Mount Radford School

Mount Radford School was a private day and boarding school for boys in Exeter, Devon, England. It was commonly known as Vines School, as the Vine family provided three of the school's four headmasters, and was also known as Mount Radford College, and The Exeter Public School.

History
The school was founded on the historic estate of Mount Radford in 1826.

Mr W. E. Vine, the eldest son of the founder, first joined his father at the school, at the age of seventeen. He succeeded his father as headmaster in 1901, and held office until 1916 when he was invited to become the director of the Missionary Society in Bath. The school remained extant in nearby buildings after Mount Radford House was demolished in 1902 to make way for the development of Barnardo Road and Cedars Road. W. E. Vine was followed by his younger brother, T. E. Vine, who continued as head until his retirement in 1957. The school averaged 200 pupils until the end of World War II. For much of his career as headmaster, T. E. Vine was assisted by two loyal lieutenants, Messrs S. B. Angwin and W. A. "Buster" Wheatley.

Former staff members

 * Henry Acton (1797–1843), tutor, English Unitarian minister and author
 * Edward Burrow (1785–1861), principal, English divine and miscellaneous writer.
 * William Gilbert Rees (1827–1898), tutor, British explorer, surveyor, and settler
 * William Edwy Vine (1873–1949), headmaster, English Biblical scholar and theologian

Old Radfordians
Ex-pupils are known as Old Radfordians.


 * John Hughes Bennett (1812–1875), English physician, physiologist and pathologist
 * Herbert Mills Birdwood (1837–1907), Anglo-Indian judge and administrator
 * Lewin Bentham Bowring (1824–1910), British Indian civil servant
 * Charles Cornwallis Chesney (1826–1876), British soldier and military writer
 * Nicholas Matthews Condy (1818–1851), British maritime painter.
 * Tommy Cooper (1921–1984), Welsh prop comedian and magician
 * Henry Pering Pellew Crease (1823–1905) British-Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician
 * Charles Gifford (1821–1896), Ontario political figure
 * David Harris (born 1937), British former Conservative Party politician
 * R. J. Hopper (1910–1987), British archaeologist and classicist
 * Walter Kennaway (1835–1920), provincial politician, farmer and run-holder
 * Christopher Parsons (1932–2002), English wildlife film-maker
 * Ernest Petter (1873–1954), English industrialist and politician
 * David Morrison Reid Henry (1919–1977), British illustrator of birds
 * John Joseph Saunders (1910–1972), British historian
 * Joseph Trutch (1826–1904), Canadian civil engineer, land surveyor, and politician
 * George Nugent Tyrrell (1816–1893), English railway pioneer