The school is named after its founder, Arthur Holditch Mellows (1892–1948), a British army captain from the
Hunts Cyclist Battalion who was promoted to colonel during
World War I, served in Iraq during the 1920s, and commanded local
Home Guard units during World War II. In the interwar years he became a solicitor, and from 1935–37 he was
Mayor of Peterborough. From 1943 onwards he headed the national education committee. He owned a black
Chrysler Windsor, an unusual sight in wartime Britain. The college opened in 1949. From 1948 until the 1970s, the Arthur Mellows Memorial Trust hosted lectures at the college and provided education grants in subjects of interest to Mellows. In the 1970s and 1980s the college was ahead of its time in community links. Arthur Mellows offered evening classes and a meeting area for community groups and had a public library on site. As such the school used to refer to the headteacher using the title "Warden". More recently this was changed to the more recognisable term "Head of College". The college was originally built to serve the villages from
Wittering to
Eye which form an approximate straight line, the village of
Glinton being in the middle. More recently the school developed a broader catchment including pupils from the large Peterborough suburb of
Werrington. In the 2000s multiple Peterborough schools were considered failing, closed down, demolished, rebuilt and re-named. However, Arthur Mellows converted to academy status, underwent significant expansion and was considered a successful school. ==Architecture==