Bedford School is not to be confused with Bedford Modern School.

Bedford School is a public school for boys in Bedford, fifty miles north of London, England.

Bedford School is split in two: the Upper School (ages 13 to 18) and the Preparatory School (ages 7 to 13). The school has approximately 1,200 boys, both day-boys and boarders between the ages of 7 and 18. A wide range of subjects are taught at GCSE and at A-level; the school also teaches the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. The current headmaster is Dr Philip Evans OBE. Mr John Moule has been appointed to succeed Dr Philip Evans OBE as Head Master of Bedford School. This appointment is to take effect from 01 September 2008.

The original foundation of a church school (on the site occupied by the institution until the late 19th century) dates back to before the Domesday Book. However, the school was granted letters patent by King Edward VI in 1552, much aided by the actions of Sir William Harpur (indeed, the school is now one of four in a group of schools run by the Harpur trust).

In 1979, the school suffered a devastating arson attack during the night, and the imposing main building was gutted by fire. The flames leaped to an astonishing 130 feet high. The fire was fought throughout the night, into the early morning of Sunday 4 March, and when it had finally been beaten, the extent of the damage was revealed: Over 90% of the building had been destroyed by the blaze, and thirty classrooms lost. Remarkably, almost all of the pupil-records were recovered, but the extensive collection of portraits, books and furniture were destroyed. The school re-opened the next week using temporary classrooms for the pupils.

Two new buildings have been built within the last five years: a £1 million library and a £3 million music school.

The first year at Bedford is for 13-year-olds going on 14. It is called the Fourth Form and is equivalent to Year 9 in the state system. After that there is the Remove and the Fifth Form. The two years after that are the Sixth Form, which is made up of the Lower Sixth and the Upper Sixth.

In the Main School (Upper School) there are six boarding houses, all six being linked to an individual school day house:

Each day house is set within the school grounds, and is run (for the most part) separately from its paired boarding house. Each boarding/day house pair will enter against other houses in competitions, including the prestigious House Singing competition (unison songs – tend to be the whole boarding houses only – and part song usually consists of around 7 people from both). Inter-house sports cover all major and minor sports run by the school, at both junior and senior level, and range from rugby and hockey (major sports) to shooting and fencing (minor sports).

One of the most distinctive Bedford traditions is the singing of songs and inter-house singing competitions. In the vein of the Eton Boating Song, many were written by teachers in the latter half of the 19th century. The official school song, "Domus Pater", was written by Henry Le Mesurier in 1861.

Monitors are chosen from the top year group of the school (Upper 6th); they are deemed to have the best qualities of leadership and achievement. In addition there are the separate roles of heads of boarding and school houses, although a monitor may occasionally be chosen to fulfill this role as well.

On a school-wide level the best monitor is made "Head Boy", and a deputy is appointed to assist him. Monitors can wear coloured waistcoats and brown shoes along with brass buttons on their blazers. Since 2004 monitors have been chosen by application and a selection committee.

The Heads of house are appointed directly by the housemaster who also selects a Deputy and House Options except for Burnaby, where the students elect their Head and Deputy

Bedford school has a different major sport for each term, and has enjoyed success in all of them. The Christmas term is rugby-orientated, the Easter term hockey, and Summer is cricket season. Rowing takes place throughout the year.

Minor sports include athletics, football, swimming, archery, badminton, basketball, canoeing, cross-country running, fencing, fives, golf, rifle shooting, sailing, squash, tennis, volleyball, table-tennis and water polo.

All sports feature at all levels of ability, and most pupils find a sport to suit them, such is the diversity of the school. The school has produced many fine sportsmen, such as cricketer Alastair Cook, who went on to play Test cricket for England - whose coach was then sports master and ex-England all-rounder Derek Randall

Bedford School won the Daily Mail Under 15 2006 Schools' Cup for the first time with a 16-3 victory over a fancied QEGS Wakefield side at Twickenham. The teams number 8, and prolific sportsman, James Ingle was recently selected for the England U16 team. He played in the Four Nations tournament over Easter.

One of the most popular extra curriclar activities at Bedford School is the Combined Cadet Force. This differs from other Corps in that it draws members from three schools and that it is voluntary. Despite its voluntary status it is the largest CCF contingent of any school.^{[citation needed]}

Bedford School is the third largest contributor to the armed forces of any school (behind Eton and Harrow). Unusually, over 20% of service personnel from Bedford served in the medical wing of one of the three uniformed services.^{[citation needed]}

The Piazzi Smyth Observatory and Wolfson Planetarium were opened in May 2002 by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. Situated on the Bedford School estate, the facility is operated by the school's Astronomer in conjunction with members of the Bedford Astronomical Society. The Observatory was named after an Old Bedfordian who went on to become the Astronomer Royal for Scotland. It features a specially made GRP dome and a computer controlled twelve-inch telescope which gives stunning views of the Moon, planets, and deep-sky objects. This telescope also has a hydrogen alpha filter, enabling one to see the magnetic plasma flow around the Sun. The adjacent Planetarium was named after the Wolfson Foundation.

