Our Story | Hilton College

A LEGACY OF

EXCELLENCE

Journey with us as we highlight and celebrate milestones, important spaces and individuals that form the Hilton story.

1872

The Birth of Hilton College

Hilton College’s founders were teacher and cleric William Newnham and magistrate Gould Lucas who established the school in 1872 on a tract of mist-belt grassland above Pietermaritzburg.

Newnham was an Englishman who had studied mathematics at St John’s College, Cambridge under William John Colenso, later Bishop of Natal. Colenso encouraged Newnham to settle in the colony and start a school. Lucas was Anglo-Irish, the son of an Under Secretary for Ireland. One of the few soldier survivors on the HMS Birkenhead which sank in 1852 near Cape Agulhas, he was later posted to Pietermaritzburg where he served as district adjutant and met the man with whom he would found Hilton.

Building Hilton

Humble beginnings

At first the school was little more than two thatched bungalows, but soon a double-storey block was built, with the upper-storey dubbed “The Lords” and the lower “The Commons”.

From this modest nucleus Hilton grew, with buildings being constructed, playing fields levelled and avenues planted. Initially the school was leased from Lucas, then bought by Newnham’s successor Henry Vaughan Ellis, until in 1903 it passed into the hands of the old boys, where it remains.

Our Christian ethos

A distinguishing feature of Hilton College is that it has always been inter-denominational, with the headmaster conducting daily prayers and visiting priests officiating on Sundays until a resident chaplain was appointed in 1982. Our chapel was built in the 1920s from stone quarried on the property.

Pioneers, leaders & achievers

Hilton alumni have left a lasting mark across the globe

Hilton alumni have excelled across diverse fields, making notable contributions to society. From leadership in law and medicine to achievements in arts, literature, and conservation, they’ve shaped industries and left lasting legacies.

Ramsay Daly (2001, Lucas) and Matt Putman (2001, Newnham) are fintech entrepreneurs who founded iKhokha, the financial services platform which they sold to Nedbank for approximately R1.65bn in 2025.

Professor Imraan Coovadia (1987, Newnham) is an acclaimed writer, scholar, and director of the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Creative Writing. His novels and essays have garnered numerous awards and international recognition.

Chris Pappas is the mayor of uMngeni Local Municipality and the first Democratic Alliance (DA) mayor in KwaZulu-Natal. He was included in Time magazine’s TIME100 Next list and served as the DA’s candidate for KwaZulu-Natal premier in the 2024 South African election.

International legends

A proud legacy of sporting excellence

Numerous sporting champions have emerged from Hilton College. Those who have represented South Africa include cricketers Roy McLean, John Waite, Mike Proctor and Lungi Ngidi, and Springbok rugby captains Gary Teichmann and Bobby Skinstad.

International hockey player Tim Drummond (2006, Ellis) is a veteran of 150 Tests and was captain of South Africa’s team at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Mike Procter (1964, Newnham) was one of cricket’s greatest all-rounders: a genuinely fast bowler, a capable off-spinner, a hard-hitting middle-order batsman and an astute captain.

Shaun Biggs (1999, Ellis) represented South Africa at the Junior Whitewater championships in Austria, before winning medals at both the Junior World Marathon championships and later after school, at the Senior World Marathon championships.

Defining features

‘Honest, upright and true as steel’

Hilton College is defined by its people. Newnham declared at his first Speech Day that his greatest wish was that the phrase “Hilton boy” should become synonymous with “gentleman”, denoting someone honest, upright and true as steel.

When Hilton turned 100 in 1972, Raymond Slater defined his ideal Hilton boy as someone not necessarily academic or sporting, but who has compassion, humility, sensitivity, imagination and a concern for the needs of others. George Harris echoes these sentiments, while reiterating that ‘of those to whom much is given, much will be required’.

William Newnham’s founding values live on.