Old Wykehamists are former pupils of Winchester College, so called in memory of the school's founder, William of Wykeham. [1] [2] He was Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor of England. He used the wealth these positions gave him to establish both the school in 1382 and a university college, New College, Oxford, in 1379; both of them were set up to provide an education for 70 scholars. Winchester College opened in 1394. [3] William of Wykeham provided that up to two pupils a year who could prove they were his descendants could attend the school at its expense; they were known as Consanguineus Fundatoris, "Founder's Kin". [4] Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes records that the tradition ended in 1868, by which time fourteen members of his family had received a free education. [5] At first only a small number of pupils other than scholars were admitted; by the 15th century the school had around 100 pupils in total, nominally the 70 scholars, 16 choirboys and the rest "commoners". Demand for places for commoners was high, and though at first restricted, numbers gradually rose. [6] From the 1860s, ten boarding houses, each for up to sixty pupils, were added, greatly increasing the school's capacity. [7] By 2020, the number of pupils had risen to 690. [8]
The school's traditions include a 600-year-old ceremony in which the Warden, wearing the Founder's Ring, admits each new Scholar; "Illumina", an autumn celebration, in which candles are placed into niches all over the medieval walls around the playing fields; and "Morning Hills", held once a year, when all the school's pupils and teachers climb St Catherine's Hill for a roll call and prayers. [3] The Ad Portas ("At the Gates") ceremony is held as an honour for distinguished guests and alumni; all members of the school stand in the medieval Chamber Court to hear the speeches. [3] In 2011, nineteen alumni (and six more honoured in their absence), all Fellows of the Royal Society or Fellows of the British Academy, were welcomed Ad Portas, with speeches in Latin and English. [9] [10]
Among the Old Wykehamists listed here are four archbishops, including one of the school's earliest pupils, Henry Chichele; four field marshals; commanders of both Fighter Command and Bomber Command during the Second World War—Hugh Dowding and Charles Portal, respectively; and two Viceroys of India, Archibald Wavell and Frederic Thesiger. The many politicians include six Chancellors of the Exchequer: Henry Addington for the Tory Party; Robert Lowe for the Liberal Party; Stafford Cripps and Hugh Gaitskell for the Labour Party; and Geoffrey Howe and Rishi Sunak for the Conservative Party. Of these, Addington and Sunak went on to become Prime Minister.
The individuals listed are classified by decade or century of birth, with a note of how each distinguished himself. Those who won military medals are listed at the foot of the page; six Old Wykehamists have won Britain's highest military award, the Victoria Cross. Individuals are included here only if they have distinguished themselves at the highest level within their profession or achieved national recognition. Thus, for example, politicians are included only if they are members of the privy council or have a cabinet position; sportspeople, only if they have distinguished themselves in a national competition or represented their country; for soldiers, that they have reached a rank equivalent to major-general, or won a gallantry award; actors, that they have been nominated for the highest honour in the field, such as an Academy or Olivier Award; members of a profession, that they are recognised as distinguished by their profession's leading institution, such as being a fellow of the Royal Society or the Royal Academy of Music. As another example, national recognition in business means being chair or chief executive of a FTSE 100 company.
Six Old Wykehamists have won the Victoria Cross (VC), four in the First World War, 1914–18 (of whom three were killed in action) and two prior to 1914. Also in the Second World War one Old Wykehamist won the George Cross and one the George Medal, both in military circumstances.
Winchester College is a public school with some provision for day pupils, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 as a feeder school for New College, Oxford, and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the nine schools considered by the Clarendon Commission. The school has begun a transition to become co-educational, and has accepted male and female day pupils from September 2022, having previously been a boys' boarding school for over 600 years.
Winchester College Notions are the specialised terms, and sometimes customs, that have been used by pupils, known as men, at Winchester College. Some are specific to the school; others are survivals of slang or dialect that were once in wider usage. Notions tests were formerly held in each house of the school, and numerous manuscript and printed books were written to collect notions for pupils to learn. Some notions were customs, such as the Morning Hills assembly held on top of St. Catherine's Hill; others were humorous, like the Pempe, a practical joke played on new pupils. Most notions have now fallen into disuse.
The Theological Repository was a periodical founded and edited from 1769 to 1771 by the eighteenth-century British polymath Joseph Priestley. Although ostensibly committed to the open and rational inquiry of theological questions, the journal became a mouthpiece for Dissenting, particularly Unitarian and Arian, doctrines.
John Sandale was a Gascon medieval Lord High Treasurer, Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Winchester.
William Empson was an English barrister, professor and journalist.
Richard Willis (1663–1734) was an English bishop.
The Lumleian Lectures are a series of annual lectures started in 1582 by the Royal College of Physicians and currently run by the Lumleian Trust. The name commemorates John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley, who with Richard Caldwell of the College endowed the lectures, initially confined to surgery, but now on general medicine. William Harvey did not announce his work on the circulation of the blood in the Lumleian Lecture for 1616 although he had some partial notes on the heart and blood which led to the discovery of the circulation ten years later. By that time ambitious plans for a full anatomy course based on weekly lectures had been scaled back to a lecture three times a year.
Matthew Nicholas (1594–1661) was an English Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, London.
William Delaune D.D. was an English clergyman and academic, President of St John's College, Oxford, and chaplain to Queen Anne.
Events from the year 1760 in Wales.
The Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was the Baron (judge) who presided over the Irish Court of Exchequer. This was a mirror of the equivalent court in England, and was one of the four courts which sat in the building in Dublin which is still called The Four Courts.
Thomas Hyde (1524–1597), was an English Roman Catholic academic, teacher, priest and exile.
Richard West (1670?–1716) was an English churchman and academic, and was archdeacon of Berkshire from 1710.
The Convocation of 1563 was a significant gathering of English and Welsh clerics that consolidated the Elizabethan religious settlement, and brought the Thirty-Nine Articles close to their final form. It was, more accurately, the Convocation of 1562/3 of the province of Canterbury, beginning in January 1562.
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1725 to Wales and its people.
Winchester College appears in fiction both as a school and as fictional Old Wykehamists, people who had been to the school. At least 50 fictional Old Wykehamists have appeared in novels, sometimes following the stereotype of the dull civil servant, though in fact relatively few real Wykehamists choose that profession. The school is further represented indirectly by the writings of Old Wykehamists on other topics.
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(help)Old Wykehamist Fellow, AD Portas, Winchester College, 2011.