Campbell College

Campbell College is a voluntary grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The College educates boys from ages 11-18. It is one of the eight Northern Irish schools represented on the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

The school occupies a convert|100|acre|km2|sing=on estate in east Belfast, close to the Parliament Buildings at Stormont. All the school's facilities are located on this site, which also contains a small lake and forest named Netherleigh. Campbell's junior school - formerly located on an adjacent site and called Cabin Hill - is now also located on the site. The school has the oldest Combined Cadet Force in Ireland, with 300 cadets. [ [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199798/ldhansrd/vo980422/text/80422-03.htm Hansard] ] The school has an international reputation and attracts boarders from Hong Kong, Singapore and Africa.

History

It was founded in 1894 thanks to a bequest from Henry James Campbell, who had made his fortune in the linen trade. Initially the school was primarily a boarding school but it has, particularly since the 1970s, become primarily a day school and in 2004 had 870 pupils, only about 60 of whom were boarders. Playwright and Nobel Laureate Samuel Beckett taught at the school from January to July 1928 but found the experience uncongenial. The story goes that his decision to leave prematurely was questioned by the then Headmaster who pointed out that he was giving up the opportunity to teach the cream of Ulster, Beckett replied, of Campbell's students, "Yes. Rich and thick.". [citeweb|url=http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521838566&ss=exc|title=The Cambridge Introduction to Samuel Beckett Chapter 1|accessdate=2007-04-12]

In 1935 Jimmy Steele led an attempted Irish Republican Army raid on the school in an effort to secure the arms of the College Officers' Training Corps. The RUC at Strandtown were tipped-off and the raid was unsuccessful, with a gun battle taking place at the Gate Lodge on Hawthornden Road in which Constable Ian Hay received five gunshot wounds. [Northern Whig 30/12/1935 Page 3 (includes photograph)] In 1936 Steele and three other IRA members were captured, prosecuted and imprisoned in Crumlin Road Gaol. [ [http://www.irishresistancebooks.com/internment/intern5.htm 'Internment' by John McGuffin (1973)] ] During World War II the school was requisitioned by the War Office as a hospital, with the pupils being transferred to Portrush on the north Antrim coast. Campbell lost 134 former students in World War I and there are separate memorials to the dead of both World Wars in the Central Hall. [Haines, Keith. "Neither rogues nor fools - a history of Campbell College". Belfast, Campbell College, 1993.]

Both of these events were experienced firsthand by Albert Maxwell BEM, who worked for the school as groundsman and head porter for 64 years. Maxwell retired in 1993 but continued to live in the school's Grade 1 listed gate lodge until his death in 1997.

The author CS Lewis, who grew up nearby, attended the school for two months before he was withdrawn because of a serious respiratory illness and sent to Malvern (Cherbourg School), famous at the time for treating people with lung problems. [citeweb|url=http://www.cslewis.org/resources/chronocsl.html|title=C S Lewis Foundation Chronology|accessdate=2007-04-12] The gas lamppost on the school drive is claimed to have been the inspiration for that mentioned in Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". However some sources state a lamppost in Crawfordsburn Country Park was the inspiration. [ [http://www.i-uk.com/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1060854879985&aid=1134649463178 i-uk] ] [ [http://www.visitbritain.com/VB3-en-US/corporate/press/news/nr051202narnia.aspx visitbritain.com] ]

Several Campbell students have been involved in filmmaking. These include William McQuitty ("A Night to Remember"), Andrew Eaton ("Resurrection Man"), Nick Hamm ("The Hole"), Dudi Appleton ("The Most Fertile Man in Ireland")and Mark Huffam ("Saving Private Ryan")

Composer David Catherwood is currently director of music at Campbell.

A collection of Lepidoptera by Thomas Workman is displayed in the school.

Sport

The school has strong record in rugby, having won the Ulster Schools Cup 22 times and shared the cup four times. In 2006 Campbell reached the final at Ravenhill, losing to Methodist College Belfast. The school has extensive sports facilities including rugby and football pitches, an astroturf hockey pitch,shooting range, squash courts, a fitness suite, and a swimming pool. The 2006 opening of the astroturf pitch was marked with an exhibition match between the gold-winning 1988 Summer Olympics Great Britain and Northern Ireland hockey team and the school's 1st XI.

Notable Old Campbellians

:See also .
*Dudi Appleton, director, screenwriter and journalist
*Paul Bew, scholar and life peer
*Derek Bell (musician), renowned harpist, late member of The Chieftains
*Andrew Bree, swimmer
*Gordon Burns, journalist and television presenter
*Sir John Collins, businessman
*Freeman Wills Crofts, author - was a member of the school's first class in 1894
*George Currie, MP
*Eric Robertson Dodds, classical scholar
*William John English, Victoria Cross recipient whose medal was bequeathed to the school
*Thomas Henry Flewett, Virologist
*Mike Gibson (rugby player)
*John Irvine, award-winning ITV News journalist
*Charles Lawson, actor
*Gary Lightbody, vocalist and guitarist in Snow Patrol
*C. S. Lewis, author - for the autumn term of 1910 only
*William MacQuitty, film producer
*James Godfrey MacManaway, MP and Church of Ireland minister
*Tim Martin, founder and current Chairman of JD Wetherspoon
*Sir John MacDermott, Baron MacDermott, former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland
*Alan McFarland, former British Army officer and Ulster Unionist politician
*Sir Percy McElwaine, barrister and Attorney General of Fiji
*Colonel Sir Michael McCorkell - Northern Irish soldier.
*Alan McKibbin, MP
*Jonny Quinn, drummer in Snow Patrol
*Robert Shanks, former Chairman of the Commissioners of Irish Lights and commanding officer of HMS "Caroline"
*James Simmons, poet
*Air Chf Mshl John Thomson, RAF officer
*Lloyd Hall-Thompson, MP
*Noel Thompson, BBC journalist
*Paddy Wallace, rugby union footballer for Ireland
*Edmund De Wind, Victoria Cross recipient

Headmasters

*Henry Richard Parker, joint headmaster 1890-1896
*James Adams McNeill, joint headmaster 1890-96, headmaster 1896-1907
*Robert Arthur H MacFarland, 1907-1922
*William Duff Gibbon. MA (Oxon), CBE DSO MC TD LLD was the schools headmaster between 1922 and 1943. Educated at Trinity College, Oxford, Gibbon served as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Worcestershire Regiment during World War I. In World War II he was the Officer Commanding in the Army Cadet Force. 1922-1943
*Ronald Groves, 1943-1954
*Francis John Granville Cook, 1954-1971
*Robin Milne Morgan, 1971-1976
*Brian William John Gregg Wilson MA, 1977-1987
*1987 - 2005 Robert John Ivan Pollock, BSc MEd PhD CertEd CChem MRSC
*James "Jay" Piggot BA MA became the school's headmaster in 2005. A former pupil, Piggot is a former Assistant Master and House Master at Eton College. While at Campbell he was a member of the team that was beaten by MCB in the Ulster Schools Cup (Rugby Football). He attended Cardiff University and obtained a B.A.in English; he subsequently gained an MA from Liverpool University. After university he taught at Millfield School as an Assistant teacher of English and was a Rugby coach.

References

External links

* [http://www.campbellcollege.co.uk/ Official school website]
* [http://www.behindlines.com/ Campbell College CCF Website]
* [http://www.oldcampbellians.co.uk/ocs.htm The Old Campbellians Society]