On 1 June 1950, George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited Sherborne School to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the re-founding of the School by Edward VI.
Although a wet weather programme had been prepared for the visit it was, thankfully, a glorious day. The Royal party arrived by train and were driven from Sherborne Station to the main school gate where they were met by Headmaster Alexander Ross Wallace and a Guard of Honour. After a lunch in the Big School Room of clear turtle soup, Severn salmon and Strawberries Sarah Bernhardt, the King and Queen signed the Distinguished Visitors’ Book in the Upper Library and then visited a number of School departments, including the Art School and the Biology Laboratory. At the outdoor swimming bath (now the site of the Pilkington Labs) they inspected a display of camp work put on by the 4th Sherborne Prep School Scouts.
The Royal visit ended on the Upper playing field where the King and Queen watched a cricket match between the Masters & the 1st XI. As they were driven from the Upper to the railway station, the King and Queen were waved off by children from the Prep School, Sherborne Girls’, Fosters’, St Antony’s (now Leweston), and Lord Digby’s School.
In 1955, a tablet commemorating the 1950 Royal Visit was placed on the wall underneath the gate tower entrance to Sherborne School.
Rachel Hassall
Archivist, Sherborne School
See also:
- Film of George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Sherborne School in 1950 (YouTube)
- King George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Sherborne in 1950 (Windrose Media Trust)
- British Railways Southern Region Instructions as to a Royal Special Train conveying the King and Queen from Waterloo to Sherborne, 1 June 1950 (pdf)
- Royal visits and celebrations
For further information about the Sherborne School Archives please contact the School Archivist
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