26 June 2023
Donations to the Archive: The Archive receives dramatic donations
Over several articles, the archivist will draw attention to some of the wonderful donations that the College Archive has received in recent years.
TAG: Brighton College Archive
14 April 2023
Donations to the Archive: The London Old Brightonians Association Branch
Over several articles, the archivist will draw attention to some of the wonderful donations that the College Archive has received in recent years. The first of these is a fantastic donation of materials relating to the London Branch of the Old Brightonians, kindly provided to the archive by a former member of the Branch’s Committee.
26 October 2022
Michaelmas term in the Archive
It is been a busy term across the College, not least for the school's Archive.
26 May 2022
The Archive Oral History Project
Since January, six Lower Sixth pupils have been working with the Archivist, James, on a number of archive projects, as part of their Community Service Option. The pupils have helped to curate the school’s history and mark the important role the College has played in people’s lives since its foundation.
25 January 2022
Our Head Masters: Henry Christie (1963-71)
As part of our commemoration of the 175th Anniversary of Brighton College, we are creating a series of Head Master profiles, covering every Head Master since the Second World War. Henry Christie was in post from 1963 to 1971 and oversaw an overhaul of the academic standards of the College.
16 December 2021
Wilson's House
The College Archive has received a fantastic donation from a family in New Zealand. It includes over a dozen sports team photographs and several house photographs from Wilson’s House, dating to the 1920s and 1930s.
09 September 2021
Giving back to Brighton: donations to the College Archive
This September the College Archive received two fantastic donations from Old Brightonians. These donations are now safely stored in the archive, awaiting cataloguing and placement within the archival collection.
26 August 2021
Who was Thomas Graham Jackson?
In this piece, the archivist delves into the life of Brighton College’s great architects, Thomas Graham Jackson, and examines his impact on the College today.
26 April 2021
Our Head Masters: Arthur Stuart-Clark (1944-50)
As part of our commemoration of the 175th anniversary of Brighton College, we are launching a series of profiles on our past Head Masters, with a piece on every former Head Master since the Second World War. We begin with Arthur Stuart-Clark, who assumed the Headmastership in September 1944, a year before the end of the Second World War.
16 April 2021
Prince Philip's visit to Brighton College
As the world looks back on the life of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, we remember his visit to Brighton College.
26 March 2021
The Brighton College Timeline
We're delighted to share 175 years of history through the Brighton College Timeline.
09 March 2021
REPORT & VIDEO: The History of Brighton College
As part of our commemorations of Brighton College's 175th anniversary, our College Archivist, James Harrison, gave a wonderful Zoom presentation on the history of the College.
08 March 2021
The Story of Fenwick and Williams
Were you in Fenwick or Williams? I bet you know your house inside out, but do you know its history? Archivist, James Harrison, delves into the fascinating beginnings of these two girls houses, as we celebrate their founding mothers.
15 January 2021
David McKinley (Du. 1948-52) remembers his days at Brighton
"At Brighton College, I gained a grounding which was useful in facing life"... In this lovely piece, David McKinley (Du. 1948-52) tells us what life was like for a Brightonian over 70 years ago.
24 November 2020
Brighton College celebrates its 175th birthday
Happy Birthday, Brighton College! The 24th November is our birthday, and our Archivist, James Harrison explains what happened in 1845...
22 September 2020
The opening of the Brighton College Chapel
To mark the anniversary of the opening of Brighton College's Chapel in 1859, College Archivist James Harrison takes us on a tour of the history of this now beloved College building.
29 April 2020
The Leonardo Cup relaunches for a new generation of pupils
Thanks to the generosity and enthusiasm of Old Brightonian Philip Mitchell (Ha. 1960-65), the College has successfully relaunched the Leonardo Cup this year, decades after its last appearance.
29 November 2019
Dorothy Fenwick: The story behind the name "Fenwick House"
Fenwick House opened in 1983, becoming the first girls-only House at Brighton College.
