| Queen's College Boys' High School | |
| Size: | 250px |
| Motto: | Esse Quam Videri |
| Motto Translation: | To be, rather than to seem to be |
| Former Name: | Prospect House Academy, Public School for Boys, Queenstown Grammar School |
| Schooltype: | All-boys School |
| Status: | Government subsidised, fee paying public school |
| Sister School: | Queenstown Girls' High School |
| District: | Chris Hani West District |
| Gender: | Male |
| Affiliations: | International Boys' School Coalition, Queenstown Education Foundation, Four Schools One Family |
| Headmaster: | Janse van der Ryst(- present) |
| Founder: | Mr. C.E. Ham |
| R Head Label: | Senior Deputy Headmaster |
| Students: | 596 boys |
| Grades: | 8–12 |
| Streetaddress: | 16 Berry Street, Top Town |
| Coordinates: | -31.8898°N 26.8765°W |
| Oversight: | School Governing Body |
| Accreditation: | Eastern Cape Department of Education |
| Campus: | Urban Campus |
| Colours: | Black Old Gold White |
| Song: | The College Song & Queen's Forever |
| Houses: | Beswick [Boarders] Mallet [Day Boys] Russell [Day Boys] |
| Nickname: | QC, Queen's |
| Language: | English (main) Xhosa (Additional language) Afrikaans (Additional language) Sesotho(Addition language) |
| Schedule: | Monday - Friday 07:30 - 13:30 |
| Mascot: | Kudu |
| Free Label: | Head Prefect |
| Fight Song: | Ingonyama (War Cry) |
| Yearbook: | The Queen's Quire |
| Newspaper: | Queen's Quote |
Queen's College Boys' High School, more commonly referred to as Queen's College (or simply QC), is a fee-paying government English medium high school for boys situated in the town of Komani in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Established in 1858 first as Prospect House Academy,[1] it is the oldest school in the Border region and among the 100 oldest schools in South Africa. The college is associated with Queen's College Boys' Primary School, which was established on 15 November 1957, a year before the high school marked 100 years of existence.
Queen's College started as Prospect House Academy when Mr C.E Ham first opened the doors to his school on 21 April 1858 at 6 Shepstone Street in Queenstown. The school was situated in an outbuilding on the property and consisted of a single room with a mud floor and holes in the wall for ventilation. The enrollment had reached 30 boys by 1859 and was also known as the Queenstown District School.[2] It was in receipt of a government grant of £50, backdated to the initial opening of the school. From inception the school offered boarding facilities, in the home of Mr Ham, conveniently situated directly across the road from the schoolhouse.
In 1864, a dispute regarding financial support for the school by the district council, led to the abrupt closure of the school by Mr Ham and he ceased teaching in order to open a general store in the town. Boys returning from their holiday in July 1864 discovered that their school house had been let to another tenant and their schoolmaster had become a haberdasher.[3] Public concern was such that a committee was formed, which decides that St Michael's Grammar School should assume the mantle of Prospect House Academy by accepting the status of a government-aided school. The resulting amalgamated school becomes the Public School for Boys and classes are held in a billiard hall.[4]
It was only in 1910 that the school was renamed Queen's College.https://www.queenscollege.co.za/history
The school has currently has three hostels; Whitson House, Athlone House and Connaught House. Whitson caters for students in Grades 8 - 9, Connaught for students in Grades 10 - 12 and Athlone for Students in Grades 9–10. Athlone was reopened in 2021 after many years of closure. All hostel boys belong to as Beswick House, a name taken from the school's fourth headmaster.
Originally, Whitson House was the first hostel of the school and was built in 1904. It was later renamed Connaught House. In 1932, this hostel was closed leading to the later opening of hostels Athlone and De Vos Malan in 1939. In 1975, Connaught House was renamed Whitson House after old boy Mr H Whitson. The new Connaught House was built in 1979. After a decline in boarders in the early 2000s most of the hostels were closed and converted into classrooms. Hostels outside campus were sold.[6]
Queen's College has long-standing annual derby days for both summer and winter sports with traditional rivals such as Dale College, Grey High School, St Andrew's College, and Selborne College that stretch back to at least the 1900s. Grey College was also a rival of Queen's, but the yearly derby between these two rugby giants lost momentum and 2006 was the last of the yearly derby.
The main sports fields are the Queen's College Victoria Recreation Grounds (rugby and athletics) and the Chris Harker Astro (hockey) where first team matches are played.[7] The naming of the astroturf being a misnomer which suggests that it is solely owned by the school, when it is actually a shared facility amongst local schools.
| Name & Surname | Year Matriculated | Teams | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allan Beswick | 1888 | 49th Springbok | [8] | |
| Jimmy White | 1928 | 217th Springbok | ||
| Dick Muir | 1982 | 642nd Springbok | ||
| Robbi Kempson | 1992 | 669th Springbok | ||
| Kaya Malotana | 1994 | 687th Springbok | ||
| Owen Lentz | 1998 | American Rugby | ||
| Carlo del Fava | 1998 | Italian Rugby | ||
| Rocco Jansen | 2004 | Emerging Springboks Rugby | ||
| Lionel Cronjé | 2007 | South Africa U20 (2009 Player of the Year), South Africa 'A' | ||
| S'bura Sithole | 2008 | South Africa Sevens | ||
| Allan Dell | 2010 | South Africa U20, Scottish Rugby, British and Irish Lion #834 | ||
| Andisa Ntsila | 2011 | South Africa 'A' | ||
| Johan Meyer | 2011 | Italian Rugby | ||
| Juan-Philip Smith | 2012 | South Africa U20 |
| Name & Surname | Year Matriculated | Teams | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ken McEwan | 1970 | Eastern Province and Essex cricketer | ||
| Daryll John Cullinan | 1984 | South African Test Cricketer | ||
| Justin Kemp | 1996 | South African Test and limited overs Cricketer | ||
| Tony Greig | 1965 | English Test Cricketer | ||
| Ian Greig | 1974 | English Test Cricketer |