- Announcement 1/1: The School swimming pool will be closed over the weekend due to unforeseen circumstances. More information will be made available on Monday.
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2020vision Merchants Connected ArchivesAbout Us
Merchant Taylors’ Schools are a famous family of schools based in Crosby, just north of Liverpool. The Senior Boys' School maintains strong links with the other three schools as many of the boys come up through Stanfield Mixed Infants and the Junior Boys' School before attending the Senior Boys' School. Many of them also have friends and sisters at the Junior and Senior Girls' Schools prior to benefiting from the strong structural, curricular and extra-curricular links that also exist with the Girls' Schools.
Merchant Taylors' Boys' School is an independent, non-denominational, day school for boys aged 11-18: it is one of the leading boys' schools in the North West and consistently tops the Sefton League Tables for examination results. The School has a strong history and tradition of excellence as well as a reputation for producing well-rounded, successful and happy young men. Many of our ex-pupils go on to enjoy great achievements in whichever career field they choose to enter as well as profiting from the social, pastoral and extra-curricular benefits a Merchants' education can offer.
Read about our prestigious Harrison Scholarships
Read about our 'Taylored' approach to boys' learning
School History
Merchant Taylors’ School for Boys was established in 1620 by John Harrison, a member of the Merchant Taylors’ Company, because his father originated from Great Crosby; and was the sixth school built by the London-based company.
The original location of the Boys’ School can be found in our current Girls’ School library and this part of MTGS is the oldest school building in Sefton approaching an impressive 400 years old! The Boys moved down the road to its current landmark Victorian building in 1878 leaving way for the creation of the Girls’ School on its old site ten years later. Until the late 20th Century the School was boarding however now it is only a day school.
The first Headmaster was the Revd John Kidde who was also at the time the ‘Minister of Crosby’ and a farmer of 3 acres to support his family of eight children. Kidde was apparently sacked from the post in 1651 on the grounds of mismanagement although it is thought he was forced out by Roman Catholic Sympathizers on account of his Puritan/Presbyterian ways!
Our notable Alumni include:
- Alan Blackshaw; mountaineer
- Charles James Mathews
- Ben Kay of the England Rugby World Cup winning side of 2003.
- Robert Runcie; Archbishop of Canterbury (1980-1991)
- Nigel Rees; author and presenter
- The Witty brothers; Arthur Witty, played for FC Barcelona in the first Copa del Rey final and later served as club president between 1903 and 1905. Ernest Witty, younger brother of above, also played for FC Barcelona, and was also a founding member of the Real Club de Tenis de Barcelona and a Spanish national tennis champion.
| ‘All Sixes and Sevens’ The story goes that in 1484 Richard III was seeking to rank his Guilds in order of seniority but Merchant Taylors’ Company and Merchant Skinners’ Company were in disagreement as to which should feature higher. The first five were set in stone but to keep the two feuding companies happy the Lord Mayor of London sorted the problem by featuring one at sixth and one at seventh place, only for the rankings to be swapped the following year. This continued so that Merchant Taylors’ Company featured sixth and seventh on alternate years: hence the birth of the phrase ‘all at sixes and sevens’ meaning in confusion or disagreement. |