Kearsney College is a private boarding, English medium high school for boys in Botha's Hill, a small town between the provincial capital of Pietermaritzburg and Durban, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. History Kearsney College was founded by Sir Liege Hulett in 1921. Hulett founded what would become Tongaat Hulett Sugar. Sir Liege Hulett cherished the idea of establishing a boys' school for Methodist ministers and their sons and those of the families of the free churches. Kearsney took its name from Kearsney, Kent where Sir Liege Hulett had moved to where his father established St Martin's Academy. He considered Kearsney House, the house he originally built for his family to be ideally suited for this purpose. On 29 November 1920, a contract was signed with the Wesleyan Church for the use of Kearsney House as a school. This was the birth of Kearsney College and remains a living memorial to Sir Liege. The school opened with 11 boys. Kearsney College remained at the Kearsney Estate until June 1939 when it moved to its present site at Botha's Hill between Pietermaritzburg and Durban. The decision to move the school was based on the reluctance of parents to send their sons to a school on the north coast that suffered many cases of malaria in the 1930s, although none were reported at Kearsney. On hearing of this, Clement Stott of Botha’s Hill donated of land. At the same time, J.J. Crookes offered to build a boarding house. The move was completed a month before the beginning of World War II. The new Kearsney College opened with 196 boys. Kearsney's badge was designed by the then-headmaster, R.H. Matterson, and the chaplain, the Rev. W.H. Irving, in about 1923. The greyhound is taken from the arms of the founder, Sir James Liege Hulett The scallop shells and the dividing chevron are from the arms of the founder of Methodism, John Wesley. The pheon, or arrowhead, is taken from the badge of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where Matterson studied. The motto Carpe Diem, traditionally at Kearsney translated "Seize the Day," comes from the Roman poet Horace. Headmasters D. Pyne Mercier (1921–1922) R.H. Matterson (1923–1946) S.G. Osler (1947–1964) J.H. Hopkins (1965–1974) E.W. Silcock (1975–1990) O.J. Roberts (1991–2000) E.D. van den Aardweg (2001 -2022) Boarding Houses There are five boarding establishments - four senior houses and one junior house. They are Finningley (blue), Gillingham (red),