Kingswood College (South Africa)

Kingswood College was founded in March 1894 by William C Muirhead, Clifford Witheridge Dold, William Burnett Stocks and Richard Restall Stocks, who considered that there was a need for a school for boys on the same lines of the local Wesleyan High School for Girls. The foresight of the four visionaries initially led to the establishment of the Wesleyan Collegiate School for Boys, which subsequently became Kingswood College. The first Trust Deed formalising the establishment of Kingswood College was notarially executed by Lorimer Dold on 20 August 1895.

The College was based on the British Public School model and until 1972 was a boys only school, becoming co-educational in 1973, when the first girls were enrolled, and fully co-educational by 1975.[2]

The school is closely associated with Kingswood School, in Bath, England. As a Methodist School, it has close ties with St Stithians and Kearsney College.

The Kingswood College Council (or Board of Governors) bears an overall responsibility for the School’s corporate governance by leading, governing and monitoring the overall business of the College. The composition of the Council covers a range of professional expertise and members are drawn from around the country, including an elected parent representative from each of the Junior and Senior Schools.[2]

The College Council is made up of nominated and elected members, with members of Senior Management also in attendance at meetings as Invitees. In terms of the provisions of the College’s Deed of Trust, the President of the Old Kingswoodian Club is the Official Trustee.[2]

Kingswood College campus is located on the Eastern side of Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Running directly through the campus is Burton Street, which was internally renamed in 2019 as Rev Dr Simon Gqubule Avenue in recognition of the late Methodist Presiding Bishop.[1]

The College campus comprises a mix of buildings, combining the historic older buildings with newer ones being built through the 20^th and 21^st century. The first buildings of Kingswood College were designed by architect William White-Cooper. His design was in the Queen Anne Revival style, with its typical red brick, prominent gables and white painted woodwork. This distinctive style is interspersed on the campus with various historical buildings.[2]

The Kingswood Memorial Chapel, built in remembrance of all Kingswoodians whose lives were lost in the violence of World War 1 and 2, was opened in 1962.

The Memorial Chapel

From Kingswood’s foundation in 1894 until 1961, the historic Commemoration Methodist Church in Grahamstown (dating back to 1850) was the de facto College Chapel, with Kingswood pupils occupying the pews in the gallery. In 1962, the College’s Memorial Chapel was consecrated, occupying a strategic and pivotal position on the campus between the Junior and Senior schools. Designed by an Old Kingswoodian architect and built in a cruciform shape, with North and South transepts and ambulatories, it has a pipe organ and numerous stained glass windows. A Norman style clock tower rises above the entrance to the Chapel.[2]

Boarding at Kingswood

Kingswood has six Seniors School boarding houses, and two Junior School boarding houses.

Senior School:

• School House was built in 1894 and housed both Chubb and Gane House. In 1996, the house almost entirely destroyed by a fire. Rebuilt in its original style, School House once again houses both Chubb and Gane House.[1]
  • Chubb House: named after former Principal, The Reverend Theophilus Chubb (1892-1898).[1]
  • Gane House: named after former Headmaster, Colonel Ernest G Gane (1892-1927).[1]
• Wood House: named in 1921 after Henry Richard Wood, one of Kingswood’s founders and Chairman of the College Council from 1896 – 1921. It was originally a single storied structure known as Stanton’s Wagon Factory and is the oldest building on campus.[1]
• Jagger House: named in recognition of John William Jagger, a Johannesburg businessman and educational philanthropist who donated generously to the school.[1]
• Jacques House: named after Reverend Dr George Henry Paul Jacques CMG MBE, who became Chairman of the College Council from 1938-1946. Originally the Main House of the Wesleyan High School for Girls (built in 1882), it was taken over by Kingswood in 1935.[1]
• Kirkby House: named after Reverend Howard Kirkby for his contributions to Kingswood. It was officially opened in 2005.[1]

Junior School:

• Hobson House, originally built as a private dwelling for Richard Restall Stocks, the house was converted to Kingswood accommodation in 1969. In 2017 it was demolished and construction commenced in 2018 to build the new Hobson House.[1]
• Van Vuuren Village: named after retired maintenance manager, Eben van Vuuren for his contributions to Kingswood, and consists of a number of adjoining Kingswood properties.[1]

The Junior School also has four sports houses, namely:

• Rich House: named after Captain Cecil Oliver Rich, who was Headmaster from 1949-1954.[2]
• Slater House: named after Jack Slater, who was Headmaster from 1958-1963.[2]
• Tarr House: named after Ray Tarr, Who was Junior School Headmaster from 1955-1968.[2]
• Dacam House: named after Charles Dacam, who was Headmaster from 1964-1970.[2]

Music School

The Music School is situated in the historic Walton House. The Music School is home to seven music teachers who offer a wide range of instruments including flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, French horn, tuba, euphonium, violin, cello, double bass, piano and organ.

