MUIR COLLEGE BOYS HIGH
School Profile
Muir College of Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape is one of South Africa’s oldest schools, if not the oldest.
Gert Scheepers was the first white settler in the Gamtoos Valley, establishing his farm Rietvallei in 1772. In 1804 the town of Uitenhage would be founded on the site of Scheepers’ farm, and for the 12 years preceding the founding of Grahamstown in 1820, Uitenhage held the “hot seat” so far as frontier and military responsibility on the frontier of the Cape Colony was concerned.
In 1822 Scotsman James Rose-Innes arrived in the town to establish an English Free School as part of Lord Charles Somerset’s anglicisation policy. The school initially had an enrollment of 60, which had increased to 167 by 1829. In 1840 this school became known as the Government School. In 1873 the Government School amalgamated with the Proprietary School (established in 1864) to become the Public Undenominational School. In November of 1892 the school underwent its final significant name change, becoming the Muir Academy in honour of the then Secretary General of Education Sir Thomas Muir. It became known as Muir College in 1906.
School Song
Stand and sing for auld lang syne,
Shout till the rafters ring.
Stand and sing our song once again,
Let every loyal heart now sing.
Then think of all the happy hours,
Think of the careless days.
Think of all who went before us,
Yet linger in our thoughts always.
Let us sing to the Muir,
To the school with the glorious memories,
To the men of the past, and the name they have handed down to us;
To the life and the strife, in the games that are stirring and calling us;
Carry on! Carry on! Carry on the good name of the Muir!
So – Stand and sing for auld lang syne,
Shout till the rafters ring.
Stand and sing our song once again,
Let every loyal heart now sing.
Then think of all the happy hours,
Think of the careless days.
Think of all who went before us,
Yet linger in our thoughts always.
School Information
Name: Muir College
Address: Sir Thomas Muir Drive, Vanes Estate, Uitenhage.
Founded: 1822
Motto: Nec Pluribus Impar (Second to None)
Numbers: 630 boys from Grade 4 to Grade 12
Rugby at Muir College
Photographic evidence of rugby at Muir College exists from as early as 1893, while Grey High School record their first ever game as played against the Muir Academy in 1894. Headmaster John Mitchell had recorded in his diary on the 13th of April 1893 that “a meeting of pupils to decide on the football club was held.” Unfortunately this teething period of rugby came to an abrupt end in 1897 when new headmaster John Sutherland introduced soccer as the winter sport. Rugby was reintroduced in only 1923, and performances climaxed in 1931 with the 1st XV of that year recording 9 wins and 2 draws out of 14 matches to show that Muir College rugby had finally arrived.
Famous Old Boys
Muir College has produced two Springboks, namely Fred Smollan in 1933 and Garth Wright in 1986, while famed rugby scribe Mel Channer was selected for Scotland shortly after the Second World War.
Traditional Rivals
Muir College counts Grey High, Graeme College, St Andrew’s College, Union High and Gill College as their oldest traditional opponents.
Rugby War Cry
Aha! Aha! Aha!
Kangela e’Muir College
Ooooo…shi
Koleza koleza koleza
Kaba kaba kaba zani
Kaba kaba kaba Zani
Amadoda…….
Ewe……
Muir
