Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield

Queen Elizabeth Grammar School
Location
Wakefield
,
West Yorkshire
,
WF1 3QX

England
Coordinates53°41′18″N 1°30′05″W / 53.68844°N 1.50135°W / 53.68844; -1.50135
Information
TypePublic school
MottoTurpe Nescire
(Latin: "It is a disgrace to be ignorant")
Religious affiliation(s)Church of England
Established1591 (1591)
FounderThomas Savile and others
Department for Education URN108306 Tables
Chairman of the GovernorsMartin Shevill[1]
HeadmasterRichard Brookes
GenderBoys
Age4 to 18
Enrolment≈680
Colour(s)Black & gold   
Former pupilsOld Savilians
School song"Floreas, Wakefieldia"
Websitewgsf.org.uk

Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS) is a public school (day school, no boarding) for boys in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The school was founded by Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I in 1591 at the request of leading citizens in Wakefield (headed by Thomas Savile and his two sons) 75 in total and some of whom formed the first governing body.[2]

The school is part of a foundation, with both QEGS Senior and Junior schools joined together, along with the nearby Wakefield Girls' High School and its Junior School, and Mulberry House, which is a nursery and pre-prep department.

As of September 2021, the headmaster of the school is Dr Richard Brookes,[3] who was previously senior deputy head at City of London School.

QEGS is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

History

Founding

Queen Elizabeth Grammar School dates back to 19 November 1591 when a charter was granted to fourteen men to act as governors of the new school. In 1598, it moved into a purpose-built building, now the Elizabethan Gallery.

The charter read:

Of our especial grace, certain knowledge and mere motion, we do, will grant and ordain for us, our heirs and successors, that hereafter there be and shall be one Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth at Wakefield, for the teaching, instructing and bringing up of children and youth in grammar, and other good learning, to continue to that use forever.

The original Elizabethan school building on Brook Street

Five of the fourteen men designated to be governors bore the name Saville. Generations of the Saville family have played important roles in the school's history and hence the reason why the Old Boys' Association is called the Old Savilians' Club.[4]

Coat of arms

Coat of arms of Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield
Notes
The arms have been in use since 1591, but it is unknown if or when they were granted.[5]
Crest
On a wreath Argent and Azure, an owl Argent.
Escutcheon
Per fess, in the upper half parted per pale, Gules a lion statant guardant Or, and Sable an owl Argent, the lower half Azure a Bible Argent with clasps Or.
Motto
'Turpe Nescire'

The school arms came into existence soon after the school was founded and features a lion, an owl and a Bible. The golden lion on a red field refers to the royal foundation; the silver owl on black is taken from the arms of the Savile family (one of the founding families) and the Bible indicates the religious side of education. The school motto, "Turpe Nescire", means "It is a disgrace to be ignorant".[4]

School song

Around 1900, H. G. Abel, then the senior classics master, composed "Floreas, Wakefieldia" and Matthew Peacock, headmaster and honorary choirmaster at the cathedral, set the words to music. It was seen as fitting that the song should be written in Latin, thereby evoking echoes of traditional scholasticism. The song is still sung today – at Founders' Day, Speech Day and at all Old Savilian Club dinners.

Facilities

The current buildings on Northgate

In 1854 QEGS moved to its present site in Northgate, Wakefield, into premises designed by the architect Richard Lane[6] and formerly occupied by the West Riding Proprietary School.[7][8] The attached Junior school for boys aged 7 to 11 was founded in 1910.

A new building (Savile Building) was opened in 2005 by Ted Wragg, the famous educationalist, who taught at the school in the early 1960s. The new building provides a new 6th form centre, English department, state-of-the-art theatre and Learning Resources Centre for the pupils of QEGS.

Sport

War memorial at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield

The school is often noted for its sporting ability,[9] having achieved frequent success in a number of sports. Over 83% of the school's boys represent QEGS in one sporting event or another. The most popular sport is rugby union, followed by hockey, cricket, athletics, and basketball. Hockey in particular has experienced substantial growth in the school throughout the last decade, and is now close to matching rugby union's dominance internally. In 2006, 2013, 2014 and 2015 the under-15s Rugby side reached the Daily Mail Cup final, winning the 2015 competition in a tight 15–6 win over three time final rivals Warwick. In 2009 every age group won the hockey 'Yorkshire Cup' for the first time in the school's history with the under 16s going on to reach the national semi-finals, only to lose to Whitgift School. As well as plenty of sporting opportunities, the school also gives pupils the opportunity to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme.

  • David Storey's Booker Prize winning novel Saville (1976) includes an account of the experiences of a working class boy at a Yorkshire grammar school in the 1940s. Storey, like the protagonist of Saville a miner's son, is an old boy of QEGS.
  • The school is mentioned in the novel Nineteen Seventy-Four by David Peace.

