The House System

Head of House - Miss M Martin House Captain - Shayan

Butler House is named after Josephine Elizabeth Butler (née Grey; 13 April 1828 - 30 December 1906), an English feminist and social reformer in the Victorian era. She campaigned for women's suffrage, the right of women to better education, the end of coverture in British law, the abolition of child prostitution, and an end to human trafficking of young women and children.  Butler’s campaigning resulted in the age of consent being raised from 13 to 16, and she also campaigned successfully to end coverture.  This was the system whereby all the rights of women and girls were over-ruled by the rights of men.  Thanks to Butler’s work, women became equal to men in the eyes of the law.

Head of House - Miss A Ross House Captain - Oleksandr

Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding was an officer in the Royal Air Force. He served as a fighter pilot and then as commanding officer of No. 16 Squadron during the First World War.  During the Second World War, through the summer and autumn of 1940 in the Battle of Britain, Dowding's Fighter Command resisted the attacks of the Luftwaffe.  He is generally credited with playing a crucial role in Britain's defence, and hence, the defeat of Adolf Hitler's plan to invade Britain.  Dowding was known for his humility and great sincerity.  Fighter Command pilots came to characterise Dowding as a leader who cared for his men and had their best interests at heart. 

Head of House - Mr O Merson House Captain - Alaa

This house is named after Althea Neale Gibson (August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003), an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the colour line of international tennis. In 1957, Gibson became the first black athlete to win both Wimbledon and the US Nationals (precursor of the US Open), then won both again in 1958, and was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years.  In the early 1960s she also became the first Black player to compete on the Women's Professional Golf Tour. Gibson campaigned for her whole life for black athletes to be paid as much in sponsorship as white athletes, an injustice that she was ultimately successful in correcting.

Head of House - Mr P Jalil House Captain - Valerian

This house is named after William Morris, an English textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and social activist.  Associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement, he was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts and methods of production.Morris is recognised as one of the most significant cultural figures of Victorian Britain; though best known in his lifetime as a poet, and known for his meticulous and pioneering approach.   In summer 1881, Morris set up a factory next to the River Wandle on the High Street at Merton, Southwest London.  Within three years, 100 craftsmen would be employed there. Working conditions were better than at most Victorian factories, largely because Morris had initiated a system of profit sharing among the Firm's senior staff. 

Head of House - Miss J Bessa  House Captain - Rayven-Skye

This house is named after Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford, DBE, an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Margaret Rutherford's early life was overshadowed by tragedy. Her father was William Rutherford Benn, a journalist and poet. One month after his marriage to Florence, Benn suffered a nervous breakdown and murdered his father.  When she was twelve, Rutherford’s mother took her own life. Despite these huge challenges, Margaret Rutherford was determined to be successful.  She moved to Wimbledon, and was steadfast in her approach to all aspects of school life.  She became a teacher, and, later, moved into acting where she became very successful. 

Head of House - Mr N McKenzie House Captain - Raymond

This house is named after Mary Seacole, she was born in Jamaica more than 200 years ago. Mary’s mother taught her many healing skills using traditional medicines and from an early age Mary practised medicine on her doll, dogs and coats and on herself. She was travelled to England in 1821 and acquired knowledge about modern European medicine which supplemented her training in traditional Caribbean techniques. In the 1850s Mary nursed many victims of the Kingston cholera epidemic and even those she was refused by the British War Office to be an army nurse in the Cimea war she funded her own trip and established a British Hotel to provide somewhere for respite for sick and recovering soldiers. In 2004, Mary was voted the Greatest Black Briton and a statue of her can be found in the grounds of St Thomas’ Hospital on London’s Southbank. Her legacy is continued by the Mary Seacole Trust which, aims to educate and inform the public about her life, work and achievements, ensuring that she is never again lost to history. Mary Seacole’s values of good citizenship, entrepreneurship and achievement and ones that still hold true today.

Head of House - Ms S Archer House Captain - Sankeetha

This house is named after William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833), a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. Wilberforce began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming an independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Yorkshire (1784–1812). British ships dominated the 18^th century slave trade, and in peak years carried forty thousand enslaved men, women and children across the Atlantic in horrific conditions.  Of the estimated 11 million Africans transported into slavery, about 1.4 million died during the voyage.  Wilberforce’s campaign led to the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, which abolished slavery in most of the British Empire.