Diocesan Boys' School

In 1860, Mrs Lydia Smith (wife of the Bishop of Victoria) and the Society for the Promotion of Female Education in the Far East (Also known as Female Education Society, or "FES")[4] set up the Diocesan Native Female Training School, a day-school turned boarding school for native girls, affiliated with the Diocese of Victoria. As stated in its first annual report, the purpose of the school was "to introduce among a somewhat superior class of native females the blessings of Christianity and of religious training". The school sat on Bonham Road, a small concrete house on a paddy field.[5] Lady Robinson (the Governor's wife) became the patron.[6]

The school had a difficult existence. The Second Opium War aroused strong anti-British sentiment and so it was very unpopular for Chinese girls to learn English.[7] The school was closed and then reopened under the name "Diocesan Female School", but its finances did not improve. In 1868, Bishop Charles Alford took the school under his immediate superintendence.[5]

On 30 January 1869, in a bid to gain popular support, Bishop Alford issued an appeal to admit boys into the school and to turn it into an orphanage. The appeal was well received by the public. In September, the Diocesan Home and Orphanage, for boys and girls, both foreign and Chinese, was established.[8]

In July 1870, William Arthur, formerly of the Garrison School, was appointed as the headmaster and Mrs Arthur as the matron.[5]

In 1878, the school was placed in the grant-in-aid scheme by the Education Department.

In March 1878, Arthur resigned. Bishop Burdon proposed to stop admitting boys into the school and to bring it under the FES. In July, he withdrew his proposal following pressure from William Beswick, honorary treasurer of the DHO, although the Bishop still thought it inappropriate to have boys and girls boarding in the same school campus.[9]

On 1 November 1878, George Piercy, then master of the Government Central School, was appointed to be the new headmaster.[10] Piercy focused on the students' academics, and the school attained satisfactory results in the Cambridge and Oxford Local Examinations scholarships.[11]

On 31 May 1879, the school committee resolved to stop accepting girls as boarders.

In 1891, the school was renamed the Diocesan School and Orphanage. In 1892, the remaining girls were transferred to Fairlea Girls' School (a forerunner of Heep Yunn School). The Diocesan School and Orphanage was transformed into a boys' school.[9]

In 1902, the school was renamed the Diocesan Boys' School and Orphanage.[12] It is unclear when the school was renamed the Diocesan Boys' School, although the name was used as early as 1918.[13]

Rev. William Featherstone, headmaster from 1918 to 1931, introduced the prefects' system, a house system and Speech Day. He also moved the school from Bonham Road to a hill site in Mong Kok. Construction was completed in 1926. In February 1927, the British military authorities took the school for use as a hospital for one year.[14]

When war broke out in China in 1937, the school showed its support towards the Chinese Nationalist Party. In January 1938, a shoe-shining club was organised under the permission of Rev. Christopher Sargent to raise funds for the Nationalist government. Boys went to schools around Hong Kong and polished shoes for teachers and students.[15] In 1939, there was a school strike when a student with Japanese citizenship was appointed as head prefect.[16]

During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, most of the school staff, including then-headmaster Gerald Goodban, were imprisoned. The school building was transformed into a military hospital for soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army.

Imperial Japan surrendered in August 1945. The school remained under the control of the Kempeitai until November, when all the Japanese soldiers were captured.

On 21 March 1946, J. L. YoungSaye, a senior teacher, got the school to run again. Oswald Cheung and B. J. Monks took up the post of acting headmaster successively. Goodban returned from England on 19 November 1947. Repairs started during the Christmas holidays.

In 1949, Goodban introduced a new house system in which houses were named after former headmasters, along with the Piercy Challenge Shield.[17]

In early 1950s, construction plans for a gymnasium, a Carnegie Hall (the old art room beside the demolished gymnasium) and a science wing were proposed.[18]

In 1955, Canon George Zimmern, also known as George She, was appointed the next headmaster, the first Hong Kong-born old boy to be given the role. As headmaster, Canon She welcomed students from poor households and affirmed the Chinese language in school culture.[19] Canon She also introduced the Garden Fête in 1955.

It was decided that the primary classes should be dropped for lack of space and that a completely new primary school - Diocesan Preparatory School - would be built, although the decision was only implemented in 1969.[20]

James Lowcock became headmaster in 1961. Based on his previous experience in the school, he restructured the administration to improve efficiency and appointed more teachers to posts with designated duties.

In 1983, Jacland Lai succeeded Mr. Lowcock as headmaster. A language laboratory and a demonstration room were built. The electrics and alarm installations were renovated, the school walls repainted, and the facilities were computerised throughout the school.

In 2002, Lai was succeeded by Terence Chang, an old boy and then-headmaster of Jockey Club Ti-I College.

