Fettes College
Fettes College | |
---|---|
Address | |
Carrington Road , EH4 1QX Scotland | |
Coordinates | 55°57′49″N 03°13′34″W / 55.96361°N 3.22611°W |
Information | |
Type | Public school Private day and boarding school |
Motto | Industria |
Established | 1870 |
Founder | Sir William Fettes |
Local authority | City of Edinburgh |
Headmistress | Helen Harrison |
Gender | Mixed |
Age | 7 to 18 |
Houses | Carrington Glencorse Kimmerghame Moredun Arniston College East College West Dalmeny Craigleith |
Colour(s) | Chocolate and magenta |
Mascot | Bee |
Publication | The Fettesian The Hive The Gargolye |
Alumni | Old Fettesians (OFs) |
Website | www |
Fettes College (
The school is included in The Schools Index as one of the 150 best private schools in the world and among top 30 senior schools in the UK.[3]
History
To perpetuate the memory of his only son William, who had predeceased him in 1815,
After his death the bequest was invested, and the accumulated sum was then used to acquire the 350 acres of land, to build the main building and to found the school in 1870. Fettes College opened with 53 pupils (40 were Foundation Scholars with 11 others boarding and two day pupils).[5] Following serious fires, the swimming baths were rebuilt in 1890 and the chemistry laboratory was rebuilt in 1897.[6] The cricket pavilion was completed in 1906.[7]
In summer 1914 the school's summer camp at Barry had to be abandoned when both the commanding officer and the adjutant were called up for service in the First World War.[8] Of the 2,000 former pupils who had by then been educated at the school, 1,094 served in the armed forces, and 246 died during their war service.[8] In 1921 a war memorial designed by Birnie Rhind, bearing the inscription "carry on", was unveiled by Major-General Sir William Macpherson in the school grounds.[9] A central heating system was first introduced in the main building in 1920,[9] and electric light was first introduced in the school in 1924.[10]
In October 1939, early in the
The school chapel was enlarged by adding a chancel and a gallery in 1948.[15] A new school running track was opened in 1954 giving a boost to athletics at the school,[16] and Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the school in 1955.[17]
In the early 1960s the school was required to sell 18 acres of land to allow
An all-boys school until 1970, when female pupils were first admitted for the final year, Fettes became fully co-educational in 1983.
In the late 1990s the school performed particularly well academically: in 1998 Fettes was placed fourth in the
In March 2009 Fettes won the
It is said that Fettes "used to have a hearty, rugger-bugger, Caledonian image".[30] Some journalists have described Fettes as "the Eton of the North".[31][32][33] Former headmaster Michael Spens jokingly countered on a BBC documentary that "Eton College was the Fettes of the South!"[34]
In 2020 and 2021 six men accused Iain Wares,[35] who had taught at Fettes and Edinburgh Academy, of physical and sexual abuse at the schools when they were pupils in the 1970s.[36] The Scottish Crown Prosecution Service was initially reluctant to prosecute the alleged abuser because of difficulties in seeking his extradition from South Africa—he had moved there—and his advanced age,[37] but South Africa approved the UK's extradition request, on six charges of lewd, indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour and one of indecent assault,[38] in 2020. The lawyer representing Fettes made "a full and unreserved apology" to former pupils who had suffered abuse.[36] The perpetrator admitted the abuse, and was fighting extradition from South Africa to Scotland in 2022,[38] and remained, free, in South Africa as of November 2023[update].[35] One former pupil was awarded £450,000 in damages in 2022 for abuse suffered at the School.[39]
In 2022 a former pupil, who attended Fettes Junior School and Fettes College as a day student in the 1970s and 1980s, claimed he was abused while at the junior school. Speaking to Scotland Tonight the man said he was beaten and sexually abused by a teacher. He claimed he was targeted when he was aged 12 because he was "more developed, and reached puberty before lots of the other boys".[40] The matter was discussed in the BBC Radio 4 series In Dark Corners with Alex Renton, which spoke to dozens of former pupils who alleged they were abused by teachers at Fettes College and at Edinburgh Academy.[41] In 2023, the school was featured on the BBC Panorama documentary "My Teacher the Abuser: Fighting for Justice". In the documentary boys spoke of sexual and physical abuse committed by Wares, which the former students claimed was covered up.[42] One former student stated in the documentary that he had contacted the school and they were not interested in helping to locate the teacher. It was also claimed that the school provided an excellent reference for the abusive teacher.[42]
Curriculum
Fettes College follows the
Fettes is an
Boarding houses
There are currently nine
Boys
- Carrington (1872–present)
- Glencorse (1873–present)
- Kimmerghame (1920–present)
- Moredun (1870–present)
Girls
- Arniston (1982–present)
- College East (1984–present)
- College West (1984–present)
- Dalmeny (2012–present)
Boys and girls
- Craigleith (2007–present)
History
- Dalmeny was renamed Carrington in 1873.
