Haberdashers' Boys' School (formerly Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School) is a private school for boys aged 4–18 in Elstree, Hertfordshire, England. It is a member of the Headmastersʼ and Headmistressesʼ Conference.
The school was founded in 1690 by a Royal Charter granted to the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers to establish a hospital for 20 boarders with £32,000 from the legacy of Robert Aske (equivalent to approximately £5m in 2019).
The school relocated from its original site in Hoxton in 1874, eventually (1961) moving to 104 acres of green belt countryside in Elstree.
It sits on the same site as the Haberdashers' Girls' School.
History
1690–1738
Following a bequest of approximately £20,000 made by the merchant Robert Aske to the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers on his death in 1689, an almshouse for twenty needy members of the Haberdashersʼ Company was established in 1690 just outside the City of London at Hoxton. Designed by Robert Hooke, the almshouse comprised a chapel and, at its centre, the school, which provided education for 20 sons of poor freemen between the ages of nine and fifteen. However, the chaplain, Thomas Wright, was then made master of Bunhill School and was thus unable to teach the boys at Askeʼs. In 1697, therefore, John Pridie was appointed to teach the boys English, the catechism, and basic grammar at a salary of £40 a month. Soon afterward, Pridie secured the right to admit pupils from paying parents, allowing him to increase the amount of money spent on the boys' education. However, this right did not last for long.
In 1701, the school instituted new rules that introduced a cap and gown as the school uniform. The school created the position of a master to teach arithmetic and writing. The school continued to cater to poor pupils, requiring any boy who inherited £100 or more to leave to make way for a less lucky individual. However, the school began to run into financial difficulties; by 1714, the school had reduced itself to only eight pupils. Hardship continued until 1738 when the Court of Assistants, the senior governing body of the Haberdashers' Company, decided that the favourable condition of the company justified restoring the school. At the same time, caps and gowns ceased to be the school uniform, and the school removed Latin from the curriculum.
1738–1825
In 1818, the Charities Commission announced that the school's buildings required repairs that were too expensive for the company's allotted allowance. However, errors in bookkeeping reveal that, whereas it was thought that the school was £7,000 in debt to the company, they were in fact £900 in credit. By 1820 the schoolmaster's basic salary was still fixed at £15. However, the master at this time, William Webb, received gratuities of £20 in both 1818 and 1819. By contrast, the chaplain, matron, and nurse received £50, £16, and £12 respectively, and each of the two maidservants received a salary of £8. The pupil body continued to comprise 20 poor sons of freedmen, and the curriculum consisted of the three Rs (reading, writing, and arithmetic) and the catechism.
1825–1874
In 1825, the school erected new buildings on the site. The schoolmaster at this time was himself a former pupil of the school and a liveryman of the company. The company increased the school's allowance by £4 and expanded the school's collection of books. Regular examinations were conducted, with prizes provided for exceptional performance.
In the early days of the school, the chaplain and the schoolmaster both taught but had separate roles. However, in 1830, the school chaplain was dismissed following scandalous behaviour with a servant-girl. The school was temporarily closed, and when it re-opened in 1831, J. L. Turner was elected to take both roles and given a salary of £700, from which he had to pay for all costs of the school's management. He was forbidden to take pupils from paying parents. The school replaced the former reading, writing, and arithmetic curriculum with Latin (having removed it in 1738), geography, grammar, accounting, and mathematics. By the end of the year, Turner revealed he had spent £748, which exceeded his salary. However, the company committee was satisfied that the significant improvement in the boys' education merited an increase in funding to £800 per year. At this point, the school conducted examinations on a biannual basis.
In 1849, F. W. Mortimer, headmaster of the City of London School, criticized some of the textbooks used and the teaching of Latin, which he thought would be better replaced by French. In 1858, Thomas Grose, who conducted the school's examinations, echoed Mortimer's earlier criticisms of the study of Latin and repeated his suggestion that the school should teach French instead. In addition, he also recommended the introduction of geometry, business studies, trigonometry, mechanics, and natural philosophy to the curriculum. The schoolmaster at this time, Mr. Carterfield, resisted these suggestions. However, growing dissatisfaction among the school's older pupils led to his resignation later that year. A. Jones became headmaster, as the title had become known. In 1868, inhabitants of the surrounding area petitioned the school to accept the sons of parishioners as pupils.
In 1874, though not directly related to this school, two new schools, one for boys and one for girls, were set up in Hatcham, South London. They were known as the Haberdashers' Hatcham Schools until 1991, when the two were combined as Haberdashers' Hatcham College, now a state-funded academy.
