Founded in 1856 as an independent boarding and day school for "young Catholic gentlemen" in the West Country, since 1981 St Boniface's Catholic College has been a voluntary aided school for boys and sixth-form girls, under the direction and trustees of the Roman Catholic Community in the Plymouth area in the South West of England. The College is named for St Boniface who was born in Crediton, Devon and is the patron saint of Germany. The school has a list of distinguished former pupils including Air Chief Marshal Sir John Gingell GBE KCB KCVO, the writer and intelligence agent Alexander Wilson, and Sir Julian Priestley KCMG, Secretary General of the European Parliament from 1997- 2007. The school has been open for 147 years, 8 months, and 29 days. It is situated on the west side of the A386, north of the A38 interchange - between the A38 and the B3413. St Boniface's College was founded in 1856 as a school for "young Catholic gentlemen" by the great, if austere, first Roman Catholic Bishop of Plymouth Dr Errington (1804–1886).