This article is about the school in London, England. For the school in Research, Australia see Eltham College of Education. Eltham College is an independent school situated in Mottingham in south-east London. Eltham and Mottingham once formed part of the same parish, hence its name. The school dates back to 1842 when it was founded as the London Missionary Society's School for the Sons and Orphans of Missionaries. A girls' school had been established in Walthamstow in 1837 and a boys' school was opened in the same place at the beginning of 1842. The boys' school later relocated to Mornington Crescent in 1852 and then to a purpose-built location in the centre of Blackheath in 1857 (the old school building became the headquarters of the Church Army and is now a private hospital). Missionary David Livingstone sent his sons to the school while it was in Blackheath. The school moved to its present site of 15 hectares / 36 acres - centred around an 18th century mansion (Fairy Hall) in Mottingham - in 1912. The building had previously been used by the Royal Naval School from 1889 to the end of the summer term in 1910.