HILTON COLLEGE
School in Pietermaritzburg

The Hilton College of today has been built up over a period of over a hundred years. The electric light, macadamized roads and hot showers which we take for granted were unknown to early Hiltonians. While today a Hilton boy swims in a modern tiled pool, complete with filtration plant, his counterpart of sixty years ago and more swam in the farm dam. The estate is all that an Hiltonian of the 1870's would recognise in the Hilton of the 1990's, for he, like the present day pupil, wandered over the country side and knew Rolling Stones, Pinnacles, Gwen's and the rest. He opened a school in Pietermaritzburg, where he first met Lucas. Later Newnham decided to join Lucas at Upper Hilton and to open a school on the property. Thus we can regard Newnham and Lucas as the founders of Hilton College. So, Hilton opened in a South Africa where diamonds had only recently been discovered, where there was as yet no knowledge of the gold of the Witwatersrand, and where the founding of Johannesburg was not to take place for another fourteen years. During this time the Hilton College of the twentieth century began to be moulded. Many were the achievements during the long reign of Ellis. He imprinted indelibly upon the life of the school the main characteristics of the public school system as known in England, but modified it to suit South African conditions. Hilton was the first Natal school to play rugby football, and to Ellis goes most of the credit for Hilton's early prowess in the game. Ellis became the owner of Hilton when he bought the property from Lucas in 1882, but as time drew near for his retirement it was obvious that a school which was the headmaster's property could not necessarily be assured of continued existence. The company bought school from Ellis, and thus the ownership of the school by its Old Boys began. Falcon was to guide the destinies of the school until the end of During his headmastership the William Campbell building was completed, the chapel was built and the buildings ceased to be red brick and came to be built in the Cape Dutch style. Although his period of office included the difficult days of the Second World War, it is perhaps true to say that he created the Hilton of the present. To mark this event, the Centenary Centre was built. Hilton College can look back on many achievements, both academic and sporting. Hilton has also produced a good number of Springboks. The benefactions of Old Boys have made the continued existence of Hilton possible and have enabled the school to possess modern amenities and up-to-date equipment. Two features of Hilton which make it unique among schools in this country, are its setting on a magnificent estate of 1700 hectares and the fact that it is the only senior private boys' school in the country which is not controlled by a particular religious denomination. Hilton College in an inter-denominational Christian school. Founded in the days when Natal was a British Colony, Hilton College is today a South African school dedicated to producing young men of balanced education who will play a full part in the life of this land.