Wikipedia

Queen's College Boys' High School

For other schools, see Queen's College (disambiguation).

Queen's College Boys' High School, more commonly referred to as Queen's College (or simply QC), is a fee-paying government English medium high school for boys situated in the town of Komani in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Established in 1858 first as Prospect House Academy,[1] it is the oldest school in the Border region and among the 100 oldest schools in South Africa.[1] The college is associated with Queen's College Boys' Primary School, which was established on 15 November 1957, a year before the high school marked 100 years of existence.

Queen's College Boys' High School
Queen's College school crest
Address
Map
16 Berry Street, Top Town

Komani
,
Eastern Cape

South Africa
Coordinates31°53′23″S 26°52′35″E / 31.8898°S 26.8765°E / -31.8898; 26.8765
Information
Former nameProspect House Academy, Public School for Boys, Queenstown Grammar School
School typeAll-boys School
MottoEsse Quam Videri
(To be, rather than to seem to be)
Established21 April 1858; 166 years ago (1858-04-21)
FounderMr. C.E. Ham
StatusGovernment subsidised, fee paying public school
Sister schoolQueenstown Girls' High School
School districtChris Hani West District
OversightSchool Governing Body
ChairmanAllister Van Schoor
HeadmasterJanse van der Ryst (1 January 2018 (2018-01-01) - present)
Staff50 full-time
Grades8–12
GenderMale
Number of students596 boys
LanguageEnglish (main)
Xhosa (Additional language)
Afrikaans (Additional language)
Sesotho(Addition language)
ScheduleMonday - Friday 07:30 - 13:30
CampusUrban Campus
Houses  Beswick [Boarders]

  Mallet [Day Boys]

  Russell [Day Boys]
Colour(s)  Black
  Old Gold
  White
SongThe College Song & Queen's Forever
Fight songIngonyama (War Cry)
SportsAthletics
Basketball
Cricket
Cross country
Football
Hockey
Rugby
Squash
Tennis
Golf
Swimming
MascotKudu
NicknameQC, Queen's
Rivals
AccreditationEastern Cape Department of Education
NewspaperQueen's Quote
YearbookThe Queen's Quire
AffiliationsInternational Boys' School Coalition, Queenstown Education Foundation, Four Schools One Family
Websitewww.queenscollege.co.za

History

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Queen's College started as Prospect House Academy when Mr C.E Ham first opened the doors to his school on 21 April 1858 at 6 Shepstone Street in Queenstown. The school was situated in an outbuilding on the property and consisted of a single room with a mud floor and holes in the wall for ventilation. The enrollment had reached 30 boys by 1859 and was also known as the Queenstown District School.[2] It was in receipt of a government grant of £50, backdated to the initial opening of the school.[2] From inception the school offered boarding facilities, in the home of Mr Ham, conveniently situated directly across the road from the schoolhouse.[citation needed]

In 1864, a dispute regarding financial support for the school by the district council, led to the abrupt closure of the school by Mr Ham and he ceased teaching in order to open a general store in the town. Boys returning from their holiday in July 1864 discovered that their school house had been let to another tenant and their schoolmaster had become a haberdasher.[3] Public concern was such that a committee was formed, which decides that St Michael's Grammar School should assume the mantle of Prospect House Academy by accepting the status of a government-aided school. The resulting amalgamated school becomes the Public School for Boys and classes are held in a billiard hall.[4]

It was only in 1910 that the school was renamed Queen's College.[1]

Headmasters

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  • Mr. CE Ham (1858–1864)
  • Mr. G Elliot (1864–1865)
  • Mr. R McCormick (1865–1867)
  • Mr. FJ Beswick (1867–1899)
  • Mr. B Noaks (1899–1900)
  • Mr. GFH Clark (1901–1904)
  • Mr. H Wilkinson (1904–1929)
  • Mr. A Parry-Davies (1930–1939)
  • Mr. HQ Davies (1940–1964)
  • Mr. TW Higgs (1965–1973)
  • Mr. DH Schroeder (1974–1992)
  • Mr. CP Harker (1993–2010)
  • Mr. DCP Lovatt (2011–2012)
  • Mr. BJ Grant (2013–2017)
  • Mr. J van der Ryst (2018–present)

School facilities

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  • 4 science and biology labs
  • Design and Technology facility
  • Media centre
  • Library
  • Music centre
  • 4 full sized cricket fields
  • 8 turf wickets for practices
  • 3 indoor cricket nets
  • 2 squash courts
  • 7 rugby fields
  • 400m tartan Athletics Track
  • 1 floodlit AstroTurf
  • 2 basketball courts
  • Gym
  • School Hall
  • Memorial Hall

[5]

Hostels

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The school currently has three hostels; Whitson House, Athlone House and Connaught House. Whitson caters for students in Grades 8–9, Connaught for students in Grades 10–12 and Athlone for Students in Grades 9–10. Athlone was reopened in 2021 after many years of closure. All hostel boys belong to Beswick House, a name taken from the school's fourth headmaster.

