Sedbergh School Totally Explained

Everything about Sedbergh School totally explained

Sedbergh School is a co-educational boarding school in Sedbergh, Cumbria for boys and girls, between the ages of 13 and 18 inclusive. Nestled in the Howgill Fells, it's renowned for strong sporting sides, especially its Rugby Union 1st XV.

Background

The school was founded in 1525 by Roger Lupton, Provost of Eton College.
   Until 2001, when girls were admitted, the school's original single-sex status led to the school motto Dura Virum Nutrix (A Stern Nurse of Men))(still in use today). Since then the number of girls attending has grown dramatically. The current headmaster, Christopher Hirst, brought in the change to co-educational schooling from single-sex. This has led to some criticism, especially from old boys, as he publicly stated that he "would resign before allowing Sedbergh to admit girls".
   The school is structured into a system of eight 'houses': Hart, Evans, Winder, School, Sedgwick and Powell (boys' houses), Lupton and Robertson (girls' houses). The students eat and sleep in their boarding houses and house pride is encouraged.
   The school song, Winder, is named after the hill which dominates the skyline to the North. It is rarely sung, mainly at the end of a term, but is an important tradition nonetheless.
   The school is particularly proud of its cloisters, one of the few officially listed War memorials located in schools. Every known name of an old boy who died during the first and second world wars is recorded on its walls.
   With the aid of the Robertson Foundation the school has been able to give many scholarships to less well-off pupils. The school maintains a strong sporting rivalry with Ampleforth College and (to a lesser extent) with Stonyhurst College.

The Wilson Run

One of the unique aspects of the school is the Wilson Run, also known as the "Ten Mile". The race distance is just over 10 miles (10 miles 385 yards), about 7 miles of which crosses over the surrounding fells with the rest going along roads. Pupils however must now qualify to take part in the race over an 11 mile training route which covers most of the race route. The race is one of the longest, hardest and most gruelling school runs in the country and has been a tradition for well over 100 years. The run has been cancelled only three times, owing to epidemic (1936), snow (1947) and the Foot and Mouth epidemic. The record time for the race stood unbroken at 1 hour, 10 mins and 16 seconds for almost a hundred years until it was dramatically broken by Charles "Chuck" Sykes in 1993 with a time of 1 hour, 8 minutes and 4.1 seconds. His record still stands today.
The Wilson Run holds a great mystique for Sedbergh's pupils. Pupils generally run in all types of weather, be it torrential rains and mud baths, or even bright, sunny clear days. The day of the race is a major event in the calendar and is commemorated by a large and often emotional concert on the evening of the race day. A special song, "The Long Run", is dedicated to the race and is traditionally sung only on this occasion.

Anti-Assassins Rugby Club

The Anti-Assassins Rugby Club (A-As) was founded in 1950 when Sedbergh Old Boys’, Stewart Faulds, Geoff and Arthur Kenyon were invited to pick a Northern team to play against the masters and Old Boys (The Assassins) of Sedbergh School. Now, this invitational team plays as SpoonAAs, raising funds for the Wooden Spoon charity.

School song

Winder is the School song for Sedbergh School, named after the fell that dominates the northern skyline of the school. The hill is a gateway to the Howgill Fells and climbing it's something that school tradition dictates every pupil must do.
The song is sung at all major school events such as the Wilson Run. Verse 1 Oh Eton hath her River and Clifton hath her down, And Winchester her cloisters and immemorial town. But ours the mountain fastness, the deep romantic ghylls, Where Clough and Dee and Rawthey, Come singing from the hills! Refrain For it isn't our ancient lineage, there are others as old as we. And it isn't our pious founders, though we honour their memory. 'Tis the hills that are stood around us, unchanged since our days began. It is Cautley, Calf and WINDER, that make the Sedbergh man.

