Harrow History Prize

Last updated

The Harrow History Prize or the Townsend Warner Preparatory Schools History Prize is an annual history competition for children at British preparatory schools. It currently attracts around 800 entrants each year.

Contents

History

The prize was established in 1885 by E. E. Bowen, a housemaster at Harrow School. He wanted to encourage a move away from purely classical education and offered a prize in history to pupils of Elstree Preparatory School. In 1895 the Dragon School also started to take part, and the competition had spread to thirteen other schools by 1905 with 39 entrants taking part that year. In 1905, George Townsend Warner, head of history at Harrow, (and father of Sylvia Townsend Warner) took on the running of the competition until his death in 1916. Over many years the prize was repeatedly won by St Cyprian's School whose Headmistress Mrs Vaughan Wilkes was a great believer in history teaching and in the prize itself. [1] After 1916 administration was shared between Mr Henry of Harrow and Henry Marten, later Sir Henry Marten, of Eton and the prize was renamed after Townsend Warner. In 1940 the number of participating schools had risen to 40, by which time both Henry and Marten had withdrawn. There were difficulties during World War II because of the disruption this caused to prep schools, but the competition was kept running by Major C F Letts until 1956 when the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS) took over. By this time there were 70 schools and over 500 entrants in the competition. The competition has continued to grow since then, and a special centenary competition was run in 1985.

Winners

Notable winners, both from St Cyprian's, included Dyneley Hussey (1905) and Cyril Connolly (1916), with his colleague Eric Blair (George Orwell) in second place. Orwell later wrote scathingly of the prize as a "piece of nonsense". [2] [3] Another runner up was the historian Arthur Bryant. Westminster Under School. British Conservative Party politician Kwasi Kwarteng is also a recipient of the prize as he won it in 1988 while studying at Colet Court.

Papers 1 and 2

There are two exams in this competition, Paper 1 consisting of testing of dates and battles, and 2 is made up of essays.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Orwell</span> English author and journalist (1903–1950)

Eric Arthur Blair was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitarianism, and support of democratic socialism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harrow School</span> Public school in Harrow, Greater London

Harrow School is a public school in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon, a local landowner and farmer, under a royal charter of Queen Elizabeth I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics and the English Language</span> 1946 essay by George Orwell

"Politics and the English Language" (1946) is an essay by George Orwell that criticised the "ugly and inaccurate" written English of his time and examined the connection between political orthodoxies and the debasement of language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Cyprian's School</span> Preparatory school in Eastbourne, Sussex, England

St Cyprian's School was an English preparatory school for boys, which operated in the early 20th century in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Like other preparatory schools, its purpose was to train pupils to do well enough in the examinations to gain admission to leading public schools, and to provide an introduction to boarding school life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard Crick</span> British political theorist and democratic socialist (1929-2008)

Sir Bernard Rowland Crick was a British political theorist and democratic socialist whose views can be summarised as "politics is ethics done in public". He sought to arrive at a "politics of action", as opposed to a "politics of thought" or of ideology, and he held that "political power is power in the subjunctive mood." He was a leading critic of behaviouralism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Historical Association</span> Society of historians and professors of history

The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional standards, and support scholarship and innovative teaching. It publishes The American Historical Review four times annually, which features scholarly history-related articles and book reviews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Allen's Girls' School</span> Private day school in Dulwich, London, England

James Allen's Girls' School, abbreviated JAGS, is a private day school situated in Dulwich, South London, England. It is the second oldest girls’ independent school in Great Britain - Godolphin School in Salisbury being the oldest, founded in 1726.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvia Townsend Warner</span> English writer, poet, and activist

Sylvia Nora Townsend Warner was an English novelist, poet and musicologist, known for works such as Lolly Willowes, The Corner That Held Them, and Kingdoms of Elfin.

The King's School, Rochester, is an independent co-educational day and boarding school in Rochester, Kent. It is a cathedral school and, being part of the foundation of Rochester Cathedral, the Dean of Rochester serves as chair of the school's governing body. The school claims to be the second oldest continuously operating school in the world, having been founded in 604 AD. It is the oldest choir school in the world.

Harold Alaric Jacob was an English writer and journalist. He was a Reuters correspondent in Washington in the 1930s and a war correspondent during World War II in North Africa, Burma and Moscow.

"Such, Such Were the Joys" is a long autobiographical essay by the English writer George Orwell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Edmund's College, Ware</span> Private day and boarding school in Ware, Hertfordshire, England

St Edmund's College is a coeducational private day and boarding school in the British public school tradition, set in 440 acres (1.8 km2) in Ware, Hertfordshire. Founded in 1568 as a seminary, then a boys' school, it is the oldest continuously operating and oldest post-Reformation Catholic school in the country. Today it caters for boys and girls aged 3 to 18.

The 1871–72 Football Association Challenge Cup was the first staging of the Football Association Challenge Cup, usually known in the modern era as the FA Cup, the oldest association football competition in the world. Fifteen of the association's fifty member clubs entered the first competition, although three withdrew without playing a game. In the final, held at Kennington Oval in London on 16 March 1872, Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers by a single goal, scored by Morton Betts, who was playing under the pseudonym A. H. Chequer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chesterfield St Helena School</span> Former girls high school in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England

Chesterfield St Helena School, also known as Chesterfield Girls' Grammar School and St Helena School, Chesterfield, was an all-girls high school in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, teaching 11- to 18-year-old girls between 1892 and its closure in 1991. The building now serves as an Area Education Office for Derbyshire County Council.

<i>Sinister Street</i> 1913-14 novel by Compton Mackenzie

Sinister Street is a 1913–1914 novel by Compton Mackenzie. It is a kind of Bildungsroman or novel about growing up, and concerns two children, Michael Fane and his sister Stella. Both of them are born out of wedlock, something which was frowned upon at the time, but to rich parents.

William James Vincent Tomlinson was an English schoolmaster and cricketer who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire and Cambridge University from 1920 to 1924.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public school (United Kingdom)</span> Fee-charging schools in England and Wales

In England and Wales, a public school is a type of fee-charging private school originally for older boys. They are "public" in the sense of being open to pupils irrespective of locality, denomination or paternal trade or profession, nor are they run for the profit of a private owner.

Sir Clarence Henry Kennett Marten was the Provost of Eton and the private tutor of Queen Elizabeth II.

John Comyn Vaughan Wilkes was an English educationalist, who was Warden of Radley College and an Anglican priest.

Oberlin Academy Preparatory School, originally Oberlin Institute and then Preparatory Department of Oberlin College, was a private preparatory school in Oberlin, Ohio which operated from 1833 until 1916. It opened as Oberlin Institute which became Oberlin College in 1850. The secondary school serving local and boarding students continued as a department of the college. The school and college admitted African Americans and women. This was very unusual and controversial. It was located on the Oberlin College campus for much of its history and many of its students continued on to study at Oberlin College. Various alumni and staff went on to notable careers.

References

  1. C. Vaughan Wilkes The Teaching of History: I. In Preparatory Schools History:The Journal of the Historical Association Volume 2 Issue 7 Page 144-152, October 1917
  2. George Orwell Such, such were the joys, first published in the USA 1952
  3. Robert Pearce Orwell and the Harrow History Prize Notes and Queries 1990 37(4):442-443;