Peter Collinson

Mill Hill School was founded as a Protestant Dissenters Academy in 1807 on the estate of noted botanist Peter Collinson. Collinson was in close contact with some of the great minds of his age, including Benjamin Franklin, Carl Linnaeus and Capt. James Cook. Collinson is perhaps most famous for the introduction of dozens of plant types to his New World gardens at Mill Hill. Many of the shrubs and trees still to be found on the Mill Hill estate date from Collinson’s time. One of Mill Hill’s boarding Houses is named in Collinson’s honour.

The original Ridge Way House painted by Mill Hill Art Master G Renton (1819-60). This is Peter Collinson’s house with the additional buildings of the first Grammar School seen to the rear of the left side.