Founded in 1867, just as the young resort of Eastbourne was taking shape, Eastbourne College has grown alongside the town for more than 150 years. This elegant public school between the Downs and the sea counts a Nobel Prize winner among its old boys — and is woven deep into the story of Eastbourne itself.
A school for a new resort
Eastbourne College was born out of the same great burst of Victorian ambition that turned Eastbourne from a cluster of hamlets into a fashionable seaside resort. The idea came from a local doctor, Charles Hayman, and it won the crucial backing of William Cavendish, the 7th Duke of Devonshire, the aristocrat then busy building the town. The Duke granted land, and in August 1867 the school opened its doors to a mere handful of boys in temporary premises on Spencer Road.
Part of the pitch was the town’s celebrated healthy climate — a theme captured in the school’s motto, Ex Oriente Salus, “Health from the East”, a neat play on the name Eastbourne. The new school grew quickly. Its first purpose-built block rose on Blackwater Road, and by 1874 there were around a hundred boys on the roll, with a chapel, a library and a gymnasium soon following.
Growing with the town
The College settled into the leafy Lower Meads district, close to both the seafront and the South Downs — an enviable position it still enjoys today. As a Church of England foundation with a classical and scientific curriculum, it became one of the pillars of the planned, genteel Victorian town the Duke of Devonshire was creating, and it has been an integral part of the local community ever since.
War and remembrance
Like so many schools of its kind, Eastbourne College paid a terrible price in the First World War: 174 of its former pupils were killed. They are remembered by the College’s most striking landmark, the Memorial Building, completed in 1930, and by the playing fields bought in their honour by old boys. Two Old Eastbournians have been awarded the Victoria Cross, and the school’s long military tradition runs back to the founding of its Cadet Force in 1896. During the Second World War the College was evacuated to Radley College in Oxfordshire; its safe return to Eastbourne was masterminded by the headmaster John Nugee, sometimes called the school’s “second founder”.
Please note: Eastbourne College is a working school and a private site. Its historic buildings can be admired from the surrounding streets, but it isn’t a visitor attraction, so please respect the privacy of pupils and staff.
A modern co-educational college
The school of today looks very different from its Victorian self. Girls were first admitted to the sixth form in 1969, and by the mid-1990s the College was fully co-educational; it now teaches well over 600 boys and girls, boarding and day, aged 13 to 18. Recent decades have brought major investment, including the £33 million “Project 150” redevelopment for the school’s 150th anniversary in 2017. Its Birley Centre, opened in 2011, has become a key venue in Eastbourne’s cultural quarter, hosting music and performing arts for the wider town as well as the school.
Famous Old Eastbournians
For a school of its size, Eastbourne College has produced a notably varied roll of “Old Eastbournians”. The most celebrated is surely Frederick Soddy, who was educated here before going on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and give science the word “isotope”. Others have found fame in the arts — among the best-known modern names is the comedian and actor Eddie Izzard — while the school’s military tradition has produced generals, admirals and its two holders of the Victoria Cross.
Did you know? For years it was rumoured that the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley had been a pupil at Eastbourne College. In fact, the College’s own archivist debunked the myth — Crowley never studied here, though as a young man he did briefly assist in the school’s chemistry laboratory. The College was even honoured with its own steam locomotive: a Southern Railway “Schools” class engine named Eastbourne ran from 1932 to 1961.
Eastbourne College: FAQs
When was Eastbourne College founded?
In 1867, on the initiative of the local doctor Charles Hayman and with the backing of the 7th Duke of Devonshire. It opened with only around 14 boys and has grown for over 150 years since.
Is Eastbourne College the same as St Cyprian’s?
No. Eastbourne College is a senior public school for ages 13–18, founded in 1867 and still thriving. St Cyprian’s was a separate preparatory school (for younger boys) that operated from 1899 until 1939 and famously educated George Orwell.
Who are famous former pupils of Eastbourne College?
The best-known is Nobel Prize-winning chemist Frederick Soddy. Its former pupils, or “Old Eastbournians”, also include figures from the arts, sport and the armed forces, among them comedian Eddie Izzard and two winners of the Victoria Cross.
Read more: the Dukes of Devonshire who built Eastbourne, the story of old boy Frederick Soddy, and the wider history of Eastbourne.