Summer Fields School#Notable Old Summerfieldians

Summerfield became a boys' preparatory school in 1864, with seven pupils. Its owner, Archibald MacLaren, had been educated at Dollar Academy and was a fencing teacher who ran a gymnasium in Oxford. He believed strongly in the importance of physical fitness. His wife, Gertrude, was a classical scholar and teacher, a daughter of David Alphonso Talboys.{{cite ODNB |id=50298 |title=MacLaren, Archibald |first=Peter C. |last=McIntosh}} The school motto is Mens sana in corpore sano, "A healthy mind in a healthy body".{{cite web |title=History |url=https://www.summerfields.com/history |publisher=Summer Fields School |access-date=21 December 2020}}

The school grew and needed more staff, two of whom married into the Maclaren family: the Reverend Dr Charles Williams ("Doctor"), who took over the scholarship form from Mrs Maclaren and married Mabel Maclaren in 1879, and the Reverend Hugh Alington, who married Margaret Maclaren in 1885 and took over the boys' games. The school remained in the hands of the Maclaren, Williams, and Alington families for its first 75 years.

At the end of the 19th century, "Doctor" became headmaster and there was much building at the school. A second school, "Summers mi",{{efn|"mi" stood for "minor", i.e. junior. Boys at the school were known by their surnames; a pair of brothers named Smith would be called "Smith ma[jor]" and "Smith mi[nor]".}} was opened at St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, for boys to benefit from the sea air. In 1918 Doctor passed the headmastership on to Hugh Alington. There was a lean spell in the 1930s, and numbers fell, but John Evans and Geoffrey Bolton ("G.B.") took over in 1939. During the Second World War three other schools were evacuated to Summer Fields – Famborough School, Hampshire, Summers mi, and St Cyprian's School from Eastbourne – and this restored the numbers.

In 1955, the school became a charitable trust, with a board of governors, including Harold Macmillan, who had been at the school as a boy and was soon to become prime minister.

File:Summer Fields1964.jpg

During the 1960s, Pat Savage was headmaster, with the assistance of Jimmy Bell and Pat Marston. By the centenary year in 1964, the school's appearance had changed relatively little (see illustration), but it was thriving and energetic enough to celebrate with a hardback book of 332 pages, with contributions from "O.S.", or Old Summerfieldians, including stories about Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, and Harold Macmillan, and a friendly greeting in verse from the arch-rival Horris Hill School.{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=1ff}} A former pupil recollected Pat Marston as follows:

{{blockquote|Then I met the Ogre. For my first few weeks I was terrified by this "monster". His appearance was formidable. He growled and shook the room as he entered. But once I learnt that he didn't actually eat little boys, even on Black Fridays,{{efn|Pat Marston had the habit of putting up a sign indicating his mood on his days on duty.}} the classes became amusing, exhilarating and even relaxing.{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=309}}}}

In 1975, Nigel Talbot Rice took over as headmaster. He put the school on a sound financial footing through a series of appeals which paid for an ambitious building programme: new classrooms, the Macmillan Hall and Music Centre, an indoor swimming-pool, the Wavell Arts and Technology Centre (named after Earl Wavell), and the Sports Hall. In 1997, Talbot Rice retired and was succeeded by Robin Badham-Thornhill. In 2010 David Faber, an old boy and governor, took over as headmaster.

In 2002 a new lodge called "Savage's" was built. Later a new year group was added at the bottom of the school.

The boys are organised into four "leagues". One of them is named Maclaren, after the Founder; the others are Moseley, after Henry Moseley,{{cite web |last1=Bruton |first1=Elizabeth |title='Dear Harry...' - Henry Moseley: A Scientist Lost to War |url=http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/moseley/2015/09/02/harry-moseley-at-summer-fields-1897-1901/ |publisher=Oxford Museum of the History Of Science |access-date=21 December 2020 |date=2 September 2015}} Congreve, after William La Touche Congreve, and Case, after William Sterndale Case, a master from 1910 to 1922. Each league has its own identifying colour: Case red, Congreve yellow, Maclaren green, and Moseley blue. In leagues, the boys wear a polo shirt in the league colour, along with the rest of the uniform, blue corduroys, and black shoes. On Sundays as well as on special days, such as the school concert, and the end of term, boys wear a tweed jacket, with a light blue coloured shirt, black shoes, and grey flannel trousers. Their ties are in their league colours.

