History
Muir College of Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape is one of South Africa's oldest remaining schools, if not the oldest. This is, however, debatable as its location, name and identity have changed several times.
Gert Scheepers was the first white settler in the Gamtoos Valley, establishing his farm Rietvallei in 1772. In 1804 the town of Uitenhage would be founded on the site of Scheepers’ farm, and for the 12 years preceding the founding of Grahamstown in 1820, Uitenhage held the “hot seat” so far as frontier and military responsibility on the frontier of the Cape Colony was concerned.
Muir celebrates its founding year as 1822, when Scotsman James Rose-Innes arrived in the town to establish an English Free School as part of Lord Charles Somerset’s anglicisation policy. The school initially had an enrollment of 60, which had increased to 167 by 1829. In 1840 this school became known as the Government School. In 1873 the Government School amalgamated with the Proprietary School (established in 1864) to become the Public Undenominational School. In November 1892 the school underwent its final significant name change, becoming the Muir Academy in honour of the then Secretary General of Education Sir Thomas Muir. It became known as Muir College in 1906.
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