Durban High School (Better known as D.H.S.) is a public English-language 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 with the main Deputy Headmaster, Mr Gavin Goodwin. It is the oldest standing school in Durban and one of the oldest in South Africa. It has one of the highest numbers of international test cricket representatives in Southern 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, badminton, squash cross country, 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. A. J. Human, taught at the school for 52 years being one of the oldest serving staff members of the Durban High School in which time he taught physical sciences. He has a functions room named in honour of his dedicated and committed service to school.
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 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.
Academics David W. Brokensha (1923–2017) was a South African anthropologist and university professor, known for his work on Indigenous development and cultures in Africa. Tim Couzens (1944–2016) was a South African literary and social historian, and travel writer, employed in the Graduate School for Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. Dr Percy Deift. Professor of Mathematics at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University. Awarded The George Polya Prize, 1998. Named a Guggenheim Fellow in 1999. PhD-Princeton University. Dux 1962 Thomas John I'Anson Bromwich. Professor of Mathematics, Queen's College, Galway, Ireland. Fellow of the Royal Society. Senior Wrangler, Cambridge 1897. Sir Aaron Klug, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1982. Scientific advisor to the British Government. President of The Royal Society, governor at the Scripps Research Institute, US, Dux 1941 Dr David Papineau, King's College London. Professor of the Philosophy of Science. PhD-Cambridge. Dux 1963. Dr Mervyn Susser, member Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh). Sergievsky Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University, New York, US Phillip V. Tobias, palaeoanthropologist. Doctorates in medicine, genetics and palaeoanthropology. Nominated three times for a Nobel Prize. Dux 1942. Dr Trevor Wadley, invented the Tellurometer in 1957, the Wadley Loop and an Ionosonde. Awarded the Frank P. Brown Medal in 1970.
Business Graham Atkinson: Chief Executive Officer Umgeni Water (1987–1996), a state-owned entity. It is one of Africa's most successful organisations involved in water management, and is the largest supplier of bulk potable water in KwaZulu-Natal. Stephen Mulholland,Stephen Mulholland CEO Times Media Limited (Formerly SAAN) 1986–1992. CEO Fairfax Group (Australia) 1992–1996. Two time All American Swimming Champion and South African national champion. Stephen Bradley Saad, founder and CEO of Aspen Pharmacare, Africa's largest pharmaceutical manufacturer. First XV rugby.
Past president of NUSAS Phillip V. Tobias, 1948 President of the National Union of South African Students. Professor of Palaeoanthropology at Wits.
Judiciary Sir Gavyn Arthur appointed a British High Court Judge in 2008. Justice Malcolm Wallis, Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal and honorary Professor of Law in the University of KwaZulu-NataL.
Military Sq Ldr Johannes Jacobus le Roux, RAF, Battle of Britain. Distinguished Flying Cross and two Bars. His squadron wounded Field Marshal Erwin Rommel when his car overturned during an aerial attack just after D-Day. First XV rugby. Paddy Roberts. Lawyer and WW 2 Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot. Commercial BOAC pilot after the war. Turned to songwriting and singing, writing numerous UK hits and film scores. Won five Ivor Novello Awards Eric Cowley Saville, DFC. SAAF and RAF Major Edwin Swales. Victoria Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross. SAAF and RAF. Pathfinder Master Bomber. Michael Turner, WW2 RAF Pilot. Became a stage, television and film actor in Britain after the war.
Arts and media Roy Campbell, poet, author and adventurer. Howard Carpendale. 'Schlager' singer, sold over 50 million records in German speaking countries. Won Goldene Europa Award in 1978 and 1987, Goldene Stimmgabel prize in 1981, '84, '86 and 1987. First XV rugby, First XI cricket and Natal School's athletics. Jack Cope, author. Marius Gabriel novelist. Has written numerous romance and mystery novels. Wrote and illustrated the children's book Smartypig. Laurence Gandar,Laurence Gandar editor Rand Daily Mail. Anti-apartheid campaigner. World Press Freedom Hero (2010). School Athletics, Natal Athletics. Captain, 6th SA Armoured Brigade in WW2. Ross Garland, Advocate and film producer (including Spud) and Rhodes Scholar. Won the Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival (2005). First XI cricket. Tony Heard, journalist and author. Noel Langley novelist and playwright. Wrote the film scenario for The Wizard of Oz. Fernando Pessoa (1888 –1935 ) Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, and publisher; has been described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in Portuguese literature. Marc Raubenheimer, concert pianist. Paddy Roberts, RAF pilot. Commercial BOAC pilot after the war. Turned to songwriting and singing, writing numerous UK hits and film scores. Won five Ivor Novello Awards. Victor Stiebel. London fashion designer. Studied architecture at Jesus College, Cambridge. Michael TurnerMichael Turner WW2 RAF pilot. Became a stage, television and film actor in Britain.
Rhodes Scholars Ross Garland 1997 Peter Sacks 1973 John Nicolson, Rhodes Scholar. Head Boy, captain of cricket and rugby.
Cricket All represented South Africa except where noted:
Hashim Amla. SA test captain. World Cup 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019. His 311 not out in the first test at The Oval in 2012 is the second highest by a SA batsman in test cricket. Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2013. Quickest SA batsman to score 20 test centuries and the fastest batsman from all countries to score 7000 runs in ODIs. Dale Benkenstein. Gold medal, Commonwealth Games, Malaysia 1998. Michaelhouse school also. Horace Chapman J. A. J. Christy Nick Compton (represented England). Toured England with the DHS first XI captained by Hashim Amla. Averaged 99.60 for Somerset in county cricket in 2012. Tests for England beginning 2012. Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2013. Hilton College and Harrow School (England) Dalton Conyngham Bertram Cooley,Bertram Cooley chosen for the 1901 tour to England but did not play a test match. Eric Dalton. SA tennis and SA golf also. Nummy Dean, SA test captain. Maritzburg College also. Richard Dumbrill Dennis Dyer Jonathan Fellows-Smith. Rugby Blue, Oxford University (1950s). Dennis Gamsy, wicketkeeper. First XV rugby. Trevor Goddard. SA test captain and opening bat and Test cricket's most economical bowler (av 1.64/over). Provincial football. Geoff Griffin. First South African to take a hat-trick in a test match (Lords 1960). First XV rugby, Natal School's Athletics, Natal U19 rugby, Rhodesia hockey. Tyron Henderson, First XV rugby. Kent and Middlesex and Rajasthan Royals (IPL). Lee Irvine Highest First XI batting average at DHS in a season. Scored 1310 runs at an average of 68.95 in 21 innings (Wade Wingfield scored 1510 runs in 1995). School First XV rugby and School Athletics. Jon Kent. Imraan Khan. Opened the innings in the third test against Australia in Cape Town in the absence of SA captain Graeme Smith (2009). Not the Pakistan captain. Lance Klusener, "Zulu", ICC 1999 World Cup Man of the Tournament despite SA not playing in the final, Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2000. Took 8/64 in India's second innings on debut in Kolkata in 1996. Klusener's World Cup batting average of 124 is the highest for any batsman and 16 higher than the second best. Nevil Lindsay. Ainsley Ndlovu – Zimbabwe.