Home > Winchester College

1 History

It was founded in 1382 by William of Wykeham, the Bishop of Winchester and High Chancellor of England, who also founded New College, Oxford. Its original purpose was to educate "seventy poor and needy scholars". Since the scholars now only get 50% off their school fees, they probably aren't as "poor and needy" as their predecessors. Starting in 2005, new Scholars entering College will have a basic scholarship of 25% with additional means-tested bursaries. Current and former pupils are still referred to as Wykehamists after the founder.

The school also took a few paying students, known as "Commoners". Originally there were only about 10, rising steadily until the early 19th century, when their numbers were approximately equal to those of the Scholars. In the late 1850s and throughout the 1860s, the numbers expanded dramatically as nine new boarding houses were built. One more boarding house was built in 1905, bringing the total to the current 11 (including "College", the original fourteenth-century Scholars' house), and the total number of pupils to almost 700. A twelfth boarding house is currently in the planning stage.

As of May 2003, the current headmaster is Mr. T. R. ("Nanny") Cookson , who succeeded Dr. Nicholas Tate when he resigned in 2003[2]. Dr Ralph Townsend will take over from Mr. Cookson when he retires in September 2005.

2 Winchester Slang

See Notion (slang)Notion is a highly specialised form of slang used by pupils at Winchester College. Each slang word or expression is known as a notion''. Some notions are created by shortening phrases for example, the Dons' Common Room Notice Board became Do Co Ro No Bo o.

3 Winchester College Football

Winchester College has its own game, Winchester College FootballWinchester College Football also known as Winkies or WinCoFo, is a ball game played at Winchester College it is akin to the Eton Field and Wall Games and the Harrow Game in that it enjoys a large following from Wykehamists and old Wykehamists but is unkno

4 Former pupils

Famous former pupils include:

• Henry ChicheleHenry Chicheley (also Checheley or Chichele (c. 1364 April 12, 1443), English archbishop, founder of All Souls College, Oxford, was born at Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, in 1363 or 1364. Chicheley told the pope, in 1443, in asking leave to retire from, Archbishop of CanterburyThe Archbishop of Canterbury is a bishop of the Church of England. His see is the Diocese of Canterbury and his episcopal chair ('cathedra') is at Canterbury Cathedral. He is the most senior bishop of the Church of England and of the worldwide Anglican Co
• Thomas BeckingtonThomas Beckington (c. 1390 January 14, 1465), English statesman and prelate, was born at Beckington in Somerset, and was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford. Having entered the Church he held many ecclesiastical appointments, and became dean of, statesman
• Richard PaceRichard Pace (c. 1482 1536) was an English diplomat of the Tudor period. He was educated at Winchester College under Thomas Langton, and later at Padua, at Bologna, and probably at the University of Oxford. In 1509 he accompanied Cardinal Christopher Bain, diplomat
• William GrocynWilliam Grocyn ( 1446 1519) was an English scholar, a friend of Erasmus. He was born at Colerne, Wiltshire. Intended by his parents for the church, he was sent to Winchester College, and in 1465 was elected to a scholarship at New College, Oxford. In 1467, scholar
• William WarhamHans Holbein the Younger, 1527 ( Louvre Museum) William Warham (c. 1450- 1532), Archbishop of Canterbury, belonged to a Hampshire family, and was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, afterwards practising and teaching law both in London and Oxf, Archbishop of Canterbury
• Roger Ascham, scholar and writer
• Henry Wotton, author and diplomat
• John Davies, poet
• Thomas James, librarian
• Edward Nicholas, statesman
• Thomas Otway, dramatist
• Sir Thomas Browne, polymath, scholar
• William Somerville, poet
• Edward Young, poet
• Robert Lowth, Bishop of London
• Edward Wortley Montagu, author
• William Collins, poet
• Joseph Warton, literary critic and academic
• Thomas Warton, Poet Laureate
• Thomas Burgess, author
• William Lisle Bowles, poet
• Richard Mant, writer
• William Page Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley, Lord Chancellor
• Christopher Wordsworth, Bishop of Lincoln
• Robert Lowe, 1st Viscount Sherbrooke, statesman
• Anthony Trollope, author
• George Bruce Malleson, author
• Samuel Rawson Gardiner, historian
• William Sealey Gosset, chemist
• G. H. Hardy, mathematician
• Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, general
• George Mallory, climber of Mount Everest
• Arnold J. Toynbee
• Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, Battle of Britain commander
• Sir Oswald Mosley, fascist leader
• Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the Labour Party
• Dr Robert Conquest, historian specialising in Stalin's purges
• Geoffrey Howe, Lord Howe of Aberavon, politician
• George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, Tory MP
• Freeman Dyson, Physicist and Mathematician
• Tim Brooke-Taylor, comedian
• Sir Richard Noble, designer of the ThrustSSC
• Joss Whedon, television scriptwriter
• Hugh Dancy, actor