On 4 October 2002, the school committee proposed to join the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) with effect from September 2003. The application was accepted by the Education and Manpower Bureau in March 2003.[21] The DSS was fiercely debated within the School throughout 2002. Chang was highly in favour of joining the DSS,[22] but some students and most teachers opposed the DSS because they were afraid it would shut out students from poorer families. Alumni on the whole were slightly inclined towards the DSS. The school claimed that parents were in favour, though its findings have since been criticised as biased.[23]

A primary school was built beside the secondary school campus. The project was financed by the government as part of the deal that saw the school join the DSS.[24] The Diocesan Boys' School Primary Division (DBSPD) had its first, partial intake of students in 2004 and expanded its intake with students aged between 6 and 12 over the following years.

In April 2012, Diocesan Boys' School became the first secondary school in Hong Kong to have a school app on iOS and Android.

In September 2012, Chang retired and Ronnie Kay Yen Cheng – an alumnus who had been the conductor of the school choirs – succeeded him as headmaster.

In May 2020, the school became the world's No.1 International Baccalaureate school, with an average mark of 42.[25]

• The Main Building was built in 1926. It houses many classrooms, the school hall, the general office, the covered playground, the George She Christian Centre, the Music Room, the canteen and the tuck shop. It is shaped like the Chinese character "主". Between the horizontal strokes of the character, there is a parking lot (for staff), a grass field in front of the tuck shop, a rock garden (built in 1926, redesigned in 1955 by former art teacher Mr Y. T. Kwong, and subsequently redesigned again in 2020), and a glass dining hall pavilion for boarding students. The top floor of the main building formerly served as the boarding house for students until 2007, when all boarders moved to the Samuel Tak Lee Building and the premises was repurposed.
• The Science Wing, the New Wing, and the New New Wing, built in the 1956, 1961, and 1968 respectively, to house more classrooms and laboratories. The New Wing houses the NSS library and lecture hall. The New New Wing has some laboratories and classrooms for G8 and G9.
• The Gymnasium, built in 1951, was demolished in the late 2000s to make way for the auditorium (see below). The small barbecue pit next to the building was kept and now sits next to the auditorium.
• The Headmaster's Residence, built in 1952, was demolished in the late 1990s to make way for the Primary Division (see below).

Five new buildings were built between 2004 and 2012, when Terence Chang was headmaster. The buildings were designed by architect Thomas Chow (an old boy of the class of 1975), who won three awards from the Hong Kong Institute of Architects: two "Medal of the Year" awards (for his work on the Primary Division and on the Samuel Tak Lee Building respectively) and one "Merit Award – Community Building" (for his work on the Michiko Miyakawa Building and the Yunni and Maxine Pao Auditorium).

• The Primary Division was opened in 2004. It includes, among other facilities, thirty classrooms, computer rooms, an assembly hall, a covered playground, two basketball courts, and an outdoor amphitheater.
• The Mrs Tsai Ming Sang Building (a.k.a. the S.I.P. (School Improvement Project Building), built in 2005, houses a sky garden, 10 more classrooms for G7 and G8, laboratories, 3 multi-media learning centers, and a large staff room. "S.I.P." stands for "School Improvement Programme".
• The Samuel Tak Lee Building (a.k.a. the Sports and Dormitory Complex), named after a wealthy donor (an old boy of the class of 1958), was opened in 2008 to house dormitories and common rooms for boarders, as well as a 25-metre indoor swimming pool, a new gymnasium, weight lifting facilities and additional classrooms for day boys.
• The Michiko Miyakawa Building (a.k.a. the I.B. Building) opened in 2011 to provide classrooms for the newly introduced International Baccalaureate section. It contains St Augustine's Chapel and the Ronald J. Chao Library amongst labs and classrooms for the IB students.
• The Yunni and Maxine Pao Auditorium, built on the site of the old gymnasium, opened in 2012. It houses the 800-seat Yip Kit Chuen Concert Hall, a couple of art galleries, and several other multi-purpose rooms.

In December 2022, DBS said that it had already implemented national security education into its curriculum.[29] The school stated that "The objective is to deepen students' understanding of the country's development and national security, enhance their sense of national identity and nurture them as good law-abiding citizens."[29]

By 2022, DBS counts a total of 16 winners of the Hong Kong Outstanding Students Awards,[40] ranking sixth among all secondary schools in Hong Kong.