- Inverleith was the previous name for the Preparatory School, now a separate entity.
- Dalmeny was the name of the day girls' boarding house on the ground floor of the west wing in the 1980s.
- Kimmerghame was the name of the junior boarding house between 1884 and 1895.
- Craigleith is a mixed Upper-Sixth Form boarding house established in 2007.
Architecture
The college's main building, by
The war memorial, a bronze figure of a fallen officer telling his men to "carry on" is by Birnie Rhind, 1919.[47]
Coat of arms
The school crest is a bee because it appears at the top of Sir William's coat of arms and his seal (for letters, etc.) was also a bee. When the college's arms were granted, they were Sir William's with the colours reversed. Nowadays a more modern image is used but it is still the same coat of arms. The bee is the origin of the school's motto Industria. Its motif features prominently around the school. Beehives appear over the now-unused East and West doors of the College. A bee in stone watches over the front of Malcolm House (1880) and the Prep School. A large bee fronts Kimmerghame (1928) and there is an original lead bee in the porch of the Headmaster's Lodge.[48]
Fettes tartan
A school tartan was designed in 1996 at the prompting of the Headmaster, Malcolm Thyne. It is a balance between the traditional kilt colours of green, blue and black and the Fettes colours of chocolate and magenta, with white stripes to add brightness. The Fettes tartan is worn as a kilt by boys and as a kilt skirt by girls who do not have a family tartan. The first showing of the kilt was on the hockey/lacrosse tour of Australia and Japan in 1998.[49]
Fettes in fiction
Body Politic
In his first crime novel, Body Politic, published in 1997, featuring detective Quintilian Dalrymple and set in Edinburgh in 2020, Paul Johnston features Fettes College as a ruin, "blown to pieces in 2009" after it became a base for drug traders.[50]
James Bond
While expanding on James Bond's back story, Ian Fleming wrote in You Only Live Twice that the agent had attended Fettes College, his father Andrew Bond's old school, after having been removed from Eton. An Andrew Bond is recorded to have been at Fettes as a boarder in Carrington House.[51]
"Here the atmosphere was somewhat Calvinistic, and both academic and athletic standards were rigorous. Nevertheless, though inclined to be solitary by nature, he established some firm friendships among the traditionally famous athletic circles, at the school. By the time he left, at the early age of seventeen, he had twice fought for the school as a light-weight and had, in addition, founded the first serious judo class at a British public school."[52]
Fleming based his character on Sir Alexander Glen, an old boy of the school who was Winston Churchill's envoy to Belgrade during the Second World War.[53]
While Fleming never claimed there was any source for the name of Bond other than
Several young James Bond stories refer to, or feature, Bond's schooling at Fettes. The cover of This Time We Are All In The Front Line depicts a young Bond and Housemates leaving Fettes in uniform to rescue survivors of Luftwaffe bombing of Leith Docks in the Second World War.[55]
Captain Britain
Captain America "Uh, it's Captain Britain, right? Tony was telling me all about that submarine rescue you guys did a few weeks back. That was pretty amazing."
