Churcher's College is created as a non-denominational…

Churcher's College is created as a non-denominational foundation by the will, dated 1722, of Richard Churcher, a wealthy philanthropist of Petersfield, Hampshire, who had made his fortune through interests in the British East India Company, . 

The will decrees that the College is to educate "10 or 12 local boys from Petersfield, of any age from 9 to 14, in the arts of writing, arithmetic, mathematics and navigation so they could be apprenticed to masters of ships sailing in the East Indies".

The school moves in 1729 into in a fine new building, which still stands in College Street.