Wycombe Abbey ( WIK-əm) is a private girls' boarding and day school in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England.
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. 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 125 private schools and among the top 30 senior schools in the UK.
In the 2023/2024 GCSE examinations, the school achieved 97% 9-7. For the A-level examinations, the school achieved 95% A*-B.
Contents
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 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.
Consequently, Lord Shelburne sold his estates in the area. Loakes House was purchased from them at auction by Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington, in 1798. He employed the architect James Wyatt to transform Loakes House into Wycombe Abbey as we see it today. The original house and other parts of the school are listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England with the landscaped grounds of the school listed Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
World War II
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.
International schools
There are additional international Wycombe Abbey schools as follows:
Wycombe Abbey School Changzhou
Wycombe Abbey School Hangzhou
Wycombe Abbey School Hong Kong
Notable alumnae
Rosie Alison, producer and writer
Eve Best, actress
Elsie Bowerman, suffragette, Titanic survivor and lawyer
Kate Brooke, screenwriter
Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, British judge, Deputy Coroner of the Queen's Household
Sue Carr, Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill, Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales
Judith Chaplin, Member of Parliament (1992)
Lorraine Copeland, archaeologist
Gabrielle Drake, actress
Penelope Fitzgerald, novelist and biographer
Jackie Forster, actress, TV personality, feminist and lesbian campaigner
Caroline Hawley, British journalist
Elizabeth Haysom, orchestrated the double murder of her parents
Molly Hide, English cricketer
Patricia, Lady Hopkins, architect
Elspeth Howe, Baroness Howe of Idlicote
India Knight, journalist
Dorothy Lamb, archaeologist
Beverley Lang, Justice of the High Court
Notable staff
Elsie Bowerman, governor and school historian
Margaret Boyd, physical education teacher.
Mary Cartwright
Gustav Holst
Annie Whitelaw, Head from 1910 to 1925