Captain Britain "Oh, Tony's hilarious, isn't he? Everyone here just absolutely loved him. We've all been very excited about meeting you too, Captain. Did you know I used to have a poster of you on my wall when I was a pupil up at Fettes College in Edinburgh?" |
— The first meeting of Captains America and Britain[56] |
Later to become Marvel Comics' Captain Britain, the British equivalent of Captain America, Brian Braddock was born to aristocratic parents in the town of Maldon, Essex. After falling upon hard times, Brian's family had lost their place in society, leaving Brian a lonely yet gifted child who immerses himself in the study of Physics.[57] A prodigious talent, Brian is selected to attend Fettes College where he excels in his studies. Following the death of his parents (Sir James and Lady Elizabeth) in what seemed to be a laboratory accident, Brian accepts a fellowship at Darkmoor nuclear research centre. When the facility is attacked by the Reaver, Brian tries to find help by escaping on his motorcycle. Although he crashes his bike in a nearly fatal accident, Merlyn and his daughter the Omniversal Guardian Roma appear to the badly injured Brian. They give him the chance to be the superhero Captain Britain. He is offered a choice: the Amulet of Right or the Sword of Might. Considering himself to be no warrior and unsuited for the challenge, he rejects the Sword and chooses the Amulet. This choice transforms Brian Braddock into Captain Britain, the champion of the British Isles.[57]
The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook: The First Guide to What Really Matters in Life
This iconic 1982 guide to the British upper classes, also known as "Sloane Rangers", described Fettes College as a "First XI" public school.[58]
Heads of the college
There have only been 11 heads of the college since it was founded:[59]
- 1870 – 1889 Alexander Potts
- 1890 – 1919 William Heard
- 1919 – 1945 Alec Ashcroft
- 1945 – 1958 Donald Crichton-Miller
- 1958 – 1971 Ian McIntosh
- 1971 – 1979 Anthony Chenevix-Trench
- 1979 – 1988 Cameron Cochrane
- 1988 – 1998 Malcolm Thyne
- 1998 – 2017 Michael Spens
- 2017 – 2019 Geoffrey Stanford
- 2019 – Helen Harrison
Other notable staff
- Eric Anderson (1936–2020), provost of Eton College
- Steve Bates (born 1963), played for the England national rugby union team
- John Hay Beith, novelist, playwright and essayist
- Charlotte Cheverton, founder the Leith School of Art
- usageof the English language
- Thomas Fielden, Professor of Pianoforte at the Royal College of Music for over 30 years
- Robert Bowes Malcolm, staff physician
- Ian Robertson, retired BBC commentator and former Scottish Rugby Union international
- Iain Wares, a teacher who sexually abused boys at Fettes College and Edinburgh Academy with impunity over many years[35]
- Morris Meredith Williams, designer of the frieze of the Scottish National War Memorial
Notable Old Fettesians
Fettes College has produced many judges, lawyers, diplomats, military officers, politicians and persons from academia. In sport, its most notable alumni are on the rugby pitch. Four Old Fettesians have won the Victoria Cross[60] and one the George Cross.[61] Fettes also boasts a 2015 Nobel Prize winner in the economist Sir Angus Deaton, as well as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.[62]
See also
References
- ^ Philp, p. 131.
- ^ a b Fettes College Prospectus 1978
- ^ McNamee, Annie (6 April 2024). "These are UK's best private schools, according to a prestigious ranking". Time Out United Kingdom. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9376. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ISBN 978-3954518838.
- ^ Philp, p. 37
- ^ Philp, p. 40
- ^ a b Philp, p. 48
- ^ a b Philp, p. 54
- ^ Philp, p. 55
- ^ Philp, p. 62
- ^ Philp, p. 63
- ^ Philp, p. 64
- ^ "23 facts you didn't know about Sir Sean Connery (fact 19)". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 25 August 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- ^ Philp, p. 68
- ^ Philp, p. 74
- ^ Philp, p. 76
- ^ Philp, p. 85
- ^ "Edinburgh, Comely Bank, Edinburgh City Police Headquarters". Canmore. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- ^ a b Philp, p. 86
- ^ Philp, p. 89
- ^ Philp, p. 91
- ^ Philp, p. 110
- The Glasgow Herald. p. 9. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
- ^ "Daily Telegraph League Table of Top Schools", The Daily Telegraph, London, 29 August 1998.
