Wycombe Abbey is an
independent girls' boarding and day school in
High Wycombe,
Buckinghamshire, England. It is consistently ranked as one of the top all-girls schools in academic results.[3][4]
The school was founded in 1896 by Dame
Frances Dove (1847–1942), who was previously headmistress of
St Leonards School in Scotland. Its present capacity is approximately 650 girls, aged 11 to 18.[5] The current headmistress is Jo Duncan.
The school is on a 69 hectare campus in central High Wycombe. The land includes woods, gardens, a Cold War bunker (
RAF Daws Hill) and a lake, and rises up to 150 metres above sea level in the
Chiltern Hills. The freehold is owned by the school; the main house and several buildings at Wycombe Abbey are Grade II* listed.
Wycombe Abbey is included in
The Schools Index of the world's best 150 private schools and among the top 30 senior schools in the UK.[6][7]
History
Early history
In the 13th century, the area, with the parish church, was part of the holding of the Abbess of
Godstow. 600 years later, the priory at Godstowe was also re-founded as a school by Dame Frances Dove, and today is a 'feeder'
preparatory school for Wycombe Abbey.
On the site of the present Wycombe Abbey was a large
manor house known as 'Loakes House' which was the seat of the Archdale family, until 1700, when Thomas Archdale sold it to
Henry Petty, 1st Earl of Shelburne. The earl, in turn, bequeathed the estate to his grandnephew,
William Petty, (who inherited a different Earldom of Shelburne in 1761[8] and became
prime minister in 1782). The Shelburnes, though, had a far larger and grander residence at
Bowood House in the
Savernake Forest and spent little time at Loakes House.
The
Air Ministry requisitioned Wycombe Abbey School in March 1942 to serve as the headquarters of the United States
Eighth Air Force after the entry of the United States into
World War II. It was returned to Wycombe Abbey on 9 May 1946.[11]
International schools
There are additional international Wycombe Abbey schools as follows:[12]
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's
verifiability policy. Please
improve this article by removing names that do not have independent
reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate
citations.(October 2023)
^Henry Petty was created Earl of Shelburne in 1719, but when he died without heirs in 1751, the earldom became extinct. It was recreated for his kinsman,
John Petty in 1753; it was this latter earldom that William Petty inherited.