LONDON — Graduates of Britain’s famous private schools are still overrepresented in the upper tiers of British life, from government to the arts.
The following 10 schools educate only about 0.3 percent of students, but they account for about 8 percent of people listed in Who’s Who, according to a study by the Sutton Trust, a research institution focused on social mobility. Below is a sampling of some of the alumni — in common parlance, “old boys” and “old girls” (but mostly boys) — who have made names for themselves.
Contents
Eton College
Old Etonians
Boys’ school just outside London, founded by King Henry VI in 1440
David Cameron, prime minister of Britain
Damian Lewis, actor who played a tormented Marine in Showtime’s “Homeland,” and currently portrays a hedge fund titan in “Billions.”
Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church of England
Charterhouse
Old Carthusians
Coeducational boarding school in Surrey, in the south of England, founded in 1611
David Dimbleby, veteran television anchor known for his uncompromising interviews
Jeremy Hunt, health secretary, former culture minister and high-profile name in the inquiry into News Corporation and press ethics
Harrow School
Old Harrovians
Boys’ school in the northwestern suburbs of London
Winston Churchill, former prime minister of Britain
King Hussein of Jordan, once the Middle East’s longest-reigning ruler
Benedict Cumberbatch, actor who plays the title character in the BBC series “Sherlock”
Rugby School
Old Rugbeians
Credited with being the birthplace of rugby football, in 1823
Salman Rushdie, novelist accused of blasphemy against Islam for his book “The Satanic Verses”
Rupert Brooke, World War I poet
Marlborough College
Old Marlburians
Founded by a group of Church of England clergymen in 1843
Kate Middleton, duchess of Cambridge
Samantha Cameron, businesswoman and wife of David Cameron
Westminster School
Old Westminsters
Boarding and day school in the heart of London
Nick Clegg, former deputy prime minister of Britain
Tony Benn, once a leading figure of the British left
Andrew Lloyd Webber, composer of hit musicals
St. Paul’s School
Old Paulines
Originally established in the City of London in 1509, now in leafy surroundings by the Thames
George Osborne, chancellor of the Exchequer
Winston Marshall, banjo player in the band Mumford & Sons
Wellington College
Old Wellingtonians
Opened by Queen Victoria in 1859, partly to educate the orphans of army officers
George Orwell, author of “Animal Farm” and “1984”
Lord Luce, former lord chamberlain, senior officer to the British royal household
Ampleforth College
Old Amplefordians
Catholic boarding school under the care of the monks of Ampleforth Abbey
John Micklethwait, editor in chief of Bloomberg News, formerly top editor of The Economist
Rupert Everett, actor whose early performances included playing a gay student at a British private school in “Another Country”
Jean, grand duke of Luxembourg until his abdication in 2000
Stowe School
Old Stoics
Founded in 1923 and based in Stowe House, a former country seat of the dukes of Buckingham
Richard Branson, entrepreneur, founder of the Virgin Group
David Niven, actor who won an Oscar for “Separate Tables” in 1958
An earlier version of this list erroneously included Nigella Lawson as an alumna of Westminster School. She went to Godolphin and Latymer School, not Westminster.
