Wixenford School, also known as Wixenford Preparatory School and Wixenford-Eversley, was a private preparatory school for boys near Wokingham, England, 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 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 country 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, the son of Charles Thomas Arnold (1817–1878) who taught at Rugby School.Suffolk Manorial Families, Being the County Visitations and Other Pedigrees (W. Pollard, 1900), p. 386 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 1887. 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".About Us at stneotsprep.co.uk, accessed 12 March 209 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 as headmaster 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 came in as 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 headmaster,'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. The last headmaster, Charles Mansfield, had been elected as Mayor of Wokingham for the year. He took holy orders and in October 1934 was instituted as Vicar of Dunsford in Devon,"DUNSFORD'S NEW VICAR: Institution of the Rev. C. Mansfield", Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, Friday 12 October 1934, p. 2: "The Rev. Charles Mansfield, M.A., Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, late headmaster of Wixenford School, Wokingham, was instituted Vicar of St. Mary's Church, Dunsford, by the Bishop of Exeter...""FORMER DUNSFORD VICAR" (obituary of Rev. C. Mansfield), Express and Echo (Devon), Wednesday 12 December 1956, p. 8 standing down early as mayor to take up his new post."MAYOR ACCEPTS VICARAGE of DUNSFORD IN YEAR: The Mayor of Wokingham, Councillor the Rev. Charles Mansfield, Wixenford" Wokingham Times, Friday 8 June 1934, p. 1
With the school's 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." In 1942, an article in The Sphere, recalling the Edwardian era, noted "the conventional three rungs to Parnassus, Wixenford, Eton and Oxford (or what you will)"."MEMORIES OF FIFTY YEARS: An Experiment in Autobiography", The Sphere, Saturday 7 March 1942, p. 28
While retaining its existing school name, Ludgrove kept "Wixenford" as the name of its new premises, and was still so using it in 1988."LUDGROVE SCHOOL, Wixenford, Wokingham, Berkshire" in Which School? (Truman & Knightley Educational Trust, 1988), p. D-8
The original Wixenford House, in which the school was begun, is now the home of St Neot's Preparatory School.
Old Wixenfordians
Old boys of the school are called Old Wixenfordians. The following, in chronological order, are among the most notable.
George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston (1859–1925), Viceroy of India and British Foreign SecretaryPhilip Holden, Autobiography and Decolonization: Modernity, Masculinity, and the Nation-state (2008), p. 46 Thomas Gibson-Carmichael, 1st Baron Carmichael (1859–1926), Liberal politician and colonial administratorKatherine Prior, 'Carmichael, Thomas David Gibson, Baron Carmichael (1859–1926)', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004); online biography at oxforddnb.com, May 2006, accessed 4 September 2013 (subscription required) Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 3rd Baronet, of Brayton (1862–1937), Liberal member of parliament Cyril Maude (1862–1951), actor-managerAustin Brereton, Cyril Maude: a Memoir (1914), p. 10 Albert Victor Baillie (1864–1955), Dean of WindsorAlbert Victor Baillie, My First Eighty Years (1951), p. 24 Gilbert Greenall, 1st Baron Daresbury (1867–1938), brewer, landowner, peer, and master of foxhoundsLiverpool Evening Express, Tuesday 14 April 1925, p. 5 Lord Alfred Douglas, or "Bosie" (1870–1945), poet and translator, intimate friend of Oscar WildeRupert Croft-Cooke, Bosie: The Story of Lord Alfred Douglas, His Friends and Enemies (1963), p. 33 Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, 1st Baron Pethick-Lawrence (1871–1961), Labour politician, Secretary of State for IndiaBrian Harrison, ‘Lawrence, Frederick William Pethick-, Baron Pethick-Lawrence (1871–1961)’, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online biography at oxforddnb.com, January 2011, accessed 4 September 2013 (subscription required) R. C. Trevelyan (1872–1951), poet Hugh Law (1872–1943), Irish politicianFrederick Pethick-Lawrence, 1st Baron Pethick-Lawrence, Fate Has Been Kind (1943), p. 20 Nugent Hicks (1872–1942), Bishop of Lincoln Sir Walter Wilson Greg (1875–1959), Shakespeare scholarWalter Wilson Greg, ed. Joseph Rosenblum, Sir Walter Wilson Greg: a collection of his writings (1998), p. 2 George Macaulay Trevelyan (1876–1962), historianG. M. Trevelyan, An Autobiography & Other Essays (1949), p. 10 Arnold Wienholt (1877–1940), Australian politicianRosamond Siemon, The Eccentric Mr Wienholt (2005), p. 267 Edmund Parker, 4th Earl of Morley (1877–1951), soldier and landownerVyvyen Brendon, Prep School Children: a Class Apart over Two Centuries (2009), p. 63 Sir Howard Kennard (1878–1955), British diplomatFrank C. Roberts, ed., Obituaries from the Times (1951), p. 410 William Leveson-Gower, 4th Earl Granville (1880–1953), admiralWorld Biography, vol. 1 (1948), p. 2052 Sir Stewart Gore-Browne (1883–1967), settler and politician in Northern RhodesiaA. D. Roberts, 'Browne, Sir Stewart Gore-(1883–1967)', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online biography at oxforddnb.com, accessed 4 September 2013 (subscription required) Ralph Glyn, 1st Baron Glyn (1884–1960), soldier and Conservative politician'Glyn, 1st Baron', in Who Was Who 1951–1960 (A. & C. Black, 1984 reprint, ) Peter Anson (1889–1975), monk, writer, and artist Duff Cooper (1890–1954), Conservative politician and diplomatDuff Cooper, Old Men Forget (1953), p. 31 Edward Greenall, 2nd Baron Daresbury, brewer, landowner, and peer"Daresbury, 2nd Baron, (Edward Greenall) (12 Oct. 1902–15 Feb. 1990)" in Who's Who online edition, published 1 December 2007, accessed 4 August 2025 William Howard, 8th Earl of Wicklow (1902–1978), clergyman, writer and translator'Osborne Passing-In List' in The Times, issue 41129 dated 31 March 1916, p. 5 Sir Edmund Bacon, 13th Baronet, KG (1903–1982), landowner and Lord Lieutenant of NorfolkOld Public School Boy's Who's Who (St James Press, 1933), p. 26 Kenneth Clark (1903–1983), art historianMeryle Secrest, Kenneth Clark: A Biography (1985), p. 31 Prince Charles, Count of Flanders (1903–1983) Alfred Duggan (1903–1964), historical novelistGrace Curzon, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston, Reminiscences (1955), p. 45 Hubert Duggan (1904–1943), Conservative politician James Stern (1904–1993), Anglo-Irish writerWystan Hugh Auden, ed. Katherine Bucknell, In Solitude, for Company: W. H. Auden after 1940, Unpublished Prose (1995), p. 36 Sir Harold Acton (1904–1994), historianEvelyn Waugh, The Essays, Articles and Reviews of Evelyn Waugh (Methuen, 1983), p. 17 Edward Ward, 7th Viscount Bangor (1905–1993), BBC war correspondent and authorEdward Ward, Number One Boy (1969), p. 17 David Herbert (1908–1995), socialite, memoirist and interior decorator Sir Frederick Warner (1918–1995), diplomat‘WARNER, Sir Frederick Archibald (Sir Fred)’, in Who Was Who 1991–1995 (London: A. & C. Black, 1996, ) Sir Guy Millard (1917–2013), British Ambassador William Whitelaw, (1918–1999), Home Secretary