← catalogue

A History of Giggleswick School from its Foundation, 1499 to 1912

by Edward Allen Bell · English · Gutenberg #30168 · 452,040 chars · public domain (US)

The Project Gutenberg eBook of A History of Giggleswick School from its Foundation, 1499 to 1912
    
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.

Title: A History of Giggleswick School from its Foundation, 1499 to 1912

Author: Edward Allen Bell


        
Release date: October 3, 2009 [eBook #30168]
                Most recently updated: October 24, 2024

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30168

Credits: Produced by Jason Isbell, Brownfox and the Online
        Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
        file was produced from images generously made available
        by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY OF GIGGLESWICK SCHOOL FROM ITS FOUNDATION, 1499 TO 1912 ***

A History of Giggleswick School

FIRST EDITION, JULY, 1912.

[Illustration: REV. GEORGE STYLE, M.A.]




A HISTORY OF

GIGGLESWICK SCHOOL

FROM ITS FOUNDATION
1499 TO 1912

BY

EDWARD ALLEN BELL, M.A.,

_Sometime Scholar of Christ Church, Oxford_

[Illustration: School Seal]

LEEDS:
RICHARD JACKSON,
16 & 17, COMMERCIAL STREET.

1912.




PREFACE


The history of Giggleswick School has just two difficulties about it
which need to be unravelled. The date of the foundation of the School or
of the Chantry of the Rood and the origin of the Seal alone are of
interest to the antiquary and I have failed to discover either. The
remainder is the story of a school, which has always had a reputation in
the educational world and at the same time has left only the most meagre
records of itself. The gentry of the neighbourhood were its scholars,
but few have made their fame in the world without. Headmasters and
Ushers have passed their lives here, but few were ambitious. Giggleswick
was their haven of old age. Customs grew up, the same customs died and
only seldom is it possible to conjecture their character.

A nation without a history is considered to have had the most blessed
existence and the same is true of a school. Giggleswick has but once
been the prey of the brigand and then it was fortunate enough to have a
friend at court. It lost its original endowment and its private
character. It gained a larger revenue and a Royal Charter. The placidity
of its life was undisturbed by financial deficits. Its income expanded
steadily. The close corporation of Governors were never ambitious to
display their wealth, they never excited the greed of the statesman;
even Cromwell's army passed through the district unmentioned by the
Minute-Book.

It did not grow, it made no history, but continued on the even tenour of
its path. Some years it was effective as a school of instruction, some
years it was not, but never did it meet with the inquisitorial landlord,
never but once did it suffer from the Crown. With the nineteenth century
came its first crisis for three hundred years and it passed through
unhurt. A new school with the old endowments, a better education with a
wider horizon, a new power with which to meet the coming needs were all
engrafted on the old foundation. If romance involves moments of
startling excitement, Giggleswick has no romance. But if romance lies in
an unrecorded, unenvied continuity, in the affection of pupils that age
after age causes men to send their sons and their sons' sons to the same
school, then the history of Giggleswick is shot through with romance. No
school can continue for more than a generation, if this supreme test of
its hold upon the hearts of men should fail. The school that nurtured
the father must do its duty by the son and the golden link of affection
is forged afresh.

It would have been impossible to complete the task of writing the
history of the School, if I had not received invaluable help from many
sources. Two men in particular must accept my deepest gratitude--Mr. A.
F. Leach and Mr. Thomas Brayshaw. Mr. Leach is the foremost authority in
England on English Grammar Schools and he has never stinted his help.
Mr. Brayshaw probably knows more than any other man of the history of
the School during the last eighty years and he has supplied me
generously with pamphlets and information. In addition he has been most
assiduous in helping me to choose and decipher documents belonging to
the School, which the Governors of the School were kind enough to allow
me to use. The Rev. G. Style, the Rev. J. R. Wynne Edwards and many
others have helped me materially with Chapters X and XI, while Mr. J.
Greaves, of Christ's College, Cambridge, sent me his own copy of Volume
I of the Christ's Admission Book and an advance proof copy of Volume II.

The photographs are taken from originals in the possession of Mr. A.
Horner, of Settle, Mr. P. Spencer Smith and Mr. E. D. Clark. Mr. Spencer
Smith in particular has gone to endless trouble in procuring photographs
of every kind for the special purpose of this book.

These names by no means include all those who have helped me with advice
on many occasions. I thank them all and in particular I would thank the
present Headmaster, Mr. R. N. Douglas, who has put every convenience in
my way and without whose co-operation the book could never have been
written.

