Our House System

On entry to the School every pupil and teacher at Merchant Taylors’ is placed into one of the eight houses who are named after a distinguished alumnus. Each house is led by a dedicated Head of House, supported by a team of House Prefects who help organise events including House assemblies, House competitions and charitable events.

House Events

There are multiple House Events that take place over the course of the academic year, all counting towards The House Competition. These include a wide range of sporting activities such as swimming, hockey, tag rugby, cricket, cross-country, table tennis, football, basketball, squash, athletics and even lawn bowls. There are also over a dozen different nonsporting House competitions including music, a spelling bee, Maths, board games, DET, chess, computing, debating, a literary challenge, science, Lego, classics, drama, general knowledge and even a Rubix cube competition.

House History

Andrewes

Lancelot Andrewes was a pupil at the School in its very earliest days. He went on to a distinguished career at Cambridge University and in the Church. He rose through a succession of prestigious appointments, culminating in a long tenure as Bishop of Winchester, during the reign of James I. Among his many works, his most enduring legacy lies in his prominent role as a leading translator of the King James Bible.

Members of Andrewes House wear ties with a purple stripe.

Hilles House

Richard Hilles, a prominent London cloth merchant and committed Protestant reformer, was the son of a Master of the Merchant Taylors. After periods of exile during the reign of Henry VIII and Queen Mary, he returned to public life under Elizabeth I. In 1561 he served as Master of the Merchant Taylors and was a co-founder of Merchant Taylors’ School, contributing £500 towards its original site and helping appoint its first Head Master, Richard Mulcaster.

Members of Hilles House wear ties with a royal blue stripe.

Manor of the Rose

The House takes its name from the original school buildings in Suffolk Lane in the City of London, Manor of the Rose. When the School moved to its present site in 1933, it became the name of the boarding house built to accommodate boys who would not be able to make the long journey from the East End of London to Sandy Lodge.

Members of Manor of the Rose wear ties with a green stripe.

Mulcaster

Mulcaster House is named after Richard Mulcaster, the first Head Master of Merchant Taylors’ School. He was a fine scholar with, for the time, revolutionary ideas about education. He believed strongly in delivering an education that stretched beyond the purely academic and that encouraged pupils to explore all aspects of life to develop into well rounded young men. Mulcaster’s pupils presented plays at the Court of Queen Elizabeth I and he also formalised the first rules of football, introducing the idea of a referee.

Members of Mulcaster House wear ties with an orange stripe.

Raphael

John Raphael was the School’s greatest sportsman. He captained England at Rugby and led the first British Isles team to tour Argentina. He also played First Class Cricket and holds the record for the most runs scored by a First XI batsman. Tragically, like many other young men of his era, he lost his life in the First World War.

Members of Raphael House wear ties with a red stripe.

Spenser

Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Queen Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the greatest and most influential poets of the English Renaissance. Son of a cloth maker, he was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School before studying at Pembroke College, Cambridge.

Members of Spenser House wear ties with a yellow stripe.

Walter

John Walter OMT was a London coal merchant and underwriter before founding The Times Newspaper in 1785. As its proprietor, he served 16 months in Newgate Prison for libelling the future King George IV and his trial and his fate helped establish the principles of freedom of speech we enjoy today.

Members of Walter House wear ties with a light blue stripe.

White

Thomas White, an English cloth merchant and a principal member of the guild of Merchant Taylors, served as Lord Mayor of London in 1553. In 1555, he founded St John’s College, Oxford, and six years later, was one of the two founders of Merchant Taylors’ School, fostering a lasting bond between the two institutions. Today, his statue stands prominently at the entrance to the Design and Technology building.

Members of White House wear ties with a white stripe.