Blundell's School Explained

Blundell's School
Coordinates:50.9065°N -3.4662°W
Motto:Pro Patria Populoque
(For the country and the people)
Type:Public school
Private day and boarding school
Head Label:Head
Head:Bart Wielenga
Chair Label:Chairman of the Governors
Chair:Nigel Hall
Founder:Peter Blundell
Address:Blundells Road
City:Tiverton
County:Devon
Country:England
Postcode:EX16 4DN
Urn:113575
Staff:360
Enrolment:c. 615 in senior school
c. 251 in preparatory school
Gender:Co-educational
Lower Age:3
Upper Age:18
Houses:Francis House (Boys)
Gorton House (Girls)
North Close (Girls)
Old House (Boys)
Petergate (Boys)
School House (Years 7 and 8)
Westlake (Sixth Form)
Colours:Red & White
Free Label 1:Former pupils
Free 1:Old Blundellians
Website:http://www.blundells.org

Blundell's School is an independent co-educational boarding and day school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the time, and moved to its present site on the outskirts of the town in 1882.

While the full boarding fees are £45,750 per year,[1] the school offers several scholarships and bursaries, and provides flexi-boarding. The school has 360 boys and 225 girls, including 117 boys and 85 girls in the Sixth Form, and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

History

Peter Blundell, one of the wealthiest merchants of Elizabethan England, died in 1601, having made his fortune principally in the cloth industry. His will set aside considerable money and land to establish a school in his home town "to maintain sound learning and true religion". Blundell asked his friend John Popham, Lord Chief Justice of England, to carry out his wishes, and appointed a number of local merchants and gentry as his first trustees (known as feoffees). The position of feoffee is no longer hereditary, but a number of notable local families have held the position for a considerable period: the first ancestor of the current chairman of the governors to hold that position was elected more than 250 years ago, and the Heathcoat-Amory family have a long tradition of service on the Governing Body, since Sir John Heathcoat-Amory was appointed in 1865.

The Old Blundell's School was built to be much larger and grander than any other in the West Country, with room for 150 scholars and accommodation for a master and an usher.[2] The Grade 1 listed building is now in the care of the National Trust and the forecourt is usually open to visitors. One ex-Blundell's boy was the writer R. D. Blackmore, who in the novel Lorna Doone set the stage for a fight between John Ridd and Robin Snell on the Blundell's triangular lawn.[3]

Peter Blundell's executors established links with Balliol College, Oxford, and with Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and large sums were settled to provide for scholarships for pupils of the school to attend those colleges.[4]

The prep school St Aubyn's was moved to the Blundell's campus in 2000,[5] taking over the day-boy house Milestones and the Sanatorium, and was renamed Blundell's Prep School. It has about 250 pupils aged from three years to eleven. The headmaster is Andy Southgate.

Sport

Rugby

Rugby is the main sport played at Blundell's in the Autumn and Spring terms. The earliest mention of "football" in the Blundellian was in 1861 and the first recorded "rugger" match played by boys at Blundell's was in 1868 against Tiverton Rugby Club, making the school one of the oldest anywhere formally to play the game. The Blundell's crest still hangs in the main room at Twickenham in recognition of this.[6]

OBs Dave Lewis Gloucester Rugby, Matt Kvesic and Will Carrick-Smith Exeter Chiefs all currently play in the Aviva Premiership.[7]

Sam Maunder, brother of Jack Maunder, plays for England U18 squad.[8]

The Russell

One annual tradition is the school's cross-country run known as the Russell, named after Old Boy Jack Russell, a vicar and dog-breeder. It was first run in 1887,[9] and 2009 saw the 129th run.[10]

Southern Railway Schools Class

The School lent its name to the thirty-third steam locomotive (Engine 932) in the Southern Railway's Class V of which there were 40. This class was also known as the Schools Class because all 40 of the class were named after prominent English public schools. Blundell's, as it was called, was built in 1934. The locomotive bearing the school's name was withdrawn from service in January 1961. In 2009 Hornby produced a model of this particular Schools class locomotive. As the product photograph shows, while the name of this locomotive has been variously quoted as Blundells or Blundell's, the apostrophe does actually appear on the nameplate.[11]

2024 attempted murder conviction

In 2024, a child who had been a pupil at the school was found guilty of attempted murder of two other students and one of the staff; he had been 16 at the time of the assaults in 2023.[12] [13] The Guardian said that "a troubling picture emerged of aspects of life at the 400-year-old school", with bullying, children having weapons and unrestricted access to their mobile telephones.[12]

Old Blundellians

The first known society of former pupils, known as Old Blundellians (OBs), was established as early as 1725.[14]

William Hogarth engraved the letterhead for the invitation to a dinner for former pupils of the School in 1725 and the Ticket for Tiverton School Feast in 1740, (image of print courtesy of Antiqueprints.com).[15]

Notable former pupils include:

A–D

E–K

L–R

S–Z

Notable former masters

Former masters of Blundell's have included:

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://blundells.org/senior-school/admissions/fees blundells official webpage: fee and admissions
  2. http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/Tiverton/Tiverton1850.html GENUKI/Devon: Tiverton 1850
  3. https://archive.today/20130416055935/http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/romance/LornaDooneaRomanceofExmoor/chap2.html Lorna Doone, A Romance of Exmoor – CHAPTER II
  4. http://archives.balliol.ox.ac.uk/History/blundells.asp Balliol Archives – Blundell's School
  5. Web site: Eteach – Education Recruitment Vacancies, Supply Teaching Jobs . 22 June 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110716024816/http://www.eteach.com/JobSeekers/RecruiterProfile.aspx?EmpNo=17679 . 16 July 2011 . dead .
  6. http://www.blundells.org/archive/sports/rugby/history.htm www.blundells.org - Rugby
  7. Web site: OB Club - Sport . Blundells.org . 2011-11-26 . 2013-02-07.
  8. Web site: RFU.
  9. http://www.blundells.org/admin/school_hms.htm www.blundells.org - Headmasters
  10. http://www.obclub.co.uk/obclub/sport_the-russell.htm OB Club - Sport
  11. http://www.hornby.com/locomotives-89/r2744x/product.html
  12. News: Morris . Stephen . Boy guilty of attempted murders in Devon private school hammer attack . 21 June 2024 . The Guardian . 21 June 2024.
  13. News: Evans . Martin . Boarding school pupil broke sleeping roommates' skulls with hammer, court hears . 21 June 2024 . The Telegraph . 18 April 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240418132306/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/18/pupil-at-boarding-school-broke-roommates-skulls . 18 April 2024.
  14. Report & Transactions, Volume 23, Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, 1891
  15. Web site: Search object details . British Museum . 2013-04-26.
  16. Frederic Boase, Modern English Biography, vol. 4 (Netherton and Worth, 1906), p. 2,007

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