Notable Old Sedberghians

Colonel Freddie Spencer Chapman DSO, naturalist, mountaineer, explorer, war hero
John Arden, dramatist
Thomas Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, Senior Law Lord, former Master of the Rolls and Lord Chief Justice
Sir Christopher Bland, Chairman of B.T. Group, businessman and former Chairman of the BBC
John Charles Campbell, VC, a commander of the 7th Armoured Division
Kenneth Campbell VC
Robert Swan, OBE, Polar explorer, the first man in history to walk to both the North and South Poles
Logie Bruce Lockhart, rugby union: Scotland, headmaster of Gresham's School
Will Carling, OBE, rugby union: England Captain
Will Greenwood, MBE, rugby union: England
James Simpson-Daniel rugby union: England
Wavell Wakefield, 1st Baron Wakefield of Kendal rugby union: England
Ewan Dowes rugby league
Adam Sedgwick, Founder of modern geology.
Brendan Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken, Politician, businessman and associate of Winston Churchill.
Tim Stewart Disabled rights campaigner
John Dawson, Surgeon and mathematician.
Sir Jock Slater, GCB, LVO, DL, First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff.
Sir Giles Shaw, Politician.
Michael Shaw, Baron Shaw of Northstead, Politician.
Simon Beaufoy, Screenwriter, (The Full Monty).
Adam Rickitt, Actor, singer, model and aspiring Conservative M.P.
David Waddington, Baron Waddington, British Home Secretary, Lord Privy Seal, Leader of the House of Lords, Governor of Bermuda.
Edward John Eyre, Explorer and Governor of Jamaica.
Sir Thomas Russell Fairgrieve, politician
James Wilby, Actor
William George Clark, English classical and Shakespearean scholar.
Stephen O'Brien, Conservative Party Member of Parliament.
John Hammersley, British mathematician.
Christian Bjelland, Norweigan businessman and chairman of the National Gallery of Norway
Edward Max Nicholson, Founder of the World Wildlife Fund.
Tom Wright (theologian), Bishop of Durham and a leading British New Testament scholar.
Frank Duxbury, Founder of Sedbergh School, Québec, Canada (External Link).
Brian McConnell, Baron McConnell, Northern Ireland politician and member of the House of Lords.
Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Baron Bruce-Lockhart,OBE, Chairman of The Local Government Association
Freddie Tait, golfer
Sir Robert Rhodes James, politician and author
F. A. Ridley, historian and Marxist
Mandy Mitchell-Innes, England cricketer
Robert James Thomas Digby-Jones, awarded the Victoria Cross
George Ward Gunn, awarded the Victoria Cross
Henry Lowther Clarke, first Archbishop of Melbourne
H. Montgomery Hyde, author and politician
Colin Blakely, British character actor
Henry Colin Gray Matthew, historian and the first editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
John Cranke, mathematician and mentor
JB Blanc, Hollywood film actor
George Birkbeck, doctor, academic, philanthropist and early pioneer in adult education.
William John Woodhouse, classical scholar and author
Hugh l'Anson Fausset, literary critic, biographer, poet and religious writer.
Robert Willan, the father of modern dermatology
John Haygarth, physician who discovered the benefits of segregating/quarantining sick patients.
Mark Umbers, Actor - theatre and film
Anthony Askew, Physician and book collector
Francis Llewellyn Griffith, Eminent British Egyptologist
Adam Applegarth, Ex-CEO of Northern Rock bank
John Bruce-Lockhart, Scottish cricketer and acclaimed schoolmaster
Major General Henry Templer Alexander, DSO, CBE, Army Commander
Venerable John Duckett, Catholic priest and martyr
Archibald Strong, Australian scholar and poet Jack Davidson - founder of Biffa Bin Industries and the Fat Man of the Year Award 1995,1996,1998,2001
John Spencer, England rugby captain
Wilfred Eade Agar, Anglo-Australian zoologist
Maj. Gen. Michael J. H. Walsh, CB DSO, British Army and Chief Scout
Edmund Sharpe, Architect and engineer
Dr. Digby McLaren, Geologist and palaeontologist

A former teacher at the school was Henry Watson Fowler, the writer of A Dictionary of Modern English UsageFurther Information

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