Summer Fields School

Summer Fields is a boys' independent preparatory school based in Summertown, Oxford, England.

History

Originally called Summerfield, it became a Boys' Preparatory School in 1864 with seven pupils. Its owner, Archibald Maclaren, was a fencing teacher who ran a gymnasium in Oxford. He strongly believed in the importance of physical fitness. His wife, Gertrude, was a classical scholar and teacher. The school motto is 'Mens Sana in Corpore Sano' - 'A healthy mind in a healthy body'.

The school grew and needed more staff, two of whom married into the Maclaren family. The Reverend Dr Charles Williams ("Doctor"), who took over the scholarship form from Mrs Maclaren, married Mabel Maclaren in 1879. The Revd Hugh Alington married Margaret Maclaren in 1885 and took over the boys' games. The school remained in the hands of the Maclaren, Williams and Alington families for its first 75 years.

At the end of the 19th Century, "Doctor" became headmaster and there was much building at the school. A second school "Summers mi" was opened at St Leonards-on-Sea Sussex for boys to benefit from the sea air. In 1918 Doctor passed the headmastership to Hugh Alington. There was a lean spell in the 1930s and numbers fell but John Evans and Geoffrey Bolton ("G.B.") took over in 1939. During World War II three other schools were evacuated to Summer Fields - Famborough School, Hampshire, Summers mi, and St Cyprian's School from Eastbourne - and this restored the numbers.

In 1955, the school became a charitable trust with a board of governors, including Harold Macmillan, who was at the school as a boy and was soon to become Prime Minister. During the 1960s Pat Savage was headmaster, with the assistance of Jimmy Bell and Pat Marston. In 1975, Nigel Talbot Rice took over as headmaster. He put the school on a sound financial footing through a series of appeals which financed an ambitious building programme: new classrooms, the Macmillan Hall and Music Centre, an indoor swimming-pool, the Wavell Arts and Technology Centre (named after the first Earl Wavell), and the Sports Hall. In 1997, Talbot Rice retired and was succeeded by Robin Badham-Thornhill.

In 2002 a new lodge called "Savage's" was built. In recent years a new year group was added at the bottom of the school.

Summer Fields today

The majority of boys go on to attend the only five all-boys all-boarding schools that remain: Eton College, Radley College, Winchester College, Sherborne School and Harrow School.

The boys are organised into four leagues. One of them is named Maclaren after the founder; the others are Moseley (after Henry Moseley), Congreve (named after William La Touche Congreve), and Case. Each league has its own identifying colour: Case red, Congreve yellow, Maclaren green, and Moseley blue. In their leagues the boys wear a polo shirt in the league colour, along with the rest of the uniform, blue corduroys, and brown shoes. On Sundays as well as on special days, such as the School Concert, and the end of term, boys wear a tweed jacket, with a light blue coloured shirt, black shoes, and grey flannel trousers. Their tie is in their league colour.

The school has traditionally been a rival of the Dragon School which is also in North Oxford

Notable alumni

• Gubby Allen, (1902-1989) cricketer
• Julian Amery (1919-1996) Politician
• Anthony Asquith,(1913–1916) writer
• Cyril Asquith, Baron Asquith of Bishopstone (1890-1954) Judge
• General Sir Evelyn Barker (1894–1983)
• Ronald Barnes, 3rd Baron Gorell (1884-1963) Author and Liberal politician
• Tom Parker Bowles, Food writer (books, newspaper, magazine) (1974-)
• Sir Edmund Brocklebank (1882-1949) Conservative politician
• Harold Caccia (1905-1990) Diplomat
• Sir Olaf Caroe (1892-1981) Colonial administrator
• Sir Gerard Clauson(1891–1974) Civil Servant and linguist
• Edward Colebrooke, 1st Baron Colebrooke (1861-1939) Liberal politician
• Thomas Riversdale Colyer-Fergusson VC (1896–1917)
• William La Touche Congreve VC, DSO, MC (1891-1916)
• Clive Forster Cooper (1880-1947) paleontologist
• George Courthope, 1st Baron Courthope (1877-1955) Conservative politician
• Harry Crookshank, 1st Viscount Crookshank (1893-1961) Conservative politician
• Hugh Dalton, Labour Party politician (1887 -1962)
• Dick Francis, jockey and novelist (who set one of his detective stories at Summer Fields)
• David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale (1878-1958) landowner and faher of the Mitford sisters
• Sir Selwyn Fremantle (1869-1942) colonial administrator
• Sir Fergus Graham, 5th Baronet (1893-1978) Conservative politician
• Julian Grenfell, war poet (1888–1915)
• Edward Grigg, 1st Baron Altrincham (1879-1955) Colonial administrator
• John G.W. Husted Jr., first fiancée of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
• Ronald Knox, theologian and author (1888-1957)
• Geoffrey Lawrence, 1st Baron Oaksey (1880-1971) Nuremberg trial judge
• Christopher Lee, actor
• Colin Hercules Mackenzie, (1898-1986) spymaster
• Sir Geoffrey Mander (1882-1962) Industrialist and Liberal politician
• Harold Macmillan, British Prime Minister (1894-1986)
• Sir Charles Montgomery (1876-1942) civil servant and diplomat
• Sir Roger Mynors Classical scholar (1903-1989)
• General Sir Bernard Paget (1887-1961)
• Robert Parker, Baron Parker of Waddington (1857-1918) judge
• Admiral Sir William Edward Parry (1893-1972)
• Victor Pasmore (1908-1998) Artist and architect
• Geoffrey Peto (1878-1956) conservative politician
• Sir James Pitman (1901-1985) Publisher
• John Redcliffe-Maud, Baron Redcliffe-Maud (1906-1982) civil servant and diplomat
• Arthur Rhys Davids DSO, MC with Bar, flying ace (1909–1911)
• Gavin Simonds, 1st Viscount Simonds (1881-1971) Judge
• Edward Strachey, 1st Baron Strachie (1858-1936) Liberal politician
• George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 5th Duke of Sutherland (1888-1963) Conservative politician
• Air Marshal Sir Bertine Sutton (1886-1946)
• Henry Usborne(1909-1996) Labour politician
• Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell GCB, GCSI, GCIE, CMG, MC, PC, Commander of the British Army forces in the Middle East during World War II, penultimate Viceroy of India
• Sir Hubert Winthrop Young (1885-1950) Soldier and diplomat

References

• Summerfields School Register 1864-1960 Oxonian Press 1960
• Nicholas Aldridge Time to spare?: A History of Summer Fields 1989

External links

• School history
• Another school named Summer Fields School in New Delhi, India.

Coordinates: 51°46′41″N 1°15′47″W / 51.77806°N 1.26306°W / 51.77806; -1.26306