Newcome's academy

Newcome's School was a fashionable school in Hackney, then to the east of London, founded in the early 18th century. A number of prominent Whig families sent their children there. The school closed in 1815, and the buildings were gutted in 1820. In 1825 the London Orphan Asylum opened on the site. Today the Clapton Girls' Academy is located here.

Newcome's school was established in the early 18th century. During the 18th century and early 19th century, Hackney was home to private schools of all kinds, and was considered a healthy area, close to London.

A number of prominent Whig families sent their children to the school. Dr. Henry Newcome who gave the school its name was noted for Whig political principles, and a large number of future Members of Parliament were educated at Newcome's, which was in the Newcome family for three generations, to 1803. Distinguished pupils included Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, British Prime Minister from 1768 to 1770, and two Founding Fathers of the United States (Middleton and Nelson). The family descended from Henry Newcome, a prominent nonconformist minister in Manchester. His third son Peter was an Anglican priest, and the father of the Henry Newcome who gave the school its name.

The school closed in 1815, and the building was knocked down in 1820. In 1825 the London Orphan Asylum opened on the site. The History of Parliament (1820–1832) comments that, even after its closure, the school could count nine Members of Parliament educated there in the period. It sent 42 pupils to Trinity College, Cambridge.

Today the Clapton Girls' Academy is located on the site.

Newcome's School was noted for a series of dramatic productions. In some case a prologue or epilogue was written specially. The school was one of a group that acted as preparatory schools to Westminster School; the dramatic tradition imitated Westminster's, with the difference that plays were in English (rather than Latin). One of the contributors of prologues was David Garrick. The custom of giving a play every three years was also taken over from the Elizabethan statutes of Westminster School. It ended about 1800.

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