Farfield


Farfield is one of the seven boarding houses at Gresham's, an English public school at Holt, Norfolk. It was opened in 1911, as part of a surge of renewal and expansion at Gresham's led by George Howson, and the first housemaster and boys were transferred there from a smaller house called Bengal Lodge. Farfield is currently home to approximately fifty boys. Many former residents have achieved success or notoriety in a number of different fields.

History and traditions

An Entertainment is held every March featuring music, sketches and dramatic excerpts.

The ritual of House Prayers is maintained in Farfield on three evenings per week. This is a short evening service, organised by the prefects, which consists of a hymn, a reading and a prayer, and concludes with the familiar mantra "Goodnight Boys".
The young Benjamin Britten recorded his life at Farfield in the 1920s and 1930s in his diaries. In 1929, he mentions that the house then had two "sickrooms" of its own. He commented that the Honours System was a positive failure, as "It is no good trying the Honours System on boys who have no honour."
The symbol of Farfield is an owl.

Housemasters

1 in Bengal Lodge until 1911

2 The school was evacuated to Newquay during the years 1940–1945

Residential House Tutors

Notable old boys

Names are in chronological order. The years at Farfield are given in round brackets.
The Following Old Boys of Bengal Lodge and Farfield gave their lives during the Great War of 1914–1918:
Armitage SW, Aveling LN, Barratt GR, Beeton RH, Biden LTGV, Brownsword DA, Cole AH, Crosse ECM, Crosse MEB, Cunnell DC, Davies LFStJ, Ellis JC, Frost GK, Johnson GB, Kirch C, Robinson HHK, Rumsby RW, Shepherd CA, Simpson JH, Thorn H, Wilson Ian Maclean & Wright JMS