26 March 2019
The Sorcerer – A unique record of a 1930s drama production
Over the past year, one of our archival volunteers has been meticulously appraising, cataloguing, and rehousing our large archival collection of drama and music records.
10 November 2017
Remembering the 170
At this year’s remembrance service, the Head Master will read the names of Old Brightonians who lost their lives during the Second World War. Some of these men, like John Sulman, lived to marry and have children, while others were children themselves, like Frank Stuttaford. Although their lives were very different, each would have walked through the archway in the College’s gatehouse. They would have posed for their house photograph in September, and sat in the chapel each morning, alongside their friends.
03 November 2017
Stories from the Archive: Prendergast's lost treasures
Almost two years ago, Hew Prendergast emailed the College about his ancestor, Sir Harry North Dalrymple Prendergast (BC 1849-50). We were thrilled to hear from a descendent of such an illustrious OB, and invited Hew to speak to our 4th Form. Much to their delight, Hew brought along one of Sir Harry’s swords. It was fascinating to see an object with such an exciting story; an object which also prompted me to learn more about the sword that had once been kept in the College’s chapel, above Sir Harry’s plaque.
31 October 2017
Time Flies – Especially When You’re Doing a Podcast!
In September, we invited Patrick Hicks (BCJS/Le. 1967-74) and Jeremy Charles (BCJS/Sc. 1964-74) back to Brighton College to be interviewed by current pupils, Dan Kimber (Ry. Upper Sixth) and Ella Ticktin-Smith (Ch. Upper Sixth). Their reminiscences will soon be made available in a short podcast on the Old Brightonian website. Here, Patrick reflects on his experience of returning to Brighton College after 50 years.
24 July 2017
A month in the life of Charles Campbell Ross: February
We continue the saga of our Victorian pupil, in the month of February.
16 February 2017
Appeal for assistance: can you help identify the boys in these photographs?
Andrew Potter (Br. 1957-62) recently got in touch with a set of photographs. Dating between 1952 and 1957, the images show Brighton College Junior School.
10 January 2017
Stories from the Archive: The Return to the 9th Hole
Malcolm McVittie recently wrote a letter to the Head Master, describing his father’s experiences after leaving school. This letter recounted a story of bravery and perseverance.
21 October 2016
Stories from the Archive: The Brighton College Elephant Club
Much of the pleasure found in an archive is making connections and understanding histories, but the membership card for the Brighton College Elephant Club (BCEC) has had me flummoxed for weeks.
07 October 2016
This Week 100 Years Ago: 5th October 1916
On the 5th October 1916, the Governors of Brighton College met to discuss the usual issues important people discuss.
28 June 2016
Appeal for assistance: Sport Captains' names needed
We are trying to find out the names of old 1st team captains for rugby, football and cricket in order to find out which houses they belonged to at school.
27 June 2016
Stories from the Archive: The Brighton College Locomotive
About six months ago, our maintenance team asked me to take a look at a large sign stored in their workshop.
27 May 2016
News from the Archive: Winning the IRMS Alison North New Professionals’ Award
From the pictures on the blog, many of you may imagine me sorting through piles of old papers. You might be surprised to hear that I am also responsible for managing some of our more recent records - even digital ones! This aspect of my work began last year, with a project focused on the school’s pupil files. Working alongside our brilliant Assistant Bursar, Cathy O’Reilly, I completed an information audit and made many plans for the future, which are now being implemented. Inspired by the project, I decided to write a short essay as an entry for the IRMS (Information and Records Management Society) Alison North New Professionals’ Award. The winners of the award were announced last week, and I was delighted to discover my entry had won!
15 April 2016
Notes on the Archive: The Changing Face of the School
This week being National Gardening Week, I thought it would be nice to consider how the school’s gardens have changed over the years.
