University College School

University College School, known generally as UCS, is an independent boys' school in north London.

It was founded in 1830 by what was then the University of London, and now University College London. The University of London had been founded by Jeremy Bentham and others to provide opportunities for higher education to Catholics, Jews, Protestent dissenters &c. - as only members of the established Church could study at Cambridge and Oxford (the only other two universities in England at the time). University College found that the quality of the school education of its applicants was disappointing, due to the fact that the good English secondary schools were largely of Church of England foundation and, like Oxbridge, barred to non-members of the Church of England. The decision was therefore taken to establish its own school.

The first headmaster was the Reverend Henry Browne. The School opened at 16 Gower Street on November 1 1830. By February 1831 it had outgrown its quarters, and in 1832 it was brought within the walls of the College, with a joint headmastership of Thomas Hewitt Key and Henry Malden.

The School was remarkably original - it was never a boarding school, it was one of the first schools to teach modern languages and sciences, and one of the first to abolish corporal punishment. Originally, there were no compulsory subjects and no rigid form system. Most boys learnt Latin and French, and many learnt German. Mathematics, chemistry, Greek and English were also taught. There was no religious teaching. Under the University College London (Transfer) Act 1905, University College London became part of the federal University of London, and its School was created as a separate corporation, moving away to new buildings in Hampstead in 1907.

Former pupils include the politician Joseph Chamberlain, the poets Stephen Spender and Thom Gunn, the electrical engineer John Ambrose Fleming, the mountain climber Chris Bonnington, the runner (and neurologst) Sir Roger Bannister and humourist Tom Hood.

Further reading

• An angel without wings: the history of University College School 1830-1980 by H. J. K. Usher, C. D. Black-Hawkins and G. J. Carrick, edited by G. G. H. Page (University College School, 1981).