1874–1961
In 1874, the almshouse, which had housed the school since 1690, closed to give the developing school more space. The school was divided into two halves, one for boys and one, for the first time, for girls. Each half admitted 300 pupils, a significant increase on previous pupil numbers; £5,000 was spent on renovating the Hoxton buildings; and the chaplain, schoolmaster, matron, and almsmen were pensioned. The foundationers were moved to another boarding school.
In 1883, the school increased the leaving age for pupils to 18. In 1898, the school moved the two-halves—the Girls' School to Acton and the boys' to a site just within Hampstead borough, in north-west London – but much closer to Cricklewood. Its formal name was the Haberdashers' Aske’s Hampstead School. A preparatory section for boys up to 11 years of age was located at Chase Lodge, Mill Hill. In the 1950s, the closure of Mercers School led to transferring a substantial number of boys to the Hampstead site.
1961–1974
In 1961, the Boysʼ School moved to its present site at Elstree, Hertfordshire, and was renamed Haberdashersʼ Askeʼs School, Elstree. In 1974, the Girls' School at Acton was reunited with its Boys' School counterpart on an adjacent site at Elstree.
Starting with the move to Elstree, like most public schools, Haberdashersʼ took several boarding pupils. In 1964, these numbered 75 pupils out of a total of 680 in the senior school. Since then, the school has reverted to being a day school with all pupils traveling in each day, mainly via an extensive school coach service.
1974–present
More recently, several buildings on the Elstree campus have been opened, including the new Aske Building (2004), a multi-million-pound science and geography complex, and the Bourne Building, a classics series, information technology, history, and politics classrooms. The Bourne Building also houses the school's largest hall (the Bourne Hall) and the library.
Another significant building in Haberdashers' is the T. W. Taylor Music School (named after a former headmaster), containing at its centre the Seldon Hall (a concert hall), several classrooms used for class music lessons, and smaller tuition rooms used for individual (or small group) tuition in musical instruments. Every two to four years, the school hosts a concert at the Barbican in central London. The school has occasionally organised the concert in collaboration with the Girls' School next door. The director of performance music, Tom Taylor, is in charge of the concert.
The Bourne Building also features an assembly hall inherited from the building that previously stood there. This hall is home to a fine pipe organ, built-in 1897 by Henry Willis & Sons for Hove Town Hall and brought to Elstree in 1962. The instrument retains its original specification of 36 stops on four manuals and pedals and is maintained by the Willis firm.
As a result of discussion in 2021, Robert Aske's name was dropped from the boys’ and girls’ Haberdashers’ Schools in Elstree, due to his previous links with the slave trade; although it was retained by their governing body. At the same time, the school's motto was changed, from “Serve and Obey’ to “Together, boundless”. The motto reflected the Christian values of the school, not its links with slavery, but was seen to be inappropriate following the discovery.
The Hinton and Taylor buildings completed construction in 2022. They consist of 46 classrooms, academic offices and a drama studio.
Overview
Buildings and grounds
Haberdashers’ is located on the grounds of Aldenham House, a stately home, which became the boarding house in 1961, with accommodation for 80 main school pupils, three staff, and their spouses. The Headmaster and his secretary have offices on the ground floor. Other administrative areas were housed there after boarding ended. Although the school uses the house for various purposes, teaching takes place in several buildings that have been built on the grounds, most built around the Quad, a rectangular area of grass that has restricted access to students.
At its centre is Aldenham House, a Grade II* listed building, that was formerly the seat of the Lords Aldenham and home to Vicary Gibbs MP. While the school once offered boarding to some students, it has since become an all-day school, with the boarding quarters having been converted to offices.
The Bourne Building, home to the largest of the school's assembly halls, the library, along with several history, ICT and classics classrooms, is next to Aldenham House at the top of the Quadrangle. The library was quite recently refurbished by the school and now contains various open and screened seating areas, as well as desktop and laptop computers. A team of qualified librarians supervises the library, which serves as pupils' principal work area.
On the opposite side of the Quad is the old Maths and MFL block, containing the Bates Dining Room and sixth form common room. To the left side of the Bourne Building is the Seldon (formerly TW Taylor) Music School which houses classrooms for the music department, instrumental lessons and a performance hall in the centre called the Seldon Hall which is also used for assemblies. Opposite the music school is the Aske Building, a complex of science and geography classrooms which also contains the Aske Hall used primarily for lectures given by visiting speakers.
Behind the Aske Building, lies the recently constructed multi-purpose sports complex which was opened in 2016 and formally called the Medburn Centre, the complex boasts a 24.96m swimming pool, climbing wall, gymnasium, the Medburn Hall, squash courts, new changing rooms and Joe's Café in the lobby area. The complex was connected to the older McGowan Hall which is a large sports halls used for various activities as well as exams.