Originally, Whitson House was the first hostel of the school and was built in 1904. It was later renamed Connaught House. In 1932, this hostel was closed leading to the later opening of hostels Athlone and De Vos Malan in 1939. In 1975, Connaught House was renamed Whitson House after old boy Mr H Whitson. The new Connaught House was built in 1979. After a decline in boarders in the early 2000s most of the hostels were closed and converted into classrooms. Hostels outside campus were sold.[6]

Sports and cultural programmes

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Sports

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Queen's College has long-standing annual derby days for both summer and winter sports with traditional rivals such as Dale College, Grey High School, St Andrew's College, and Selborne College that stretch back to at least the 1900s. Grey College was also a rival of Queen's, but the yearly derby between these two rugby giants lost momentum and 2006 was the last of the yearly derby.

Queen's College is one of only 2 schools in South Africa with an 8-lane tar-tan track.The track's construction was finished on early 2024.The track was verified to have the cretirior to host national athletics events and Queen's will host the National Junior Athletics Championships 2025.

The main sports fields are the Queen's College Victoria Recreation Grounds (rugby and athletics) ,the Chris Harker Astro (hockey) where first team matches are played.[7]And the Parry-Davies Field (rugby and cricket) where the first cricket team matches are played. The naming of the astroturf being a misnomer which suggests that it is solely owned by the school, when it is actually a shared facility amongst Queenstown Girls High School and Balmoral Girls Primary-School.

Cultural

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  • Brass Band
  • Marimba Band
  • Blood Peer Promotors
  • Chess Society
  • Choir
  • Computer Club
  • Debating Society & Public Speaking
  • Drama
  • Ecowatch
  • First Aid Society
  • Queen's Gym
  • Interact Club
  • Library Society
  • Photographic Society
  • The Queen's Quote
  • Representative Council of Learners (RCL)
  • Students' Christian Oganisation (SCO)

Notable Old Boys

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Sport

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Rugby and Cricket

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Rugby Players
Name & Surname Year Matriculated Teams Notes
Allan Beswick 1888 49th Springbok [8]
Jimmy White 1928 217th Springbok [8]
Dick Muir 1982 642nd Springbok [8]
Robbi Kempson 1992 669th Springbok [8]
Kaya Malotana 1994 687th Springbok [8]
Owen Lentz 1998 American Rugby
Carlo del Fava 1998 Italian Rugby
Rocco Jansen 2004 Emerging Springboks Rugby
Lionel Cronjé 2007 South Africa U20 (2009 Player of the Year), South Africa 'A'
S'bura Sithole 2008 South Africa Sevens
Allan Dell 2010 South Africa U20, Scottish Rugby, British and Irish Lion #834
Andisa Ntsila 2011 South Africa 'A'
Johan Meyer 2011 Italian Rugby
Juan-Philip Smith 2012 South Africa U20
Cricket Players
Name & Surname Year Matriculated Teams Notes
Ken McEwan 1970 Eastern Province and Essex cricketer
Daryll John Cullinan 1984 South African Test Cricketer
Justin Kemp 1996 South African Test and limited overs Cricketer
Tony Greig 1965 English Test Cricketer
Ian Greig 1974 English Test Cricketer

Other sports

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  • Glen Dell, Advanced World Aerobatic Champion in 2004 and Red Bull Air Race competitor (1974)
  • Le-Neal Jackson, South African field hockey player[9]

Business and the arts

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  • Allister Sparks, journalist, author and former editor of The Rand Daily Mail (1950)
  • Alan Scholefield, journalist and writer (1947)
  • Don Pinnock, criminologist, naturalist and journalist (1965)
  • Gideon Khobane, CEO of SuperSport[10] (1995)
  • Gary Hartley, writer, director, producer, editor and 2021 Mail and Guardian Top 200 Eminent and Accomplished Young South Africans (2004)
  • Loyiso Mkize, visual artist, creator of "Kwezi" - South Africa's first ever superhero and artist for DC comics[11] (2005)
  • Ayabonga Cawe, economist, broadcaster and author (2008)

Politics

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Military

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References

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  1. ^ a b "This list with 200 of South Africa's oldest schools may surprise you". Parent. 9 April 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  2. ^ a b Barry, S. G. (1983). History of Queen's College : 1858–1983. [Queenstown, South Africa]: Mara Communications. pp. 4, 5, 7. ISBN 978-0-620-13397-5. OCLC 22998372.
  3. ^ Veitch, Neil (2008). Queen's College, 1858–2008 : in this, her honour. [Queenstown, South Africa]. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-620-40438-9. OCLC 1011514036.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ Queenstown, 1824–1994. Holliday, E. W. Queenstown [South Africa]: Queenstown and Frontier Historical Society. 1995. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-620-18933-0. OCLC 34414151.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. ^ "School Facilities".
  6. ^ "Queen's College : Whitson & Connaught House Gallery".
  7. ^ "QC on Travel Ground".
  8. ^ a b c d e "Paige to become Springbok No 869. But who were 1-868?". Sport. 7 October 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  9. ^ Mgedezi, Thando. "Jackson in Argentina for FIH Hockey Pro League". News24. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  10. ^ "New CEO for SuperSport". Sport. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  11. ^ "SA artist Loyiso Mkize pencils first comic book for DC Comics". www.iol.co.za. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  12. ^ "KZN September 2017 newsletter - South African Military History Society - Title page". samilitaryhistory.org. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
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