Lancaster Royal Grammar School

The school was founded between 1235 and 1256, probably nearer to the former, and was later endowed as a free school by John Gardyner.[2] The first definite mention of the old grammar school is found in a deed dated 4 August 1469, when the Abbess of Syon granted to John Gardyner, of Bailrigg (near Lancaster), a lease of a water-mill on the River Lune and some land nearby for two hundred years to maintain a chaplain to celebrate worship in the Church of St. Mary, Lancaster, and to instruct boys in grammar freely, "unless perchance something shall be voluntarily offered by their friends".

In 1472, John Gardyner's will made further provisions for the endowment of the school, and also for William Baxstonden to keep the school so long as he could teach the students. In 1682, the school was rebuilt and in 1852 was removed from the old site on the slopes by the priory to the outskirts of the city, where it now stands (though the city has expanded beyond it).

This building (now known as Old School House), which stands on the north side of East Road, was designed by the local architects Sharpe and Paley at a cost of £8,000 (equivalent to £880,000 in 2019).[3][4][5] The foundation stone was laid on 5 May 1851 by Rt Revd James Prince Lee, the Bishop of Manchester.[6] The title "Royal" was granted by Queen Victoria in the same year.[4] This building is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.[7]

In 1969, the school celebrated its quincentenary and was visited by HM The Queen. In 1995, the school received a visit from the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, The Rt Hon Roger Freeman MP.

In 2001, to mark the 150th anniversary of becoming the Royal Grammar School, the school welcomed The Princess Royal. In 2011, the school was granted Academy status. On 6 November 2017, the school stated that they will be accepting sixth form girls from September 2019.[1]

Old School House.

Dates are of taking office.

The Grammar School has a tradition of raising money for charity each year during the Lenten term. The charities are selected by the Seward Committee where students propose and select which organisations to donate money to, generally two local, two national and two international charities. All students take part in a yearly set run and are encouraged to collect sponsorship donations, helping raise up to £20,000 in a year. Not all the income comes from the run, though, as students organise a large variety of events amongst which are cake sales, raffles and even a teachers' version of the BBC Radio 4 panel show Just a Minute, organised by the Whewell Society.

The whole school partakes in annual Set Run which involves a 4-mile run around Lancaster and the surrounding areas. This tradition has been in place continually since 1912 when it was 'revived', suggesting it existed in a previous form before then. It occurs towards the end of the Lent Term and is usually used to raise money as part of the Lenten charities event.

When the national anthem is sung at events such as Founders' Day, the second line is changed to "Long live our noble Duke" in recognition of the Duchy of Lancaster. Duke is kept irrespective of whether the ruling Monarch is male or female; thus Queen Elizabeth II is known by tradition as the Duke of Lancaster, not Duchess.

Until September 2015, LRGS used the more traditional '1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year...' system for naming years, rather than the modern 'Year 7, 8, 9...' system - a tradition that had been in place since the 1973/74 academic year. The tradition came under threat in May 2015, when some of the school's teachers made it clear that they would rather use the modern system, to avoid confusion when communicating with other schools and organisations using that system. An online petition was set up, garnering over a thousand signatures from students, teachers and Old Lancastrians. The change was also opposed by the senior prefect team. However, at the start of the next academic year (2015/16), the school officially changed to the modern system, despite the considerable opposition.

For a period the school ran a preparatory department, which was located in Gardyner House as was officially "Form 1". Although this closed in the 1950s it was not until 1973 that the year groups were renumbered - prior to September that year year groups were numbered 2, 3, 4, Shell (abbreviated to "Sh") and 5 (followed by Lower, Middle and Upper Sixth). Other traditions that ended in the 1970s were the singing of the school song (before 1972 - but still sung at Old Lancastrian meetings. It was also temporarily sung in 2012 at the occasional first year assembly.), the requirement to wear a school cap (ended from 1972/3 - though they were still on sale until 1979), shorts for junior boarders (which was also abolished in September 1973), and houses for day-students (which were wound up sometime in the late 1970s, probably around 1978 or 1979, in fact somewhat petering out rather than being formally abolished.

The school is regularly one of the strongest state schools both regionally and nationally. In 2019, students achieved top A and A* grades in more than half of all the A level exams that they sat. Over 75% of all results were graded A*, A or B.

The 2007 Ofsted report stated that "this is an outstanding school that provides very good value for money. The overwhelming majority of parents value greatly the school and its impact on their children."

In 2005 just under three-quarters of A-level entries resulted in grades A or B (excluding General Studies) while at GCSE three-quarters of all grades were A* or A, with nearly all pupils gaining 10 passes and five pupils gaining a clean sweep of A* grades. In 2011 the A*-C grade was over 95%, only 1% below its counterpart Lancaster Girls' Grammar school.[8]

LRGS is a state boarding school with four boarding houses (Storey, Frankland, Ashton and School Houses) and 170 boarders. The majority of boarders come from the northwest of England; others come from across the UK and overseas. Ofsted inspectors found boarding to be Outstanding in all categories in 2013.[9]

LRGS has a range of student-run societies. The Whewell Society, named in honour of William Whewell, an old student, was founded in 1908 and is the oldest continuous society in the school. It was founded by the sixth form as a society to promote the arts, music and debate. Since the 1950s, the society has been purely a debating society and has had success in competitions.