                                                            E. A. B.

GIGGLESWICK,

    _June, 1912._




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.--THE FOUNDATION.                                      [13-24.

James Carr, capellanus, earliest date 1499--Rood Chantry of Giggleswick
    Parish Church--The Earliest Records of the Carr Family--Private
    Adventure School--Lease of Ground for a School-house--Terms of the
    Lease--Description of the first School--James Smith, a Boarder,
    1516--Death of James Carr--Endowment of Chantry--Chantry
    Commission, 1547--Edward VI, Injunctions--Chantry Commissioners,
    1548--Chaunterie of our Ladye--Tempest Chantry--Chaunterie of the
    Rode--Richard Carr--Thomas Iveson--Song-school.


CHAPTER II.--RE-FOUNDATION, 1553-1599.                           [25-38.

John Nowell--Edward VI Charter--"Free" School--Position of the
    Vicar--Master and Usher--New Endowment from S. Andrew's College,
    Acaster--School Seal--Statutes of 1592--Archbishop of
    York--Election of Governors--The Master--"Strangers"--Vacations
    --Subjects of Instruction--The Usher--Hours of School--The
    Scholars--Præpositors.


CHAPTER III.--SCHOOLS AND THEIR TEACHING IN THE SIXTEENTH
             AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES.                          [39-46.

Trevisa--Ecclesiastical Control Curriculum--Trivium--Quadrivium--Lily's
    Latin Grammar--Custos--Hebrew--Teaching of English--The Primer--The
    Bible--Prayers and Thanksgivings--Scriveners--Music--Puritanism.


CHAPTER IV.--CHRISTOPHER SHUTE AND ROBERT DOCKRAY.               [47-64.

Shute Minute-Book--Clapham Bequests--Scholarships at the
    University--Potations--Tennant's Gift--Tennant's Bequest--Josias
    Shute--Burton Rent-charge--Election of Scholars--Purchase of the
    School Building--Richard Carr--Scholarships and Fellowships at
    Christ's--Tempest Thornton--Thomas Atherton--Carr Exhibitions at
    the Present Day--Resignation of Shute--Appreciation of his
    Work--Josias Shute's Bequest--Robert Dockray--Henry Claphamson,
    Usher--Rev. Rowland Lucas.


CHAPTER V.--THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.                [65-76.

Rev. Rowland Lucas, Head Scoulmaster--Giggleswick and Cambridge--
    Anthony Lister, Vicar--Abraham de la Prynne--Richard
    Frankland--Founder of Nonconformity--Rathmell Academy--Samuel
    Watson, a Quaker Governor--William Walker, Master--William Brigge,
    Master--Shute Exhibitions--Increased Rents from School
    Estates--Governors lend out Money--Extract from Account
    Book--Thomas Wildeman--John Armitstead, Master--Richard Ellershaw,
    Vicar--Poor Fund--Joshua Whitaker--Character of Armitstead--
    Successes at Cambridge.


CHAPTER VI.--THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.                            [77-109.

John Carr, A.B.--A Family Circle--Richard Thornton--Conditions of
    Mastership--Collection of Rent and Masters' Stipends--John Cookson,
    "probe edoctus"--William Paley, Master--The Paleys of
    Langcliffe--William Paley, the Younger--Career at
    Cambridge--Charles Nowell in Lancaster Gaol--Dispute over his
    Successor as Governor--Paley and John Moore, Usher, and their
    Stipends--The Archbishop's Judicious Letter--Enclosures--Mortgage
    of North Cave Estate--Teaching of Writing--Elementary
    Education--Increase of Revenue--A Third Master--Purchase of
    Books--Burton Exhibitions--Re-building of School--New
    Statutes--Attitude of the Vicar--Rev. John Clapham--Bishop Watson
    of Llandaff on Classical Teaching--Educational Status of
    Giggleswick--Applicant's Letter for post of Writing Master--Robert
    Kidd--Distribution of Prizes to Scholars--Re-adjustment of
    Salaries--Nicholas Wood, Usher--Obadiah Clayton, Classical
    Assistant--Numbers of the School--Vacations--Miss Elizabeth
    Paley--Death of William Paley--Estimate of his Work--Old
    Boys--Letter from T. Kidd on Life at Cambridge.


CHAPTER VII.--THE REV. ROWLAND INGRAM.                         [110-125.

