John Armstrong, the first bishop of Grahamstown on his enthronement in 1854 committed himself and his church to respond to the needs of the Xhosa people suffering the impact of the wars of dispossession.

[1] Chief Socishe donated 690 acres (280 ha) of land for the St Matthews Mission and Sir George Grey, the colonial governor, approved the development.

The institutional link between St Matthews and St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown began in the 1860s when students were sent from mission schools to what was known as the Kaffir Institute that was part of St Andrews College, run by the Revd William Greenstock.

Smith, the first resident missionary to St Matthews, worked closely with the military chaplain, the Revd George Dacre, to lay the foundations of the earliest buildings and build the water furrows that still supply water to the school.

In the 1860s The Revd Charles Taberer[4] moved to the school and began offering academic classes in the morning and engaging the pupils in industrial work in the afternoons.