The school offers a wide range of sporting activities to the students throughout their school careers including tennis, sailing, swimming, rowing, cross country running etc. but remains a bastion of rugby union. Achievement in this code is generally accorded more prominence in school life than other activities but the school has achieved more notable success in rowing and cross country running, especially when their far lower budgets are taken into account. Nonetheless, the school has produced some notable figures in rugby union such as the former England and Bath coach Brian Ashton, former captain of Norway Erik Lund and his brother the England international Magnus Lund.

Former Pupils have achieved Olympic success. Jason Queally, took track cycling gold in the 1 km time trial at the 2000 Summer Olympics and Scott Durant won gold with the British Men's Eight in the 2016 Summer Olympics (see Boat Club).

In 2011, the LRGS lst XI won the Local Football Cup, beating Morecambe High School 1–0 at the Globe Arena with a fine performance from the entire squad.

In 2014, the LRGS 1st XI cricket team became the first in the school’s history to win the RGS Festival. The trophy was contested in Newcastle over a week of fixtures, and LRGS finished without losing a game in the tournament.

In 2015 the U13s won the Lancashire Cup Final against Audenshaw 20 points to 5

In 2012, the LRGS 1st XV reached the last 8 of the Rosslyn Park National 7s tournament and the U16s reached the last 32.

In 2010, the 1st XV, won the Lancashire Cup Final, and became champions in a hard-fought match against Merchant Taylor's Crosby, this achievement was followed by the U14s and the U15s who were victorious in finals against Merchant Taylor's Crosby and Manchester Grammar School, respectively.

In 2009, the U13s and U14s reached the finals of the Lancashire Cup, however both lost narrowly against Manchester Grammar School. In the 2008/2009 season, LRGS won the Lancashire schools cup in the U18s and the U13s as well as winning the Floodlit cup for Lancashire and Cheshire in the U16s. They also set a new record with four teams reaching the county finals. While, in 2007/2008 season, LRGS won the Lancashire Cup in the U15 and U16 age groups.

In recent years the school has enjoyed an improved reputation in cricket with recent highlights including the school's 1st XI Cricket team's narrow defeat in the Sir Garfield Sobers Tournament at The Kensington Oval Barbados in July 2011. The school achieved a victory over Charterhouse School in the final of the Lord's Taverners Cricketer Colts Trophy for Schools in 1999,[10] and enjoyed a run to the semi final of the Daily Mail U18 Cup in 2004.[11]

In 2010, LRGS became the U19 and U16 district champions for table tennis.

The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) at LRGS comprises Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force sections. Pupils in year nine and above are allowed to join. It parades on Tuesday afternoons after school and is voluntary. All sections participate in camps throughout the year, including an annual summer camp during the summer holidays, and an Easter camp involving adventurous training in which all three sections can participate. The Contingent, as of 2019 maintains around 200 members, and is led by a Cadet RSM, which can be drawn from any section. Past Regimental Sergeant Majors include: Cadet RSM L. Wong (2014–15), Cadet RSM B. Taylor (2015-2016), Cadet RSM C. Tetlow (2016-2017), Cadet RSM M. Blackett-Ord (2017-2018), Cadet RSM E. Powell (2018-2019).

The School has had its own CCF since 1914, then known as the Officer Training Corps. Its roots, however, can be traced back further still, as there are "references to the existence at Lancaster of a Cadet Volunteer Battalion in the early nineteenth century".[16] and in 1861, the seventy-strong Battalion was presented with a silver bugle "by Mrs Lee, wife of the Headmaster".[16]

The Royal Navy Section consists of around 25 cadets, including girls from Lancaster Girls' Grammar School, who have been participating since September 2012. The main activities offered are water-based, and the section often goes sailing on Marine Lake, Southport. Cadets in the Navy section also attend national camps and courses run by HQ CCF RN, on which cadets can gain nationally recognised qualifications in topics from power boating to first aid.[17]

The Army Section is approximately 60 students strong. Since September 2019, girls have been able to join army section. They participate in camps throughout the year including an annual camp that lasts over a week, and an Easter Camp where they take part in adventurous training activities, a range day where the cadets fire the L98-A2 Cadet GP Rifle, a field day where the cadets deploy on Manoeuvers for 24hours equipped with blank rounds and a night navigation exercise named Operation Night Owl. Annual Camp 2007 was at a CCF Central Camp at Wathgill, in North Yorkshire. Annual camp 2016 was in Warcop, Cumbria, with annual camp 2017 held at Nesscliffe training camp, Shropshire, with cadets winning both the inter-force gun run, tug of war and arm wrestling competitions, overall emerging as the best cadet force on camp.

