ETON COLLEGE, one among the most famous educational establishments in England, was founded in 1440 by Henry VI., under the title of 'The College of the Blessed Mary of Eton beside Windsor.' The original foundation consisted of a provost, 10 priests, 4 clerks, 6 choristers, 25 poor grammar-scholars, a master, and 25 poor infirm men. The king provided for the establishment out of his own demesne lands and the estates of certain alien priories. A supplementary charter was granted in 1441, in which year also the college buildings were commenced. Henry was very solicitous that the work should be of a durable kind. Some of the buildings were finished in 1443, and were handed over by the royal commissioners to the provost, clerk, and scholars. Political troubles of various kinds retarded the completion of the buildings till 1523. Bishop Waynflete was the first head-master, and afterwards a munificent supporter of the college. The institution passed through much peril in the reign of Edward IV., and again in the time of the Commonwealth; but it weathered the dangers, and the increasing value of its estates brought in a large income. The original foundation has been greatly modified under the Public Schools Act, 1868. It now consists of a provost and 10 fellows, who constitute the 'governing body,' 2 chaplains or conductors, and 70 king's scholars or collegers. The members of the governing body are nominated by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and other learned and responsible electors. Several valuable scholarships at King's College, Cambridge, are filled up every year from among the scholars or oppidans by competitive examination. There are also other scholarships and prizes open to all the members of the school, such as the Newcastle and Tomline scholarships, and prizes for modern languages, founded by the late Prince Consort. The scholars are lodged within the college walls. The main portion of the establishment, however, numbering nearly 900, consists of the oppidans, students who live in houses held by the masters, and whose friends pay liberally for their education. The tuition is the same for them as for the collegers. Till 1851 the course of education was purely classical, but mathematics was admitted into the curriculum in that year, physical science in 1869, and the college now possesses an admirable museum, laboratory, and observatory. Among famous Etonians have been Bolingbroke, Boyle, Canning, Chatham, Derby, Fielding, Fox, Gladstone, Gray, Hallam, Kinglake, Lyttelton, Milman, Porson, Praed, Pusey, Shelley, the Walpoles, Wellesley, and Wellington.
The college buildings are of various date and varying beauty—from the original work of the 'royal saint' down to a chapel for the younger boys, a museum, and other school buildings, whose memorial stone was laid by Queen Victoria on 18th May 1889. They include the chapel, hall, library, and schools, the provost's and master's apartments, and the lodgings of the fellows, surrounding two quadrangles. The chapel is of stone, the other buildings of brick; and the effect of the whole is strikingly picturesque, as seen from the terrace of Windsor Castle, on the other side of the Thames. The Gothic chapel is especially beautiful, rich in carving and painted glass. The 'Montem,' or triennial procession to Salt Hill (ad montem), was celebrated last in 1846.
See Maxwell Lyte's History of Eton College (1875; 3d ed. 1899); Creasy's Eminent Etonians (1850; new ed. 1876); Jesse's Celebrated Etonians (1875); Eton of Old, by an Old Colleger (1892); Hornby, Walks about Eton (1895); Thackeray's Life of Haverty (1896); Coleridge, Eton in the Forties (1896); and C. Brock's Eton (1900).