Bedford Modern School (commonly known as Bedford Modern or BMS) is a co-educational public school (a fee-paying day school) and member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference in Bedford, England. Founded in 1764 following its separation from Bedford School, it forms part of The Harpur Trust, an educational charity established from the endowments left by Sir William Harpur in the 16th century. BMS comprises a junior school (ages 6–11) and a senior school (ages 11–18), with approximately 1,200 pupils. In 1764, following separation from Bedford School, the institution began operating under its own name. It subsequently traded under several names: the Writing School, the English School, the Commercial School and finally Bedford Modern School, the last change being made in 1873 to reflect a curriculum oriented towards the professions rather than the church.

During World War II, Dame Alice Owen's School was evacuated to BMS for the duration of the conflict. The school's swimming baths were also used during this time by inventors Cecil Vandepeer Clarke and Stuart Macrae to test prototype limpet mines. Clarke was an excellent swimmer and was able to propel himself through the water with a prototype bomb attached to a keeper plate on webbing around his waist.

The school's Prichard Museum, a collection of artifacts sent back to the school mainly from old boys around the world, became Bedford Museum, now The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum.

Growing enrolment eventually made the Harpur Square premises too cramped, and in 1974 the school moved to its current site on Manton Lane. The foundation stone was laid by Margaret Thatcher, and on 11 May 1976, Queen Elizabeth II visited with Prince Philip to unveil a commemorative panel at the new building.

The school celebrated the 250th anniversary of its separation from Bedford School in 2014.

In November 2025, the school submitted a planning application to Bedford Borough Council to demolish a section of its main block affected by the RAAC. The proposals included replacing it with new façades to the exposed elevations, a new tennis court in the resulting courtyard, a new glazed northern entrance, and a glazed canopy along the northern elevation.

School houses

Following a tradition of over a hundred years the Senior School Houses of BMS were: North, South, East, West, County and United Boarders. The shooting range was closed and demolished to make space for the new science block in 2014.

The school was selected as an official training site for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

Bedford Modern has had former students going on to compete at national and international levels including two former captains of the England national rugby union team and a former captain of the England cricket team.

  • Olympians: Charles Foulkes (field hockey bronze), John Yallop (rowing silver), Tim Foster (rowing gold), Thomas Hammond (track and field), Sir Sidney Abrahams (long jump), Hamilton Milton (swimming), Peter Knapp (rowing), Neil Keron (rowing), Rod Chisholm (rowing)
  • Paralympian: Julie Rogers
  • England rugby caps: Horace Finlinson, WB Thomson, Edgar Mobbs (captain), Arthur Gilbert Bull, Dick Stafford, Harold Day, Dickie Jeeps (captain) and Lionel Edward Weston
  • England cricketers: Arthur Jones (captain), Geoff Millman, Monty Panesar. A.O. Jones invented the cricket position of gully
  • Football: James Oswald Anderson played football for Argentina in its first ever official national game against Uruguay in 1902
  • Boat Race oarsmen: Sir Archibald Dennis Flower, William Poole, Sir George Godber, David Leadley, Joseph Dominic Kinsella, JD Hughes, Tim Foster, David Gillard, Kenelm Richardson (Cambridge cox)
  • Rugby fives British champion: Matt Cavanagh (2004 and 2006)

Performing arts

The school puts on two major productions annually, normally musicals, with full orchestra and set, in its 300-seat auditorium. It also hosts its own Shakespeare Festival, in which local schools are invited to take part. The sixth form has its own theatre company, Theatre in Transit, which puts on a piece of theatre each year at professional venues. In September 2014, the Chamber Choir performed The Armed Man at the Royal Albert Hall as part of Sing UK's 'A Mass for Peace'.

<big>Combined Cadet Force</big>

The BMS Combined Cadet Force was established in 1900 and comprises the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force. The Royal Marines section was closed in 2018.

Published mostly biannually, it serves both as a school magazine and a record of life at BMS during each academic year.

List of headmasters

The following have been Headmasters of Bedford Modern School.

Notable staff

thumb|right|170px|Bedford Modern School: The Harpur Window

  • Thomas Blyth (1844–1913), later author and commissary to the Archbishop of Ottawa and Bishops of Niagara
  • William Hillhouse (1850–1910), first professor of botany at the University of Birmingham
  • Edward Mann Langley (1851–1933), founder of the Mathematical Gazette and creator of Langley’s Adventitious Angles
  • Ronald Welch (1909–1982), author
  • Allan Towell (1925–1997), England Rugby International
  • John Moore (born 1943), footballer, 1st team football coach
  • David Davies (born 1957) author and historian, former history master Head of Speech and Drama
  • Rob Hardwick (born 1969), England Rugby International

Old Bedford Modernians

Former pupils of the school are known as Old Bedford Modernians or OBMs.

See also

  • Grade II* listed buildings in Bedfordshire

Further reading

References

  • List of Old Bedford Modernians Serving in HM Forces 1914-1918
  • Bedford Modern School at Henley, 1938