The College was founded in Petersfield in the 1720s by the will of Richard Churcher to educate local boys in the skills needed for service in the East India Company.

Churcher was a wealthy local philanthropist who had made his fortune through interests in the British East India Company.

His will, dated 1722, decreed that the College was to educate: 10 or 12 local boys from Petersfield, of any age from 9 to 14, in the arts of writing, arithmetic, mathematics and navigation so they could be apprenticed to masters of ships sailing in the East Indies.

The school became increasingly popular due to its successes, and in 1881 moved to its present location in Ramshill, accommodating 150 boys, on land donated by the J&W Nicholson & Co family of gin makers.

In 1979, Hampshire County Council decided to cease to maintain the college, which became an independent fee-paying school.

[9] The school has equestrianism, tennis, hockey, rugby, swimming, athletics and recently football teams and events and competes in contests such as the Ten Tors, and Ten peaks (a churcher’s college made event, due to unselection in 2023) Churcher’s College won Ten Tors in both 2014 and 2015,[10] the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Marathon, and the Charlton Chase and annually sponsor/host the Butser Hill Challenge events.