Timeline

William Allen was appointed twelfth Master of Dulwich College.

Lancelot Baugh Allen was appointed thirteenth Master of Dulwich College.

On her death, Margaret Desenfans, one of three Founders of the Dulwich Picture Gallery, left the College two marble busts by Christopher Prosperi (for the Mausoleum attached to the Gallery), a french mantel clock from Charlotte Street, furniture and her own fortune.

In 1816, Rev. Ozias Thurston Linley was appointed Fourth Fellow or organist at Dulwich College. His father, Thomas Linley, was musical director and partner in the management of the Drury Lane Theatre (now the Royal Opera House).

John Allen was appointed fourteenth Master of Dulwich College.

George John Allen was appointed fifteenth Master of Dulwich College.

The Great Exhibition from Hyde Park was opened on Sydenham Hill on 10 June 1854 and soon became known as The Crystal Palace because the sheet glass, developed by Chance Brothers, sparkled in the sunlight.

In 1856 Charles Dickens joined a public debate about the future of Alleyn's Foundation by chairing and addressing a meeting at the Adelphi Hotel.

By the nineteenth century the College had outgrown the statutes laid down by Edward Alleyn. The Estate of 1,145 acres should have been realising an annual income of £50,000, but through bad management and lethargy was producing only £8,000.

Alfred Carver appointed sixteenth Master of Dulwich College. The enlightened Canon Carver absorbed new ideas about science and technology from the Great Exhibition of 1851 and introduced the teaching of science in fully equipped laboratories with permanent staff and external lecturers as well as practical demonstrations.

The distribution of prizes for academic achievement was established in continental Europe in the seventeenth century but did not become commonplace in England until the mid-nineteenth century. The first recorded prize giving at Dulwich took place in 1860.

On 26 June 1866 the foundation stone was laid for the Barry Buildings. The Chairman of the Governors, Reverend William Rogers, invited his friend William Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, to lay the first stone of the New College on 26 June 1866.

The school motto, Detur Gloria Soli Deo (Let glory be given to God alone), was adopted by the Master, Canon Carver, in 1867. Carver served as Master from 1858 to 1883.

The Barry Building, designed by Charles Barry Junior, was opened by HRH the Prince of Wales on 21 June 1870. The building included innovations such as an internal telephone system known as speaking tubes, and one of the first chemistry laboratories of any British public school.

The first issue of The Alleynian was published in February 1873. Since then the school magazine has undergone many transformations in terms of format, content and frequency of publication. By July 2018 the College had published 706 editions.

Alleyn's School became a separate part of the College of God's Gift in 1882. In 1887 it moved to its present site on Townley Road, Dulwich.

James EC Welldon was appointed seventeenth Master of Dulwich College.

Arthur H Gilkes was appointed eighteenth Master of Dulwich College. During his mastership (1885-1914), the College reached a ‘Golden Age'. The young minds of future great writers like PG Wodehouse and Raymond Chandler were formed.

The school song, Pueri Alleynienses, was a collaboration between the then Master, the Reverend James Welldon, and the College’s first full-time music master, Edward Davey Rendall. Welldon wrote the lyrics and Rendall the score.

Although the school cap, with blue cross ribbons and the school crest, may have been introduced as far back as 1864, the design patent for the cap is dated 5 August 1891. It has been suggested that in the mid to late 1800s the cap was worn back to front.

The Orchard has been providing boarding accommodation to pupils since 1895. Its first Housemaster was Edward Davey Rendall, composer of the school song, Pueri Alleynienses. Between 1942 and 1944 it housed undergraduates from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) who were being fast-tracked in order to fill the gap in languages needed by the War Office