Bedford School has a rich tradition of music and one of the largest school music departments in the UK

Every year, there is a full and active programme of music concerts, culminating in a series of summer concerts at the end of the academic year. There are a number of senior music groups, including the School First (Symphony) Orchestra, School Band, Choral Society, Chapel Choir, and a large number of chamber groups. In addition, there is a Second Orchestra, a Chamber Orchestra, Dance Band, and jazz and rock groups. There is a Composer-in-Residence at the School, called the Eileen Norris Fellow.

During the war in 1941 the BBC Symphony and Theatre Orchestras made the school their home, from where a large number of broadcasts were made, under the batons of Adrian Boult, Clarence Raybould, and Stanford Robinson.

Alastair Cook as mentioned above, did not actually get a scholarship for being good at sport, it was actually because he excelled at music.

• First Orchestra
• Second Orchestra
• Chamber Orchestra
• School Band
• Dance Band
• Brass Ensemble
• Clarinet Quartet
• Choral Society
• Chapel Choir

• Mr Andrew Morris, Director of Music and Head of Department who has held these posts since 1979
• Mr Robert Costin, Organist and Assistant Director of Music who has held these posts since 2001.
• Mr Richard Heyes, Head of Piano who has held this post since 1983
• Mr Malcolm Green, Head of Woodwind who has held this post since 1986.
• Mr Guy Bennett, Head of Brass who has held this post since 1987.
• Martin Hughes was appointed Head of Strings at Bedford School from Easter 2003
• Mr Timothy Watts is the Eileen Norris Fellow in Composition.

• Peter Freyhan (1950–1957); principal cellist BBC Symphony Orchestra (retd).
• Ian Fox (1956–1964); Director of Music of The King's School, Gloucester (retd).
• Richard Kerr (1958–1962); songwriter, for Elkie Brooks, Dionne Warwick, Frank Sinatra, and Andy Williams.
• Michael Freyhan (1951–1958); pianist and harpsichordist.
• Alisdair MacRae Birch (1967–1976); jazz guitarist, bassist, and arranger.
• Alec Dankworth (1968–1977); jazz bassist.
• Andrew Manze (19–195-82); violinist and Musical Director of The English Concert.
• Philip Stopford (1990–1995); Director of Music at Belfast Cathedral.

• James Dennis (1815–1861), palaeontologist and natural historian
• Henry Hawkins, Baron Brampton (1817–1907), barrister and Judge of the High Court of Justice, 1876–1898
• Henry Corbet (1820–1878), agricultural writer and editor
• James Howard (1821–1889), agriculturalist and agricultural implement manufacturer
• Sir Wyndham Dunstan (1861–1949), chemist and Director, Imperial Institute, 1903–1924
• John Platts (1830–1904), Indian and Persian language expert
• Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (1854–1918), occultist
• Hubert Burge (1862–1925), Headmaster of Winchester College, 1901–1910, Bishop of Southwark, 1910–1919, and Bishop of Oxford, 1919–1925
• Sir Walter Langdon-Brown (1870–1946), Regius Professor of Physic, University of Cambridge, 1932–1935
• H. H. Munro (Saki) (1870–1916), short story writer
• Sir Lynden Macassey (1876–1963), engineer and barrister
• Gilbert Campion, Baron Campion (1882–1958), Clerk of the House of Commons, 1937–1948
• Sir Bernard Reilly (1882–1966), Resident/Chief Commissioner/Governor of Aden, 1931–1940
• Charles Meek (1885–1965), anthropologist
• Marshal of the RAF Cyril Newall, 1st Baron Newall (1886–1963), Air Member for Supply and Organisation, 1935–1937, Chief of the Air Staff, 1937–1940, and Governor-General of New Zealand, 1940–1946
• Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart Blacker (1887–1964), soldier and weapons designer
• Admiral Sir Robert Burnett (1887–1959), Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic, 1944–1946, and Flag Officer Plymouth, 1946–1950
• William Rowan (1891–1957), ornithologist
• Air Vice-Marshal Sir Paul Maltby (1892–1971), Air Officer Commanding Java, 1942, and Black Rod, 1946–1962
• John Dudley North (1893–1968), aircraft designer
• Sir Percivale Liesching (1895–1973), Permanent Under-Secretary, Ministry of Food, 1946–1948, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, 1949–1955, and High Commissioner in South Africa, 1955–1958
• Sir Karl Parker (1895–1992), art historian and Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, 1945–1962
• Harold Abrahams (1899–1978), sprinter, long jumper, barrister and civil servant
• Jack Beresford (1899–1977), oarsman and coach
• J. D. Bernal (1901–1971), physicist
• Vice-Admiral John Hughes-Hallett (1901–1972), naval officer, amphibious warfare expert and politician
• Sir Bob Dixon (1904–1965), Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary, 1943–1948, UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations, 1954–1960, and Ambassador to France, 1960–1965
• Torin Thatcher (1905–1981), actor
• Charles Dent (1911–1976), physician and biochemist
• Joseph Godber, Baron Godber of Willington (1914–1980), Minister of Labour, 1963–1964, and Secretary of State for Agriculture, 1972–1974
• Joe Chamberlin (1919–1978), architect and town planner
• Leo Oakley (1925–1981), England rugby player
• Sir Peter Parker (1924–2002), chairman of British Rail, 1976–1983
• John Fowles (1926–2005), author
• Frank Adams (1930–1989), Fielden Professor of Mathematics, University of Manchester, 1964–1970, and Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry, University of Cambridge, 1970–1989
• Budge Rogers (born 1933), England rugby player
• Michael De-la-Noy (1934–2002), author, journalist and gay-rights activist
• Michael Morris, Baron Naseby (born 1936), politician
• Quentin Skinner (born 1940), Regius Professor of Modern History, University of Cambridge, 1996–
• Paddy Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon (born 1941), leader of the Liberal Democrats, 1988–1999
• Sir Gerry Neale (born 1941), politician
• John Carlisle (born 1942), politician
• Bob Clay (born 1946), politician
• Lucien Jenkins (born 1957), writer and editor
• Jeff Hilson (born 1966), poet
• Martin Bayfield (born 1966), England rugby player
• Al Murray (born 1968), comedian
• Joel Beckett (born 1973), actor
• Andy Gomarsall (born 1974), England rugby player
• David Lloyd Vitty (born 1974), Radio 1 presenter
• Dan Wheldon (born 1978), racing driver, Indianapolis 500 winner in 2005
• David Callam (born 1983), Scotland rugby player
• Alastair Cook (born 1984), cricketer

