King's College, Lagos (KCL) is a secondary school in Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria.[1] It was founded on 20 September 1909 with 10 students at Lagos Island, adjacent to Tafawa Balewa Square. The school admits only boys as pupils, although prior to the establishment of Queen's College Lagos it also admitted some female students.
History
In 1908, the Nigerian Acting Director of Education in Lagos, Henry Rawlingson Carr, proposed to Governor Walter Egerton a detailed scheme of education for Lagos.[2] Carr's suggestions and proposals were the basis for the formation of King's College. Carr convinced the London Board of Education that King's College's education mission would not overlap but supplement the education initiatives of missionary societies.[2] As a result, some authors regard Henry Carr as the "architect of King's College".[3][4]
King's School (as it was then called) came into being on 20 September 1909. The pioneer students included J.C. Vaughan, Isaac Ladipo Oluwole, Frank Macaulay, Daniel Adeniyi Onojobi, Herbert Mills (from the Gold Coast), O.A. Omololu, and Moses King. Oluwole was the first senior prefect. Constructing and furnishing the school building had a cost of £10,001 (equivalent to £1,299,251 in 2023).
The philosophy of King's School was
"to provide for the youth of the colony a higher general education than that supplied by the existing Schools, to prepare them for Matriculation Examination of the University of London and to give a useful course of Study to those who intend to qualify for Professional life or to enter Government or Mercantile service."
The average number of students in 1910 was 16, rising to 67 by 1914.
King's College is now one of 104 unity schools in Nigeria managed by the federal government to bring together children from different geographic, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds to build Nigeria's future, especially in the aftermath of the Biafran War.[5]
Campuses
Due to population constraints, the school was divided into two campuses, with the junior school moving into the premises of the former Federal School for Arts and Sciences (F.S.A.S) on Victoria Island. (The school administration was still under the control of one principal and ultimately under the control of the Federal Ministry of Education.) This meant that the junior classes of the school (classes 1–3) were now in the Victoria Island "Annex," as that campus came to be known.
Presently, King's College, Lagos has a senior school. The seniors are now split as follows: SS1 to SS3 boys are found in the Main Camp (Tafawa Balewa Square), while JSS1 to JSS3 boys are found in the annex campus (Victoria Island). The former PKC, Otunba 'Dele Olapeju, assumed office in January, 2010 and bowed out of service in November, 2015. He moved the senior students from the annex to the main campus. Today, King's College is wearing a new look. He has erected a number of structures both at the main campus and at the annex campus. The students' results are now online, with parents and guardians being able to follow up on their children/wards' academic and extra-curricular activities using the students' log-in details which have been given to them.
Uniform
The school uniform consists of a white shirt (long-sleeved for senior school pupils and short-sleeved for junior), a school tie or badge, white trousers, and a blue blazer.
Principals
The first principal of the school was a Mr Lomax, while the first African principal was Rex Akpofure. The current principal of the school is Ali Andrew Agada. Some other principals were:
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(August 2024)
^L. C. Gwam, Great Nigerians Vol. 1 (1967), p. 3: "1910 Mr. Henry Hyde Johnson, an officer who came out as principal of the newly founded King's College"
^"SCRUBY, Frank Sutherland" in Alumni Cantabrigienses,
Vol. V (Cambridge University Press, 1953), p. 451; Educational Times and Journal of the College of Preceptors (1 July 1911), p. 282: "FRANK S. SCRUBY, M.A. Cantab., Science Master, Aldenham School, has been appointed Head Master of King's College, Lagos."
^"Pensions" in Blue Book, Nigeria (Government Printer, South Africa, 1920), p. 43
^Thomas Harder, Special Forces Hero: Anders Lassen VC MC (Pen and Sword Military, 2021), p. 100
