School name - Sir William Milton
Milton School started life
on the 25th July 1910, named after Sir William Milton, however the
buildings situated on Borrow Street Bulawayo, are now home to Milton
Junior School. Milton and Eveline first state-maintained high
schools in Rhodesia. Milton and Eveline were officially opened on the
same day by Sir William Milton, his wife Lady Eveline, Sir Charles
Coghlan and the Mayor and Town Council.
Sir William
Henry Milton (3 December 1854
– 6 March 1930) was the 3rd Administrator of Mashonaland, played rugby
for England and was South Africa's second cricket captain.
Born in Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England. Milton played rugby for
England in 1874 and 1875.
Milton emigrated to South Africa, arriving in Cape Town in 1878. By the
late 1870s, rugby football was very much battling to survive against
Winchester College football. Milton joined Villagers club and preached
the cause of rugby, by the end of that year the football playing
fraternity of Cape Town had all but abandoned the Winchester game in
favour of rugby. He had three sons, Cecil and John, both of whom would
play rugby for England, and Noel, who played for Oxford University.
He made his Test cricket debut in their first game of all, at Port
Elizabeth in 1888/89. He was made captain for the second Test at Cape
Town, replacing Owen Dunell, and made his third and final appearance
(again at Cape Town) in 1891/92. He played three other first-class
games: two for Western Province and one for Cape Town Clubs.
Milton then moved to Mashonaland and under the influence of his friend
Cecil John Rhodes was Mashonaland's 3rd Administrator from 24 July 1897
to 24 January 1901.
In 1901 it was decided to combine the administration of Mashonaland and
Matabeleland that had been separated 3 years before and Milton then
became the Administrator of the whole of Southern Rhodesia. He retired
in 1914 at the age of 60. In 1922, the biggest school in Bulawayo at the
time was renamed Milton High School in his honour.
He died in Cannes, France at the age of 75.