Statue of Sun Yat-sen on campus, unveiled in 2011

Dr. Sun Yat-sen in 1924

• Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) (1866-1925), Chinese revolutionary and statesman, "Father of Modern China"
• Sir Robert Kotewall (羅旭龢) (1880-1949), colonial businessman and politician[44]
• Yeung Kai-yin (楊啟彥) (1941-2007), chairman and chief executive of Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), Secretary for Education and Manpower, Secretary for Transport and Secretary for the Treasury
• James Tien Pei Chun (田北俊), former chairman of the Liberal Party and member of the Legislative Council
• Michael Tien Puk Sun (田北辰), member of the Legislative Council and former chairman of the board of the KCRC
• Tommy Cheung, Leader of the Liberal Party and member of the Legislative Council
• Dominic Lee, member of the Legislative Council and former member of the Sham Shui Po District Council
• Kenneth Chen Wei-on, Secretary-General of the Legislative Council and former Undersecretary for Education
• Eddie Yue Wai-man (余偉文), Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority[45]
• Patrick Ho, former Secretary for Home Affairs, convicted of bribery offences in a U.S. federal court in 2018
• Timothy Tong, former Commissioner of the ICAC and Commissioner of Customs and Excise
• Joshua Law Chi-kong, Former Secretary for the Civil Service, Permanent Secretary for Security, Permanent Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization

• William Ngartse Thomas Tam (1900-1976), barrister, magistrate, member of the Legislative Council
• Rev. G. S. Zimmern (施玉麒) (1904-1979), barrister, magistrate, headmaster of DBS[46]
• Sir Cho-yiu Kwan (關祖堯) (1907-1971), judge, member of the Executive and Legislative Councils
• Sir Yuet-keung Kan (簡悅強) (1913-2012), solicitor, member of the Executive and Legislative Councils, banker
• Sir Oswald Cheung (張奧偉) (1922-2003), barrister, member of the Executive and Legislative Councils, acting headmaster of DBS[47]
• Aarif Barma (鮑晏明), Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal[48]
• Pang Kin-kee (彭鍵基), former High Court judge and former chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC)[49]

• Lam Kin Ming (林建名), chairman of Lai Sun Group
• Henry Fan (范鴻齡), Chairman of the Hospital Authority, former Unofficial Member of the Executive Council, former managing director of CITIC Pacific and former vice-chairman of Cathay Pacific
• Canning Fok (霍建寧), group managing director of Hutchison Whampoa
• Daryl Ng (黃永光), deputy chairman of Sino Group[50]
• V-Nee Yeh (葉維義), founder of Value Partners (asset management) and member of the Executive Council[51]

• Chan Wing Tsit (陳榮捷) (1901-1994), sinologist, professor of philosophy at Dartmouth College and Columbia University[52]
• Tam Sheung Wai (譚尚渭), president emeritus of the Open University of Hong Kong.
• Robert Chung Ting Yiu (鍾庭耀), director of the Public Opinion Programme at HKU
• Chan Hing-yan (陳慶恩), chair of the Department of Music at HKU
• Lai Ching Lung (黎青龍), professor of medicine at HKU[53]
• Benny Tai Yiu-ting (戴耀廷), associate professor of law at HKU, initiator of Occupy Central

• George Lam (林子祥), Cantopop star
• Li Chuan Yun (李傳韻), violinist
• Andrew Hin Yau Ling (凌顯祐), violinist, violist, conductor
• Aristo Sham, pianist
• Chapman To (杜汶澤), actor and entertainer
• Vivek Mahbubani, stand-up comedian
• Hubert Wu (胡鴻鈞), Cantopop singer
• Lo King-man (盧景文), performing artist and director, "Father of Hong Kong Opera"
• Byron Mann (文峰), actor

• Alex Law Kai-yui (羅啟銳), film director
• Josiah Lau Ka Kit (劉家傑), host of "One Minute's English" (RTHK)

• Roy Lamsam (伍劭雄), cricketer
• William Hill, Olympic sprinter (1964)
• Denis Cunningham, Olympic fencer (1976, 1984), chairman of Hong Kong Fencing Association
• Lai Chun Ho (黎振浩), Olympic sprinter (2008, 2012)
• Chan Ming Tai (陳銘泰), Olympic long jumper (2016), holder of the Hong Kong record
• Ng Ka Long (伍家朗), Olympic badminton player (2016, 2020)
• Tan Chun Lok (陳俊樂), footballer, member of Hong Kong National Football Team, current plays for Chinese Super League club Guangzhou City
• Yue Tze Nam (茹子楠), footballer, member of Hong Kong National Football Team, current plays for Chinese Super League club Meizhou Hakka
• Lawrence Ng Lok Wang (吳諾弘), Olympic foil fencer (2020)

• Coleman Wong Chak Lam (黃澤林), tennis player, winner of the Boys' Doubles titles at 2021 US Open and 2022 Australian Open
• Viking Wong (黃維俊), Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and fashion designer