Rugby School was founded in 1567 as a provision in the will of Lawrence Sheriff, who had made his fortune supplying groceries to Queen Elizabeth I of England. In the last few months of his life, Sheriff had drawn up a will which stipulated that his fortune should be used to found almshouses and a free grammar school "to serve chiefly for the children of Rugby and Brownsover. However, this was only for boys.
In 1975 two girls were admitted to the sixth form and the first girls' house opened three years later, followed by three more. In 1992 the school became fully co-educational when the first 13-year-old girls arrived, and in 1995 Rugby had its first-ever Head Girl, Louise Woolcock, who appeared on the front page of The Times. In September 2003 the last girls' house was added. Today, total enrolment of day pupils, from forms 4 to 12, numbers around 800.
The game of Rugby football owes its name to the school.
The legend of William Webb Ellis and the origin of the game is commemorated by a plaque. The story is that William Webb Ellis, a Rugby School pupil, was the first to pick up a football and run with it, and thus invent a new sport.
