Hard cover, A4 size, 299 pages. Very good condition. Over 1kg.
Bishops: 1849 - 1886
The Diocesan School of the Diocese of Cape Town - for boys only, normal in those times - was established in 1849 by Bishop Robert Gray, and opened its doors in Maynier’s Cottage in the grounds of the Bishop’s residence, Protea, now called Bishopscourt. Its object was ‘to give a sound Education to the Youth of the Colony’, conducted on the principles of the English Church. The first Principal was the Revd HM White, an English clergyman. Gray clearly had it in mind that this school would be different from the other grammar schools that he was establishing during the first years of his time in South Africa. He envisaged a lower school (boys aged 10 to 17) and an upper department (boys older than that) and when in 1874 the University of the Cape of Good Hope was instituted, university classes were set up as part of the Collegiate School, this was clearly in line with Gray’s orginal intentions. As the formal name of the school is quite a mouthful, the school has been referred to as ‘Bishops’ (the school of the Bishop) from the very beginning.
The early years under the Principalship of the two White brothers (Henry M White 1849 – 1856 and F Gilbert White 1857 – 1859) saw both a rise and decline of the new school. Within a year of its formation, the school had moved from Bishopscourt to its current location in Rondebosch when the farm Woodlands (measuring over 24 morgen) was bought by Gray, a gesture of great confidence in the future of the school. Buildings designed by another White brother, William, were erected to house the teachers, the pupils and the classrooms. By 1857 there were 30 to 40 pupils, but by 1860, this number had dropped to 17. Gray was sufficiently alarmed to move the energetic and powerful George Ogilvie from St George’s Grammar School in Cape Town, situated next to the Cathedral, out to the Diocesan School in Rondebosch to set it back on its feet. This was a major setback for St George’s which had been flourishing, but Ogilvie’s tenure at the Diocesan School proved to be decisive. Bishops prospered in many areas. New buildings were built, scholarship flourished with pupils winning awards, and when the University of the Cape of Good Hope was set up in 1874, university classes were introduced at Bishops. In 1886, numbers stood at 149, 94 in the Lower school, and 55 following post-matric (or university level) courses.
John Sedgwick was Ogilvie’s successor, but his tenure was short-lived, due in part at least to Ogilvie’s withdrawal of his initial support for him. However, in his short time at the school, Sedgwick introduced a number of innovations which have left their mark on the school, including engagement with old boys of the school (which led some ten years later to the formation of the OD Union), the Debating Society, and the school magazine. He instituted new colours, maroon and gold, which lasted till 1911 with only traces of Sedgwick’s colours surviving in the mitre.
Developments outside the school influenced the next major development in the history of the school. Richard Brooke, the Rector of St Saviour’s, Claremont had started a grammar school at St Saviour’s, which had grown to over a hundred boys by 1880. This was too big for the St Saviour’s school, and parents were advised to move their older boys to Bishops to allow St Saviour’s to concentrate on the junior boys. A more formal rearrangement took place early in 1886 when the junior boys of the Diocesan School went over to the St Saviour’s school, which became known as the Diocesan College School and moved to new buildings at Feldhausen, now the site of the Grove Primary School. The senior boys (Grade 10 in today’s terms) from St Saviour’s went over to the Diocesan College at Woodlands.
After Sedgwick’s resignation in December 1886, Brooke was offered the principalship of the College, which after some reflection, he accepted. When his principalship ended in 1901, much had been achieved, with additions to the buildings and fields, the academic life of the school vigorous, the sporting achievements becoming prominent and the school widely regarded as a feature of the South African educational landscape. In 1901, the Diocesan College School (at St Saviour’s) moved back to join the Diocesan College and Canon Owen Jenkins was appointed Principal.
