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Charterhouse School is a British Public School , located in Godalming in the county of Surrey . It was founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian Monastery in Charterhouse Square, Smithfield (see Charterhouse ). Today, pupils are still referred to as Carthusians, and ex-pupils as Old Carthusians or OCs. HISTORY The school was moved to its present site in 1872 by the then headmaster, the Revd. Dr. Haig Brown - a decision influenced by the findings of the Public Schools Commission of 1864. The school bought a 68 acre (270,000 m²) site on top of a hill just outside Godalming. In addition to the main school buildings (designed by architect Philip Charles Hardwick ), they constructed three boarding houses, known as Saunderites (once the headmaster's house), Verites and Gownboys (for scholars, who were entitled to wear gowns). As pupil numbers grew, other houses were built alongside the approach road, now known as Charterhouse Hill. Each was titled with an adaptation of the name of their first housemaster, such as Weekites, Daviesites and Girdlestoneites. The last of these is still referred to as Duckites, reflecting the unusual gait of its original housemaster, even though he retired well over 100 years ago! There are now the original four 'old' houses plus seven 'new' houses, making eleven boarding houses in total. The eleven Houses have preserved a unique identity (each with its own tie and colours) and pupils compete against each other in both sports and the arts. The Boarding Houses (in order of founding, and with their school abbreviation and house colour) are: Saunderites (S - Orange); Verites (V - Grey, turquoise and black); Gownboys (G - Deep Red); Girdlestoneites (g - White abbreviated to X because sometimes computers are unable to distinguish between g and G ). The following are 'new' houses founded circa 1875: Pageites (P - Pink); Lockites (L - Light lime green yellow); Weekites (W - Red); Hodgsonites (H - Blue); Daviesites (D - Green); Bodeites (B - Yellow); and Robinites (R - Purple). The school continued to expand over the 20th Century . Further land was bought to the north and west, increasing the grounds to over 200 acres (809,000 m²), and a new school chapel was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (perhaps best known for designing the Red Telephone Box ) and consecrated in 1927 to commemorate almost 700 pupils who died in the First World War , making it the largest war memorial in England. Around 350 names have been subsequently added to commemorate those who died in the Second World War and other conflicts of the twentieth century. Pupils still attend a short chapel service there five times a week. Charterhouse was all male until the 1970s when girls were first admitted in the sixth form (the final two years), and this continues to be the case today. Of over 300 sixth formers today, almost a third are girls. The most significant addition to the campus was seven new Houses, built in the 1970s, replacing late Victorian boarding houses which were demolished in 1977. Other newer buildings include the Art Studio, the John Derry Technology Centre, the Ben Travers Theatre, the Ralph Vaughan Williams Music Centre, the Halford Hewitt Golf Course, the Queen’s Sports Centre, the Sir Greville Spratt athletics track and Chetwynd, a hall of residence for girls. In 2003, the School renovated its onsite Library and its contents and facilities could easily rival many University libraries. MODERN DAY Today, pupils can take part in a wide range of sporting activities, including Football , Hockey , Cricket , Tennis , Fives , Fencing , Racquets , Swimming , Squash , Water Polo , Horse Riding , Sub-aqua , Climbing , Basketball , Badminton , Rugby and Climbing . Swimming, in particular, has improved greatly in the last two years (as of 2006), with an influx of good swimmers and high coaching standards. The 2005 first XI football team also performed extremely well, having an unbeaten season, barring a solitary defeat in the ISFA Cup. Cricket also continues to flourish and Charterhouse is famed for having one of the best batting tracks in the South of England. The school produced one of England's finest batsmen and captains in history, Peter May. The arts are also encouraged at Charterhouse, with plays such as Les Miserables , Julius Caesar and Oliver Twist performed at the Ben Travers Theatre. Charterhouse is one of the elite public schools in Britain, and its examination results show that it continues to perform well. It was ranked 19th in the 2004 Times school league table of A level results. CHARTERHOUSE AND THE ORIGINS OF FOOTBALL Charterhouse was one of a select group of English public schools who can claim to have helped shape the rules of modern Football . Even today, football is preferred as the school’s main winter sport over Rugby . When the rules of Association Football were created in 1863, elements of the Charterhouse version of the game were adopted, along with the rules established at Eton , Harrow , Rugby , Westminster and Winchester and later with Lancing College . In the early years of the FA Cup , teams formed of ex-pupils from these schools dominated the competition. The Old Carthusians F.C. (the name for the team comprised of Charterhouse alumni) won the cup in the 1880/81 season, beating the Old Etonians in the final, and were semi-finalists in the two years that followed. The public school system also provided many of the first England internationals. They included Charles Wreford Brown , who is often credited for inventing the word ‘ Soccer ’. He was a pupil at Charterhouse in the early 1880s, and played football for the Old Carthusians and for the national side in the 1890s, including several appearances as captain. NOTABLE OLD CARTHUSIANS See Also: List of notable Old Carthusians EXTERNAL LINKS
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