Boarding Houses: Grafton
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Grafton House Staff

Chris Townsend - Housemaster
Chris Townsend arrived at Stowe in September 2003, having previously been a Housemaster at Dean Close School, Cheltenham. He and his wife Melanie have two young children (David and Lydia). As well as teaching Classics, Chris is a keen sportsman - winning three cricket blues at Oxford - and plays club rugby and football.

Terri Bosman - Matron
The resident matron in Grafton is Mrs Theresa Bosman (Mrs B), and has been at Stowe since 2003. She is in charge of House medical matters, and has lived in USA, Saudi Arabia, and now the UK, although she is South African by birth. She has two grown up sons (Andre and Conrad). Terri upholds all the best virtues of public school life, and is universally popular!

Dom Mochan - Under-Housemaster and 3rd Form Tutor
Dominic joined Stowe from Wallington County School in South London in 2005. He is a Religious Studies teacher, and has experienced boarding school before, working at Ampleforth among other posts. At Wallington, as well as his teaching role, Dominic was also in charge of the cricket and hockey. At Stowe, he has coached and umpired 1st team hockey, and Under-14 A cricket teams. In the summer of 2006 Dominic participated in a mountaineering expedition in Morocco that raised over £2,000 for Water Aid. He leads the School's environmental policies and in September 2007 he was appointed Head of Religious Education.

Alan Hughes - 4th Form Tutor
Alan has been at Stowe since 1999, initially as our Rugby Professional. In September 2006 he took on the role of Head of Boys' Games, and became a House Tutor in Grafton. As well as his duties at Stowe, Alan has also been coach to the England Junior sides up to the Under 19 level. Outside of rugby, he enjoys coaching tennis. Alan is married to Elena and they have two young daughters.

David Critchley - 5th Form Tutor
David joined Stowe in 2006 from Wellington College, Berkshire. He is a member of the Classics Department, and plays an active role in the School's CCF contingent. He runs all of the School's internal exams, and in September 2007 David took on the role of School Administrator, supporting the Deputy Head (Academic) in developing the academic side of the School.

Iain Young - 6th Form Tutor
Iain Young tutors 6th Formers across the School, but his affiliation is to Grafton House. He teaches History of Art, and helps out with the swimming and Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme.

Darren Jeffreys - 6th Form Tutor
Darren Jeffreys is another 6th Form Tutor affiliated to Grafton House. He has previously worked in Lyttelton, and is Head of the Chemistry Department at Stowe. His passion, other than for Chemistry, is for music and in the past he has taken House trips to several concerts.

Grafton House Prefects

Head of House
Charlie Roberts is Head of House for Grafton 2007-8. Charlie has just completed his AS levels in History of Art, Business and Art. A keen Liverpool fan, Charlie is also captain of the School's 1st XI football.

Deputy Heads of House
Marcus Beresford and Harry Benyon are joint Deputy Heads of Grafton this year. Marcus is a keen guitarist, who accompanied the House Song to victory in 2006. Harry was captain of Badminton in the Lower Sixth and is a key member of the 1st team tennis squad.

House Prefects
Jack Bartholomew and Tommy Howgego make up the House team. Jack is hoping to play in the 1st XV rugby team, and is also a key contributor to the Stowe beagles. Tommy was the leading bowler for the 1st XI cricket last season and tours with team to Grenada in December 2007.

School Prefects
In addition to our House team, Grafton has two further School Prefects in James Minchin-Mitchell and Michael Tarr. James has been a major contributor to debating, drama direction, and School magazines including the Stoic and the Voice. Michael is a keen surfer and good all round sportsman. He is the Chapel Prefect for the coming year.

Man of the Week

(20 January 2008)
Alexander Lindsay
For gaining an A* in his Maths GCSE Module, done with a remarkable 100%

(13 January 2008)
Freddie Hicks
For achieving a Bene in his Art and good reports in his other subjects about his attitude, as well as trying to get into teams for rugby, hockey and cricket.

(25 November 2007)
Sam Shepherd-Barron
A fantastic run in the intermediate House cross country (Champion!), leading Grafton into second place overall.  He also played superbly in the House rugby, and even got pluses in his TWO grades.

(14 November 2007)
Frank Kilsby
For the most remarkable turn around in TWO grades, from a very worrying seven minus grades, to an outstanding seven pluses, and no minuses. 

(7 November 2007)
Barney Curran
For a plethora of pluses and a constant stream of merits, resulting in five merits in a single week, and a total to date of ten merits in his first term.

(17 October 2007)
Charlie Cary
For his excellent performance in the unplugged, as well as some much improved academic effort across his recent work.

(10 October 2007)
Felix Stevenson 
A sterling performance in the House Debating Competition, winning a place in the 1st XV rugby side, running the Grafton House Chapel, and obtaining an excellent set of grades as well.

(19 September 2007)
Angus Hay
A hat trick for the 4th XV, to bring them victory over Oakham, followed by another hat trick for the House against Temple, and promotion to the 3rd team.

(10 September 2007)
George Beaty
Superb results at AS level, finishing with AAB, to reflect a very good year's work.

(14 November 2007)
The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
Vincent T. Lombardi

(7 November 2007)
All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing
Edmund Burke

(31 October 2007)
Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.
Wigan RLFC

Half Term

(17 October 2007)
It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.
Robert H. Goddard

(10 October 2007)
Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new.
Og Mandino

(1 October 2007)
The secret of greatness is simple: do better work than any other man in your field - and keep on doing it.
Wilfred A Peterson

(10 September 2007) 
The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.
John Foster Dulles

History of Grafton House

There is no known family connection, the name coming from the local fox hunt, the Grafton Hounds, which takes its name in turn from the Dukes of Grafton who were the 'rangers' of nearby Whittlebury Forest.
The following text has been taken from the Grafton History, Volume 1, 1926
Some explanation of the Grafton motto - how it came to be chosen, who chose it, its meaning - it may be of interest to future members of Grafton: The name "Grafton" appears between the two good old Latin words "virtus" and "integritas". The words were chosen by Grafton's first Housemaster, and were intended to express an ideal for all Graftonians, which cannot adequately be translated by any two English words. It is hoped that all generations of Graftonians will be able to say, "The lot is fallen unto me in a fair ground: yea, I have a goodly heritage." This will only be possible if those qualities of perfect manhood signified by virtus and integritas are the aspirations of Grafton. Both words can be translated "virtue", yet virtus means "manliness" - the qualities of a man, and integritas "purity", without which no true manliness is attainable. The phrase which best sums up the ideal is: "'Quit you like men; be strong." The motto is in no sense a boast, but it expresses at once an ideal worth striving for, and a hope that Grafton may never forget her manhood.
Written by the first Under-Housemaster, H. B. Playford

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