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A BRIEF HISTORY OF UPPINGHAM SCHOOL
1500s
Year/s
Event
1584
Uppingham School Founded by Archdeacon Robert Johnson.
The original school room built near the churchyard in Uppingham
1584 - 1588
David Black, Headmaster
1587
The Foundation Charter granted (now hangs in the Kendall Room)
1588 - 1592
George Daniell, Headmaster
1592
The Hospital built, now houses the School Library
1592 - 1605
William Pickering, Headmaster
1600s
Year/s
Event
1602
Henry Ferne, first known Uppingham School Boy, becomes Chaplain to Charles I
1605 - 1614
The Revd Ishmael Borough, Headmaster
1614 - 1631
The Revd John Clarke, Headmaster
1631 - 1641
The Revd Ezekial Johnson, Headmaster
1641 - 1669
The Revd Francis Meres, Headmaster: 30 plus boys now attend the School
1643
First record of decisions made by School Governors
1669 - 1684
The Revd Thomas Stockman, Headmaster
1700s
Year/s
Event
1721-1734
The Revd Ambrose Reddall, Headmaster
1734-1747
The Revd William Hubbard, Headmaster
1747-1756
The Revd Henry Laybourn, Headmaster
1757-1771
The Revd Henry Knapp, Headmaster
1771-1777
The Revd John Fancourt, Headmaster
1777-1793
The Revd Jeremiah Jackson, Headmaster
1783
First Old School House Studies
1793-1822
The Revd John Butt, Headmaster
1800s
Year/s
Event
1811-1824
The Revd Thomas Roberts, Headmaster
1815
First recorded cricket match against Oakham School
1824-1839
The Revd Josiah Rowles Buckland, Headmaster
1827
‘The Upper’ is rented as 1st XI cricket field for the first time
1839-1845
The Revd George Ash Butterton, Headmaster
1845-1853
The Revd Henry Holden, Headmaster
1846
First mention of Praepostors in school literature
1848
School seal first used
1848
Railway comes to Manton
1851
The Hospitaller (first School Magazine) published
1852
First OU Cricket Match
1853
The first Lodge (boarding house) accepts pupils
1855
First Music Master appointed
First Cricket match against Oundle School
1856
First Schools Songs introduced
Lorne House opens
1857
Uppingham Football rules established
1859
West Deyne opens
Old Constabled opens
Athletics introduced as a sport
First gymnasium in an English School
1860
Bathing place (i.e. first swimming pool)
1861
Brooklands opens
1863
Highfield(s) opens, the ‘s’ dropped after 1888
Old School Room (OSR) built
Uppingham Rovers (OU Cricketers) play their first match
1864
First inter-house games cups
First cricket pavilion built on The Upper
1865
The Chapel consecrated
Paul David appointed as first Music and Choir Master - now known as Director of Music – the first appointment of its kind at any school
1866
West Bank opens
1868
The Lower School completed - now The Lodge (boarding house)
1869
First Headmasters’ Conference held by Edward Thring at Uppingham
1871
Fircroft opens
1872 - 1940
Redgate opens (closed in 1940)
1872
First Music School established
1875 - 1877
School transfers temporarily to Borth, Wales, due to Typhoid epidemic in Uppingham
1877
The Leicester Playing Fields are created
1883
Swimming Pool opens (a first for any school in the country)
1888 - 1907
The Revd Edward Carus Selwyn, Headmaster
1889
Rugby code for football adopted
Uppingham School Rifle Volunteer Corp (CCF) started
Galilee Chapel to house Brock's statue of Thring
1890
The present School House opens
1891 - 1992
The Hall (boarding house) opens (closed in 1992)
1894
The railway comes to Uppingham
1895
Meadhurst boarding house opens
The Routh Cup (for cross-country) first awarded
1896
Farleigh opens
1897
The Tower (Victoria Block) built
1898
First rugby match against another school - Rugby
1900s
Year/s
Event
1905
