Epsom College
Epsom College is a co-educational independent school on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. It was founded in 1853 as a boys' school to provide support for poor members of the medical profession such as pensioners and orphans ("Foundationers"). The college caters takes day pupils throughout with some boarding in 5 of the 13 houses in the senior (14 to 18) part of the school. The headmaster is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Foundation. The school was founded in 1853 by John Propert as The Royal Medical Benevolent College, the  aims of which were to provide accommodation for pensioned medical doctors or their widows in the first instance, and to provide a "liberal education" to 100 sons of "duly qualified medical men" for £25 each year. The establishment of the college was the culmination of a campaign begun in 1844 by the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, the forerunner of the British Medical Association. The scheme saw the medical profession was "in regard to charitable institutions for the aged and infirm, the widow and the orphan, the worst provided of all professions and callings" and took as its aim  the alleviating of poverty and debt. Discussions were chaired by Sir John Forbes, Physician to Prince Albert and the Royal Household, and followed similar plans establishing schools for the Clergy and the Royal Navy in desiring to raise money to found "schools for the sons of medical men", providing an education which would otherwise be "beyond the means of many parents". By 1851, the Medical Benevolent Society had limited itself to the foundation of a single Benevolent College, and met in Treasurer John Propert's house in New Cavendish Street, Marylebone. The new campaign's fund-raising activities included dinners , which were attended by numerous doctors and Members of Parliament, and concerts, for example at one such event, on 4 July 1855, composer Hector Berlioz conducted the UK premier of his symphonic suite Harold in Italy. The foundation stone was laid on 6 July 1853, and almost two years later, on 25 June 1855, the college was formally opened by Prince Albert and his son, the future King Edward VII in front of an unexpectedly large crowd of around 6,000. In March 1855, Queen Victoria had consented to become patron, which relationship with British monarchs has continued ever since; King  Edward VII after the death of his mother, King George V, King Edward VIII in 1936, King George VI from 1937, and then the current Queen until the present. In 1980, it was estimated by a history of the college that a third of its 10,000 alumni had entered the profession. The college's patron is Queen Elizabeth II. Development and charity. It was founded in 1855 to provide support for poor members of the medical profession. Funding for such a bold undertaking proved inadequate to the task, resulting in a reduced number of buildings and therefore insufficient space to  support 100 pensioners and 100 boys. In the 1860s, partially as a result of this, the school was opened up to children of non-medical parents. In subsequent decades, pensioners were supported off-site, until there were none on campus by the end of the 19th century. These moves mark the transition towards the college becoming a public school in the modern sense. The college continued its charitable activities, alongside its strictly educational role, throughout the 20th century. It was only in 2000 that the Royal Medical Foundation was formed as a separate entity, funding the support of four Foundationers  at the college, 27 outside it; and paying 20 pensions and supporting one doctor at a medical home. In the 1920s the junior school side of the college was run down and thereafter it catered only for 13- to 18-year-olds. In 1976, girls were first allowed into the sixth-form. Twenty years later, the school became fully co-educational. Its campus is on the outskirts of Epsom, near Epsom Downs on the North Downs, near the racecourse, home to the annual Epsom Derby. Its buildings date from 1853 and are mostly influenced by the Gothic revival architecture, described  by Prince Albert as the "pointed style of the 14th Century". In 1974, the main building and the College Chapel attained Grade II listed status. Epsom College in Malaysia. In 2009 it was announced that the college was to open a new school in Bandar Enstek, just south of Kuala Lumpur. Epsom College in Malaysia was officially opened in September 2014. The school offers the best of British education to pupils from 3 to 18 years of age. Students are offered a wide variety of recreational and competitive sports opportunities, such as badminton, squash, hockey, tennis, and swimming. OFT inquiry . In 2005 the school was one of fifty of the country's leading independent schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by "The Times" newspaper, although the schools made clear that they had not realised that the change to the law (which had happened only a few months earlier) about the sharing of information had subsequently made it an offence. Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the  schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared. However, Jean Scott, the then-head of the Independent Schools Council, said that independent schools had always been exempt from anti-cartel rules applied to business, were following a long-established procedure in sharing the information with each other, and that they were unaware of the change to the law (on which they had not been consulted). She wrote to John Vickers, the OFT director-general, saying, "They are not a group of businessmen meeting behind closed doors to fix the price of their products to the disadvantage  of the consumer. They are schools that have quite openly continued to follow a long-established practice because they were unaware that the law had changed". Houses. House colours are seen in the stripes in the ties worn by the majority of boys (those not wearing colours or prefects' ties); on a rectangular brooch occasionally worn by the girls; and at the neck of school pullovers. They are also used in house rugby and athletics tops. Sport. Association football. Association football became the major sport for boys in the Lent Term in 2014. Previously the sport was an option and  played at Sixth Form level only. Now it is played across all age groups from Under 12 to U18. The college is currently part of the Southern Independent Schools Lent Term League. Rifle shooting. Epsom College has a long history of target rifle shooting, both small-bore and full-bore, and over the last 40 years has consistently been the premier rifle shooting school in the UK. The college rifle team has won the national championships – the Ashburton Shield – 15 times, holding the record for the highest number of Ashburton wins by a single school., thus making it as one  of the best rifle teams in the country. They have won the Ashburton Shield, the premiere event at the annual Schools' Rifle Championships more often than any other school, recording a record-breaking 15th Ashburton win in 2011 (the 150th year of the competition). Rugby football. Rugby football is a major boys' sport during the Michaelmas term. Rugby sevens is played in the Lent Term. In 2001, the Epsom College U15 team won their age group in Daily Mail Cup, beating The John Fisher School by 17–12 at Twickenham in the Final. In 2006, the U16 Epsom sevens team won  the 2006 Sevens National Championship at Rosslyn Park by beating Millfield 29-19. In 2005 Epsom College U15 Team lost to Bedford 10–5 in the Semi final of the Daily Mail competition. The Epsom College Director of Rugby is former Ireland international Paul Burke. Eccentricities. Air raid shelters. During the Second World War, in preparation for the possibility of attack from the air, several air raid shelters were built, the outlines of which are still visible in aerial photographs and satellite imagery as a row of negative cropmarks in the grass on the Chapel Triangle. In his 1944 book, "Sunday  After The War", Henry Miller called these "shelters from aerial bombardment". The fives courts. Near Wilson Pitch, there are the remnants of several open air fives courts, one of which is said to be a doubles court. In the late 1960s these were functional courts, albeit of odd design. Southern Railway Schools Class. The school lent its name to the thirty-eighth steam locomotive (Engine 937) in the Southern Railway's Class V, of which there were 40. This Class was also known as the Schools Class because all 40 of the class were named after prominent English public schools . 'Epsom', as it was called, was built in 1934. The locomotive bearing the school's name was withdrawn in the early 1960s. Notable pupils. Usually this section will reflect past pupils, known as "Old Epsomians" (OEs). Where a current pupil is notable outside the school environment, such a pupil is listed in this section.