Queen's College Boys' High School, more commonly referred to as Queen's College (or simply QC), is a fee-paying government English medium high school for boys situated in the town of Komani in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Established in 1858 first as Prospect House Academy,[1] it is the oldest school in the Border region and among the 100 oldest schools in South Africa.[1] The college is associated with Queen's College Boys' Primary School, which was established on 15 November 1957, a year before the high school marked 100 years of existence.
History
Queen's College started as Prospect House Academy when Mr C.E Ham first opened the doors to his school on 21 April 1858 at 6 Shepstone Street in Queenstown. The school was situated in an outbuilding on the property and consisted of a single room with a mud floor and holes in the wall for ventilation. The enrollment had reached 30 boys by 1859 and was also known as the Queenstown District School.[2] It was in receipt of a government grant of £50, backdated to the initial opening of the school.[2] From inception the school offered boarding facilities, in the home of Mr Ham, conveniently situated directly across the road from the schoolhouse.[citation needed]
In 1864, a dispute regarding financial support for the school by the district council, led to the abrupt closure of the school by Mr Ham and he ceased teaching in order to open a general store in the town. Boys returning from their holiday in July 1864 discovered that their school house had been let to another tenant and their schoolmaster had become a haberdasher.[3] Public concern was such that a committee was formed, which decides that St Michael's Grammar School should assume the mantle of Prospect House Academy by accepting the status of a government-aided school. The resulting amalgamated school becomes the Public School for Boys and classes are held in a billiard hall.[4]
It was only in 1910 that the school was renamed Queen's College.[1]
The school currently has three hostels; Whitson House, Athlone House and Connaught House. Whitson caters for students in Grades 8–9, Connaught for students in Grades 10–12 and Athlone for Students in Grades 9–10. Athlone was reopened in 2021 after many years of closure. All hostel boys belong to Beswick House, a name taken from the school's fourth headmaster.
Originally, Whitson House was the first hostel of the school and was built in 1904. It was later renamed Connaught House. In 1932, this hostel was closed leading to the later opening of hostels Athlone and De Vos Malan in 1939. In 1975, Connaught House was renamed Whitson House after old boy Mr H Whitson. The new Connaught House was built in 1979. After a decline in boarders in the early 2000s most of the hostels were closed and converted into classrooms. Hostels outside campus were sold.[6]
Sports and cultural programmes
Sports
Queen's College has a long-standing tradition of annual derby days for both summer and winter sports with traditional rivals such as Dale College, Grey High School, St. Andrew's College, and Selborne College, dating back to at least the 1900s. Grey College was also a significant rival, but the yearly derby between these two rugby giants lost momentum, with 1996 marking the last of the annual clashes.
Queen's College is one of only two schools in South Africa equipped with an 8-lane tartan track. Completed in early 2024, the track meets the criteria to host national athletics events, and Queen's is set to host the National Junior Athletics Championships in 2025.
The main sports fields include the Queen's College Victoria Recreation Grounds, used for rugby and athletics; the Chris Harker Astro, where first team hockey matches are played;[7] and the Parry-Davies Field, home to the first cricket team matches as well as rugby games. While the Chris Harker Astro is named after the school, it is a shared facility with Queenstown Girls' High School and Balmoral Girls' Primary School.
^ abBarry, S. G. (1983). History of Queen's College : 1858–1983. [Queenstown, South Africa]: Mara Communications. pp. 4, 5, 7. ISBN978-0-620-13397-5. OCLC22998372.
^Veitch, Neil (2008). Queen's College, 1858–2008 : in this, her honour. [Queenstown, South Africa]. p. 35. ISBN978-0-620-40438-9. OCLC1011514036.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Queenstown, 1824–1994. Holliday, E. W. Queenstown [South Africa]: Queenstown and Frontier Historical Society. 1995. p. 17. ISBN978-0-620-18933-0. OCLC34414151.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
