At a vestry meeting held in October 1658 it was proposed by Deputy Alexander Jones and accepted by the parishioners that a free school be erected and maintained in the Parish of Lambeth. In his will dated 5th May 1660, he left £24.00 yearly "to be paid for and towards the maintenance of a free school. In which 24 poor children were to be taught to read, write and cypher and to be instructed in Latine and Greeke tongues and in the principles of the Church of England."

In 1661 Richard Lawrence, a trustee appointed by Mr. Jones, bequeathed the property known as "Dog House Fields" (later Lambeth Green) for the purpose of establishing a free school, for 20 poor children of Lambeth Marsh.

Another legacy was bequeathed by Thomas Rich, a citizen and mercer of London, who died in 1672. This money was invested and the interest used to educate 8 poor boys, known as Rich's Scholars.

In 1753 a charity school, situated in "Bear and Ragged Staff Yard", was amalgamated with Richard Lawrence's School. The new school moved into a new building, the lease of which was renewed for 90 years in 1814 and the Lawrence Trustees paid a yearly sum towards the salary of the Master for the education of their 20 boys.

In 1848 The London and South Western Railway Company purchased the freehold of the School property and a new School and Master's House were built in Hercules Road. This was finished in 1851 and accommodated about 300 boys. A large upper room was added in 1885.

In 1904 The Railway was again widened and a new building was erected on a Park site next to Lambeth Palace, which the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Frederick Temple, agreed to sell for the sum of £3750, plus costs, "For the boys' School in connection with the Ancient Mother Church of St. Mary Lambeth, where the boys are to be educated in the knowledge and practice of the Christian religion as professed and taught in the Church of England, the investment of the aforesaid sum to be paid and held by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England." On the death of the Archbishop and " in recognition of his paternal care for the boys of Lambeth and the better to distinguish this from other Lambeth Schools, it was resolved to name this School "Archbishop Temple's Lambeth Boys' School"

The new School was dedicated and inaugurated by the Patron, The Most Rev. Randall Thomas Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury, on 15th June 1904.

According to an entry in the school records, Charlie Chaplin, the famous film comedian, during his childhood in Kennington, was once a pupil.

In 1921, under the Headmastership of Alfred Wayment, the School was reorganised as a Central School and was the first Church of England Central School in the Country.

On 24th June 1929, a new wing was opened by The Most Rev. Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury. The signatures of pupils at that time lie behind the Foundation Stone.

From 1939-1942 the School was evacuated to Shaftesbury, but the Headmaster, Mr. A. G.Rawlings, reopened the School with a class of 32 boys on the 14th April 1942 and, under his guidance, the School once again became a flourishing and vigorous institution.

1961 was the Tercentenary year of the School since its foundation.

In September 1961, The School amalgamated with Archbishop Tenison's Girls School to become a mixed School and fulfill the first phase of the development scheme which was to turn Archbishop Temple's School into a Church of England Comprehensive School at the end of the decade.

In July 1962 the Official School Tercentenary Celebrations took the form of a service at the Parish Church, a three exhibition at the school, attended by The Archbishop of Canterbury, and a dance at Caxton Hall.

In 1964 the School was further enlarged with the closure of St. John's and All Saints, Waterloo and St. Mary's Newington Schools, the increase in pupils being accommodated in the former Westminster Bridge Road School.

On the 4th November 1972, the foundation stone for the new School building in Farmers Road Camberwell, now Highshore School, was laid by the Most Rev. Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury.

In 1974 the school closed.

Epilogue

The Temple's School coat of arms is that of Archbishop Frederick Temple. The motto "Templa Quam Dilecta" is from the Book of Psalms and is a play on the words of the Temple Family Name. The literal translation is, "How amiable are thy dwellings", a very suitable epitaph for the School.

Valedictory Note

Although its closure was a very sad occasion, it is worth remembering some of the things that made Temple's unique, contributing to a compact, socially integrated unit, which most ex-pupils nostalgically remember ....

The optimum number of 350 pupils, its devoted staff, the competitive house system (Heller, Hernaman, Rich, Lawrence), house ties and journals, school magazines, school journeys at home and abroad, Gilbert & Sullivan operas and School Plays, Religious Instruction, annual School photographs, examination successes, prizegiving, morning prayer assemblies, the prefect system, continuity of the teaching staff, football and cricket, school sports teams prowess, annual attendance of the whole School at the Parish Church next to Lambeth Palace, the advantage of being located in Archbishop's Park, the unusual siting of the School building.