The American School in London was founded in 1951 by Stephen L. Eckard, an American journalist and former teacher, working for the North American Service of the BBC. He was encouraged by several co-workers to start a school following an American curriculum which he set up with 13 students and all classes taking place in his Knightsbridge flat.
The school grew and held its first High School graduation in 1960. In 1968 a new purpose-built campus was begun in St John's Wood and was dedicated in 1971 by the Rt. Hon. Margaret Thatcher, MP, secretary of state for education and science.
In 1974 the American Memorial Collection was established in the Mellon Library to commemorate ASL families killed in a Paris plane crash.
Then on 21 December 1988 two students were killed in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. To commemorate their deaths the School chose two windows from the Stained Glass Repository to be installed in the library.
The windows were the work of Luke Dampney and dated from the 1920s. They depict St Joan and the Venerable Bede and were originally in the Church of All Saints, Plymouth.
"We have truly enjoyed having the windows," said the ASL Librarian. "They are lovely and promote an atmosphere of beauty and peace in our busy library".