Kilburn Grammar School

Kilburn Grammar School was an English grammar school which opened in 1898 in Kilburn, north-west London. The school ceased to exist in 1967.

History

The school's history is detailed in a book by Richard E Brock.[1] It was founded by the Rev. Dr. Henry George Bonavia Hunt, vicar of St Paul's, Kilburn, at a time when there was no general state provision for secondary education. The new boys' school opened in one room at 1 Willesden Lane in January 1898, then occupied two rooms at the Polytechnic Institute at Priory Park Road, before moving in 1899 to a house at 28 Cavendish Road.

In April 1900, the school began moving to new purpose-built premises at Salusbury Road. In July 1900 the Hampstead and Highgate Express[2] reported that the school's hall was opened by Bishop Mandell Creighton. Old boys of the school became known as 'Old Creightonians'. In 1907, the school was purchased jointly by the Urban District of Willesden and Middlesex County Council to become the first state secondary school in the borough, run by the higher education committee made up of representatives of both local authorities.

In 1964, London's local government was reorganised; as a result, Middlesex County Council and the Municipal Borough of Willesden were abolished in 1965, being replaced by a new London Borough of Brent, which had sole responsibility for education. An early decision by the new authority was to close the grammar school (and others) and create a new boys' school, Kilburn Senior High School. This had a comprehensive intake at 13, and started in September 1967. While the existing (14+) pupils completed their traditional grammar school education on the premises, by the early 1970s, nothing remained of the old school except the buildings and a diminishing number of teachers who had stayed on.

In 1973, KSHS merged with the girls' school on the opposite side of the road to form Brondesbury and Kilburn High School, also comprehensive. In 1989, this school, in turn, merged with others and moved to a different site to form Queens Park Community School. The former Edwardian grammar school premises in Salusbury Road were sold by the borough in 1989 and are now occupied by the Islamia Girls' School (fee-paying) and Islamia Primary School (voluntary-aided).

Notable pupils

• Jarvis Astaire OBE, boxing promoter, film producer, chairman from 1993-2005 of the Greyhound Racing Association
• Richard Baker OBE, BBC newsreader from 1954 to 1982
• Sir Samuel Brittan, economic journalist
• Harold Carlton, writer and journalist
• Prof Ronald Coase, Chief Statistician from 1941-1946, economist and winner of 1991 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
• Michael Cockerell, broadcaster
• Sir Morris Finer, judge
• Sir William Glanville CB CBE, civil engineer, President, 1950-1951, of the Institution of Civil Engineers
• Prof Karl W. Gruenberg,[3] Professor of Pure Mathematics from 1967-93 at Queen Mary College
• Gil Hayward, wartime cryptographer
• Bernard Holley, actor
• Ken Howard (artist) OBE
• Prof. Jonathan Israel, historian
• Laurence Keen OBE, President, 1989-2004, of the British Archaeological Association
• Paul Kriwaczek, BBC TV producer, of The Computer Programme
• Howard Lew Lewis, actor who appeared in films including Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Brazil (1985) and in TV series including Brush Strokes (1986).
• Osborne Peasgood CVO, organist of Westminster Abbey, 1941-1946, and for the wedding of the Queen in 1947, and the 1937 and 1953 coronations
• Jonathan Rees-Williams, Organist and Master of the Choristers, 1991-2002, at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle and organist, 1978-1991, of Lichfield Cathedral
• Bernard Shrimsley, editor, 1971-1975, of The Sun and, 1975-1980, of the News of the World
• Reginald Stafford, aircraft designer of the Handley Page Victor
• Sir Guenter Treitel, Vinerian Professor of English Law, 1979-1996, at the University of Oxford
• Prof. Robert Wistrich, historian
• Brian Winston, Lincoln Professor of Communications since 2007 at the University of Lincoln
• Professor John Palmer, University of Hull. First Placement at Oxford from Kilburn Grammar School.

Other old boys include:

• Keith Bloomfield CMG, UK Ambassador to Nepal, 2002-2006.
• Sir Frank Gibb, chief executive of Taylor Woodrow, co-chairman of TransManche Link (builders of the Channel Tunnel), president of the Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors, vice-president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, chairman of the Energy Saving Trust and chairman of the National Nuclear Corporation.
• Simeon Potter, Baines Professor of English Language and Philology, 1945-1965, at the University of Liverpool.
• Alexander Silverleaf CB, director, 1971-1980, of the Transport and Road Research Laboratory, and chairman, 1981-1986, of the UK Council for Computing Development.
• Sir Hugh Weeks CMG, chairman, 1970-1974, of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research(NIESR)

Kilburn Grammar School's old boys' association was established in 1919, and celebrated its centenary in 2019.[4] It had around 400 members, all of whom attended or taught at the school before its closure.

References

1. A History of Kilburn Grammar School
2. Hampstead and Highgate Express
3. Roseblade, Jim (12 December 2007). "Obituary: Karl Gruenberg". Retrieved 3 December 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.
4. Kilburn Grammar School Old Boys' Association

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