Our Houses

There are 4 houses at St Thomas the Apostle. Each student belongs to a house. These Houses are under the patronage of four young men who died for their Faith on the site now occupied by the Thomas-a-Becket Public House on the Old Kent Road.

Venerable John Griffith (BLUE)

Blessed David Gunstone (GREEN)

St John Jones (RED)

St John Rigby (YELLOW)

Boys represent their House in competitions throughout the year in a variety of activities such as: Sports Day, Swimming Gala and a variety of non-sporting activities co-rdinated by the Heads of House.

Venerable John Griffith

John Griffith was of a good Welsh family, which had remained faithful to the Church. As a youth, he entered the Franciscan convent at Greenwich; at its dissolution in 1559 he went to the Continent, and was professed at Pontoise, France. After many years he journeyed to Rome, where he stayed at the Ara Coeli convent of the Observantines. Although he was a Conventual, he joined the Roman province of the Reformati in 1591, as he had become imbued with the ideals of the Strict Observance. He then begged to be allowed to go upon the English mission, which his superiors permitted, and he also received a special blessing and commendation from Clement VIII. John Griffith was and executed 12 July 1598. He is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

Blessed David Gunstone

Sir David Gunstone was a member of an English naval family who was received into the Order at the English Auberge in Malta on 20 October 1533. Henry VIII had suppressed the Order in his kingdom by an Act of Parliament of 10 May 1540. David Gunstone was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1540 and was condemned to death by an Act of Parliament in 1541 for denying the authority of the King in spiritual matters. He was hanged, drawn and quartered at St. Thomas' Waterings, Southwark on 12 July 1541.

St John Jones

John Jones was born into a loyal Catholic family in Clynnog Fawr in the former county of Caernarfonshire.  He entered a Franciscan Convent, the Observant branch of the Friars Minor, in London and then moved to France at the dissolution of the monasteries in England.  He took his vows at Pontoise and some years later moved to Rome eventually joining the Roman province of the Reformati, a branch of the Friars Minor which practised a stricter observance. He was canonised in 1970, one of the 40 martyrs of England and Wales, together with John Rigby whom he had met and sustained in the faith during his last imprisonment. 

St John Rigby

Martyr of England, a lay­man born near Wigan, England, and was reconciled to the Church. Admitting that he was a Catholic, he was arrested and placed in Newgate Prison. Twice he was given the chance to recant, but twice refused.  He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Southwark on June 21. He gave the executioner who helped him up to the cart a piece of gold, saying, "Take this in token that I freely forgive thee and others that have been accessory to my death." John is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales and was canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI.