Hampton School

Hampton School has one of the most complex foundation histories of any English independent school. It was originally founded in 1557 by the local landowner Robert Hammond as a free school for the boys of Hampton; that first school closed in 1573. The school was refounded in 1612, with the first formal grammar school established in 1697, closed in 1830, reopened in 1834, becoming a fee-paying grammar in 1868, going bankrupt in 1909, brought under government control in 1910, becoming voluntary-aided in 1955, and finally re-establishing as a wholly private school in 1975 when the Labour government abolished the direct grant system. Today Hampton is a boys-only HMC day school of around 1,567 pupils aged 11-18, set on a 28-acre suburban campus in Hampton, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, immediately adjacent to its sister school for girls, the Lady Eleanor Holles School (LEH).

Academic provision is broad but the school is best known nationally for its strength in physics, mathematics and music — disciplines which thread through its most famous alumni. Sir Brian May, lead guitarist of Queen, was a pupil at Hampton from 1958 to 1965; he later took a first in physics at Imperial College and completed his PhD in astrophysics decades after leaving Queen tours. His enduring association with the school has cemented Hampton's reputation as a STEM-friendly creative environment.

Other alumni include Lord Baker of Dorking, the former Conservative Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Education; the singer Murray Head (One Night in Bangkok, the original Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar); the professional golfer Paul Casey, a fifteen-time winner on the DP World Tour; the Surrey and England cricketer Zafar Ansari; the musicologist Thurston Dart, who pioneered the historically informed performance movement at King's College London; and Sir Simon Amor, the former England Rugby Sevens captain. The crime novelist Peter Lovesey (the Sergeant Cribb series and Peter Diamond mysteries) is also an Old Hamptonian.

The Headmaster since 2013 is Kevin Knibbs, previously of Worth School. Hampton is closely linked operationally and culturally with Lady Eleanor Holles, with whom it shares sixth-form scholarships, music and drama productions, and significant cross-site teaching.