St Albans School

School arms

The school coat of arms is composed of the cross of Saint Alban together with the School motto.

The cross of Saint Alban is a gold saltire (a cross, signifying that Alban was martyred, but diagonal, as he was beheaded, not crucified) on a blue field (or, in heraldic terms, Azure, a saltire Or).

The current school motto is Non nobis nati ("Born not for ourselves"). This dates back to the family of the 12th century Geoffrey de Gorham (Master and subsequently Abbot of St Albans), deriving from Cicero's ("Non nobis solum nati sumus"; "We are not born for ourselves alone"), and was used until the Reformation. It was re-introduced in 1994, thereby stressing the link between the School before and after the dissolution of the monastery in 1539.

Non nobis nati replaced the previous motto Mediocria firma ("The middle road is safest"), used between the 16th and 20th centuries. This was the motto of the Bacon family at Gorhambury (including Sir Nicholas and Sir Francis Bacon). This formed part of the Bacon coat of arms, which for instance can still be seen outside the Verulam Arms public house in nearby Welclose Street and inside St Mary's Church, Redbourn.

History

Pre-Reformation history

The school was founded within St Albans Abbey by Abbot Wulsin in 948 and was the first school in the world to accept students not intending to join a religious order, being the first school open to the wider public. By the 12th century, the School had built for itself such a reputation that the famous Norman scholars Geoffrey de Gorham and Alexander Neckam applied for the post of Master. Geoffrey de Gorham was later to become Abbot of St Albans in 1119, and the School then remained under the control of the Abbot until the dissolution of the Abbey in 1539.

On 16 September 1309, the school was given new statutes, including scholarships for poor students. The school and Abbey were sacked in 1381 during the Peasants' Revolt. (The revolt's leader John Ball, was also a former pupil of the school.) By the 15th century, the school was located in buildings in Romeland and inside the Abbey Gateway, which from 1479 housed schoolmaster's press. The St Albans Press continues today, in a dormant form, as "John Insomuch Schoolmaster Printer 1479 Ltd".

Post-Reformation history

After the dissolution of the abbey in 1539, Richard Boreman, the last abbot, became Headmaster and the school moved to a chapel near St Peter's church in St Albans after its buildings in Romeland were demolished by Sir Richard Lee for building materials to rebuild Sopwell Priory into a country house. In 1549, to put the school on a firmer foundation, the last abbot was granted the right to maintain a grammar school by a private act of Parliament, Bourman's School Act 1548 (2 & 3 Edw. 6. c. 14 Pr.). Around 1545, the school outgrew its St Peter's church premises and moved again to the Lady Chapel at the east end of the abbey, bought for the huge sum of £100, and it was separated from the rest of the abbey with a wall made of smashed stones from the ancient shrine of St Alban. In 1553 the Crown sold the rest of the abbey church to the town for £400 (the value of the lead on its roof) and became a Church of England parish church for the new Borough of St Albans.

In 1570 Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and father of Sir Francis Bacon, then living at nearby Gorhambury, gave the school new statutes and re-endowed the school by successfully petitioning Queen Elizabeth I for a wine charter (extended by King James I in 1606). The only other educational institutions with the same privileges to tax the alcohol trade in their localities were the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. The income from taxation on wine and beer sales in the St Albans continued to fund the school until 1922, when they were surrendered to the Treasury in return for £1,200 in the Oxford and St Albans Wine Privileges (Abolition) Act 1922. Other benefactors from this period include Sir Richard Platt, Citizen of London, sometime Master of the Worshipful Company of Brewers and later founder of Aldenham School, who 'conveyed to the Mayor and Burgesses, and their Successors for ever' former-abbey land on George Street in St Albans for the benefit of the school, and Charles Hale, whose relative Richard Hale later founded a grammar school in the town of Hertford.

Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Nicholas Bacon also founded the school's library in 1570, which moved from Sumpter Yard in the 19th century to the Abbey Gateway, and then in the 1980s to an impressive converted 19th century neo-Gothic hall, opened by Colin Renfrew, then Master of Jesus College, Cambridge. The library collection now holds over 16,000 volumes and Elizabeth I is still regarded as the 'Benefactor Royal' of the St Albans School Library.

