Set in the Malvern Hills, the school's location owes much to Malvern's emergence in the nineteenth century as a fashionable spa resort, appreciated for its unpolluted air and the healing qualities of its famous spring water. The school opened its doors for the first time in January 1865. Initially, there were only about twenty four boy pupils, six teachers and two houses but its expansion was rapid. In 1875, there were 200 boys on the Roll and five boarding houses ; by the end of the 19th century, the numbers had risen to more than 400 boys and ten houses. American poet Henry Longfellow visited the school in 1868, Prince and Princess Christian on speech-day in 1870 and The Duke and Duchess of Teck visited in 1891 with their daughter, Princess May (later Queen Mary). Lord Randolph Churchill's speech-day comments on education in 1889 were reported in the Times. The school was one of the twenty four Public Schools listed in the Public Schools Yearbook of 1889. Further expansion of pupil numbers and buildings continued between the end of the First World War in 1918 and the start of the Second World War in 1939. During the two Wars, 457 and 258 former pupils, respectively, gave their lives.[12] Seven former pupils were among 'the few' who took part in the Battle of Britain.
Following the onset of World War II, the College premises were requisitioned by the Admiralty between October 1939 and July 1940, with the result that the school was temporarily relocated to Blenheim Palace. In 1942, its premises were again needed for governmental use, on this occasion by the TRE and, from May 1942 to July 1946, the school was housed with Harrow School. QinetiQ, a private sector successor to the government's original research facility, is still sited on former college land.
Having traditionally been a school for boys aged from 13 to 18 years old, in 1992 it merged with Ellerslie Girls’ School and Hillstone prep school to become coeducational, with pupils from 3 to 18 years old. In September 2008, the College's Prep School merged with The Downs prep school on the latter's nearby site in Colwall, Herefordshire to form The Downs, Malvern College Prep School.
