Elizabeth College was founded in 1563 under the orders of Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth referred to it as her “Grammar School”, which would probably lead to great confusion today. It was the fourth school to be established on the island, the others being the (loose) equivalent of primaries in St Peter Port, St Peters and St Martins. These schools were only parish schools, which provided very little in the way of further education, and so the queen decreed that the College should be built. She also gave funds for a similar one in Jersey, which was never built, due to the funds being misused. Personally I suspect that Elizabeth always had a place in her heart for the Channel Islands, especially considering that her great naval commander and favourite Sir Francis Drake had strong links with Jersey.

The island was in religious confusion, with the Presbyterian system having been newly introduced. One of the school’s main aims was to create a religious unity that would suit Elizabeth’s wishes. And in order to achieve this, Franciscan friars were thrown off of their lands on La Rue Des Frères, where the College still stands, to be given to the College cause. At that time though, College lands extended from College Street through the Grange all the way to Upland Road. However, the main College building of the time was the Cottage on the corner near to the top of Smith Street (Le Rue des Forges).

Five years later, the Governor officially handed the Island over to the states, under whose control the Island has been ever since. The States were a College sponsor since their creation, but have always refrained from making the College a States school.

The College, despite early help, was not always in such a good position as it is now. Early records show the College students’ number going from above fifty to below ten. Dr. Adrian De Saravia, was Principal of the College for five years, and a member of the Franciscan church, although not related to the monks who had previously resided in the college grounds. He had an exceptionally interesting life, founding churches and sects on the continent, going through the ranks of the clergy, being headmaster of two schools at different times, even being military chaplain to William of Orange! He left the College to help translate the Bible into English, and never returned.

Here comes one of the slumps. Nothing was really known about the College for a long time, or nothing written down anyway. The records start to pile in again around 1753, the year in which the Laboratory Complex was built. It wasn’t labs at that time, though. It formed a bigger school, which could cope with many more pupils, and which the master could live in.

During the English Civil war, the College was a bastion of Republicanism, the Royal Court even sitting there when they came under fire from the Royalist Castle Cornet. The school slowly fell into disuse and was largely unused until the coming of Sir John Colbourne.

Colbourne was a military man, who was promoted up the ranks to military secretary in the early months of his career. He was widely acclaimed as a tactical genius after routing Napoleon’s “Old Guard”, and aiding the English success in the battle of Waterloo. The next day, he was knighted, and promptly quit the military to become lieutenant-governor of Guernsey.

His highly successful Governorship lasted 7 years, but one of the first things he did was to build a road west so that troops could quickly get over to defend the west coast, in the event of a French attack. He ordered many west coast castles and fortifications to be built, several of which still stand today. He also built Câtel Road, which today is known as the Grange.

This is all wonderful, but by far the best thing he did as Lieutenant-Governor was to order a public inquiry into education at the College, which culminated in him making the governor subsidise the new College Building, which is still the main college building today.

After his seven years, he was put in charge of Canada, and quelled a rebellion there. He became Lord Seaton in 1839, rejoined the military to command troops in Ireland, and finally became a field marshal upon his retirement.

The College re-opened after closing due to lack of support in 1829, and only English tutors were employed in order to make the public speak in a more “proper” accent.

The school flourished from that time on, as a late 19th century report on the schoolchildren’s interests points out. I really like this 1954 article so I will reprint much of the paragraph.



"Their interests within the College lay in very much the same paths: in cricket, enjoyment of food, the ridicule of their fellows, and in unorthodox after school activities; taking snuff, “ragging”, “fooling”, and “table moving”, apparently also popular with “a party of ladies resident in the island.” Outside activities were centred on the harbour and shopping, as today – and also upon public entertainment in the Lyric Theatre, and functions connected with the lieutenant-governor, then General John Bell." – Quarterly Review No 1-2 1954.