Music as an academic subject begins in Grade 8 and continues through to Grade 12, while class music is a key component of the core curriculum for all pupils from Grade 1 to Grade 9.[1]

Memorials

There are several memorials on the Kingswood College campus, which serve to preserve remembrance on the past. Many of these memorials are made use of in daily campus life.

• The Memorial Dining Hall: recognises the sacrifices of 61 Old Kingswoodians who lost their lives in the First World War between 1914-1918.
• The Museum: previously known as the Memorial Library, the Museum remembers three Old Kingswoodians who died in an aircraft crash in 1940.
• The main gates of Kingswood College: built with a large contribution made to the College by an Old Kingswoodian.
• The Oliver Carey Lychgate: built in memory of an Old Kingswoodian.
• The Neil Aggett window in the Memorial Chapel: in remembrance of Old Kingswoodian, Neil Aggett who died in police custody in 1982.

The Kingswoodian Club is the umbrella association for the broader Kingswood community, including not only alumni, but past members of staff, parents, Council members and invited friends of the College. All alumni are automatically given life membership of the Kingswoodian Club on matriculating from Kingswood, as are their parents. School leavers are inducted as Old Kingswoodians at the end of the school year, when they are presented with certificates of life membership of the Old Kingswoodian Club and Club ties at a formal ceremony. The Old Kingswoodian Club, now incorporated under the wider Kingswoodian Club, was formed on 14 March 1902 and since then has been under the presidency of thirty two Old Kingswoodians. In terms of the College’s Trust Deed, the President of the Old Kingswoodian Club is the Official Trustee of Kingswood College. The current President and Official Trustee is Chris Hobson.

Kingswood College offers a variety of sports; namely:

• Hockey
• Cricket
• Rugby
• Waterpolo
• Tennis
• Squash
• Athletics
• Swimming
• Netball
• Basketball
• Sailing
• Rock Climbing
• Mountain Biking
• Golf
• Karate
• Equestrian
• Road Running
• Trail Running

School Hymn: For the Might of Thine Arm

College Prayer: Teach us, Good Lord, to serve Thee as Thou Deservest

College Motto: Studia Hilaritate Proveniunt (With enthusiasm, undertakings forge ahead).

School Song: Carmen

Rhodes Scholars

• Francis Hill - New College, Oxford (1927)
• Ronald Parr - Brasenose College, Oxford (1927)
• Stanley Osler - New College, Oxford (1930)
• Kenneth Douglas - New College, Oxford (1946)
• Donald Cragg - Christ Church, Oxford (1953)
• Theo Lombard - St Edmund Hall, Oxford (1956)
• Peter Hewson - Trinity College, Oxford (1965)
• David Pitman - Merton College, Oxford (1976)
• Abigail Branford - Jesus College, Oxford (2017)[3]

Mandela Rhodes Scholars

• Alinka Brutsch - 2009
• Abigail Branford - 2015 [4]

Pastoral

• Revd Dr Donald Cragg - General Secretary of the Church Unity Commission
• Revd Howard Kirkby - Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa
• Revd Edwin Pons - Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa
• The Rt Revd Lesley Walker - Inaugural Anglican Bishop of Mpumalanga

Legal

• Anthony Behrmann - Doyen of the Johannesburg legal fraternity
• Judge Jan Eksteen - Judge of the Eastern Cape High Court and Acting Judge in the Supreme Court of Appeal
• Owen Gush - Chief Magistrate of Johannesburg
• Robert Millard - Founder of the Cambridge Strategy Group for legal project management and strategy and author
• Sir Allan Mossop KBE - Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court of China
• Kenneth Kingo Smith - Regional Magistrate: Johannesburg
• Judge Theal Stewart - Judge of the Supreme Court in the Eastern Cape and later the Chief Justice of Bophuthatswana
• Judge Jimmy van Rensburg - Judge of the Eastern Cape High Court and Acting Eastern Cape Judge President

