Rugby School

Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is a registered charity and is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. In many ways the stereotype of the English public school is a reworking of Thomas Arnold's Rugby. It is one of the original ten English public schools defined by the Public Schools Act 1868 and one of the most famous and expensive schools in the country. "Floreat Rugbeia" is the traditional school song. Rugby School enrolls boarding and day students, with a total student enrollment of 800 in day student grades 4 to 12.

Rugby School was the birthplace of Rugby football. In 1845, three Rugby School pupils produced the first written rules of the "Rugby style of game".

History

Early history

Rugby School was founded in 1567 as a provision in the will of Lawrence Sheriff, who had made his fortune supplying groceries to Queen Elizabeth I of England. Since Lawrence Sheriff lived in Rugby and the neighbouring Brownsover, the school was intended to be a free grammar school for the boys of those towns. Up to 1667, the school remained in comparative obscurity. Its history during that trying period is characterised mainly by a series of lawsuits between descendants of the founder, who tried to defeat the intentions of the testator, and the masters and trustees, who tried to carry them out. A final decision was handed down in 1667, confirming the findings of a commission in favour of the trust, and henceforth the school maintained a steady growth.