- ^ "Top 250 Independent Schools", Parent Power Supplement, The Sunday Times, London, 15 November 1999.
- ^ Edinburgh's Fettes College "Independent School of the Year", "Scottish Snippets", 27 October 2001.
- ^ "Gammell jnr helps spark Fettes revival", The Scotsman, Edinburgh. 15 March 2009.
- ^ "Fettes HMIE Report" Archived 7 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, 28 April 2009.
- ^ The Tatler Schools Guide 2007.
- ^ "Tony Blair's revolting schooldays", The Scotsman, Edinburgh, 23 July 2004.
- ^ "Under the Green Oak, an old elite takes root in Tories", The Guardian, London, 12 August 2006.
- ^ "House of rivals shares the bond of an educated elite", The Times, London, 12 December 2005.
- ^ The Secret History of Our Streets - Moray Place Edinburgh Moray Feu, BBC. Part 1 of 2, retrieved 23 February 2022
- ^ a b c Renton, Alex (24 November 2023). "'Jimmy Savile mark II': why was an alleged child abuser able to move from school to school?". The Guardian.
- ^ a b Macaskill, Mark (9 May 2021). "More men accuse ex-Fettes teacher of historical abuse". The Sunday Times. London.
- ^ McKenzie, Jamie (1 May 2021). "Crown decision not to extradite alleged Fettes abuser branded 'weak' by politicians as South African lawyers question it". Edinburgh Evening News.
- ^ a b Cook, James; Schoonbee, Karen (6 August 2022). "Nicky Campbell teacher admits schoolboy abuse in court documents". BBC News.
- ^ Newsroom (2 December 2022). "Abuse victim wins 'record' £450,000 damages from prestigious Fettes College". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
- ^ Duffield, Scott (30 June 2022). "Fettes: School abuse survivor says he is 'damaged goods'". news.stv.tv. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
- ^ McLennan, William (9 January 2023). "Teacher charged with abuse after BBC Radio 4 investigation". BBC News. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
- ^ a b "BBC One - Panorama, My Teacher the Abuser: Fighting for Justice". BBC. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
- ^ "Academic". Fettes College. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016.
- ^ "Another two schools offer the IB". BBC News. 17 August 2006.
- ^ "Craigleith House, Fettes College". Page Park. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- ^ "Fettes College: The Building". Archived 6 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
- ^ Philp, p. 53.
- ^ Fettes College: The Bee Archived 20 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
- ^ Fettes College: The Fettes Tartan Archived 7 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
- ISBN 978-0340694916.
- ISBN 978-1846051142.
- ^ Ian Fleming, "You Only Live Twice", Chapter 21, Obit. Young Bond Series II - The Fettes Years. Retrieved 21 March 2009.
- ^ "Sir Alexander Glen". The Telegraph. 2 March 2004. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
- ^ Philp, p. 78
- ^ Parker, Jeff (2018). James Bond Origin: This Time We Are All In The Front Line. Dynamite.
- ^ Ultimates 2, No. 4, May 2005.
- ^ a b Chris Claremont (w), Herb Trimpe, Fred Kida (a). Captain Britain Weekly, no. 1 (13 October 1976). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Barr, Ann; York, Peter (1982). The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook: The First Guide to What Really Matters in Life. Harpers & Queens.
- ^ "Helen Harrison Head of Fettes College". Fettes College. 17 April 2020. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
- ^ "Letters to Sir William Fettes". Fettes College Newsletter. 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
- ^ "Sandy Hodge". VC Online. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
- ^ "Fettes College". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
Sources
- Philp, Robert, A Keen Wind Blows, James & James, 1998 ISBN 0-907383-85-8
- BBC, My Teacher the Abuser: Fighting for Justice. BBC One - Panorama, My Teacher the Abuser: Fighting for Justice
External links
- Official website
- Profile on the ISC website