Location: Thomas Lands, Georgetown
Classification: Educational
Period/ Year Built: Established 1844
Historical Background / Description:
Queen’s College, one of Guyana’s leading secondary educational institutions, is located at the corner of Thomas and Camp Streets, Thomas Lands, Georgetown. The institution was established on August 5, 1844, by Bishop William Piercy Austin to provide education to the children of white settlers in the colony, who couldn’t afford to send them to Europe to study. The school started with 15 boys and two tutors. Non-whites were permitted, but only if they were considered extraordinarily gifted and by 1848, the school had two students of African descent.
The school was first housed in the old Colony House, which was located where the High Court now stands. It was then moved to Quamina and Carmichael Streets, the present site of Bishop’s High School. By 1918, the institution moved to Brickdam where the Ministry of Public Health is located and in 1931, the institution was handed over to the government. The school remained at this location until 1951, then moving to its current location at Thomas and Camp Streets.
Queen’s College which started out as an all-boys school begun accepting girls from 1975. In 1997, the school was affected by a fire which led to some students being moved temporary to South Ruimveldt Secondary School as the rebuilding process was on-going. By 2003, the reconstruction process was completed and the students stationed at South Ruimveldt Secondary were relocated back to Thomas Lands. The school is now housed in a series of two and three-stories, timber and concrete buildings.