Headmasters

Headmasters of Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield from 1591 to the present time.[10]

Notable Old Savilians

Academia

Arts

Art

  • Thomas Hartley Cromek (1809–1873), English artist[22]

Literature

  • Thomas Armstrong (1899–1978), novelist
  • Richard Bentley (1662–1742), theologian, classical scholar and critic[23][15]
  • Dusty Hughes (born 1947), English playwright and director
  • Robert Munford III (1737–1783), American playwright[24]
  • AJ Quinnell (real name Philip Nicholson; 1940–2005), author[25]
  • David Storey (1933–2017), playwright and novelist, winner of the Booker Prize in 1976 for Saville[26][27]

Music

Criminals

Miscellaneous

  • George Allan (1736–1800), English antiquary and lawyer. Co-writer of History and Antiquities of the Country Palatine of Durham.[33]
  • Edmund Cartwright (1743–1823), inventor of the power loom[34][15]
  • Sidney Hayward (1896–1961), British barrister and legal writer
  • David Hepworth (born 1950), journalist and magazine publisher[35]
  • Charles Hoole (1610–1667), English cleric and educational writer[15]
  • William Alfred Ismay (1910–2001), librarian, writer and collector[36]
  • Nicholas Lavender (born 1964), English Justice of the High Court of England and Wales[37]
  • Joseph Hirst Lupton (1836–1905), English schoolmaster, cleric and writer[38]
  • Francis Smith (1847–1912), Puisne judge[15]
  • Sir Frank Standish, 3rd Baronet (1746–1812)[15]
  • Thomas Zouch (1737–1815), clergyman and antiquary[15]

Politics

Religion

  • Thomas Adam (1701–1784), Church of England clergyman and religious writer[44]
  • John Ashton (1866–1964), Anglican Bishop of Grafton
  • James Bardsley (1805–1886), English cleric and honorary canon of Manchester Cathedral
  • Joseph Bingham (1668–1723), English scholar and divine[15]
  • Daniel Cresswell (1776–1844), English divine and mathematician[45]
  • Hugh Paulinus de Cressy (c.1605–1674), English Benedictine monk[15][45]
  • Rt Rev Jack Cunningham (1926–1978), inaugural Anglican Bishop of Central Zambia
  • John Disney (1746–1816), Unitarian Minister[15]
  • Thomas Doughty (1636–1701), Canon of Windsor
  • The Ven. John Duncan (born 1933), Archdeacon of Birmingham
  • Robert Maynard Hardy (1936–2021), Anglican Bishop[46]
  • The Rt Revd and Rt Hon The Lord Hope of Thornes (born 1940), former archbishop of York[47]
  • Barnabas Oley (1602–1686), English churchman and academic[15]
  • John Potter (1674–1747), Archbishop of Canterbury[15]
  • Jeremiah Whitaker (1599–1654), English Puritan clergyman[15]
  • Rt Rev Arnold Lomas Wylde (1880–1958), Bishop of Bathurst during the mid 20th century[48]

Science and medicine

  • Andy Harter (born 1961), British computer scientist[49]
  • Herbert Haslegrave (1902–1999), British engineer[50]
  • Julian Norton (born 1972), British surgeon, author and TV personality[51]
  • John Radcliffe (1652–1714), British physician[15]
  • William Sharp (1805–1896), English surgeon and physician.[52]
  • Robert Smith (1840–1885), Assistant Colonial Surgeon of Sierra Leone[53]

Sport

  • Reg Bolton (1909–2006), rugby union footballer who played in the 1930s for England, Yorkshire, Wakefield and Harlequins[27]
  • Gordon Bonner (1907–1985), British and Irish Lions rugby union footballer who toured New Zealand and Australia in 1930[54][27]
  • Geoffrey Clarkson (1943–2001), English rugby union and rugby league player in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s[27]
  • Matt Crooks (born 1994), English footballer currently playing for Hull City in the EFL Championship[55]
  • Harry Duke (born 2001), English cricketer[56]
  • Martin Dyson (1935–2019), English cricketer and schoolmaster who played first-class cricket for Oxford University (1958–1960)[57]
  • Jack Ellis (1912–2007), English rugby union player[27]
  • Andy Forsyth (born 1990), rugby union player who currently plays for Coventry R.F.C. in the RFU Championship[58]
  • William Guest (1903–1991), rugby union footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s for Yorkshire, South Elmsall and Wakefield
  • Mike Harrison (born 1956), former captain England national rugby union team[27]
  • Phillip Hodson (born 1951), cricketer and former president of the Marylebone Cricket Club
  • Jonathan Lowe (born 1977), cricketer
  • Alister MacKenzie (1870–1934), British golf course designer known for designing Augusta National Golf Club[59]
  • Roger Pearman (born 1939), rugby union, and rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s for Sandal, Headingley, Loughborough University, Wakefield Trinity and Canterbury-Bankstown, and coached in the 1960s for Canterbury-Bankstown[27]
  • Adam Pearson (born 1964), current Hull City chairman, former commercial director of Leeds United football club and former chairman of Derby County
  • Roy Pollard (1927–2012), rugby league footballer[27]
  • Ronald Rylance (1924–1998), World Cup winning rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s, for England, Yorkshire, Wakefield Trinity, Dewsbury and Huddersfield[27]
  • Mike Smith (born 1967), England and Gloucestershire cricketer
  • Mike Tindall (born 1978), Rugby Union World Cup winning rugby union player, ex-England captain[27]
  • Frank Williams (1910–1959), Welsh rugby union player[27]
  • Greg Wood (born 1988), former England U19 cricket captain[60]
  • Ben Woods (born 1982), flanker for Newcastle Falcons and England Saxons rugby union[61]

See also

  • Listed buildings in Wakefield

References

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