Other significant benefactions to the school include a gift of clay pits near St Albans made in 1582 and a significant amount of land by Charles Woollam, an Old Albanian, in the 19th century, including playing fields at Belmont Hill and St Alban's "Holy Well", which was a site for medieval pilgrimage.

Religion and musical education

The school still maintains links with St Albans Cathedral, which doubles as the school's chapel. Services are held there every Monday and Friday morning during term time, and special events held there include the annual Founders' Day and two carol services, led by the school choir, who still wear black and blue gowns in the same style as worn by undergraduates at Trinity College, Cambridge and similar to those worn by monks at the Abbey in medieval times. In addition, the school's music staff are usually linked with the Abbey's musical staff. Andrew Parnell, organist and harpsichordist, was assistant master of music at the Abbey as well as being master of music and choirmaster at the school from 1976 to 2001. Simon Lindley also held these posts a few years earlier; John Rutter's 1974 carol Jesus Child bears a dedication "for Simon Lindley and the choir of St Albans School".

Academic tradition

Scientific tradition

The school also has a long scientific tradition, stretching back to the Norman era, when Alexander Neckam became master of the school. Since the advent of modern science, the school has produced many famous scientists and mathematicians including cognitive scientist Colin Cherry, physicist Ian Grant, cosmologist Stephen Hawking (inspired by Dikran Tahta, a teacher at the school who later worked at the Open University), and mathematician Christopher Budd. In the light of its long scientific heritage, the school was awarded a large sum of money in 2007 by the Wolfson Foundation to rebuild its physics laboratories to university standards.

Historical tradition

In medieval times, the school and one of its alumni, Matthew Paris, were closely associated with the St Albans school of medieval historiography, and developed one of the first consistent methods of historical writing. More recently; two teachers in the ancient history department published a book on Roman sources in 2010. Some notable historians who are alumni of the school include Colin Renfrew, an archaeological historian and former Disney Professor of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, Ernest Gellner, an anthropological historian, Professor Malcolm Schofield of St John's College, Cambridge, and more recently Justin Pollard, a TV historian, and Peter Sarris, a specialist on the Byzantine Empire and a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

The school today

St Albans School is predominantly a single-sex school for boys, but has accepted girls into the sixth form since 1991. It is a member of the Headmasters' Conference of leading public schools. In its earlier days it was known as the Free School of St Albans, City of St Alban Grammar School or St Albans Grammar School. It is often (erroneously) referred to as "The Boys' School", "St Albans Boys" and "The Abbey School" (thereby causing confusion with The Abbey C of E Primary School nearby which is almost always referred to as "The Abbey School", and the adjacent but now defunct Abbey National Boys' School, a name which is still borne by a building in nearby Spicer Street).

In 1967 the School acquired what was then a derelict hill farm in the Brecon Beacons. The property, Pen Arthur, was restored and is now a Field Studies Centre. Academic departments use Pen Arthur for field trips and study weekends throughout the year, and it is a base for outdoor activities organised by the Combined Cadet Force and for The Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

In March 2025, it was announced that starting from September 2026, the school would accept both girls and boys in first form (year 7) meaning the school would become fully co-educational.

Notable alumni

Former pupils of the School are known as OAs or 'Old Albanians'.

12th century

Cardinal Boso (d. c. 1181), third English Cardinal

Nicholas Breakspear (c. 1100–1159), who became Pope Adrian IV (1154–1159), the only English Pope.

