History
Wellington College was first proposed as an idea during discussions in the early 1850s between the Prime Minister of the day, Lord Edward Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They agreed that a charitable educational institution should be set up in memory of the great Duke, for the orphans of army officers, with the money to be raised by subscription.
Wellington College was granted its Royal Charter in December 1853 as the 'Royal and Religious Foundation of The Wellington College' and HRH Prince Albert unanimously elected the President of the Governors.
The College was designed by John Shaw Jr (1803-1870) and for its time, the design was unusual compared to the popular form, but Prince Albert was more interested in Shaw's classical approach. It had been noted a few years before the College's design that Shaw's architecture reflected the work of Christopher Wren.
The site for the college was chosen mainly because of the low cost of the land together with the abundance of building materials in the locality. The style of the building is usually referred to as "Nineteenth Century Baroque".
Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone in 1856 and the first 76 boys arrived on 20th January 1859: 49 were Army orphans paying fees of between £10 and £20 a year; the remaining 27 were sons of serving officers and civilians paying fees of between £70 and £100 a year. A week after the boys arrived, Queen Victoria performed the official opening ceremony.
Press coverage of the opening was not entirely auspicious. A story in The Times, 31st January, 1859, headed "Inauguration of the Wellington College by Her Majesty Queen Victoria", goes on to report: "On Saturday, Her Majesty inaugurated the public opening of this institution, and consequently the bleak, inhospitable-looking moor on which the building has unfortunately been erected had, for the first time, such a busy aspect as was almost sufficient to give an air of animation even to a spot so desolate and so cold. The selection of a spot so wild and so cheerless can only be accounted for by the fact that the twelve acres of land on which the college and its outbuildings stand was presented to the Wellington memorial fund gratuitously".
This splendidly objective and upbeat account concludes: "It is a matter of great though useless regret that the governors ever accepted such an offer at all and were led to erect a national memorial on ground so utterly bleak and barren." Even then, the media were a challenge! Today's 400 acres of lush parkland, picturesque lakes, verdant golf greens, extensive woodland and well-kept sports pitches make that description unrecognisable.
Wellington soon confounded the sceptics, rapidly becoming one of the great national boarding schools. Amongst its numerous eminent and famous alumni are Peter Snow, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, Rory Bremner, Will Young, Sebastian Faulks, James Hunt and the Right Reverend Richard Harries.
The original definition of a Wellington 'Foundationer' has evolved over the years. Originally, the school supported children of deceased officers who had held commissions in the Army and in the Army of the East India Company. In 1952 a Supplementary Royal Charter extended the privilege of eligibility to the orphan children of deceased officers of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force. A recent change early in 2006 extended the privilege to the orphan children of deceased servicemen or servicewomen of Her Majesty's Armed Forces irrespective of rank, and to the orphan children of persons who, in the sole opinion of Governors, died in acts of selfless bravery. However, only a minority of the children at the school now are the sons and daughters of military officers.
The Charter itself did not preclude the possibility of Wellington College becoming co-educational. However, at that time, it was considered that the funds could not finance co-education, and it was not until the 1970s that a limited number of girls were allowed to join the Sixth Form. In 2005 the decision was made to move to full co-education, with girls being admitted at 13+ and 14+ in September 2006.
The school is now fully co-educational, with girls in all year groups, and we are making the last resultant changes to accommodation as the Anglesey changes to girls-only over the next year.
During this period of change, houses have been built and refurbished increasing the school roll to just under one thousand. There are no plans to increase numbers much beyond that.