Strikingly Alive!

This is an entirely fresh approach to the history of all three schools within the new Foundation. It is placed in the setting of Mill Hill Village, beloved by local residents over the years – many of whom have contributed to the narrative.

The story traces back to the era of The Enlightenment at the end of the 18th century, when events were leading the Protestant Dissenters to launch Europe’s first Dissenters Grammar School.

Set down for the first time are many stories about Mill Hill’s historic background. Governor Bill Skinner, a Millhillian who has delved deep into the Foundation’s history, proclaimed to a Life Governors Meeting in 2004: “You must read this outstanding History: it tells you things that even I never knew!” These include revelations about the School’s service during World War II – never before made public, the wartime evacuation to St Bees in Cumbria, as well as Mill Hill’s pathfinding role in Britain’s educational history as the major participant in the famous Middlesex Scheme of the ‘Butler’ Education Act of 1944.

Pupils and staff, architectural achievements and ancient customs, facts, dates, memories, international sporting records and national academic highlights, noble events – and even a few scandals – all are encompassed within this very readable and enjoyable story. Mill Hill’s 200-Year History will deepen your personal perspective as you have experienced it. The book more than lives up to the title, “Strikingly Alive!” – an enduring quotation from one of the School’s most famous visitors, four times PM William Gladstone – as relevant today as it was then.

If you wish to purchase a copy of the book please contact Walker House, Mill Hill School, on the Ridgeway next to Belmont Preparatory School.

From left: The pre-WWII Dining Hall, with individual place settings. MHM caricature of supposedly ferocious hockey playing girls, as envisaged by quizzical MHS male population. The Collinson centenary: A unique representation of six generations of housemasters: first “Old Millhillienne” and “The Baron”’s daughter, with his five successors.