Appointment of a New Master--Suggested Examiners--Qualifications
    Necessary--Strong Field of Candidates--Appointment of
    Ingram--Elementary Education--William Stackhouse, Writing
    Master--Clayton's Insanity--Increased Numbers--Increased
    Revenues--Commissioners of 1825--Rev. John Howson--Craven
    Bank--Usher's House--Letter from John Carr--John Saul
    Howson--Character of Ingram's Rule--Potation.


CHAPTER VIII.--DR. GEORGE ASH BUTTERTON, 1845-1858.            [126-148.

Attitude of the Governors--Aim of Education--Scheme of 1844--Its
    Defects--Bishop of Ripon--Appointment of Butterton--New School
    Built--Description--Prize Poems--Hastings' Exhibition--Bishop of
    Ripon's Examiner's Report--Giggleswick Pupils Prize--Howson
    Prize--Modern Language Master--Curriculum of the School Examination
    1855--Admittance of Pupils--Difficulties of Butterton--Illness of
    Howson--Fig Day--Payments by Scholars--Glazier's Bills--Efficiency
    of the School.


CHAPTER IX.--THE REV. JOHN RICHARD BLAKISTON, 1858-1866.       [149-168.

Blakiston appointed Master--Matthew Wood, Usher--John Langhorne--Arthur
    Brewin--Examiner's Report--Decrease of Numbers--Difficulties of the
    Scheme of 1844--Blakiston and Wood--Master's House Unfit for
    Boarders--Pronunciation of Greek and Latin--Mr. James
    Foster--Charity Commissioners--New Scheme 1864--New Governing
    Body--Sir James Kay Shuttleworth--Walter Morrison--Fig Day--School
    Clock--Ingram Prize--Resignation of Usher--Preliminaries for a New
    Scheme--Suspension of Usher's Office--Inspector's Report 1863--Free
    Education--Inspector's Report 1865--Development of New
    Scheme--Resignation of Mr. Blakiston--Purchase of Football
    Field--Proposals for Hostel.


CHAPTER X.--A NEW ERA.                                         [169-197.

Temporary Headmaster--Thomas Bramley--Michael Forster--Hostel--Rev.
    George Style--Private Boarding House--Endowed Schools Act 1869--New
    Scheme of Management 1872--Free Education--Shute Exhibitions--
    Increase of Numbers--Natural Science--Dr W. Marshall
    Watts--Purchase of Holywell Toft--Additions to the Hostel--New
    Class-rooms--Gymnasium--Success at the Universities--Death of Sir
    James Kay Shuttleworth--Lord Frederick Cavendish--Mr. Hector
    Christie--Giggleswick Church Restoration--Athletics--Giggleswick
    _v._ Sedbergh--Music--Charles Frederick Hyde--School Library--G. B.
    Mannock--Bankwell--Arthur Brewin--Fire in the Laboratory--
    Educational Exhibition--Museum--Old Boys' Club--Numbers in the
    School--Craven Bank--Hollybank--_Giggleswick Chronicle_--Boer War.


CHAPTER XI.--THE CHAPEL.                                       [198-215.

Mr. Morrison's offer--Aim of Architecture--The Purpose of a Dome--Value
    of a School Chapel--Foundation Stone laid--Interior of the
    Chapel--Organ--Dome--Windows--Cricket Pavilion--Gate-house--Mr.
    Morrison's Portrait--Mr. Style's Resignation--His Work--Praepostors
    --Fagging--Schoolboys' Tower--Mr. Style's Enthusiasm--Ascension
    Day--Secret of his power.


CHAPTER XII.--THE LAST DECADE.                                 [216-229.

W. W. Vaughan--Changes made--Importance of English--Higher
    Certificate--Resignation of Dr. Watts--Style Mathematical
    Prizes--Waugh Prize--Dormitories Re-named--Gate-house--Giggleswick
    Boys' Club--Sub-target Rifle Machine--Quater-Centenary--Fives
    Courts--Inspection--Carr Exhibitions--Death of Mr. Mannock--O.T.C.
    --Improvement of Cricket Ground--Athletics--Scar-Rigg
    Cup--Headmaster and Wellington--Mr. Vaughan's Work--R. N.
    Douglas--Death of Mr. Bearcroft--Sergeant-Major Cansdale--
    Quater-Centenary.


APPENDIX.                                                      [230-284.


INDEX.                                                         [285-294.




