History
The school was founded in 1869 by the Reverend John Hawtrey. He had been a boy at Eton, from the age of eight. In later life he became a master at Eton and was offered his own house of boys. He decided to remove all of the younger boys from the school. With the permission of Eton College, he took the lowest two forms out to a separate school in Slough and housed them in what is now St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School. The new school was known as St Michael's School and was opened on 29 September 1869 (Michaelmas).
John Hawtrey's son, Edward, removed the school to Westgate-on-Sea early in 1883. [1] After Edward Hawtrey died in 1916, the name of the school was changed to Hawtreys.
The school buildings were requisitioned during the Second World War and the school moved to Oswestry in Shropshire, to the home of Sir William Wynn-Williams. In 1946 it moved again to Tottenham House, a large Palladian country house near the village of Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, in the heart of Savernake Forest, when the last private owner, George Brudenell-Bruce, 6th Marquess of Ailesbury, retired to Jersey. [2]
Throughout the history of the school, a close connection was maintained with Eton College, to which many boys moved at the age of thirteen. [3]
Gerald Watts was headmaster from 1975 to 1990. When he left Hawtreys, numbers fell fast, falling from 128 to 50 in two years. Those taking their sons out of the school included Kanga Tryon, who complained that the atmosphere was "no longer as it ought to be". [4] In 1994, unable to survive, Hawtreys merged with Cheam School, [4] which is formally called Cheam Hawtreys, but generally known simply as Cheam. [5]
"Hawtreys School Staff and Pupils" were listed in the credits of A Feast at Midnight (1994), a British comedy film about a prep school, made in the last operational year of Hawtreys. [6]
Sir Charles Henry Hawtrey was an English actor, director, producer and manager. He pursued a successful career as an actor-manager, specialising in debonair, often disreputable, parts in popular comedies. He occasionally played in Sheridan and other classics, but was generally associated with new works by writers including Oscar Wilde and Somerset Maugham.
Sir Roderic Victor Llewellyn, 5th Baronet, is a British baronet, garden designer, journalist, author, and television presenter. He had an eight-year relationship with Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II.
George William Frederick Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Marquess of Ailesbury, styled Lord Bruce between 1814 and 1821 and Earl Bruce between 1821 and 1856, was a British peer, Liberal politician and courtier.
The House of Seymour, Semel or St. Maur, is the name of an old English family in which several titles of nobility have from time to time been created, and of which the Duke of Somerset is the head.
The Gough-Calthorpe family is descended from ancient and notable families who both held lands in the area around Birmingham, England.
Ernest Augustus Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury,, styled Lord Ernest Brudenell-Bruce from 1821 until 1878, was a British courtier and politician. He served for many years as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household.
There have been three baronetcies created for members of the Anstruther family, two in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia and one in the Baronetage of Great Britain. Two of the creations are extant while one is extinct.
Baron Calthorpe, of Calthorpe in the County of Norfolk, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for Sir Henry Gough, 2nd Baronet, who had previously represented Bramber in Parliament. Born Henry Gough, he had assumed the additional surname of Calthorpe upon inheriting the Elvetham and Norfolk estates of his maternal uncle, Sir Henry Calthorpe, in 1788. The Baronetcy, of Edgbaston in the County of Warwick, had been created in the Baronetage of Great Britain on 6 April 1728 for Lord Calthorpe's father Henry Gough, who represented Totnes and Bramber in the House of Commons. He was the husband of Barbara, daughter of Reynolds Calthorpe. Three of Lord Calthorpe's sons, the second, third and fourth Barons, both succeeded in the titles. The latter sat as a Member of Parliament for Hindon and Bramber. In 1845 he assumed by Royal licence for himself the surname of Gough only. His eldest son, the fifth Baron, represented East Worcestershire in Parliament as a Liberal. The fifth Baron's younger brother, the seventh Baron, was a Lieutenant-General in the Army. The latter's son, the eighth Baron, was succeeded by his grandson, the ninth Baron. The titles became extinct on the death of the ninth Baron's younger brother, the tenth Baron, in 1997.
The Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe Baronetcy, of Elvetham Hall in Elvetham in the County of Hampshire, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom.
Isabella Amaryllis Charlotte Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe is an English socialite, actress and model.
Sir David St Vincent "Dai" Llewellyn, 4th Baronet, was a Welsh socialite.
Tottenham House is a large Grade I listed English country house in the parish of Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, about five miles southeast of the town of Marlborough. It is separated from the town by Savernake Forest, which is part of the Tottenham Park estate.
Sir Fitzroy Hamilton Niall Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, 1st Baronet, born FitzRoy Hamilton Niall Lloyd-Anstruther, was an English baronet.
George William Thomas Brudenell-Bruce, 4th Marquess of Ailesbury, styled Viscount Savernake from 1878 to 1886, was the son of George John Brudenell-Bruce and Lady Evelyn Mary Craven, and succeeded his grandfather as 4th Marquess on the latter's death on 18 October 1886. On his death in 1894 he was succeeded in the marquessate, and his other titles, by his uncle. According to family records, he went by the name William and was known informally as Willie.
Michael Sydney Cedric Brudenell-Bruce, 8th Marquess of Ailesbury, styled Viscount Savernake until 1974, was a British peer.
David Michael James Brudenell-Bruce, 9th Marquess of Ailesbury, styled The Hon. David Brudenell-Bruce until 1974 and Earl of Cardigan between 1974 and 2024, is a British peer.
Charles Bruce, 3rd Earl of Ailesburyand 4th Earl of Elgin, of Ampthill, Bedfordshire and Savernake Park, Wiltshire, styled Viscount Bruce of Ampthill from 1685 to 1741, was a British landowner and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1705 until 1711 when he was raised to the peerage as one of Harley's Dozen and sat in the House of Lords.
John Austen Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe is a property developer and former chairman of the Watermark Group.
Gabriella Zanna Vanessa Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, known professionally as Gabriella Wilde or Gabriella Calthorpe, is an English actress and model.