• General Sir Walter Braithwaite (1865–1945), Adjutant-General to the Forces, 1927–1931
• Field Marshal Sir Cyril Deverell (1874–1947), Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1936–1937
• Admiral of the Fleet Sir Michael Le Fanu (1913–1970), Director-General, Naval Weapons, 1958–1960, Controller of the Navy, 1961–1965, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, 1965–1968, and First Sea Lord, 1968–1970
• Air Vice-Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker (1877–1930), Director-General of Civil Aviation, 1922–1930, and victim of R101 disaster
• Major-General Sir Hubert Huddleston (1880–1950), Commandant, Sudan Defence Force and General Officer Commanding Sudan, 1925–1930, and Governor-General of the Sudan, 1940–1947
• Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Burnett (1882–1945), Air Officer Commanding British Forces in Iraq, 1932–1935, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Royal Air Force Training Command, 1936–1939, and Chief of the Air Staff, Royal Australian Air Force, 1939–1942
• General Sir Sidney Kirkman (1895–1982), General Officer Commanding, 50th (Northumbrian) Division, 1942–1944, and XIII Corps, 1944–1945, Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff, 1945–1947, and Quartermaster-General to the Forces, 1947–1950
• Marshal of the RAF Sir Thomas Pike (1906–1983), Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, 1953–1956, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Fighter Command, 1956–1959, Chief of the Air Staff, 1960–1964, and Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, 1964–1967

• • First World War
    • Arthur Walderne St. Clair Tisdall VC^[1]
    • Major George Campbell Wheeler VC. He later achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.^[1]
    • Second Lieutenant Montague Shadworth Seymour Moore VC.He later achieved the rank of Major.^[1]
  • Second World War
    • Major General Henry Robert Bowreman Foote VC CB DSO

Rex Alston (1901–1994) was a master at the school, 1924–1941, before becoming a cricket, rugby and athletics commentator for BBC Radio.

• Sargeaunt, John & Hockliffe, Ernest (1925). A History Of Bedford School. F.R.Hocliffe & T. Fisher Unwin Ltd. ISBN N/A.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• M. E. Barlen, M. P. Stambach and D. P. C. Stileman (1984). Bedford School And The Great Fire. Quiller Press. ISBN 0-907621-37-6.
• Michael De-la-Noy (1999). Bedford School: A History. Bedford School. ISBN 0-9536685-0-9.

• OFT price fixing article in The Guardian.
• Bedford School official website
• Bedford School during the 1940s
• Charles Piazzi Smyth Observatory
• Charles Piazzi Smyth Bio
• Bedford School Music Department
• BBC in Bedford