Before Canford

The school archive received this rugby colours cap earlier this year. It was awarded to Donald Baylis Payne when he was a pupil at Clarence School in the years immediately after the first world war.

Clarence School was founded by William Franklin in 1886. Originally called Combe Down School, it transferred to Weston-super-Mare under its new name in 1895. Twenty eight years later, once again seeking new premises, the school moved to Wimborne, and once again it changed its name. The original intention had been to call it Wimborne College, but this was abandoned in favour of Canford School, an altogether more appropriate name, retaining the initials of Clarence School and enabling former pupils of both schools to be called OCs.

Canford owes a great deal to Clarence School: the 100 strong nucleus of its first intake in May 1923; its first headmaster, J.S. Macnutt, who ran Clarence School after the death of William Franklin in 1921; the school motto, Nisi Dominus Frustra; and of course the name of one of the original three houses, which honours the founder of Clarence School.