History

At nearly 200 years old, BCS was founded before the country of Canada itself. Our halls, campus, books, and community are steeped in our rich history, which informs our school culture to this day.

Bishop’s College School was founded in 1836 as the Lennoxville Classical School by the Reverend Lucius Doolittle, who also served as the first Headmaster (now known as Head of School). The ‘LCS’ letters entwined on the door handles throughout School House are a nod to that first iteration of our prestigious institution.

At its founding, the all-boys school was housed in the St. James’ Parsonage across the St. Francis River which is now home to the Bishop’s University campus. Within four years of opening, 23 boys were enrolled. Tuition fees were set at 15 shillings per quarter in the Lower Forms and 25 shillings for the Upper Forms, with board at £25 per annum (about $130 per year).

The school continued to grow and prosper over the years, eventually moving to the current Moulton Hill campus. Colonel John Kenneth Leveson Ross (alumnus, prefect in his final year, and then Chairman of the Board) recognized the need for expansion, securing the land in 1916 and immediately beginning to build the School House we know today. The Prep (lower forms) moved to this location in 1918 and the senior boys followed suit in 1922.

BCS continued to be an all-boys school until 1972, when the school merged with King’s Hall, Compton (KHC), an all-girls boarding school in nearby Compton. The two schools combined at the start of the 1972-73 school year, and BCS has been co-ed ever since. Gillard House is named Dr. Adelaide E. Gillard, who was Headmistress of KHC for 38 years. Discover the legacy of KHC that paved the way for young women at BCS.

In 1995, Nancy Layton was appointed Head of School and became the first female Head of a co-educational boarding school in Canada. She led the school through the new millennium, serving for nearly 10 years.

Throughout the last 20 years, BCS has continued to grow and transform. In 2022, we will celebrate the 50^th anniversary of BCS and KHC coming together, and look forward to the 200^th birthday celebrations in 2036.

Check out some key milestones in the timeline below and read up on an individual house’s history on their house page.