Ridgeway House

Mill Hill School

Coat of arms of the School
Motto	Latin: Et virtutem et musas (Both virtue and learning)
Established	1807
Type	Independent day and boarding
Headmistress	Mrs. Frances King
Chair of Governors	Dr Amanda Craig
Founder	Samuel Favell John Pye-Smith
Location	The Ridgeway Mill Hill Village London NW7 1QS England 51°37′08″N 0°13′50″W / 51.6190°N 0.2305°W / 51.6190; -0.2305Coordinates: 51°37′08″N 0°13′50″W / 51.6190°N 0.2305°W / 51.6190; -0.2305
DfE URN	101367 Tables
Students	640~
Gender	Co-educational
Ages	13–18
Houses	10
Colours	Blue and Red
Former pupils	Old Millhillians
Website	www.millhill.org.uk

Samuel Favell

Blue and Red

Mill Hill School is a coeducational independent day and boarding school located in Mill Hill, north London. A member of the HMC, it is one of a handful of independent boarding schools in London. The school educates approximately 640 pupils, spread across ten day and boarding houses.

A committee of Nonconformist merchants and ministers, including John Pye Smith, founded the school for boys on 25 January 1807. They located it outside the boundary of London because of "dangers both physical and moral, awaiting youth while passing through the streets of a large, crowded and corrupt city". The school is in peaceful, secure and rural surroundings, but by today's standards very close to Central London. A boarding school was opened in the house once occupied by Peter Collinson, with about 20 boys. The Rev J Atkinson was the first headmaster and chaplain until 1810.

Mill Hill School occupies a 120-acre (49 ha) site, part of which formed the gardens of Ridgeway House, the house of the botanist Peter Collinson. He was one of the most important importers of rare and exotic plants into English gardens. Many of the species that he introduced to Mill Hill in the 18th Century continue to flourish today in the grounds of the School. In 1746 Collinson planted Britain's first hydrangea on the grounds, now located adjacent to School House.

The estate was purchased by the botanist Richard Salisbury in 1802, Ridgeway House became the setting for a long-running scientific dispute between the new owner and his guest, James Edward Smith. The flora of Mill Hill was supplemented by the work of the amateur botanist Richard William Bowry Buckland (died 1947), governor of the foundation from 1878 to 1889, who cultivated a garden in the south-west of the school's grounds for the enjoyment of future generations. He wrote in his diary:

In years bygone I pray to thee,
This willow here, my legacy
As I have sat, pray sit thee.
In shaded splendour
Millhillians; rest hither.