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Wixenford School, also known as Wixenford Preparatory School and Wixenford-Eversley, was an independent preparatory school for boys near Wokingham, founded in 1869. A feeder school for Eton, after it closed in 1934 its former buildings were taken over by the present-day Ludgrove School. ==History== The school was founded in 1869 at Wixenford House, Eversley, Hampshire, by its first head master, Richard Cowley Powles (1819–1901), a Church of England clergyman, and has been described as "successful and fashionable".〔Donald P. Leinster-Mackay, ''The Rise of the English Prep School'' (1984), p. 141: "Cowley Powles' school, Wixenford, was successful and fashionable."〕 Among the school's first intake of boys, in May of 1869, was George Nathaniel Curzon, a future Viceroy of India.〔Kenneth Rose, ''Curzon, a Most Superior Person: a Biography'' (1985), p. 22〕 Before being attached to the school, "Wixenford" was the name of its first home, a new house built for Powles at Eversley in 1868-69.〔William White, ed. ''History, Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Hampshire'' (1878), p. 230: "WIXENFORD, a large and handsome mansion, erected in 1868-9, is the residence of the Rev. R. Cowley Powles, M.A."〕 Powles, who in his youth had been a fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, had previously operated a school at Blackheath, and he came to Eversley to be near his lifelong friend Charles Kingsley. After Kingsley's death in 1875, Powles became less active in the school and retired as headmaster in 1879. He moved to Chichester in 1881, where he became a prebendary of the cathedral.〔(Powles, Richard Cowley (1819-1901) ) at utoronto.ca, accessed 4 September 2013〕 One of his boys at Wixenford, Albert Baillie, writing in the 1950s, recalled Powles as "a genuine educator and a remarkable man" and noted that he had worn his hair "neatly brushed up into two horns above his ears".〔Albert Baillie, ''My First Eighty Years'' (1951), p. 24: "Powles... wore his hair neatly brushed up into two horns above his ears — a fashion you can see in Cruikshank's illustrations of Dickens — and from time to time he would stroke those horns with his fingers."〕 Powles was succeeded in 1879 by Ernest Penrose Arnold, a graduate of Balliol College, Oxford, and a nephew of Thomas Arnold of Rugby School.〔 E. P. Arnold remained as head master of the school until 1903.〔''The Balliol College Register, 1833-1933'' (Balliol College, 1934), p. 49〕At six feet, five inches, in height,〔Pethick-Lawrence (1943), p. 21〕 Arnold has been described by Rupert Croft-Cooke as "a kindly but rather frightening bearded man".〔Rupert Croft-Cooke, ''Bosie: the Story of Lord Alfred Douglas, his Friends and Enemies'' (Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., 1963), p. 33: "Bosie was removed and sent to Wixenford, which was under a kindly but rather frightening bearded man called Arnold, who found him — as he certainly was — a spoilt child..."〕 Wixenford was still small, as most such schools were at the time, and a school photograph of the early 1880s shows thirty-nine boys, plus Arnold and five other masters.〔Maurice Francis Headlam, ''Bishop and friend: Nugent Hicks, sixty-fourth bishop of Lincoln'' (1945), p. 17〕 The school moved to Luckley Park, Wokingham, Berkshire, in the late 19th century. Throughout its history, it had a close connection with Eton, to which many boys progressed at about the age of thirteen.〔Ion Trewin, ''Alan Clark: The Biography'' (2009), chapter 2, 'Early Memories': "St Cyprian's, like Wixenford, also operated principally as a feeder to public schools, Eton by preference".〕 A few boys stayed longer, and at least one, Peter Anson, was almost fifteen when he left the school in the summer of 1904.〔'Anson, Peter Frederick', in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (OUP, 2007)〕 In 1903 Arnold was succeeded by Philip Howard Morton (1857-1925), who had been a Cambridge cricketer,〔''The Journal of Education'', vol. 57 (1925), p. 372〕〔'Mr. P. H. Morton' (obituary) in ''The Times'' dated 18 May 1925, p. 21; the Deaths column in ''The Times'', issue 43963 dated 16 May 1925, p. 1, reports the death of Philip Howard Morton of Hoe Farm, Hascombe, Godalming, late of Wixenford, on 13 May 1925, aged 67.〕 and in 1910 ''Country Life'' magazine noted that he kept a private golf course at the school and that his boys played golf "vigorously" in the Easter term.〔''Country Life'', vol. 28 (1910), p. 984〕 In 1910, Morton was joined by two joint headmasters, who were business partners, Harold Wallis and Ernest Garnett, forming a triumvirate.〔Meryle Secrest, ''Kenneth Clark: a Biography'' (1985), p. 31〕 By 1920, Morton had retired and had been replaced by Charles Mansfield, but Wallis and Garnett remained.〔'Naval Cadetships' in ''The Times'', issue 42473 dated 27 July 1920; p. 4〕 By 1924, Mansfield was acting as the sole head master,〔'School Scholarships' in ''The Times'', issue 43603 dated 18 March 1924, p. 16〕 with the other two men as partners. In September 1931 Garnett withdrew from the partnership.〔'From The London Gazette; in ''The Times'', issue 45920 dated 5 September 1931, p. 16〕 Amid the Great Depression of the 1930s, Wixenford suffered a decline in numbers and finally closed in 1934. With its demise, its former buildings presented an opportunity for another fashionable prep school, Ludgrove, until then based at Cockfosters, which moved onto the site in 1937.〔Leinster-Mackay (1984), p. 154: "In 1937 Ludgrove moved from Cockfosters to buildings in Wokingham vacated by Wixenford School, which had become defunct in 1934 through lack of clientele."〕 While retaining its existing school name, Ludgrove kept "Wixenford" as the name of its new premises. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wixenford School」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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