The school has traditionally been a rival of the Dragon School, which is also in north Oxford.{{cite web |last=Macfarlane |first=Alan |title=Becoming a Dragon |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/77408388.pdf |access-date=21 December 2020 |page=28 |date=2013 |quote=‘In the 1920s, the Dragon’s open-necked shirts worn over dark blue shorts were considered cranky. Yet by the mid-thirties its smart Oxford rival, Summer Fields, had replaced its Eton suits with jerseys and plus-fours for everyday wear.’}}

:See also :Category:People educated at Summer Fields School

{{colbegin}}

• Gubby Allen (1902–1989), cricketer{{cite book |last = Swanton |first = E. W. |title = Gubby Allen: Man of Cricket |publisher = Hutchinson/Stanley Paul |year = 1985 |isbn = 0-09-159780-3 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/gubbyallenmanofc0000swan/page/20 20–23] |url = https://archive.org/details/gubbyallenmanofc0000swan/page/20 }}
• Julian Amery (1919–1996), politician{{cite book|last=Thorpe|first=D. R.|title=Supermac: The Life of Harold Macmillan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGLGF9g_IIEC&pg=PA666|year=2011|publisher=Pimlico|isbn=978-1-84413-541-7|page=666}}
• Ralph Assheton, 1st Baron Clitheroe (1901–1984), politician{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=105}}
• Anthony Asquith (1902–1968), film director{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=120}}{{cite book |editor1-last=Williams |editor1-first=E. T. |editor2-last=Nicholls |editor2-first=C. S. |title=The Dictionary of National Biography |date=1981 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnati19611970lees/page/40 40] |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnati19611970lees |quote=Anthony Asquith was educated at Summer Fields, Oxford, Winchester, and Balliol College, Oxford, where he obtained second classes in both classical moderations (1923)and literae humaniores (1925).}}
• Cyril Asquith, Baron Asquith of Bishopstone (1890–1954), judge{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=55}}
• Cuthbert Bardsley (1907–1991), bishop{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=138}}
• Tom Parker Bowles (1974– ), writer{{cite news |author=Barber, Lynn |title=Eating like a king |work=The Observer |date=1 October 2006 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/monarchy/story/0,,1883128,00.html |access-date=2 December 2018}}
• Harold Caccia, Baron Caccia (1905–1990), diplomat{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=139}}
• Sir Olaf Caroe (1892–1981), colonial administrator{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=62}}
• Mark Colvin (1952–2017), broadcaster and journalist{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/lunch-with--mark-colvin-20110211-1aqjt.html#ixzz1MP7wJogt |title=Lunch with ... Mark Colvin |author=Hannan, Liz |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=12 February 2011 |access-date=14 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110401001919/http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/lunch-with--mark-colvin-20110211-1aqjt.html |archive-date= 1 April 2011 }}
• William La Touche Congreve VC, DSO, MC (1891–1916){{cite web |title=Maj W La T Congreve |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/31897 |publisher=Imperial War Museum |access-date=16 August 2020 |ref=WM Ref 31897 |quote=Memorial: In the corridor leading to the chapel Summer Fields School}}

• Hugh Dalton, (1887–1962), politician{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=55}}
• Robin Durnford-Slater (1902–1984), admiral{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=106}}
• David Faber (1961– ), politician, schoolmaster'Faber, David James Christian', in Who's Who 2010 (London: A. & C. Black, 2009)
• Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (1965–), chef and food writer{{cite news |last1=Fearnley-Whittingstall |first1=Hugh |title=It's yesterday once more |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/may/26/foodanddrink.features |work=The Guardian |date=25 May 2007 |access-date=5 April 2015}}

