Three generations of the Powys family attended Sherborne School. Not only were John Cowper Powys and his brothers Littleton, Albert, Llewelyn and William pupils at Sherborne School, but so also were their maternal grandfather William Cowper Johnson, their uncle Littleton Albert Powys, and John Cowper Powys’ son Littleton Alfred Powys.
- William Cowper Johnson (1813-1893) attended Sherborne School c.1833.
- Littleton Albert Powys (1840-1879) attended Sherborne School (School House) 1855-1857.
- John Cowper Powys (1872-1963) attended Sherborne Preparatory School May 1883-July 1886, and Sherborne School (Maperty) September 1886-1891.
- Littleton Charles Powys (1874-1955) attended Sherborne Preparatory School May 1883-July 1886, and Sherborne School (Maperty & Abbey House) September 1886-July 1893.
- Theodore Francis Powys (1875–1953) attended Hardye’s School in Dorchester, Sherborne Preparatory School 1886-1889, and Eaton House School, Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
- Albert Reginald Powys CBE, FSA, ARIBA (1881-1936) attended Sherborne Preparatory School, and Sherborne School (The Green) September 1895-April 1899.
- Llewelyn Powys (1884-1939) attended Sherborne Preparatory School 1895-1899, and Sherborne School (The Green) January 1899-April 1903.
- William Ernest Powys (1888-1978) attended Sherborne Preparatory School, and Sherborne School (The Green) September 1902-April 1906.
- Littleton Alfred Powys (1902-1954) attended Sherborne Preparatory School, and Sherborne School (Abbey House) September 1916-July 1920.
The Powys sisters must not be forgotten. Gertrude Powys (1877-1952) was an artist who studied at the Slade School of Art and the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, Paris, and many of her paintings are now held at the Dorset County Museum; Eleanor (Nellie) Powys (1879-1892), died at the age of 13; Emily Marian (May) Powys (1882-1972) became an authority on lace and lace-making and opened ‘The Little Devonshire Lace Shop’ in New York; Catharine Philippa (Katie) Powys (1886-1963) was an author and poet; and Lucy Amelia Powys (1890-1986) was the youngest of the siblings. To find out more the Powys sisters, read ‘Powys Women’ by Jacqueline Peltier (2010).
Rachel Hassall
School Archivist
Online resources:
An insight into the Powys family through the diaries of Henry Robinson King by Rachel Hassall, 2020.
Littleton C. Powys, The Powys Family (1952). The text of a lecture given by Littleton Powys to the Swansea and South Wales Bookman’s Association in May, 1945, with some additions.
Oliver Holt, Three Sherborne Memoirs (1987). Includes a chapter about Littleton Powys.
Books written by or about Old Shirburnians (including by members of the Powys family)
Books about Sherborne School
Links:
The Powys Society
The Sundial Press
John Cowper Powys manuscripts and papers, National Library of Wales
The Powys Collection, Dorset History Centre
The Powys Family Collection, University of Exeter
Paintings of Gertrude Powys on the Art UK website
For further information about the Sherborne School Archives please contact the School Archivist.
Return to the School Archives homepage.