Tonbridge School - Houses

Houses

There are twelve houses at Tonbridge School: seven boarding, and five day houses. Each house has its own house colours. The houses, in order of foundation, are:

Each house contains some 65 pupils. The names are either drawn from the location of the house itself (e.g. Park House, Parkside, School House (originally located in the main school building) and Hill Side), or are names of benefactors, headmasters and others who have left their mark on the school over the years (e.g. Smythe House, named after Sir Thomas Smythe (see also Smythe Library), Judde House, named after the founder of the school, Whitworth and Welldon, both named after headmasters of the school, and Cowdrey House, named after Colin Cowdrey, arguably the most famous Tonbridge cricketing alumnus). The only exceptions are Ferox Hall, which takes its name from the Latin for ferocious, and Manor House, which was named by a former Housemaster.

There are also several "out-houses" around the town, intended to help further prepare boys for university life. Boys retain affiliation to the house they lived in previously during their time in out-houses.

Competitions between houses are held in many fields, particularly sport, as well as other activities such as music, art, debating, and design & technology. One example is the inter-house shooting competition; the winning house is awarded the Hansard Trophy, named after Cornelius Hansard, an Old Tonbridgian who served in the Second Boer War. The trophy, having been held by School House for two years running (2006 & 2007), is now held by Smythe House. The most prestigious of all of the house competitions are the senior house match competitions for each of the four main sports (rugby, football, hockey and cricket) which have been dominated in recent years by Park House.

The Cras, a cross-country running competition between the houses, is also a major source of house rivalry. The Cras is one of the oldest competitions still run by the school and is highly prestigious to win. Runners score points for their position, and the lowest scoring house (the one with the runners who finished best) receives a trophy. In the last one hundred years, only two boys have consecutively won the Cras in each of their five years at the school. There are various legends as to how the name was given to this race, the two most popular are that it is an acronym for "Compulsory Run Around School", or that the name is down to a mispronunciation by a former head of ground staff who originally came from the West Country, who pronounced "cross-country" as "CRAS-country". Past individual winners of the Cras include Eric Stuart Dougall (winner of the first Cras and a recipient of the Victoria Cross during World War I), Olly Freeman (current international triathlete) and Maurice Holmes (cricketer).

On the final Friday of the school year the boys compete for their houses in the house athletics competition. Cups are awarded for events and an overall trophy for the winning house. The senior boy who has won the most events is presented with the Victor Ludorum trophy (Latin for "Winner of the games"). This award is not unique for Tonbridge as several other British public schools also award it at similar events. There can be only one winner, and as such it is highly prestigious to win and a sign of outstanding athletic ability.