A Brief History of Tiffin School
| A Brief History of Tiffin School | By John King | ||
| The school can date its foundation to the will of Thomas Tiffin (pictured), dated 15th May 1638, who left £50 in trust to the Bailiffs and Freemen of Kingston to purchase land and/or buildings, the income from which would be used to teach ‘some honest poor man's son'. John Tiffin facilitated his brother's wishes by leaving £100 to the same ends on his death just over a year later (below). |
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Thomas Tiffin and his brother John were two wealthy Kingston brewers, born at Yalding in Kent. Besides owning a brewery, the brothers owned or leased a number of inns and public houses in the local area. Thomas Tiffin was the holder of the office of High Bailiff (equivalent to Mayor today) in the Kingston Corporation in the 1630s. | ||
| From 1641 income from land purchased in the area of the present day High Street in Kingston provided money for education and clothing for a number of pupils each year. The Charity also provided £5 for each pupil to be apprenticed at the end of their education. By the mid 19th Century, between thirty and fifty pupils per year were being supported by the Tiffin Charity. |
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The Endowed Schools Act of 1869 allowed the various local Kingston educational charities to be combined, and permitted the building of the first Tiffin School on the Fairfield (pictured, 1927). The building still exists as St Joseph's RC Primary School and Fairfield is still part of endowed land of Tiffin School. The school opened on 20th January 1880 under the Headmaster C J Grist, whose name is commemorated in the playing fields at Hampton Court. | ||
| The school prospered and suffered as well from a pressing problem of space as numbers increased. Following the First World War a site in London Road, Elmfield, was identified as providing sufficient space and a new classroom block, the Main Building, was constructed (pictured, 1929). |
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The school moved to its present location in September 1929. Since then, numerous buildings have been added, notably the South Building (1986), the Chester Centre (Creative Studies) (1991), the Sports Centre (1996), and most recently the Dempsey Centre (2004, pictured). | ||
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Tiffin School Alumni Association: The Old Tiffinians Club was formed in 1902 as a social and sporting club for alumni of Tiffin School. In 1944 Old Tiffinians purchased an area of land near Hampton Court for the use of the School and Old Tiffinians. In line with the intntions of the appeal to the Old Tiffinians, alumni and school rugby and cricket are still played at Grists along with alumni football. In 2009 the society was renamed the Tiffinian Association Limited and became a charity and opened up its circulation list to ex-parents and other friends of Tiffin School. |
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