Stowe charges up to £38,853 a year, (£12,951 per term, three terms per academic year for 2022).[4] However the school provides bursaries and other means of financial assistance to admitted students. A typical scholarship at Stowe is worth 5% of the school fee.[5]
The school has been based since its beginnings at Stowe House, formerly the country seat of the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos. Along with many of the other buildings on the school's estate, the main house is now a Grade I Listed Building and is maintained (since 1997) by the Stowe House Preservation Trust.
Stowe School opened in 1923. The main building is Stowe House, whose exterior was completed by 1779. Funding for the school came through the Rev. Percy Warrington and the Martyrs Memorial Trust.[6] The school's first architect was Clough Williams-Ellis.
Stowe School
The first Headmaster was J. F. Roxburgh. He aimed to focus on the individual child and introduce them to beauty and learning; he wanted a civilised school founded on Christian values.[7]
The Beatles played a concert at Stowe School on 4 April 1963. A recording of the concert was revealed in 2023, and leaked to the public later in the year.[8][9]
In 2016, a Daily Telegraph investigator posing as a parent of a Russian pupil was told by the then school registrar that while pupils would always be expected to pass the entrance exam, it would help secure a place if a borderline child's parents were able to donate "about £100,000 or something like that."[12]
There are 13 boarding houses: 8 boys' houses, 4 girls' houses and 1 mixed Sixth Form house. These boarding houses are mostly named after members of the family of Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. Each house has a number or letter assigned to it.
Viscount Cobham;Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, had a large renovation after construction of a new building, opened in early 2019, with the old Cobham location being used as the site for Winton and Cheshire
There is no known family connection, the name coming from the local fox hunt, the Grafton Hunt, which takes its name in turn from the Duke of Grafton. Grafton also has a history of supplying the Stowe Beagles with talented Masters and Hunt Staff, many of whom have continued to become Masters of packs around the Country.
7
Walpole
This is not a family name. Named after Horace Walpole, who wrote some famous letters about his visits to Stowe in the 18th century. It was his father, Robert Walpole, who was the more notable Walpole in Britain's and Stowe's history, however. Viscount Cobham's political life started under Walpole but his subsequent opposition to him led Cobham to found a political dynasty that played a major part in politics until Victorian times (producing four Prime Ministers). To be named "Nugent" originally.
8
Nugent (Girls)
Lady Mary Nugent, daughter of Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent, married to George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham. Nugent was originally the 'waiting house' that some new boys entered until their preferred house had a space. (In the late 1960s, during the "boys only" era, there was a quiet joke to the effect that Nugent was for the "new gents".)
Opened in September 2019 as a day house for boys. Named after Sir Nicholas Winton.
9
Cheshire (Girls)
Opened in September 2019 as a day house for girls. Named after Leonard Cheshire.
C
Croft (Boys)
Opened in September 2023 as a day house for Boys. Named after Colonel Andrew Croft.
T
Cricket ground
Cricket pavilion and pitch
The first recorded match on the school cricket ground came in 1928 when Stowe School played St Paul's School.[14]Buckinghamshire played their first Minor Counties Championship match there in 1947, when the opponents were Berkshire. Between 1947 and 1982 the ground held five Minor Counties Championship matches, the last of which saw Buckinghamshire draw against Bedfordshire.[15] The ground has also hosted a single MCCA Knockout Trophy match which saw Buckinghamshire play Bedfordshire.[16]
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (September 2019)
Former pupils of Stowe School are known as Old Stoics. Matthew Vaughn is currently the President of the Old Stoic Society.[20] Old Stoics include:
Quarterly indented Argent and Or, first a lion rampant Azure, second a pile Gules, third a pile Vert thereon a cross of the second bearing five torteaux, fourth three martlets of the third.
^W. A. Evershed, Party and Patronage in the Church of England 1800–1945, D. Phil. thesis, Oxford University,1985, gives a detailed and well-referenced account of the questionable methods employed by Warrington. The Martyr's Memorial Trust appointed the first Governing Body, whose Chairman from August 1922 was Lord Gisborough.
^Outrageous Fortune: Growing Up at Leeds Castle By Anthony Russell
