Year 8 Induction

Housemaster: Ms V Wightman

Colour: Dark Green

History of House: 

Lewis Alden was the fifth son of an Oxford 'gentleman', educated entirely in his home town. Short-sighted and irascible, he arrived at Campbell in 1898 to teach English. He encouraged his pupils to read modern as well as more traditional literature, and no less than four future professors, including C S Lewis and E R Dodds, were to acknowledge their academic debt to his teaching. He was also noted for his elegant ice-skating whilst smoking a cigar! Alden was appointed one of the four original boarding Housemasters in 1908. He retired in 1930 and died on 22 October 1941. The name of Alden's House briefly disappeared in 1995 with the creation of a single boarding School House.

Housemaster: Mrs K Magreehan

Colour: Light Green

History of House:

William Mitchell Baird Allison was an Irishman who joined the Staff in 1896, and quickly became Senior Mathematics Master. He was respected as a teacher of outstanding fairness and integrity, and was one of the few who was able to maintain discipline without resorting to the cane. He was a natural choice as a Housemaster in 1908. Allison became Second Master, and was asked to deputise in April 1922 when the Headmaster died suddenly. He declined because of recurrent ill- health and he died soon after on 2 March 1923. The immense regard in which he was held was demonstrated by the installation of the clock in his honour in the main tower. 

Housemaster: Mr D Ledwich

Colour: Yellow

History of House: 

Robert Furley Davis was born in Nottingham, the son of a lace warehouseman. He was educated at Nottingham High School and Cambridge University, where he studied Classics. An organised, modest, incisive and witty individual, he arrived at Campbell in 1902 from Leamington College, and retired in 1931. Although of diminutive stature, he was a highly-respected Classics teacher, who conveyed a passion for his subject. Although photographs do not show it, he had lost an eye, but he proved another able ice-skater! He was in charge of the first Day-boy House, founded in 1908. He died at his home in Wandsworth Road on 14 February 1937, and was honoured with an obituary in The Times.

Housemaster: Mr S Collier

Colour: Light Blue

History of House: 

Thomas Ringland Dobbin was a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He joined the school office staff in 1898, but became Bursar and Commercial Master in 1911. He retired twenty years later. Known as 'Toby', little is known about him. Dobbin's was instituted in 1921 as a junior Day-boy House. He retired in 1931. 

Housemaster: Mr J Cupitt

Colour: Dark Blue

History of House: 

George Fetherston Price was an Irishman, a Classicist who had been a Scholar and Gold Medallist at Trinity College Dublin. Blessed with 'a sense of humour and a pungent wit', he was also a passionate angler, a pastime which he encouraged amongst his pupils. It was claimed that 'a day in his company was a joy forever'. One of the original 1908 boarding Housemasters, he retired in 1927 to Stoke Trister in Dorset, where he died after a long illness on 3 April 1940.

Housemaster: Mr R Hall

Colour: Red

History of House: 

John William Yates ​was born in Birmingham, the son of a doctor, and educated in his home town and at Oxford University, where he displayed a passion for drama and rowing. An uncomplicated and unassuming man, he arrived at Campbell to teach Classics in 1898. He was a capable musician, blessed with a good tenor voice; he also composed the school song - ​Ne Obliviscaris -​ in 1910, and one of his tunes graced the Irish Church Hymnal. He produced many of the plays performed at Speech Day, and was regarded as something of an inventor - patenting a gadget that made Double Dummy bridge possible! He was one of the original boarding Housemasters in 1908, and in 1925 retired to St Albans, where he died on 1 January 1939. 

Housemaster: Mr B Robinson

Colour: Black

History of House: 

Boarding has always been a central part of Campbell life. When the college opened in 1894 with around 250 boys on the register, 90 of them were boarders.

The names of the boarding houses have changed over the years. School House came in to existence in 1995, when two boarding/day boy houses, Alden's and Price's, were merged.

School House has developed further over the years:

• In 2004 a Junior Boarding Department was opened
• In 2012 a 48 bedroom, en-suite facility opened
• In 2019 a 61 bedroom, en-suite facility opened

With the new provision came the opportunity to reconfigure Boarding at Campbell College and 2019 saw the creation of three Houses, a Junior Boarding House and two vertical Senior Houses:

• Armour’s - Junior Boarding House Years 8-10
• Bowen’s – Senior Boarding House Years 11-14
• Chase’s – Senior Boarding House Years 11-14

Today, we have over 150 boarders from all over the world - a far cry from our humble beginnings!