- Giles Mercer (1985 - 1996)
- Adrian Aylward (1996 - present)
References
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Bibliography
- Chadwick, Hubert, S.J. (1962). "St Omers to Stonyhurst", Burns & Oats. No ISBN.
- Walsh, R.R. (1989) "Stonyhurst War Record"
- Muir, T.E. (1992). "Stonyhurst College 1593-1993", James & James (Publishers) Ltd. ISBN 0907383327
- Kirby, Henry L. and Walsh, R.Raymond (1987). "The Seven V.C.s of Stonyhurst College", T.H.C.L. Books. ISBN 0948494042