The school is named after the Anglican Missionary Samuel Marsden. It was established in 1878 by Mrs Mary Ann Swainson as a day and boarding school for girls from Wellington and the surrounding areas. The school was originally known as the Fitzherbert Terrace School, and Esther Mary Baber was for many years the headmistress. In 1920, the school was bought by the Anglican Diocese of Wellington, and moved to Karori in 1926. Samuel Marsden Collegiate has had 11 principals, only one of whom, Rev. Gerald Clark, has been male.
Present day
In January 2018 Narelle Umbers joined Samuel Marsden Collegiate School as Principal. The previous head of the school was Jenny Williams, who returned to Australia in 2017 and before that Gillian Eadie, who retired in 2008. Marsden, as the school is often called, currently has around 500 students. In 2006 it was split from 3 to 4 'schools', the Marsden Primary, Middle School, Upper School and Senior School. Marsden now has five schools: Preschool, Marsden Primary, Middle School, Upper School and Senior School. In practice the latter three schools are treated as one, often just referred to as the 'upper school'. The upper school consists of six houses: Swainson-Riddiford, Baber, Hadfield-Beere, Richmond, Jellicoe and Johnson, all named after friends and benefactors of the school. Girls are placed in houses arbitrarily except when closely related to an old girl, in which case they are placed in the same house as their relative. The Lower School has three separate houses, Sprott, Innes and Fitzherbert, again reflecting the school's history. The school was an early adopter of technology and won the New Zealand Computer Institutes Award for Excellence in the use of IT in Schools: Secondary and Primary in 2000.
Established as Whitby Independent College in January 2004, on the site of the old Duck Creek Golf Course, the school was subsequently bought by Samuel Marsden Collegiate School in 2005 and renamed Marsden Whitby. Marsden Whitby's houses bear no relation to the long history of the Karori school. Instead carrying the nautical theme that the suburb of Whitby is known for - Endeavour, Resolution, Discovery and Adventure. Marsden Whitby also differed from the older school because it was the only independent co-educational high school in the Wellington region. On 1 July 2019 Samuel Marsden Collegiate School Trust Board announced it had made the decision to close Marsden School Whitby at the end of the 2019 school year. On 9 August 2019 Fiso Group Ltd announced plans to acquire the school and rename it Whitby Collegiate with plans to start operating formally from the start of the school year in 2020. The sale of Marsden Whitby to Fiso Investment Group Ltd was finalised on 10 December 2019..
Notable alumnae
Noeline Baker, suffragist, wartime women's labour administrator, gardener and peace educator