The Royal Air Force section, similar to the Navy Section, contains female cadets. It is the most popular section with about 100 cadets, who receive flying lessons in the Grob Tutor T.1 aircraft and gliding lessons in the Grob Vigilant G 109 glider. Opportunities for flying and gliding scholarships, as well as various leadership courses, are also available to the most dedicated and talented cadets. The RAF section recently qualified for the national AST competition and has had multiple cadets complete the ACLC course at RAF Cranwell. The most recent RAF Easter camp was held at RAF Halton, with the summer camp being held at RAF Valley. An inspection, known as the Bi-ennial inspection takes place every two years. In 2012 the inspection took place at Halton Training Camp. Former pupils have gone on to become commercial pilots.

All three sections of the CCF learn how to use the L98-A2 Cadet GP Rifle. Various shooting activities take place for all three sections and new recruits in the Army section are tested on the GP Rifle during Easter at Sealand Ranges

Former pupils are known as "Old Lancastrians" and there are several branches of the club in the UK and worldwide. Notable Old Lancastrians include:

• Matthew Hutton, 16th century Archbishop of York, and Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge;[18]
• Sir John Singleton, British High Court Judge and Conservative Politician
• Lord Parkinson, former Conservative Party Chairman and Cabinet Minister;
• Christopher Urswick (1448-1522), Priest and Confessor to Lady Margaret Beaufort and reputed messenger between her and her son Henry VII of England, he has a speaking part in Shakespeare's Richard III (play)[19]
• John Edward Marr FGS FRS, British geologist, Fellow of St John's College Cambridge and lecturer of Geology at the University of Cambridge[20]
• Don Foster, Baron Foster of Bath, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath from 1992–2015;
• Joe Abercrombie, fantasy novelist;
• Prof. Roger Ainsworth, Master of St Catherine's College, Oxford and Professor of Engineering Science from 1998;
• Sir John Rutherford, 1st Baronet, Conservative MP for Darwen from 1895–1922;
• William Whewell (1794–1866), scientist, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge and reputed inventor of the word scientist
• Robert Ascroft, Conservative MP for Oldham from 1895–99;
• Sir Albert Seward, Master of Downing College, Cambridge;[21]
• Brian Ashton, England rugby union team former Head Coach;
• Brigadier Alexander Birtwistle CBE, Army officer;
• Mervyn Brooker, English cricketer and Headmaster;
• John Wrathall (1913–1978), President of Rhodesia;[22]
• Phil Christophers, England rugby international;
• Sean Cox, plays for London Irish Rugby Union team;
• James Crosby, former chief executive of the HBOS Group and former Deputy Chairman of the FSA;
• Scott Durant MBE, Olympic rower, gold medallist in the 2016 Summer Olympics;
• John Fleming, inventor of the vacuum tube and Fleming's left hand rule;
• Sir Edward Frankland (1825–1899), chemist;
• Trevor Glover, cricketer and rugby union player
• Frederick Crossfield Happold (1893–1971), headmaster and army officer awarded DSO in 1916;
• Lewis Henry Isaacs (1830–1908), architect, surveyor and Conservative MP for Walworth from 1885–92;
• Lauren Jeska transgender fell runner convicted of the attempted murder of Ralph Knibbs (known as Michael Jameson while at the school)[23]
• Air Vice-Marshal George Lamb CB CBE, Station Commander of RAF Lyneham from 1969–71;
• Commander Brian C. Longbottom, RN. Youngest RN Captain in WWII, and senior NATO official;[24]
• Magnus Lund, England rugby international;
• Erik Lund, Norwegian rugby international captain;
• Jason McCartney, Conservative MP for Colne Valley from 2010–17;
• Nigel Morris, co-Founder and former COO of Capital One;
• Sir Richard Owen (1804–1892), naturalist;
• Karl Oyston, English businessman worth £100M and former chairman of Blackpool Football Club;
• Prof. Hugh Pennington Eminent biologist, head of the 1996 Pennington Enquiry, Professor of Bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen from 1979–2003;
• Colin Povey, chief executive of Warwickshire County Cricket Club and former chief executive of Carlsberg;
• Jason Queally, gold medal-winning cyclist at the 2000 Summer Olympics;
• Sir Peter Ratcliffe, Nobel Prize winner for Medicine 2019, Nuffield Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Oxford since 2004;
• Jon Richardson, stand-up comedian and comedy writer, 2009 Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee, panel shows including 8 Out of 10 Cats;
• Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide Saatchi & Saatchi;
• David Roy Shackleton Bailey (1917–2005), Latin Scholar;
• Bob Shennan, BBC radio executive and Controller of BBC Radio 2;
• William Swainson (1809-1884), second Attorney General of New Zealand;
• Rt Revd Paul Swarbrick (born 1958), Roman Catholic bishop
• Prof. Paul Wellings, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wollongong
• Dr. Gavin Wood, co-founder and former CTO of Ethereum;
• Dr. Robert Samuel Woof OBE, first director of the Wordsworth Trust;
• John Woolrich, Composer, Professor of Music, Brunel University;
• Frank Wrathall, Racing driver in the BTCC.

• Listed buildings in Lancaster, Lancashire