Nicholas Gibson was a wealthy merchant and an Alderman of the City of London at the time of Henry VIII. As he and his wife Avice, had no surviving children they agreed to devote their wealth to charitable purposes. In 153 a group of substantial buildings, consisting of almshouses, a school and a residence for the schoolmaster was erected at Ratcliffe, near the City. After Nicholas Gibson’s death in 1540, Avice married Sir Anthony Knyvett and when he died, she se about the fulfilment of the trust committed to her by her former husband, of establishing the school and almshouses on a lasting basis. The custodian which she chose was the Coopers’ Company and in 1554 the school was transferred to the Company and renamed. It thrived in the heyday of the Charity School Movement in the eighteenth century, but then fell upon difficult times arising from costs outstripping income. In 1848 it was rescued by J.F. Firth, an exceptionally able Master of the Coopers’ Company and noted historian. The number of pupils rose to 100; by 1854 ti 175; and by 1859 to 200.
In 1878 the Company instituted a girls’ secondary school and this was followed by the amalgamation of the Coopers’ Company’s School and Coborn School into a scheme known as the Stepney and Bow Educational Foundation. In 1855, the Company made the first moves to establishing a boy’s school in Bow and in 1892 moved into buildings, previously occupied by the boys of Prisca Coborn School, at Tredegar Square, which in turn were rebuilt in 1909. By this time the Girls’ School, now named the Coborn School for Girls, was well established in Bow Road, their new building having been opened in 1898 by H.R.H. Princess Christian of Denmark, a daughter of Queen Victoria.
In 1973 the last pupils had left both schools and completed the move into the present purpose-built mixed school at Upminster. Accommodating at that time nearly 1,200 pupils, and with an indoor swimming pool and extensive playing fields, luxuries never previously enjoyed by pupils of either separate school. The new site of the Coopers’ Company and Coborn School, as now known, was formally opened in 1974 by the then Lord Mayor of London, Sir Hugh Wontner.
In Coopers’ Old Boys’ Lodge the traditional version of the School Song is sung at the dinner following every installation meeting – with particularly enthusiastic “accompaniment” for the chorus!
When bluff King Harry ruled the land
And favoured sport and learning
Then pious Nicholas Gibson’s hand
Set our clear beacons burning
A home of brotherly love and light
When days are cold and cloudy
Join heart with voice in carolling bright
Sing “Gaude, Gaude, Gaude”
So welcome here each one who strives,
For mind and body’s fitness
And all who seek in useful lives
To bear us worthy witness
What ever the aims that we pursue
Or tasks that we inherit
Our school shall give its service due
And play its part with merit
We honour Nicholas Gibson’s name
And keep the beacons burning
To prove the school a school of fame
A home of sport and learning
A home of family love and light
When days are cold and cloudy
Join heart with voice in carolling bright
Sing “Gaude, Gaude, Gaude”
