School History

In 1551, the churchwardens of St. Clement Danes Parish purchased the St. Clement Danes Holborn Estate, a piece of land on the north side of Holborn. The income from the estate was to be devoted to charitable purposes. In 1844 part of the funds from the Holborn Estate Charity were allocated to founding a Grammar School, and in 1862, the School was opened in Houghton Street, London, WC2.

The School remained in Houghton Street until 1928, when it transferred to a new site in Du Cane Road, London W12 where it flourished as a Grammar School until 1975. In that year, under an agreement between the Governing Board of the School and Hertfordshire, it was re-established in its new premises in Chorleywood, as a Voluntary-Aided Mixed Comprehensive School. In April 1994 the School was incorporated as a Grant Maintained School.

Saint Clement, after whom the school is named, was Bishop of Rome some time during the first century of the Christian era. He was known personally to St. Paul, who mentioned him in the Epistle to the Philippians as one of his "fellow labourers". He suffered martyrdom during the persecution of the Christians by the Roman Emperor Trajan about 100 A.D. Legend has it that the Emperor ordered the execution of Clement, who had been banished from Rome to the Crimea, and he was thrown into the Black Sea with an anchor tied round his neck.

During its history the school has been located, at various times, on three sites. Houghton Street 1844-1928, DuCane Road 1928-1975 and Chorleywood 1975 to the present.

The Church of St. Clement Danes in the Strand was established with the blessing of the Saxon King Alfred outside the walls of the City of London for the use of the growing Danish Community. In 1551 the Churchwardens of the Parish paid £160 to buy some land in what was then rural Holborn, with the intention that the income would be used 'for the relief of the poor' in the Parish. So the St. Clement Danes Holborn Estate Charity (HEC) was established. By 1664 there was sufficient money to build Almshouses in the Parish (the Charity still owns retirement housing in south London) and to support elementary education for poor parishioners.

By the early 18th Century the Parish was densely populated and two of the earliest Charity Schools established by the SPCK were flourishing in the Parish. A sampler embroidered by a pupil at the school, Mary Windon in 1723, is stored at the Governors offices in London and a copy is on display at the School.

Houghton Street

By 1844 the income of HEC had grown sufficiently for the Trustees to request the Court of Chancery to approve a scheme to establish a Grammar School for Boys and a Middle Class Girls' School. So the Old Peacock Inn and some houses in Houghton Street and New Inn Passage were purchased and the new schools were erected. The boys school opened on 4 August 1862 with 75 boys attending in the first term. Following new Education Acts in 1873 and 1874 a separate Board of Governors was established but with HEC still providing substantial financial support.

By 1900 boys were being drawn to the school from an increasingly wide area and it was also able to foster a variety of talents. It was during this time that the school's most distinguished Old Dane attended the school. Giovanni Barbirolli (later Sir John Barbirolli, after whom the Barbirolli Hall is named) played a 'cello solo at Speech Day in 1908 . He maintained contact with the school throughout his life, presenting the prizes at Speech Day in 1954. The school gave a Memorial Concert in St. Clement Danes Church following Sir John's death in 1971.

Rumours of possible merger with other central London schools were quelled by World War I during which 27 Old Danes were killed. But by the early 1920's the declining population in inner London and the growing need for good schools in the suburbs led the Governors to accept a proposal that school move to Hammersmith. The Houghton Street school was sold and subsequently demolished to accommodate the growing London School of Economics.

Ducane Road

The school moved from Houghton Street WC2 near the Aldwych to Ducane Road in Hammersmith in 1928. The new school was bigger and much better equipped. It also had a sports field which enabled sport of all sorts to flourish. As well as local boys some boys travelled by train from central London to attend the new school. One of the few items brought from Houghton Street was the Memorial commemorating the staff and boys who had died on active service in World War I. This plaque is now in the courtyard at Chorleywood.

One other thing that came from the old school was the names of the Houses. The names Temple, Dane, Clement and Clare all had associations in the ancient Parish of St. Clement Danes. By 1938 the school had grown to a size where more houses were needed so Burleigh, Lincoln, Exeter and Essex were created also with associations with the ancient parish.

Soon afterwards World War II broke out and most of the school was evacuated to Oxford. Staff joined up, some to lose their lives, some to return to teaching at the school once the war had ended. The Ducane Road building was taken over by the ARP authorities and was bombed in March 1941. Later in the war some teaching began back in London. A large number of old boys served in the forces during the war; those who lost their lives are listed in the Memorial Book in the entrance hall at Chorleywood and on the replica Memorial in the courtyard. The original Memorial is housed at Burlington Danes School in Hammersmith. Many boys went to Harvest Camps during the wartime summer holidays. This and other wartime activities are shown on the painting 'St. Clement Danes in the Second World War- London and Oxford' painted by a former member of staff, Harold Beales. This painting can be seen in the entrance hall at Chorleywood.

The school flourished in the post war years and became one of the most successful Grammar Schools in West London academically, in sport and in music. In 1960, 17 boys won scholarships to Oxford, Cambridge and other leading universities. In the 1960s the schools association with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden began and in 1972 the School's First XI were runners-up in the England School Boys Soccer Championship.

By this time the winds of change were blowing through the education system and national and local politicians had plans that would have changed the school in a way that the Governors and the Trustees of the St. Clement Danes Holborn Estate Charity found unacceptable. The invitation from Hertfordshire County Council to establish a new co-educational comprehensive school in Chorleywood was accepted and in 1975 St. Clement Danes Holborn Estate Grammar School for Boys transformed into St. Clement Danes School. The Ducane Road buildings were taken over by Burlington Danes School. They were sold to the nearby Hammersmith Hospital in 2002 and were eventually demolished in 2004 to make way for accommodation for medical staff.

The Trustees of the St. Clement Danes Holborn Estate Charity secured the removal of the stones bearing the school's name from above the entrance and these are now outside the entrance of the school at Chorleywood.

Nigel Bamping Temple 1965 - 1972