Newcome's School


Newcome's School was a fashionable boys' school in Hackney, then to the east of London, founded in the early 18th century. A number of prominent Whig families sent their sons there. The school closed in 1815, and the buildings were gutted in 1820. In 1825 the London Orphan Asylum opened on the site. Today the Clapton Girls' Academy is located here.

History

Newcome's school was established in the early 18th century. During the 18th century and early 19th century, Hackney was home to schools of all kinds, and was considered a healthy area, close to London.
Many prominent Whig families sent their sons to the school, resulting in a large number of Members of Parliament having received their education there. Dr. Henry Newcome, who gave the school its name, was noted for Whig political principles, and the school stayed in the family for three generations, to 1803. The family descended from Henry Newcome, a prominent nonconformist minister in Manchester. His third son Peter was an Anglican priest, and the father of the Henry Newcome who gave the school its name.
Distinguished pupils included Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, Prime Minister from 1768 to 1770, and two Founding Fathers of the United States.
The school closed in 1815, and the building was knocked down in 1820. In 1825 the London Orphan Asylum opened on the site. The History of Parliament comments that, even after its closure, the school could count nine Members of Parliament educated there in the period. It sent 42 pupils to Trinity College, Cambridge.
Today the Clapton Girls' Academy is located on the site.

Drama

Newcome's School was noted for a series of dramatic productions. In some case a prologue or epilogue was written specially. The school was one of a group that acted as preparatory schools to Westminster School; the dramatic tradition imitated Westminster's, with the difference that plays were in English. One of the contributors of prologues was David Garrick. The custom of giving a play every three years was also taken over from the Elizabethan statutes of Westminster School. It ended about 1800.
Other plays known to have been given by the performance of Andria were Shakespeare's King John and Macbeth.

Staff

was usher at the school under Benjamin Morland, then leaving to set up his own academy. George Budd taught art there. William Coleridge, elder brother of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, taught at the school in the 1780s.

Head Masters