09 April 2016
From the Archive: Tales from India
Many of you may remember Martin Jones as the College's Head of History. Others may also recollect him as our Librarian, our Honorary Archivist, and author of the brilliant school history - Brighton College: 1845-1995. As an expert on all things Brighton College, he has been a wonderful help since I started this time last year. He regularly keeps in touch, and recently sent me some fascinating observations from his travels in India …
01 April 2016
People in the Archive: Hubert Leslie and his S-s-silhouettes
Every week, I receive a fascinating enquiry from a researcher, a member of the public or an Old Brightonian – sometimes all three. In early February, Julia Webb from the National Portrait Gallery got in touch to learn more about silhouette-artist extraordinaire, Hubert Leslie.
24 March 2016
News from the Archive: Our Reading Room is Ready!
It might be small but there's room for two!
15 March 2016
Stories from the Archive: The Case of the Missing Lion
This week's post was written by Karen Scanlon, who volunteers at the archive. She was helping to catalogue our collection of uniform, when a picture on the wall caught her attention...
19 February 2016
Music in the Archive: The Jazz Appreciation Society, 1962
While searching through the Brightonians this week, I stumbled across a short, but fascinating, article written by the Jazz Appreciation Society, in 1962.
12 February 2016
Stories from the Archive: Discovering Documents
One of the joys of sorting through the archive at Brighton College has been discovering documents that haven’t been seen for years – sometimes, these can be ‘hiding’ in places one least expects.
27 January 2016
History Challenge Week: A History of Brighton College in 50 Objects
As part of History challenge week, a fascinating exhibition entitled ‘the History of Brighton College in 50 Objects’ has been displayed in the library. Based on the popular BBC series, ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’ presented by the Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, the exhibition provided an intriguing insight, not only into the history of the College, but also into the wider context of social and political changes that have taken place between the mid-19th Century and the present day.
03 December 2015
Treasures from the Archive: Sketches from Dorothy Fenwick’s Notebook
Can you guess what the last boy played!? This image is taken from Dorothy Isabella Fenwick’s notebook. From 1929 to 1948, she was a matron at Brighton College: in Stenning House, School House, the Junior School and finally Bristol House. She retired in 1948 and lived in Walpole Terrace, Brighton.
11 November 2015
Treasures from the Archive: Proclamation from the Third Anglo-Burmese War
Earlier this month, I gave a short talk to our 4th Form Academic Society. Deciding on a theme was tricky, but since I’d recently worked on the school’s roll of honour – ensuring it was ready for our new memorial statue – the theme of ‘conflict’ seemed fitting.
03 October 2015
A Visit from Reverend Canon Dawson's Granddaughter
Rev. Canon William Dawson remains Brighton College’s longest serving Headmaster, having lead the school between 1906 and 1933. He supported the College through the First World War and instigated a significant rise in pupil numbers – so significant that we were apparently bursting at the seams! It was a great pleasure to welcome Rosemary Sidwell and her husband Richard back to the College
01 October 2015
Brighton College Archives
Since its foundation in 1845, Brighton College has built a significant historical collection, which is now held in the purpose-build archive on Eastern Road. This collection is not only important to the history and culture of the College, but also to the historical Kemptown area and Brighton itself.
13 December 2011
Tin Hut Times! Are you in this 1954 photograph?
Malcolm Jenkins (H. 1951-55) writes reading the August newsletter about Sir John Chilcot, O.B. President, prompted me to revisit an old photograph taken circa 1954, of some of the inhabitants of Hampden House, including John Chilcot. The photo was taken at the top of the bank, which was out of bounds to all but prefects’ feet, with the old tin sheds which housed Hampden at the time, in the background!
18 June 2006
G.P. Burstow (H. 1924-29)
Those of you who remember Philip Burstow will know of his life-long devotion to Brighton College both as a boy and master. In 1929 he joined the staff of Brighton College Preparatory School which was then in Lewes Crescent, and remained in what later became the Junior School until his death in 1975.