Durban High School (Better known as D.H.S) is a public English medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Musgrave in Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa.
DHS opened its doors in 1866 in two rooms and with seven pupils in Smith Street. From there it moved to a disused granary in Cato Square in 1880, just after the Zulu War, and then to the Old Hospital on the foreshore. In 1895, it moved up onto the healthier Berea to its present site, where it flourished. The ten acres plot was granted to the School by the Durban Town Council. The first enrolled student was a boy called Eben Coates and he was also the first Head-boy. There is also a related primary school: Durban Preparatory High School. The school has approximately 1000 enrolled students, all boys, and includes a small boarding establishment and over 75 teachers. The headmaster is Mr. Tony Pinheiro. It is the oldest standing school in Durban and one of the oldest in South Africa.
Houses
There are six houses:
Swales – old gold
Grice – turquoise
Langley – red
Campbell – green
Payn – Oxford blue
Blackmore (the boarders' house) – white
Blackmore House has capacity for over 130 boys. The boys' needs are catered for by boarder masters, food provision and dormitories with a maximum of six boys per dorm. The boys can go home most weekends and return on Monday mornings.
Headmasters
1866 – 1875: R Russell
1875 – 1880: 1880 – 1886: R P Sandford 1886 – 1909: W H Nicholas 1910 – 1930: A S Langley 1931 – 1945: J Black 1945 – 1952: Col. A C Martin 1952 – 1959: G J Armstrong 1959 – 1970: A W McIver 1971 – 1983: D C Thompson 1984 – 1993: K L Tomlinson 1994 – 1996: R D Forde 1997 – 2003: I T Bennison 2004 – 2014: D A Magner 2014 – 2016: L Erasmus 2017–present: A D Pinheiro
Sports
A wide range of sports and activities are offered including climbing, golf, fishing, surfing, chess, football, basketball, and hardball as well as the more traditional athletics, cricket, hockey, and rugby which have been played at the school for over 100 years. The school has produced over 140 international sportsmen in sports ranging from rugby and cricket to golf, badminton, baseball, surfing and powerlifting. Countries represented include France, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Germany and the United States. More than 30 old boys have played international cricket, six of whom were Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Five old boys played in the 1960 Lords test against England and four in the first two tests against Australia in 1969/70.
Notable people
Staff
'Skonk' Nicholson, renowned schools rugby coach. Coached seven Springboks including Joel Stransky and Butch James, both world cup winning fly-halves when he coached the first XV at Maritzburg College. Coach of 14 unbeaten College teams. In his 35 seasons in charge of the College First XV his teams established a playing record of, Played 504, Won 403, Drew 49 and Lost 52. DHS First XV rugby, First XI cricket and Head Prefect. Natal School's Rugby. Cecil (Bill) Payn, Springbok rugby. Taught at the school from 1915 to 1953. Bill fought in both World Wars and was awarded the Military Medal in 1941, aged 47, while in action in the Western Desert. Prisoner of war in Germany with fellow DHS teacher Izak Van Heerden. Ran the 90 km Comrades Marathon in rugby boots. Provincial cricket, baseball, athletics and boxing. Izak Van Heerden. School, Natal, Springbok and Argentina rugby coach. POW in Germany with another DHS teacher, Bill Payn. Taught at DHS for 39 years. Izak died at the school in 1973.
Alumni
Politics
Radclyffe Cadman. MP and leader of The New Republic Party. Administrator of Natal Province. MA (Cantab), LL.B. Royal Navy in WW2. Rupert Ellis-Brown, Mayor of Durban. Represented SA in Sailing at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Monotype (Paris) and in Sailing at the 1928 Summer Olympics (Amsterdam). Alec Erwin, MP. Minister of Trade and Industry (1996–2004). President of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (1996–2000). Dr Ernest George Jansen MP, Governor-General of the Union of South Africa (1950–1959). Senator Denis Gem Shepstone, Administrator of Natal Province. South African delegate to General Assembly of United Nations. Sir Gavyn Farr Arthur, Former Lord Mayor of London. Another DHS boy to end up at Harrow School. Appointed a High Court Judge in the UK in 2008.