Adisadel College, at Cape Coast , Ghana is one of the oldest modern educational institutions for boys in Africa. It was founded on the 4th. January, 1910 and modeled on the typical English Public School. The school’s original name was the S.P.G. (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel) Grammar School. It later on became St. Nicholas’ Grammar school and finally became Adisadel College when it moved to its current location at Adisadel on the outskirts of Cape Coast in Ghana.
The School was established in 1910 in a storey building at Topp Yard, near Christ Church and the Castle, at Cape Coast. From a humble beginning with only twenty-nine boys, the School has grown over the past ninety years. When it was twenty-five years old in 1935 the School had about 200 boys on the registers. At the time of the Golden Jubilee in 1960 the enrolment had gone up to 545 and now in 2008 there are almost two thousand (2000) boys.
The school’s Founder was the Right Reverend Dr. Nathaniel Temple Hamlyn of the Anglican Church. His purpose in establishing the School was to provide for sons of Anglican parents, opportunities of education of the grammar school type. In particular, his objective was to provide a training ground for turning out well-equipped personnel for the Church’s work. Bishop Hamlyn amply realised his objective, and in so doing has immortalised himself in the annals of the School.
The School has, during the past ninety eight years, attained remarkable heights of achievement. Today, it stands as the second oldest secondary school in Ghana, and indeed one of the most famous institutions of learning in sub-Saharan Africa. The first secondary school to be established in Ghana was Mfantsipim School, also in Cape Coast, which was founded by the Methodist Church in 1876.