State Service, Politics & Defence

• Neil Aggett - Medical doctor and political activist who died in police custody
• Rear Admiral Chris Bennett - South African Navy and author
• Dr Robert (Rob) Davies - Member of Parliament and Minister of Trade and Industry
• William (Bill) Deacon - Member of Parliament for Albany
• Dr Nico Malan - Administrator of the Cape Province
• Dr William Mears - Director-General equivalent in the pre-1948 Smuts government and author
• Ross Purdon - Member of Parliament
• Donald Sole - South African United Nations representative and Ambassador to Germany and the United States
• Uyinene Mrwetyana - key figure in the movement against gender-based violence in South Africa.

Academic

• Professor Emeritus Dr Henk Bertschinger - Renowned for his veterinary research and author of numerous scientific articles and papers acknowledged worldwide
• Professor Dr Peter de V Booysen - Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Natal University and author
• Professor Dr Christopher Butler - Professor of Primary Care in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford, Professorial Fellow at Trinity College and author
• Professor Dr Jeffrey Butler - Professor Emeritus of History at Wesleyan University in the USA and founder and subsequently a director of the Yale-Wesleyan Southern African Research Program
• Professor Michael Cobden - Director of the School of Journalism at King’s University College in Canada and author
• Dr Peter Collett [5] - Psychologist and former Oxford don at the University’s Department of Experimental Psychology, a leading expert on study of body language, communication and marketing, author and sought after speaker
• Dr Philip Gane MBE - Geophysicist at the Bernard Price Institute in Johannesburg and member of the team who developed the radar system to protect the South African coast and the Suez Canal and the Sinai coast during the Second World War
• Diana Hornby - Director of Community Engagement at Rhodes University and the first woman to be elected as Chair of the College Council in 2011
• Professor Dr Kathy Sole - Department of Materials Science & Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Pretoria, independent Consulting Hydrometallurgist and author
• Professor Andrew Tiltman - Associate Professor of Anatomical Pathology at the University of Cape Town, a member of the International Academy of Pathology and author of numerous research papers

Education

• David Butler - Founding Headmaster of Bay College, Plettenberg Bay, wine maker and author
• Denis Butler - Headmaster of Kingswood College
• Howard (HQ) Davies - Headmaster of Queens College
• Kenneth Douglas - Acted for a year as Headmaster of Kingswood College
• Raymond (Midge) Hilton-Green - Headmaster of Kingswood Junior School and Bishops Preparatory School
• Paul Marsh - Headmaster of St Alban’s College and Hilton College
• Walter Mears - Founding Headmaster of St Stithians College
• Bruce Niland - First Headmaster of Rhenish Primary School
• Stanley Osler - Headmaster of Kearsney College
• William (Billy) Shacklock - Headmaster of Queens College Boys’ Primary School
• Jack Slater - Headmaster of Kingswood College

Conservation & Environment

• Charles de Haes - Director General of the World Wildlife Fund
• Graham Hepburn - Prominent in the importation of a parasite to overcome the problem of the Australian eucalyptus Snoutbeetle attacking gum trees in South Africa and was the first to release the parasites at Cedara in 1927
• Basil Kent - Founder of the Great Fish River Conservancy
• Trevor Lombard - Pumba Private Game Reserve[6]
• Robert Millard - Project Manager for the Lesotho Highlands Water Project

Hospitality Sector

• Dave Kirkby - Founder of Top Turf Group, landscape designer of the Palace of the Lost City and author
• Trevor Lombard - Managing Director: Port Elizabeth Hotel Group
• Brian Stocks - Chairman: Sun Vacation Club and Brian Stocks Properties

Construction, Property Development & Municipal Affairs

• Leighton Hulett - Developer of St Francis Bay
• Nigel Mandy - Past Chairman of the Johannesburg CBD Association, manager of the Carlton Centre and author (widely known as ‘Mr CBD’)
• William Moffett – Foundation member and President of the Institute of Municipal Engineers of South Africa. The William Moffett Expressway in Gqeberha/Port Elizabeth was named in his honour in 1976
• Basil Read - Founder of Basil Read Construction
• Hugh Stocks - Co-Founder: Stocks and Stocks Construction
• Michael Stocks - Co-Founder: Stocks and Stocks Construction