• Neville Ford (1906–2000), cricketer{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=144}}
• Harold Freeman-Attwood (1897–1963), soldier{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=82}}
• Julian Grenfell (1888–1915), poet{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=55}}

• Field Marshal Lord Inge, Chief of the General Staff{{cite news |author= |date=22 July 2022 |title=Obituaries - Field Marshal Lord Inge |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/07/21/field-marshal-lord-inge-former-head-armed-forces-who-resisted/ |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |page=25 |access-date=6 August 2022}}

• Monsignor Ronald Knox (1888–1957), theologian{{cite book |last=Waugh |first=Evelyn |author-link=Evelyn Waugh |title=The Life of Right Reverend Ronald Knox|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xlqze2KC0w4C&pg=PT54 |year=2012 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-139151-9 |pages=54–55}}

• Sir Christopher Lee (1922–2015), actorRigby, Jonathan, Christopher Lee: The Authorised Screen History, Reynolds & Hearn, 2001 and 2003
• Harold Macmillan (1894–1986), Prime Minister{{cite journal |last1=Lord Hailsham Of St Marylebone |author-link=Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone |doi=10.1098/rsbm.1987.0014 |title=Maurice Harold Macmillan, First Earl of Stockton. 10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986 |journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society |volume=33 |pages=376–385 |year=1987 |jstor=769957|doi-access=free }}
• Sir William Macpherson (1926–2021), judge and Chief of the Clan Macpherson{{cite web|url=http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/mfwhoswho/individuals/M_mfwwi/william_macpherson.html|title=The Honourable Sir William Macpherson of Cluny (and Blairgowrie)|publisher=Frost's Scottish Who's Who|access-date=9 January 2012}}
• Patrick Macnee (1922–2015), actor{{cite news |title=Patrick Macnee, actor – obituary |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=26 June 2015 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11699769/Patrick-Macnee-actor-obituary.html}}
• Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley (1887–1915), physicist{{cite ODNB|id=35125|first=Ernest|last=Rutherford|title=Moseley, Henry Gwyn Jeffreys}}
• Adam Nicolson (1957–), writerAdam Nicolson. Prepared for Anything. The Times Magazine, June 25, 1994. pages 24-30.
• Sir Andrew Noble, 1st Baronet (1831–1915), physicist{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=121}}
• Victor Pasmore (1908–1998), artist and architectSummer Fields Register 1864–1960, Oxonian Press, 1960. {{page needed|date=December 2018}}
• Sir James Pitman (1901–1985), inventor of the Initial Teaching Alphabet{{sfn|Usborne|1964|p=84}}
• Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell (1883–1950), Viceroy of India{{efn|Commander of Imperial and Allied land forces in the Near East during World War II, penultimate Viceroy of India. The Summer Fields magazine once recorded that "Wavell mi. has done well in Africa".{{cite book |editor1=Gere, J. A. |editor2=Sparrow, John |title=Geoffrey Madan's Notebooks |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1981 |page=23}}}}

{{colend}}

File:Henry Moseley.jpg|Henry Moseley, physicist

File:Archibald Wavell2.jpg|Archibald Wavell, Viceroy of India

File:The National Archives UK - CO 1069-1-17(cropped).jpg|Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister

File:Christopher Lee at the Berlin International Film Festival 2013.jpg|Christopher Lee, actor

File:Hugh fearnley whittingstall.jpg|Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, celebrity chef

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Summerfields School Register 1864-1960, Oxonian Press 1960
• {{cite book |first=Richard |last=Usborne |title=A Century of Summer Fields |publisher=Methuen |year=1964 }}
• Nicholas Aldridge, Time to spare? A History of Summer Fields, 1989

• [http://www.summerfields.com Summerfields.com, official school website]
• [https://www.isc.co.uk/schools/england/oxfordshire/oxford/summer-fields/ Profile] on the Independent Schools Council website

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