The school has had four names.[2] In 1873 the school became Bedford Modern School to reflect its modern curriculum, providing an education for the professions.[2] BMS provided education not only for the locality but also for colonial and military personnel abroad, seeking good education for their young families.[2]
History
Bedford Modern School has its origins in The Harpur Trust, born from the endowments left by Sir William Harpur in the sixteenth century.[3] Since the separation of Bedford School and BMS in 1764, the School has had four names: the Writing School, the English School, the Commercial School and finally Bedford Modern School, the last change being made in 1873 to reflect the School's modern curriculum, providing an education for the professions.[2]
BMS provided education not only for the locality but also for colonial and military personnel seeking good education for their young families.[2] In 1834 BMS moved from its original premises in St Paul's Square to buildings designed by Edward Blore in Harpur Square, Bedford.[2]
The ‘Long Swim’ was established under Robert Poole (headmaster of BMS from 1877 to 1900), a ‘free-for-all’ swimming race in the River Great Ouse from Bedford town bridge to the ‘Suspension Bridge’. The gruelling event was stopped in 1957 due to river pollution.[2] An annual compulsory steeplechase still takes place at the school for each year group.[4]
During World War II, the inventors Cecil Vandepeer Clarke and Stuart Macrae took a prototype of their limpet mine to Bedford Modern School swimming baths, which were closed for such occasions. Clarke was an excellent swimmer and was able to propel himself through the water with a prototype bomb attached to a keeper plate on webbing around his waist.[5]
The school’s Prichard Museum, a collection of artefacts sent back to the school mainly from old boys around the world, became Bedford Museum.[2]George Witt was a major benefactor to the school's museum.[7]
The successful growth of the school meant that the buildings became increasingly cramped and in 1974 the school moved to new premises in Bedford.[2] The Foundation Stone for the new building was laid by Margaret Thatcher.[2] On 11 May 1976, Queen Elizabeth II unveiled a commemorative panel at the new school building during her visit with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.[2]
BMS became a coeducational day school in 2003. In 2014, BMS celebrated the 250th anniversary of its separation from Bedford School.[4]David Scott Daniell wrote about his schooldays at BMS in his first novel, Young English.[8][9]
School houses
Following a tradition of over a hundred years the Senior School Houses of BMS were: North, South, East, West, County and United Boarders.[2] United Boarders comprised the combined boarding houses: Culver, Shakespeare, and School House.[2] The day boy houses often, though not always, reflected the parts of the town or county from which the boys hailed and were mentioned in the chorus of the school song.[2]
A decision was made in October 1997 for the house system to play a more central role in the school and to reinvigorate internal competition whilst upholding its traditions.[4] Six heads of house were appointed from the staff under the direction of a senior head of house, with the brief to establish a modern house system to be integrated into a new school structure and working week, beginning in September 1998.[4] A competition was launched to establish the new house names. The houses were named in honour of six Old Bedford Modernians who had gained national or international recognition in their field.[4]
Each house has its own tie which consists of stripes of the three school colours and their own house colour.[4] Inter-house sports cover all major and minor sports run by the school, at both junior and senior level, and range from rugby and hockey (major sports) to shooting and fencing (minor sports).[4] There are also non-sporting events such as quizzes and Music and Drama competitions.[4] Students take leadership roles as house captain or house deputies.[4]
Monitors
Bedford Modern School: Prize Book, Midsummer 1889
Monitors are selected, following a written application process, from students in the upper sixth.[4] Each team of monitors works with a specific year group, and are led by two senior monitors, appointed by the head master.[4] Senior monitors, along with the heads of school, are entitled to wear a red trim on their blazer.[4]
Uniform
Boys in years 7 to 11 wear their house tie and school blazer alongside black trousers and a white shirt.[4] Girls may wear the school skirt or black trousers with the school blazer (girls' blazers have a red and black braid). Sixth form students wear a business suit.[4]
Coeducation
Until 2003, BMS was a day and boarding school for boys.[4] Following 12 years of discussions, Bedford Modern School closed its boarding houses and became coeducational in September 2003.[4] In 2013, BMS celebrated 10 years of coeducation, with a play written by Mark Burgess commissioned to celebrate the event.
Extracurricular activities
Sport
Bedford Modern School, first sortie to Henley in 1882Bedford Modern School Cricket PavilionKing George V addressing the Bedford Modern School CCF, 1918
Each year, the school puts on two productions, normally musicals, with full orchestra and set, in its 300-seat auditorium. It also hosts its own Shakespeare Festival, in which local schools are invited to take part. The sixth form has its own theatre company, Theatre in Transit, which puts on a piece of theatre each year at professional venues.[19] In September 2014, the Chamber Choir performed The Armed Man at the Royal Albert Hall as part of Sing UK's 'A Mass for Peace'.[20]
Combined cadet force
The school's CCF has existed since 1863. BMS is one of very few schools in the UK to have had all four arms of the Service within its Corps: Army, Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The Royal Marines section of the CCF closed in July 2017. Bedford Modern CCF invites students from nearby Bedford Greenacre Independent School and Bedford Free School to be part of the Corps.
