page_title: Ludgrove School
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ludgrove School / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Ludgrove Hall, Cockfosters. Cowing's Series card.
context_page_description: Ludgrove School is an independent preparatory boarding school for 200 boys, aged eight years to thirteen. It is situated in the civil parish of Wokingham Without, adjoining the town of Wokingham in the English county of Berkshire. Aside from certain cathedral schools, it is one of the few remaining single-sex full boarding preparatory schools in the country.
  Founded at Ludgrove Hall, Cockfosters, in 1892, in 1937 the school moved to its present site at Wokingham, previously occupied by the former Wixenford School, which had closed in 1934.
context_section_description: The school was founded in 1892 by Arthur Dunn in north London. Dunn, a footballer, recruited a number of sportsmen to assist him as masters and was succeeded, on his premature death, by two England international football captains, G.O. Smith and William Oakley, who became joint headmasters.
  Ex-pupil Alistair Horne wrote an unflattering account of his time at the school in the 1930s in which he described "humbug, snobbery and rampant, unchecked bullying" which he thought was intended to toughen the boys up.
  In 1937 the school was moved from Cockfosters to its present location at Wixenford, Wokingham, taking over the buildings of the former Wixenford School. Alan Barber, a well known cricketer, was headmaster for many years. The school business was turned into a charitable trust in 1972, and Barber's son Gerald—together with Nichol Marston—became joint headmasters. In July 2004, Marston retired. In 2008, Ludgrove's headmasters were Sid Inglis and Gerald Barber's son Simon. In July 2013, Inglis left the school to take up a headship at Elstree School.
  In 2004, Ludgrove was the victim of an arson attack which caused over £100,000 in damage to the school's cricket pavilion.
caption: Ludgrove Hall, c. 1900. The former home of Francis Bevan and subsequently the first home of Ludgrove School.
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