In his diary Edward Alleyn records that on 26th April, 1621, shortly after the founding of the College of God's Gift, he dined at Sheriff Allen's. What he couldn't have realised was that one hundred years later, the Sheriff's great-grandson, James Allen, would be sworn in as the ninth Master of Edward Alleyn's Foundation.

We consider that we were lucky to have had James Allen as our founder and benefactor; perhaps we don't realise quite how lucky: you couldn't apply unless you had the surname Alleyn or Allen, and since James Allen and a certain William Alleyn tied in votes in 1723, there had to be some kind of a final selection. So after a service in the beautiful Christ's Chapel, they came forward to the communion table and each drew from a box, which the Master had shaken three times and held high above his head, a scroll of paper; one was blank and the other signified success, with the words 'God's Gift'. Unusual!

In 1741 James Allen, the Master of the College of God's Gift, founded a 'reading school' for poor children in Dulwich, housed in two rooms of a local inn. Boys were taught to read; girls to read and sew.

By the middle of the 19th century it had become the Dulwich Girls' School, with most local girls as pupils. In 1878 it was renamed as James Allen's Girls' School, eight years after the opening of Dulwich College as a public school. It was a pioneering time for women's education and in 1886 we were able to move into our new home, our present site on East Dulwich Grove.