Berkhamsted Collegiate School

Berkhamsted Collegiate School is located in the picturesque small town of Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, northwest of London.

The original Berkhamsted School was founded in 1541 by John Incent, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, when King Henry VIII granted him a licence to educate up to 144 boys. In 1888 Berkhamsted School for Girls was founded and, in 1997, the two schools and an expanded Preparatory School joined together to form Berkhamsted Collegiate School. The School celebrates its foundation in an annual service, held in the church of St Peter, on the Friday before the autumn half-term holiday.

Today, the school educates some 1460 pupils, under the leadership of Dr. Pricilla Chadwick, chair of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) for 2005. The chairman of the Governors, Mr Peter Williamson, was president of the Law Society of England and Wales for the period 2003-2004.

Notable Old Berkhamstedians

• Richard Field (1561-1616), clergyman and theologian
• Sir Algernon Methuen (1856-1924), founder and owner, Methuen & Co, publishers, 1889-1924
• Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill (1885-1977), wife of Winston Churchill
• Clifford Allen, 1st Baron Allen of Hurtwood (1889-1939), politician and peace campaigner
• Sir Donald Fergusson (1891-1963), Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, 1936-1945, and Ministry of Fuel and Power, 1945-1952
• A. K. Chesterton (1899-1973), fascist, and first Chairman, National Front, 1967-1971
• H. W. Tilman (1898-1977), mountaineer and Sailor
• F. S. Smythe (1900-1949), mountaineer and Author
• Hubert Hastings (1902-1986), Editor, Architectural Review, 1927-
• Claud Cockburn (1904-1981), writer and journalist
• Graham Greene (1904-1991), author
• Sir Peter Quennell (1905-1993), writer and editor
• R. A. Skelton (1906-1970), cartographical historian
• Sir Colin Buchanan (1907-2001), town planner
• Sir Hugh Greene (1910-1987), Director-General of the BBC, 1960-1969
• Sir Kenneth Cork (1913-1991), accountant, and Lord Mayor of London, 1978-1979
• Margot Jefferys (1916-1999), Professor of Medical sociology, Bedford College, London, 1968-1982
• Stephen Dodgson (born 1924), composer and broadcaster
• Victor Silvester, Jr. (1924-1999), Clarinettist and band leader
• Paul Sieghart (1927-1988), law reformer
• Mark Boxer (Marc) (1931-1988), cartoonist and magazine editor
• Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (born 1939), yachtsman
• Kit Wright (born 1944), children's poet