Rugby School was founded in 1567 and from its early beginnings religious worship was an important part of School life. Originally the School started in the town near to the parish church of St Andrew. It is thought that students attended the parish church.

The School moved to the Close in 1750 and used the existing tenement buildings and manor house, where School House now stands. Although it is not clear if there was a chapel or chapel room within the original school a chapel clerk was appointed in 1785 as well as an organist. In his paper on Personal Reminiscences of Rugby School in 1813, Matthew Bloxam stated that services took place in the Great School Room while the building of a new chapel was being contemplated. This Great School Room is a reference to Old Big School which was used as the Chapel from 1814-1820. 

In 1819 work started on the first chapel which had been designed by Henry Hakewill, it was built on the site of a small playing field in the north west corner of the Close. An elm tree had also stood on this site and the wood was used for the panels of the vestry. This chapel was consecrated in 1821, the School also tried to introduce a choir but only two students signed up and so they had to pay a professional choir to sing during services. The paid choir remained in place until 1866. By then numbers in the School had drastically increased and they had more students who were interested in singing in it. Over time there were further changes to the Chapel, including: 

• The presentation of an organ in 1823
• New windows in 1834, 1836, 1840, 1846, 1852, 1855 and 1858.
• A second transept in 1851
• The organ was moved in 1855.
• The narthex was built in 1856.

In the 300th anniversary year of Rugby School, 1867, the School decided to develop and improve the buildings around the Close, on Lawrence Sheriff Street and Barby Road. This included raising funds for the enlargement of the Chapel. The Architect William Butterfield was selected by Frederick Temple to design the Chapel, as well as other buildings, this new chapel was consecrated in 1872 by the Bishop of Worcester and completed by 1898. The interior of the Chapel was very decorated and has seen the addition of several monuments and memorials in its time. This could be considered unusual for an Anglican school which for most of its history had more low church or liberal Christian Head Masters. However, Henry Hayman who was Head Master during the building of the Chapel was more conservative. This is a much deeper conversation for a future blog. The next major refurbishment for the Chapel was planned for 1939, though it was delayed until 1960 because of the Second World War. It was carried out in 1960 by Stephen Dykes-Bower. Since then, minor changes have taken place including the refurbishment of the organ.​

While changes were made to the fabric of the building, changes to the running of services also took place. Originally services were conducted by the teachers, many of whom were reverends or had doctrine in divinity. The Chapel was manged by the chapel Clerk until the first School Chaplain was appointed in 1809, Reverend George Loggin was chaplain until his death in 1824. The Reverend Charles Alleyne Anstey was then appointed Chaplain. However, in 1828 Thomas Arnold was appointed Head Master of Rugby School, he decided that he would also take on the role of chaplain and Antsey became the first House Master of Stanley. The tradition of the Head Master being the Chaplain continued until 1920 when William Wyamar Vaughan, the first Head Master not to have a doctrine in divinity, appointed a Chapel Clerk. P H B Lyon then appointed Reverend Owen Ralph Fulljames as Chaplain in 1946. Since then, the School has had nine chaplains responsible for the services held and the teaching of divinity. 

We are yet to explore the history of the content and types of services held by the School and it its Chapels. The archives hold hymn books, service books and books of common prayer. It also holds sermons by Thomas Arnold and Frederick Temple; the sermons of other Head Masters are held in other archive collections. Services are also commented on in the Meteor and will be a blog for the future. Today Rugby School Chapel is also used for School services, weddings, concerts, and BBC Radio recordings.

Further Reading

A History of Rugby School by W H D Rouse (1898)

A Handbook to Rugby School Chapel by H T Rhoades (1913)

Rugby School by G H Bettinson (1914)

Rugby School Digital Archives https://rugbyschoolarchives.co.uk/Authenticated/Browse.aspx