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See also Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood.

Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby (also known as Merchant Taylors' School for Boys, Crosby) is a British public school, located in Great Crosby on Merseyside.

The school's motto is that of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors: Concordia Parvae Res Crescunt. (Small things grow in harmony.)

Contents 1 History 2 Present day 3 Sports 4 Headmaster 5 Notable alumni 6 External links

The school was founded in 1620 under the instruction of the estate of John Harrison, a citizen and Merchant Taylor of London, who was born in Great Crosby, and was run under the auspices of the Merchant Taylors' Company until 1910. In 1878, the school moved to its present site, some 1000 yards from the previous, which now forms part of the Merchant Taylors' School for Girls, with whom the school shares a Governing Board and Bursar.

Until the late 20th century, Merchants was a boarding school. It currently caters for 800 day pupils between the ages of 11 and 19 (with an additional 150 in the Junior School). Lessons run Monday-Friday, 08:55-16:00 (A Saturday working day was abolished in the 1980s). As a result of these longer school days, holidays are frequently several weeks longer than local education authority dates.

The school is independently run, and, as such, charges tuition fees. Fees were partially subsidised by the Government under the Assisted Places Scheme until the closure of that scheme in 2001.

The school is regularly ranked in the top 100 for examination results at A-Level, and the top 250 at GCSE, with an almost 100% pass rate in both [1].

The primary sports played by the school are Rugby Union, Field Hockey and Cricket, however Association Football has recently been introduced as an 'official' school sport and looks set to challenge the more established sports over the coming years.

The school also has a boat house in the nearby town of Southport for its Rowing team - headed by devoted ex-rugby player and rower himself, Peter Little. The rowing team is rapidly gaining a reputation for one of the best in the region and country.

The rugby coaching staff includes Mike Slemen, former England and British and Irish Lions international and England team selector, former Scottish international Ian McKie (the tall one), and Ian 'Robbo' Robinson.

The school also has a Combined Cadet Force, run in conjunction with Merchant Taylors' School for Girls, headed by Contingent Commander, Lieutenant Colonel (CCF) Paul Irvine. The Army section of MTS CCF was badged King's Regiment up until July 2006. The Kings regiment amalgamated with the The King's Own Royal Border Regiment and the Queen's Lancashire Regiment to form the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, whose Beret and insignia the Army section now wear.

The current headmaster is David Cook, who replaced the retiring Simon Dawkins in 2005.

Alumni of MTS Crosby are known as "Old Crosbeians"

• Charles James Mathews
• Robert Runcie
• Nigel Rees
• James Allen
• Ben Kay
• Ian Bayley
• 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. Was also a founding member of the Real Club de Tenis de Barcelona and a Spanish national tennis champion. Legend has it that the Witty brothers also modelled the legendary FC Barcelona colours, the blaugrana, after the original colours used by Merchant Taylors' rugby team. However FC Basel and other Swiss clubs that the club founder Joan Gamper played for and his home canton of Zürich and have all been credited with and/or claimed to be the inspiration.

• School website
• HMC inspection report, 1998
• Independent Schools' Inspectorate report, 2004