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Westminster School (in full, The Royal College of St. Peter at Westminster, but almost always referred to as Westminster School, or even just Westminster, for short) is an ancient English public school, located by Westminster Abbey in Westminster, in central London, and with a history stretching back to the 12th century. The current Head Master is Tristram Jones-Parry .1 History
The School originally became a public school (and so available to all members of the public, provided that they could pay for tuition costs) in 1179, as the educational part of the Roman Catholic Abbey at Westminster, the Benedictine monks being required to provide a small charity school by decree of Pope Alexander III.
However, this arrangement changed in 1540, when King Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the Benedictine Monasteries of the Catholic Church in England, the King ensuring the School's survival by statute, becoming The College of St. Peter and carrying on, with forty "King's Scholars" funded from the royal purse. Although during Queen Mary I's brief reign the Abbey was reinstated as a Roman Catholic monastery, it was redissolved on Queen Elizabeth I's accession, and neither of these events had a major impact on the School.
Elizabeth I formally founded the School as a separate body in 1560Events February 27 The Treaty of Berhick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland The first tulip bulb was brought from Turkey to the Netherlands. July 6 Treaty of Edinburgh between England, France with an endowment to keep 40 "Queen's Scholars" at all times, with this date being generally accepted as the date that the school was "founded", although final independence from the Crown was only achieved with the Public Schools Act 1868The Public Schools Act of 1868 was legislation passed by the British Parliament. It was based on the report of the Clarendon Commission, a Royal Commission on Public Schools which ran from 1861 to 1864, and investigated nine schools: Charterhouse School E.
In 19431943 is the common year starting on Friday. Events January January 4 End of term for Culbert Olson, 29th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Earl Warren. January 11 The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China. January 1 Westminster Under School was formed as a semi-separate entity for the teaching of day pupils from the ages of 8 to 13 (now 7 to 13). Originally situated in Little Dean's Yard (the main square of the School), it later took residence in Vincent Square after it was left to the School by Lord Vincent. In 1967Events January January 4 British motorboat racer Donald Campbell dies while attempting a water speed record in Coniston Lake. January 4 Algerian revolutionary Mohammed Khider is shot in Madrid. January 6 Vietnam War: USMC and ARVN troops launch " Operatio the first girl pupil was admitted to the School, with girls becoming full members of the (Upper) School from 1973Events January events January 1 United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark enter the European Economic Community now known as the European Union January 3 Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) sells the New York Yankees for $10 million to a 12-person syndicate led onwards.
2 Location
The School is located primarily in the former grounds of the now-defunct monastery at Westminster Abbey, its buildings surrounding the (private) square Little Dean's Yard (known as 'Yard'), off Dean's Yard, where Church HouseChurch House is the building that serves as the headquarters of the Church of England, occupying the south end of Dean's Yard next to Westminster Abbey in London. The current building, designed by Sir Herbert Baker, is a 1930s replacement of the original, the headquarters of the Anglican Church, is sited, along with some of the Houses, the Common Room, and College Hall. The humanities are taught in Sutcliffe's on the neighbouring Great College Street (named after the sweet shop that used to occupy the ground floor of the building in the 19th century), and the Robert Hooke Science Centre is located some way away, just off Smith Square. Further, College Garden, to the East of Little Dean's Yard, is believed to be the oldest garden in England, under continuous cultivation for at least the last thousand years.