Alexander Neckam (1157–1217), scientist and teacher

13th century

Matthew Paris, monk and historian

14th century

John Ball, Christian radical political thinker and leader of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381

William Grindcobbe, a leader in St Albans of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381

Richard of Wallingford (1292–1336) English mathematician who made major contributions to astronomy/astrology and horology

Richard of Wallingford (late 14th century) a leader in St Albans of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381

15th century

John Whethamstede (or Bostock) (c. 1392–1465), scholar, writer and Abbot of St Albans Abbey

16th century

Walter Curle (1575–1647), Bishop of Winchester

Robert Wright (1560–1643), first Warden of Wadham College, Oxford and Bishop of Lichfield & Coventry

17th century

Henry Blount (1602–1682), traveller and writer

William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper (c. 1665–1723), Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, grandfather of William Cowper, poet and hymnodist

William Dobson (1611–1646), painter to Charles I

Major-General John Hill (?c. 1680–1735), M.P., army officer, politician and courtier

Francis Pemberton (1624–1697), Lord Chief Justice

18th century

William Domville, Bt (1742–1833), Lord Mayor of London 1813

Thomas Walsh (1776–1849), Roman Catholic Bishop and Vicar Apostolic, Midlands and London Districts

19th century

Colonel Sir Hildred Carlile, 1st Bt, M.P. (1852–1942), army officer, politician and philanthropist

Alfred Faulkner (1882–1963), civil servant – Permanent Under-Secretary for Mines

Henry Montague Grover (1791–1866), writer and theologian

Coulson Kernahan (1858–1943), essayist, novelist and editor

Frank Toovey Lake (1849–1868) Naval Officer who was part of Richard Henry Brunton's team who surveyed lighthouse sites around Japan

Max Pemberton (1863–1950), novelist and editor

Aubrey George Spencer (1795–1872), first Anglican Bishop of Newfoundland

Thomas Spencer Wells (1818–1897), surgeon

William Whitaker, (1836–1925), geologist

Charles Williams (1886–1945), poet, novelist, publisher and theological writer

20th century

Rod Argent (b. 1945), musician, founder member of The Zombies

Keith M. Ashman (b. 1963), theoretical physicist and globular clusters expert

Paul Atkinson (1946–2004), musician, founder member of The Zombies

Ian Bell (b. 1962), co-author of Elite

Tolaji Bola (b. 1999), association footballer

Christopher Budd (b. 1960), mathematician

Johnson Cann (b. 1937), geologist

Colin Cherry (1914–1975), cognitive scientist

Ralph Chubb (1892–1960), poet, printer and artist

Sally Connolly (b. 1976), literary critic, author, and academic

Charles "Nick" Corfield (b. 1959), mathematician, computer programmer, and founder of several startup companies in Silicon Valley

Rogers Covey-Crump (b. 1944), singer (tenor), member of The Hilliard Ensemble

Charles Crawford (b. 1954) British diplomat and speechwriter

Graham Dow (b. 1942), Bishop of Carlisle

Bruce Duncan (b. 1938), Anglican priest

Chris Duffield (b. 1952), Town Clerk and Chief Executive of the Corporation of the City of London from 2003 to 2012.

21st century

Josh de Caires (b. 2002), cricketer

Charlie Bracken (b.2003), rugby union player for Saracens

Justin Obikwu (b.2004), professional footballer for Coventry City and Trinidad and Tobago

Notable teachers

Hilary Davan Wetton, musician

David Franklin, broadcaster

Geoffrey de Gorham (d. 1146), scholar, Abbot of St Albans Abbey 1119–1146

Tommy Hampson (1907–1965), runner - 800m Olympic Champion (1932 in Los Angeles) and World Record holder (1:49.7)

John Harmar was headmaster from 1626 to 1635

Peter Hurford (1930-2019), organist

Mark Ilott, cricketer

Simon Lindley (b. 1948), organist

John Mole (b. 1941), poet, critic and jazz clarinettist. City of London Poet in Residence since 1998 (under the Poetry Society's Poet in the City scheme)

Alexander Neckam (1157–1217), scientist and teacher

Herbert Edward Palmer (1880–1961), poet

James Shirley (1596–1666), playwright

Dikran Tahta (taught at the school 1955–1961), mathematician who taught Stephen Hawking

Kyran Bracken (b. 1971), Rugby Union Player, World Cup Winner for England (Rugby Coach 2016-)