Benjamin H. Balderstone, a Methodist missionary from Prince Edward Island, Canada, arrived in George Town as part of a two-man mission in Penang.

[1] He subsequently established the Anglo-Chinese School within a rented shophouse at Carnavon Street on 28 May, with an intake of only one student.

[1] The school was also expanded twice to cope with the rising student enrolment; 10 shophouses along Penang Road were acquired, followed by the rental of a building at Chulia Street.

Peach had purchased Suffolk House and its surrounding land at Air Itam Road in 1929 for $40,000 (Straits dollar) to facilitate the school's expansion.

Nonetheless, a sum of $6,000 (Straits dollar) was raised by the school committee to renovate Suffolk House.

[6] Suffolk House served as part of the school until 1975, when it was deemed structurally unsafe and vacated; the colonial mansion has since been restored as a tourist attraction.

[6][7] The current school building at Air Itam Road was only completed in 1955 and opened by Malcolm MacDonald, the then British Commissioner-General for Southeast Asia.