Foundation and opening The earliest proposals for a boarding school at Cranleigh, were put forward in 1862 by
George Cubitt, the
MP for
West Surrey, and
John Sapte, the local parish priest. A committee of 16 met that November at the
Abbot's Hospital in
Guildford to develop a prospectus for the new institution. The name "Surrey County School" was chosen and an site was identified, which Cubitt agreed to purchase. The overriding aim was to provide "a sound and thorough
public school education, on the principles of the
Church of England, for the sons of farmers and others throughout the agricultural districts of
Surrey." An appeal for funds was made in April 1863, with an initial target of £7000 (equivalent to £ in ) to provide a school for 100 pupils. and Joseph Merriman, a fellow of
St John's College, Cambridge, was appointed the first headmaster in early 1865.
Robert Quick, who had previously taught at the
Royal Grammar School, Guildford, and
Hurstpierpoint College, was chosen as Merriman's deputy. The school opened to students on 29 September 1865, although the formal opening ceremony did not take place until 12 October. By that date, only the south and east sides of the quad had been completed, which provided a school hall and two classrooms on the ground floor, with dormitories and accommodation for teachers on the first and second floors. Two further classrooms were in temporary use as the dining hall and chapel. Of the 25 pupils who had enrolled in advance, only 18 attended on the first day, but by the summer of 1866, the numbers had increased to 150. The remaining sides of the quad were completed the following year, and the chapel and dining hall were added in 1869.
Late 19th century Merriman continued as headmaster until 1892, during which period the number of pupils increased to over 300. Under his leadership, a new library building was opened in 1874, and six years later, partly in response to an outbreak of
scarlet fever, a
sanatorium was constructed, funded by Cubitt. Merriman retired to take up the
living of
Freshwater on the
Isle of Wight and was succeeded by George Allen, also a graduate of St John's College, Cambridge, and a former teacher at
Wellington and
Dulwich Colleges. John Honey, a historian of 19th-century education, writes that "by the end of the Victorian period, Cranleigh had gained acceptance among what were perhaps the top fifty public schools [in the country]".
Early 20th century The number of pupils at Cranleigh School declined throughout Charles Allen's tenure as headmaster, decreasing from 280 in the Summer Term of 1892 to 173 in October 1908. Allen blamed inadequate science facilities and teaching, which he had been unable to improve owing to the fall in income from
fees. He resigned in July 1908 to become parish priest of
Send near
Woking. Charles Tyler, a graduate of
Pembroke College, Cambridge, who had previously taught at
Charterhouse and
Rossall Schools, was appointed headmaster in December 1908 and took up the post the following month. Herbert Rhodes was appointed headmaster in July 1911 and began a major expansion of the school site and improvement in its facilities, some of which had been planned by Tyler. and the construction of the new
preparatory school on the south side of Horseshoe Lane began in February of the following year. In the three years from January 1912 to December 1914, the number of students rose from 168 to 287. Over 800 former pupils served in the armed forces during the First World War, including
Charles Townshend, who commanded the
6th Division of the
British Indian Army during the
Mesopotamian Campaign, and
James Gordon Legge, who was the
Chief of the General Staff of the
Australian Army. Cranleigh schoolmasters serving in the
British Army included
John Stanley Purvis, who fought at the
Battle of the Somme and wrote the poems
High Wood and
Chance Memory, and
Robert Moline, later the
archbishop of Perth, who was awarded the
Military Cross. In total, 133 former pupils lost their lives, of whom 15 left Cranleigh after the start of the war. A school war memorial, a white stone
cenotaph outside the main entrance, was donated by
Hudson Kearley, 1st Viscount Devonport and an Old Cranleighan, and was unveiled in July 1921. Rhodes continued as headmaster until 1931. Under his leadership, major improvements to the school buildings took place in the 1920s, including the opening refurbishment of two ground floor classrooms to provide a new library and reading room. The Connaught Block, designed by
Edwin Cooper and containing additional dormitories, opened in 1929, as did the Devonport Speech Hall, which he also designed. The chapel
organ was replaced, a new Headmaster's House and school
armoury were built, and electric lighting was installed throughout. The
Guildford–Horsham railway line was opened on 2 October 1865, three days after the school. In the mid-1930s, the
Southern Railway introduced the
SR V "Schools" class locomotives, all of which were named after public schools. The 37th member of the class,
Cranleigh (originally numbered 936), was constructed in June 1935 and was exhibited at that October.