The Boer War and Paul David Memorial Concert Hall and Gymnasium (now The Theatre) opens
1908-1915
The Revd Harry Ward McKenzie, Headmaster
1910
The Old Music School completed
1914
The Middle Playing Fields purchased
1915
The Chapel Organ installed (extensively refurbished in 1965)
1916-1934
The most Revd Reginald Herbert Owen, Headmaster
1919
The (original) Lodge (The Lower School) moves to Nevill Holt, and is no longer an integral part of Uppingham School
1921
The First World War Memorial Shrine in the Chapel is dedicated
1923-1929
East Block classrooms and Memorial Hall built
1923
Second Cricket Pavilion on The Upper built
1926
Scheme for the School to purchase the boarding houses from individual Housemasters is established
1928
Constables opens
1928-1929
Masons’ Lawn laid and Masons’ Gate erected
1929
The Leicester Pavilion completed
1931
The Memorial Hall organ installed
1934-1944
John Frederick Wolfenden (Lord Wolfenden), Headmaster
1935
The Sanatorium opens (combining Woodfield Sanatorium and Fairfield Isolation block)
1939-1946
Kingswood School shares the facilities at Uppingham throughout WWII
1940
Redgate closed
1944-1965
Martin Lloyd, Headmaster
1950
WWII Memorial and new Library opens
1957
The New Science Block completed
1964
School Shop opens for business
1965
Chapel Extension built to accommodate growing numbers at the School
The Thring Centre opens and houses the Design andTechnology Department
1965-1974
John Caress Royds, Headmaster
1969
Memorial Hall divided horizontally to accommodate two floors
Community Service starts (known as the Pioneer Group or Public Service for the first few years)
1970
Sports Centre built
1972
Theatre opens
The Headmaster ceases to be Housemaster of School House
1975-1982
Coll MacDonald, Headmaster
1975
Fairfield opens as Uppingham’s first Sixth Form girls’ house
1981
New Music School and Buttery open
1982-1991
Nicholas Raymond Bomford, Headmaster
1984
Quatercentenary celebrations; The Queen visits
1986
Johnson's, Uppingham’s second Sixth Form girls’ house, opens
1989
Maths Block constructed
1991
Lee Astro laid to provide an all weather sport surface
1991-2006
Stephen Charles Winkley, Headmaster
1993
The Lodge opens as a Sixth Form boys' house
1994
The Lodge becomes a Sixth Form girls' house
Woodfield opens as a new Lower School for entry at 11+
1995
The Leonardo Centre opens to house Art, Design and Technology
1997
Thring Centre becomes the Sixth Form Centre
1998
Arboretum (between Spring Back Way and The Middle Playing Fields) established
2000s
Year/s
Event
2001
Sunley Astro, Uppingham’s second all weather sport surface, laid
Samworths' opens as Uppingham’s first 13+ girls’ house
2002
Fairfield becomes a 13+ girls’ house
2003
The Languages Centre opens
2004
New House opens as a 13+ girls’ house
2005
The Chapel is re-ordered
2006
The Paul David Music School is completed
Constables becomes a 13+ girls’ house (having been a boys’ house since 1928)
The Williams Studio Theatre opens
The Middle Pavilion completed
2006-2016
Richard Stuart Harman, Headmaster
2007
A new Chapel Organ installed
2008
Third Astro laid on the Middle Playing Fields
2010
The Uppingham School Sports Centre (USSC) opens (officially opened in March 2011 by Lord (Sebastian) Coe
Windmill House acquired to house the RS and Philosophy Department
2011
Woodfield converted into a Health Centre, and the Sanatorium, previously housed alongside Johnson’s, closes
Johnson’s accepts girls from 13+
2014
New Science Centre opens (officially opened in November 2014 by Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys)
2016
Dr Richard J Maloney, Headmaster
2021
Cooperate with VCE to open Uppingham Vietnam