Eagle magazine
The Eagle, The Magazine of Bedford Modern School, first published in 1881
The school has several of its own publications, the most prominent of which is named The Eagle.[1][21]
The Eagle has been published mostly biannually since 1881 and doubles as an archive of life at the school during that year.[1][21]The Eagle is predominantly designed and edited by sixth form students, and since 2000 is printed as a glossy magazine with around 48 pages.[1] It often also includes feature articles and interviews with former students.[1][21]
In addition to The Eagle, other publications include The Eaglet, which, until recently, was included as part of the main magazine, and includes articles from the Junior School.[1][21] Another publication is the Eagle News, which is published for the benefit of OBMs.[1][21] It includes School news, and follow-up articles of former pupils.[1][21] In 1906, the mathematician Eric Temple Bell reported news of an earthquake in San Francisco, where he was resident at the time.[22]
The school is still known for this magazine in the Bedford area, where extra copies were often distributed.[1][21] However, distribution externally is now limited.[1]
List of headmasters
The following have been Headmasters of Bedford Modern School.
Conisbee, Lewis Ralph (1964). Bedford Modern School, Its Origin and Growth. Foundry Press Ltd., Brereton Printing Works, Bedford. OCLC771167017.[42]
Vipan, Herbert Edwin (1901). A register of the old boys of the Bedford Modern School. OCLC557698898.
Related Research Articles
Bedford School is a public school in the county town of Bedford in England. Founded in 1552, it is the oldest of four independent schools in Bedford run by the Harpur Trust.
Ernest Desmond Dynes CBE was an English cricketer in the 1920s and 1930s and later a Brigadier in the British Army and an Aide-de-Camp to Queen Elizabeth II.
Sir George Edward Godber served as Chief Medical Officer for Her Majesty's Government in England from 1960 to 1973. He was also part of the team that planned the National Health Service (NHS) and, as deputy Chief Medical Officer and subsequently Chief Medical officer, campaigned against smoking and for immunization against polio and diphtheria.
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Sir Ernest Colville Collins Wilton was a British diplomat and President of the Commission for the Government of the Saar Basin between 1927 and 1932.
The Ven. Robert Saville Brown was Archdeacon of Bedford from 1974 to 1979. Brown was educated at Bedford Modern School and Selwyn College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1941, served a curacy in Hitchin and held incumbencies at Wonersh (1947–53), Great Berkhamsted and Bedford (1969–1974).
Sir Adolphe Abrahams was a British medical doctor, and he is considered to be the founder of British sports science.
Captain Sir Ernest Whiteside Huddleston was a British military commander who was Deputy Director and officiating Commander of the Royal Indian Marine. He was later Shipping Surveyor and Adviser to the High Commissioner for India and ADC to the Viceroy.
Major-General Harold Percy Waller Barrow was Colonel Commandant, Royal Army Medical Corps (1941–46) and an Honorary Surgeon to King George V.
Rear Admiral Alfred Charles Ransom CBE (1871–1953) was a senior Royal Navy officer.
Sir Frederick Howard was a British industrialist who, with his brother James Howard, founded J & F Howard Ironfounders in Bedford.
Major-General Sir Robert Samuel Findlay Henderson KCMG CB (1858–1924) was a senior British physician, Physician to the King, and England rugby international player.
Brigadier-General Sir Arthur Long was Director of Supplies and Transport in the British Army responsible for Macedonia and the Black Sea (1916-1919).
Colonel Reginald Seward Ruston CB (1867–1963), was in command of the Mounted Infantry of the Devon Regiment in Burma (1891–1903) and served in World War I where he was mentioned in despatches and created a Companion of the Order of the Bath.
Dr James Mould QC was an English Barrister, Queen's Counsel, a Bencher of Gray's Inn and a Fellow of University College London. In 1944, Mould served on the Swan Committee on the Patents and Designs Acts and, in 1947, served as a member of the Committee appointed by the Minister of Supply to inquire into the development and production of Tudor aircraft.
Major-General Leonard Arthur Hawes CBE DSO MC DL was a senior officer in the British Army who was responsible for preparing the transport to France of the British Expeditionary Force at the outbreak of World War II.
Major-General Herbert William Jackson CB CSI DSO was an officer of the British Indian Army.
Colonel Ernest Clive Atkins CB TD DL JP was Battalion Commander of the 2/5th Leicestershire Regiment during World War I, High Sheriff of Leicestershire in 1931 and Chairman of the Leicestershire Territorial Association in 1938.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 School of the Black and Red, A History of Bedford Modern School, by Andrew Underwood (1981); updated by Boon, Middleton and Wildman (2010)
↑ Bedford Modern School (Bedford, England); CONISBEE, Lewis Ralph (12 December 1964). Bedford Modern School: its origin and growth. An outline history. By L.R. Conisbee, etc. [With plates. OCLC771167017.
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