Cranleigh was withdrawn from passenger service in December 1962, and the railway line closed in June 1965. After leading the school for 20 years, Rhodes left Cranleigh School at the end of the Lent Term 1931. His successor,
David Loveday, was immediately presented with the effects of the
Great Depression, which resulted in a decline in pupil numbers from around 300 at the end of the 1920s to about 230 in 1934. The pay of teachers was cut in 1932 and the fund for
scholarships, which had been introduced in 1929, was reduced. By 1936, the financial position of the school had improved sufficiently to allow money to be raised to build new
squash courts, which were opened the following year. The school began to prepare for the Second World War in January 1939, when a meeting of housemasters discussed the possibility of
air raids. That March, a fire-fighting squad of teachers and pupils was formed, and blackout blinds were prepared over the course of the summer. In May 1940, several teachers and older boys joined the
Home Guard. That September, each house was provided with an
air raid shelter and the dormitories were moved to the ground floor. During the war, vegetable
allotments were planted by the pavilion, the golf course became a
hay field and around half of the pupils assisted local farmers with the harvest during the holidays. In August 1944, the school buildings sustained minor damage when a
V-1 flying bomb landed on one of the playing fields. Among the former pupils serving in the Second World War were
George Kitching, who commanded the
4th Canadian Division at the
Normandy landings, and
John Worrall, who led
No. 32 Squadron RAF during the
Battle of Britain. Out of 25 teaching staff in post at the school in 1939, 14 were called up for active service. In total, 138 Old Cranleighans died during the Second World War, and the school created a war memorial at one end of the Reading Room, honouring both them and those who had died in the First World War, dedicated in June 1949.
Late 20th century Loveday continued as headmaster until April 1954, when he became the
archdeacon of Dorking. He was succeeded by Henry March, who had previously been a teacher at Charterhouse School. March attempted to raise academic standards and to improve exam results. He also introduced art to the curriculum and encouraged the development of the school's musical activities. However, his relationship with the teaching staff was poor and he resigned in April 1959 after five years in post. March's deputy,
H. P. Jacob, served as acting headmaster for the next four terms.
Fagging, the practice of junior boys acting as personal servants to senior pupils, was abolished at Cranleigh School in 1964. Emms left in 1970 to become headmaster of
Sherborne School and was succeeded by Mark Van Hasselt. That November, the teaching staff voted unanimously in favour of educating female pupils, and three day girls transferred to the sixth form from
St Catherine's School, Bramley, the following year. The first female boarders at Cranleigh arrived in September 1974 and were initially given accommodation on the top floor of the Headmaster's House. By the start of the 1975–76 academic year, girls comprised 11% of the sixth form, rising to over 20% in 1980. Girls were first admitted to Year 9 (at age 13) in 1999.
21st century In 2009 the
Good Schools Guide described the school as 'An all-rounder’s paradise, yes, but the academic offering can stand up to almost any school in the land' The school's academic block, the van Hasselt Centre was opened by
Kate Adie, the Trevor Abbott Sports Centre was opened by Sir
Richard Branson and the West House was opened by
Baroness Greenfield. Recent building projects have included two academic blocks, two girls' boarding houses, refurbishment of the art studios, and a remodelled entrance. Cranleigh School also has a sister school based in Abu Dhabi which opened in September 2014 and three schools in China. ==Buildings==