Sir James Dyson gives £35m to school that paid his fees after father’s death
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Sir James Dyson has donated £35 million to the preparatory school that covered the vast majority of his and his brother’s fees after their father died.
The British inventor was a nine-year-old boarding pupil at Gresham’s School in Holt, Norfolk, when his father, Alec Dyson, who taught classics there, died from cancer in 1956.
His untimely death at the age of 43 meant Sir James’s and his brother’s places at the school were uncertain.
However, Logie Bruce-Lockhart, then-headmaster of Gresham’s, allowed him and his brother to continue their education at the school with a full bursary.
Without such a discount, Sir James said it would have been “impossible” for the brothers to continue their studies at the school.
The billionaire’s donation will be used to build a state-of-the-art preparatory school building, with science, technology, engineering, arts and maths (Steam) facilities for pupils aged seven to 13.
Today, fees for Gresham’s senior school boarding pupils are £13,900 per term.
Sir James said: “I’m forever grateful for the generosity Gresham’s showed me when my father – who was head of classics at the school – died when I was nine.
“Logie Bruce-Lockhart, the headmaster, allowed my brother and me to continue our studies with a bursary when it would otherwise have been impossible.
“I’m so pleased to be able to support the school and to see it shaping incredible young people who go on and flourish.”
Sir James, who invented the revolutionary bagless vacuum cleaner, and his family were ranked as the fifth-richest in the UK in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, with an estimated fortune of £23 billion.
He previously donated almost £18.75 million to Gresham’s for the Dyson Steam building, which opened last year.
The classrooms, laboratories, workshops and auditorium are equipped with the latest technology to support the teaching of topics from robotics to artificial intelligence.
And more than 1,000 local state school pupils have had engineering workshops in the building since it opened last year.
The new preparatory school is expected to welcome pupils by September 2026.
Douglas Robb, headmaster of Gresham’s, said: “We are enormously grateful for the generous donation of Sir James Dyson and the James Dyson Foundation.”
Earlier this year, Sir James sought to donate £6 million to his local state primary school, Malmesbury Primary School, in Wiltshire.
However, it is understood that multiple bodies and organisations, including the local authority and the Department for Education, are required to approve the donation and a decision is yet to be made.
Addressing the process, Sir James said: “We still hope the Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, will allow Malmesbury Primary School to expand and accept our pledge of £6 million.
“The Gresham’s donation is separate and more straightforward as it does not require the Department for Education’s involvement.”
Sir James is not the only public figure to donate to his former school.
Last year, Sky News reported that Rishi Sunak had donated more than £100,000 to Winchester College, where the Prime Minister had been head boy.
A spokesman for Mr Sunak, who was chancellor at the time, said the donations were made to help fund scholarships for children who would not otherwise be able to afford a place.
The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.