Media & Entertainment

• David Divine CBE DSM - Author (also under the pen name David Rame) and Defence Correspondent for the UK’s Sunday Times
• Wally Judge - General Manager of the Cape Times
• Alan Keartland - Professional photographer with a reputation as one of the finest exponents of car photography for the motor industry in South Africa
• Maxwell Leigh - Legendary Cape Argus senior journalist and Tavern of the Seas columnist
• Jeremy Mansfield - Radio and television presenter and author
• Meredith Parsons - Playwright, actor and author
• Harvey Tyson - Editor of Johannesburg’s The Star newspaper and author
• David Viviers - Actor and author

Business

• Tom Ansley - Chairman: Elliott International[7] and internationally recognised as a doyen of the relocation industry
• Graham Beck - Founder of the Kangra Group,[8] business magnate, philanthropist, wine maker and horse stud breeder
• Douglas de Jager - Chairman and CEO of Lenco Holdings and plastics packaging tycoon
• Dr Geoffrey de Jager - Entrepreneur, Philanthropist and director of companies. Founder of Rand Merchant Bank and owner of Anglo Suisse Investment Holdings in the UK.
• Henri de Villiers - Chairman of Standard Bank Investment Corporation
• Bill Franklin - Chairman of the Searles Group (Watsons Shoes)
• Geoff Kingwill - Chairman of the BKB Group and previously Chairman of Cape Wools
• Lilitha Mahlati - Entrepreneur, company Director and voted as one of the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South African Alumni in 2002
• Keith Partridge - Chief Executive Officer of Carlton Paper
• Ted Pavitt - Chairman and CEO of Union Corporation and later Executive Chairman of Gencor
• Cyril (Bill) Riley - Doyen of Johannesburg’s retail motor trade
• John Shilling - Chairman of Anglo American’s Gold and Uranium Division and President of the Chamber of Mines
• David Susman - Chairman and Managing Director of Woolworths, Chairman of Wooltru and a Director of Marks and Spencer (UK)
• Francois van Wyk - Chairman of the South African Wool Board and South Africa's representative at the International Wool Secretariat in London.
• Peter Wrighton - Chief Executive Officer of the Premier Group and wine farmer

Aviation

• Victor Smith - Last of the open-cockpit pioneers opening up African air routes and author. At age 19, he flew solo a single engine, open-cockpit aeroplane from Johannesburg to London and piloted George Bernard Shaw for his first air flight. A suburban street in George was named after him
• Ronald Whytock - International senior airline captain in South Africa and Singapore

Sport

Cricket:

• Denzil Bezuidenhout - First Class Umpire (including 5 unofficial Test matches against international teams)
• E Q (Eric) Davies - National Cap 148
• Russell Domingo - SA and Bangladesh National Coach
• Trevor Gripper - Zimbabwe
• Denys Hobson - 4 x unofficial Tests for SA during isolation
• Thomas ‘Tup’ Holmes - National Selector (early 1900’s)
• Neil Johnson - Zimbabwe
• Rodney Keast - Rhodesia
• Meyrick Pringle - National Cap 242/Post-isolation Cap 9
• Brett Schultz - National Cap 251/Post-isolation Cap 16

Rugby:

• Ralph Burmeister - International referee and author
• David Denton - Scotland
• John (Jack) Dobie - Springbok Cap 202
• Douglas Duncan - Scotland and Captain of Oxford
• Murray ‘Tiny’ Francis - Springbok Cap 218
• Grant Hattingh - Super Rugby (Sunwolves – Japan)
• Fabian Juries - World Rugby Sevens
• Colin Kroon - Springbok Cap 318
• Theo Lombard - Captain of Oxford
• Bennie Osler - Springbok Cap 181
• Stanley Osler - Springbok Cap 193
• Jack Slater - Springbok Cap 188
• Rosco Specman - Springbok Cap 917, World Rugby Sevens player and Olympic bronze medalist at Rio de Janeiro in 2016
• Henry Walker - Springbok Cap 115
• Brett Wilkinson - Ireland

Athletics:

• Walter Babb - Zambia: at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games
• Geoff Bacon - 1967 International Cross Country Championships in Barry, Wales
• Howard Q Davies - 1930 Empire Games silver medalist
• Trevor Haynes - Zambia: at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games carried the national flag at the closing ceremony
• Geoff Smith - Germany in 1959
• Natalie Sterk (nee Ross) - Elite Womens Duathlon athlete at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, USA

