Christ’s Hospital Museum represents and celebrates almost 500 remarkable years of history of one of the oldest boarding schools in England.
In 1552 the young King Edward VI responded to an impassioned sermon on the needs of London’s poor, following which he wrote to the Lord Mayor of London, to set in motion charitable measures to help.
Christ’s Hospital was consequently founded in Newgate Street with the intention to take out of the streets all fatherless children & other poor men's children that were not able to keep them and to bring them to the late dissolved house of the Grey Friars which they devised to be a hospital for them where they should have meat, drink and cloths, lodging and learning and officers to attend upon them.
By November 1552, it opened its doors to 380 pupils and within a year, the number had increased to 500.
*adapted from John Howes’ MS.,1582
Christ’s Hospital moved from the City of London to Horsham in 1902 and is situated in 1,200 acres of Sussex countryside. The school now has some 900 boarding pupils with an equal number of boys and girls, and takes day pupils.
The Museum is responsible for over 100,000 artefacts and archival items relating to Christ’s Hospital’s history, some displayed around the school site, others held at the London Metropolitan Archives and Ironmonger’s Hall, London. With extensive permanent and changing display areas, research and family history facilities, Christ’s Hospital Museum offers a rich and diverse resource, welcoming the Christ’s Hospital school community, “Old Blues” and hundreds of visitors and enquirers each year.