Harrowonthe Hill

Harrow-on-the-Hill is a town in Middlesex, 12 miles W.N.W. of London. The church, which stands at the top of the hill, owes its origin to Lanfranc, and is in various Gothic styles. The school, founded by John Lyon of Preston in 1571, was originally intended for the free education of thirty poor parish scholars, but under a clause providing that some "foreigners" might be added to fill up the building the present state of things has been brought about. The fourth form school was built between 1608 and 1615, and several additions have been made during the present century. In the eighteenth century and in the third decade of the present one the numbers declined, but there are now more than 500 boys. They are admitted between the ages of twelve and fourteen. There are several entrance and some valuable University scholarships. The governing body is elected by the Lord Chancellor, the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, the Royal Society, and the assistant masters. The most famous headmasters have been Archdeacon Thackeray, Dr. Sumner, Bishop Christopher Wordsworth, Dean Vaughan, and Dr. Montagu Butler, who was succeeded in 1885 by Mr. J. E. C. Welldon. Among the alumni may be mentioned Lord Byron, C. S. Calverley, Sheridan and Anthony Trollope, Lord Aberdeen, Sir Robert Peel and Lord Palmerston, Cardinal Manning and Archbishop Trench, Lord Shaftesbury and Sir G. Trevelyan.