Boxing:

• Henry (Hal) Tucker - Manager of World Heavyweight Champion, Gerrie Coetzee
• Hockey:
• Caroline Birt - Represented SA at the Commonwealth Games in 2002, the World Cup in 2002 and 2006 and at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004
• Luntu Ntloko - Represented SA at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, the 2002 World Cup and the Commonwealth Games in 2002. She was the first black woman field hockey player to represent SA at the Olympic Games

Sailing:

• Murray Spiers - Winner of the World Windsurfer Class Championships in 1987, after becoming the first Kingswood pupil to gain full Springbok colours in 1982 competing at the World Championships in Sardinia

Swimming:

• Martin Colley - While a pupil at Kingswood in 1970 he was selected to represent Rhodesia at a national level

Tennis:

• Trevor Fancutt - Represented SA in the 1957 Davis Cup and reached the mixed doubles final at the Australian Open tournament in 1960

Angling:

• Gregg Timm - Represented SA at the Rock and Surf Super Pro League (RASSPL) international in Angola in 2019

1894 - 1895             Revd T Chubb

1896 - 1921             H Wood      

1921 - 1923             D Knight

1923 -1925              L B Dold

1926                        Revd A Graham

1926 - 1930             Revd L S H Wilkinson

1930 - 1939             Revd G H P Jacques MBE

1939 - 1971             L M L Dold

1971 - 1983            Justice J P G Eksteen

1983 - 1986             G A L Dold

1986 - 1996             H J D Matthews

1996 - 2002             C H Brotherton

2002 - 2008             Adv I Smuts

2011 - 2020             Ms D Hornby

2020 - 2022             W Strachan

2022 - PD                Ms K Govender

Headmasters

1892 - 1898             Revd T Chubb

1892 - 1927             Colonel E G Gane

1928 - 1937             H T Crouch

1939 - 1948             R I Redfern

1949 - 1954             Captain C O Rich

1955 - 1963             J T Slater

1964 - 1970             C B Dacam

1971 - 1975             J B Gardner

1975 -1978              D R Butler

1978 - 1979             K H Douglas (Acting)

1980 - 1986             G S Todd

1986                        W McQuade (Acting)

1986 - 1992             N B Jardine

1992 - 1997             D H M Wilkinson

College Heads:

1998 - 2002             P R Hawke

2003 - 2009             D I Arguile

2010 - 2018             J Trafford

2019 - 2021             Dr C Vassiliou

2022 - PD               L Grové

1894 - 1946             During this period pastoral oversight of Kingswood’s pupils was exercised by  Methodist Ministers from local Circuits. Since 1947, full time Chaplains have been appointed to the College.

1947 - 1950             Revd C R Stephenson

1951 - 1973             Revd H F Kirkby

1974 - 1977             Revd P Young

1978 - 1985             Revd P S Crundwell

1986 - 1987             Revd R J Laxton

1988 -1998              Revd A de Gruchy

1999 - 2002             Revd C S Edwards

2003 - 2011             Revd T J Rist

2012 - 2015             Revd M Sibeko

2016 - PD                Revd T Marshall

1. List of South Africa Test Cricketers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_South_Africa_Test_cricketers)
2. South African Rugby Statistics (https://sarugbystats.co.za/springboks-down-the-years/)
3. Hawthorne, Peter; Bristow, Barry (1993). Historic Schools of South Africa - An Ethos of Excellence (https://antiquarianauctions.com/lots/historic-schools-of-south-africa-an-ethos-of-excellence):  Pachyderm Press cc. ISBN 0-9583247-3-5
4. Stevens, David (2009); Beyond the Frontier - A Contemporary History of Kingswood College 1993-2007: unpublished (Kingswood College Archives)
5. Dugmore, Syd (1978): Rugby Down the Years - An Eastern Cape and Border Schools’ Rugby History:  Printed by Grocott & Sherry , Grahamstown
6. Personal interaction and digital communication for information with the Manager of the Kingswood College Foundation and the Archivist at the College Museum (https://kingswoodcollege.com/about/the-foundation/)  (https://kingswoodcollege.com/about/history/)

• Official website
• Independent Schools Association of South Africa