Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield


Queen Elizabeth Grammar School is a public school for boys in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The school was founded by Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I in 1591 at the request of leading citizens in Wakefield 75 in total and some of whom formed the first governing body.
The school is part of a foundation, with both QEGS Senior and Junior schools joined together, along with the nearby Wakefield Girls' High School and its Junior School, and Mulberry House, which is a nursery and pre-prep department.
As of September 2021, the headmaster of the school is Dr Richard Brookes, who was previously senior deputy head at City of London School.
QEGS is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

History

Founding

Queen Elizabeth Grammar School dates back to 19 November 1591 when a charter was granted to fourteen men to act as governors of the new school. In 1598, it moved into a purpose-built building, now the Elizabethan Gallery.
The charter read:
Five of the fourteen men designated to be governors bore the name Saville. Generations of the Saville family have played important roles in the school's history and hence the reason why the Old Boys' Association is called the Old Savilians' Club.

Coat of arms

The school arms came into existence soon after the school was founded and features a lion, an owl and a Bible. The golden lion on a red field refers to the royal foundation; the silver owl on black is taken from the arms of the Savile family and the Bible indicates the religious side of education. The school motto, "Turpe Nescire", means "It is a disgrace to be ignorant".

School song

Around 1900, H. G. Abel, then the senior classics master, composed "Floreas, Wakefieldia" and Matthew Peacock, headmaster and honorary choirmaster at the cathedral, set the words to music. It was seen as fitting that the song should be written in Latin, thereby evoking echoes of traditional scholasticism. The song is still sung today – at Founders' Day, Speech Day and at all Old Savilian Club dinners.

Facilities

In 1854 QEGS moved to its present site in Northgate, Wakefield, into premises designed by the architect Richard Lane and formerly occupied by the West Riding Proprietary School. The attached Junior school for boys aged 7 to 11 was founded in 1910.
A new building was opened in 2005 by Ted Wragg, the famous educationalist, who taught at the school in the early 1960s. The new building provides a new 6th form centre, English department, state-of-the-art theatre and Learning Resources Centre for the pupils of QEGS.

Sport

The school is often noted for its sporting ability, having achieved frequent success in a number of sports. Over 83% of the school's boys represent QEGS in one sporting event or another. The most popular sport is rugby union, followed by hockey, cricket, athletics, and basketball. Hockey in particular has experienced substantial growth in the school throughout the last decade, and is now close to matching rugby union's dominance internally. In 2006, 2013, 2014 and 2015 the under-15s Rugby side reached the Daily Mail Cup final, winning the 2015 competition in a tight 15–6 win over three time final rivals Warwick. In 2009 every age group won the hockey 'Yorkshire Cup' for the first time in the school's history with the under 16s going on to reach the national semi-finals, only to lose to Whitgift School. As well as plenty of sporting opportunities, the school also gives pupils the opportunity to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme.

In popular culture

  • David Storey's Booker Prize winning novel Saville includes an account of the experiences of a working class boy at a Yorkshire grammar school in the 1940s. Storey, like the protagonist of Saville a miner's son, is an old boy of QEGS.
  • The school is mentioned in the novel Nineteen Seventy-Four by David Peace.

    Headmasters

Headmasters of Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield from 1591 to the present time.
  • 1591–1598 Edward Mawde
  • 1600–1607 John Beaumont
  • 1607-1607 Jeremy Gibson
  • 1607-1607 Robert Saunders
  • 1607–1623 Philip Isack
  • 1623–1663 Robert Doughty
  • 1663–1665 Samuel Garvey
  • 1672 Rev Jeremiah Boulton
  • 1672–1681 John Baskervile
  • 1681–1693 Edward Clarke
  • 1693–1703 Edmund Farrer
  • 1703–1720 Thomas Clark
  • 1720–1751 Benjamin Wilson
  • 1751–1758 John Clarke
  • 1758–1795 Christopher Atkinson
  • 1795–1814 Thomas Rogers
  • 1814–1837 Martin Joseph Naylor
  • 1837–1847 John Carter
  • 1847–1875 James Taylor
  • 1875–1883 Robert Leighton Leightoh
  • 1883–1910 Matthew Henry Peacock
  • 1911–1916 Joseph E. Barton
  • 1917–1939 Alfred J. Spilsbury
  • 1939–1956 Wilfred A. Grace
  • 1956–1964 Ernest J. Baggaley
  • 1964–1975 J. K. Dudley
  • 1975–1985 James G. Parker
  • 1985–2001 Robert Mardling
  • 2001–2010 Michael Gibbons
  • 2010–2020 David Craig
  • 2021–present Richard Brookes

    Notable Old Savilians

Academia

Art
Literature
Music