675 – 1538 Founded as a school for the sons of officials at Abingdon Abbey, and expanded after the Conquest to accommodate the sons of military knights compulsorily settled on abbey lands, Abingdon School continued under the aegis of the Abbey until Henry VII dissolved the monasteries and the Abbey surrendered to the King’s commissioners in 1518.
1538 – 1878 The School’s consequent financial insecurity meant that when Christ’s Hospital was founded in 1533, it was charged with the responsibility of acquiring and holding property for the benefit of the School which, in 1556, passed to the control of the newly created Borough of Abingdon. In 1563 an OA, John Roysse, gave £50 towards a new school building, and land in Birchin Lane in the City of of London to fund a headmaster’s salary. Over the centuries, benefactors like William Bennett (and his nephew Ralph Bennett), Thomas Tesdale and John Blacknall augmented the support of the Corporation and Christ’s Hospital. In 1870, the School moved to new buildings in Albert Park, financed by the sale of the Birchin Lane property.
1878 – 1944 19th Century reforms saw Christ’s Hospital and the Corporation gradually released from their legal and financial obligations to the School as the role of Berkshire County Council and then of the Ministry of Education increased. Wanting the School to be more than a county school, however, the Governors began to use appeals to raise money for capital projects. Between 1901 and 1903, £2,566 was raised for the Chapel extension and £3,000 in 1929 to buy Waste Court.
1944 – 1976 Following the 1944 Education Act, Abingdon became a Direct Grant School. Public money was available for a new science block in 1949, but an appeal to Old Abingdonians, and a gift from William Rudd, master 1904-47, financed the purchase of Lacies Court. The War Memorial Appeal provided the money for new playing fields and the Quatercentenary Appeal funded a new swimming pool and the conversion of Big School into the Grundy Library, opened by Princess Margaret in 1963. A legacy from John Ingham, master 1915-57, enabled the building of the Ingham Music School in 1966, and a new appeal in 1973 raised the money for a dining hall, for which Mrs Thatcher, then Education Secretary, dug the first sod.
1976 – 1999 Direct Grant Schools were abolished in 1976 and the School chose to go independent. The magnificent generosity of the Mercers’ Company, of Ron Amey and his family, the Hoodless and McGhie families, and of Old Abingdonians like John Hooke, John Greening, Richard Cox and Mathew Harding made possible new classrooms, the Jubilee Wing in 1977; an assembly hall, the Amey Hall (1980), a sports hall (1983), a new science wing, the Greening Wing (1991); a new teaching and administration block, Mercer’s Court (1994) and additional playing fields, Cox’s fields (1998).
2000 – current Since the turn of the century, the generous donations of Alastair Herbert, Philip Selway, David Roberts, Andrew Hugh Smith, David & Pip Whibley, Doreen Gibbons and Mike & Valerie O’Neill, along with many others, have allowed the construction of a new boathouse (2004) and a purpose built arts centre which was opened by The Rt Hon Francis Maude in 2003.