History
It was founded in 1894 thanks to a bequest from Henry James Campbell, who had made his fortune in the linen trade. Initially the school was primarily a boarding school but it has, particularly since the 1970s, become primarily a day school and in 2009 had 879 pupils, only about 85 (10%) of whom were boarders. As a selective Independent school it admits pupils based on academic selection. Until 2006 pupils began at the school at age 11, but since the closure of the school's separate preparatory school, Cabin Hill, the school has accepted pupils from 4 into the newly built Junior School and both boys and girls into the school's Kindergarten located on the school's grounds. The Latin motto of the school is "Ne Obliviscaris" (Do not forget).
In 1935 Jimmy Steele led an attempted Irish Republican Army raid on the school in an effort to secure the arms inside the College Officers' Training Corps. The RUC at Strandtown were tipped off and the raid was unsuccessful. A gun battle took place at the Gate Lodge on Hawthornden Road in which Constable Ian Hay received five gunshot wounds, but survived. In 1936 Steele and three other IRA members were captured, prosecuted and imprisoned in Crumlin Road Gaol.
During World War II the school was requisitioned by the War Office as a hospital, with the pupils transferred to Portrush, north Antrim. Campbell lost 134 former students in World War I. There are separate memorials to the dead of both World Wars in the Central Hall.
Both of these events were experienced firsthand by Albert Maxwell, BEM, who worked for the school as groundsman and head porter for 64 years. Maxwell retired in 1993 but continued to live in the school's Grade B1 listed gate lodge until his death in 1997.
The author C.S. Lewis, who grew up nearby, attended the school for two months before he was withdrawn because of a serious respiratory illness and sent to Malvern (Cherbourg School), famous at the time for treating people with lung problems. The gas lamppost on the school drive is claimed to have been the inspiration for that mentioned in Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. However some sources state a lamppost in Crawfordsburn Country Park was the inspiration.
Several Campbell students have been involved in filmmaking. These include William MacQuitty (A Night to Remember), Andrew Eaton (Resurrection Man), Nick Hamm (The Hole), Dudi Appleton (The Most Fertile Man in Ireland) and Mark Huffam (Saving Private Ryan). Composer David Catherwood is currently director of music at Campbell. A collection of Lepidoptera by Thomas Workman is displayed in the school.
Read more about this topic: Campbell College
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