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


Rev. George Style, M.A.           Frontispiece

                                   Facing Page
The Charter                                 12

First School, 1512                          18

Rev. Josias Shute, B.D.                     60

Richard Frankland, M.A.                     68

Archdeacon Paley                            82

Second School, 1790                         90

Rev. Rowland Ingram, M.A.                  110

Usher's House                              120

Craven Bank                                120

Rev. G. A. Butterton, D.D.                 126

The Old School                             132

Porch of the Old School                    134

Rev. John Howson, M.A.                     146

Sir James Kay Shuttleworth                 146

Rev. John Richard Blakiston, M.A.          150

Hector Christie, Esq.                      156

Cricket Ground                             164

The Hostel, 1869                           170

A Class-room                               174

A Hostel Study                             174

Hostel                                     176

The Library                                178

Class-rooms and Laboratory                 180

Chemistry Laboratory                       182

The Museum                                 182

Big School                                 184

The Fives Courts                           186

Lord Frederick Cavendish                   188

The School Buildings                       190

Bankwell                                   194

Walter Morrison, M.A., Esq.                198

The Chapel Exterior                        200

The Chapel Dome                            204

James Carr                                 204

The Chapel, East, Interior                 208

The Chapel, West, Interior                 210

The Gate House                             212

W. W. Vaughan, M.A., Esq.                  216

Joiner's Shop                              218

Athletic Shop                              218

G. B. Mannock, Esq.                        220

Officers Training Corps                    224

R. N. Douglas, M.A., Esq.                  228

[Illustration: School Charter]

[Illustration: Decoration]




CHAPTER I.

The Foundation.


Giggleswick School for over four hundred years has lived a life apart,
unconscious of the world outside: but its life has not therefore been a
placid one. Real dangers have continually assailed it, real crises have
been faced. Most schools have been founded with a preliminary grant of
an endowment, with which to afford a proper maintenance to Master and
Scholars. But Giggleswick was not one of these. Its actual origin is
obscure but this at least is sure, it existed before it was endowed. It
was the private enterprise of one man, James Carr, who in 1518 "nuper
decessit."

Nineteen years before, the same James Carr was a capellanus in charge of
the Rood Chantry, which he himself had founded. The date of its
foundation has not reached us, but the fact of its existence, and
consequently the probable existence of the Grammar School, is certain
in 1499.

In that year two-and-a-half acres of arable land in Settle and a meadow
called Howbeck ynge were let to one William Hulle by the indenture of
the cantarist. The cantarist or chantry priest was James Carr. Six years
later, Hugh Wren, William Preston and James Carr, capellani, were made
joint owners of "unum messuagium et unam bovatam terræ et prati."

These two possessions conclusively prove the existence of the Rood
Chantry and the presence of James Carr during the last year of the
fifteenth century, and from that year Giggleswick School may date its
birth. The name Carr is variously spelt. Skarr, Car, Carre, Karr, Ker,
all appear, but no importance is to be attached thereto. Spelling as
part of the equipment of an educated man is one of the less notable
inventions of the nineteenth century. As a family the Carrs come from
Stackhouse, a village quite close to Giggleswick, but their recorded
history begins with this generation. The father of James is nameless,
but his eldest brother Stephen was living at Stackhouse in the year
1483, when he leased a plot of land from the Prior and Convent of
Finchale. It was therefore not unnatural that James should found a
chantry in the neighbourhood of his family home.

The purpose of a chantry was the offering up of prayers for the souls
either of the founder or of such as he might direct. We do not know the
original cause of James Carr's Chantry or for whose soul he prayed. But
in 1509 he received a legacy from his brother Thomas, who was vicar of
Sancton. The gift consisted of "unam calicem argenteam" and with it
there was a request "ut oretur pro anima mea et parentum meorum diebus
Dominicis." Henceforth this was his duty. But a weekly service of prayer
on Sundays would be a poor occupation for a man, even though he had
clearly another Mass to say as well. And he endeavoured to dispel the
monotony of his chantry by teaching. He followed a common practice of
chantry priests, but he had some additional qualifications for the work.
He belonged to a local family of some importance, he had a certain
income of his own, and he was prepared to take boarders as well as to
teach the boys in the village.

The unique character of his enterprise declares itself very soon. He was
so successful a teacher that he could no longer find it possible to
carry on his work in his own house or possibly "like a pedant that keeps
a school in a church," he required a building larger and more
convenient. In other words he was prepared to take a risk and to invest
his own capital in buildings. It is the only instance that has been
recorded of what Mr. A. F. Leach calls a Private Adventure School. It
was not endowed from an outside source before 1553, but until the year
1518 was the private property of James Carr. He endowed the Rood Chantry
with lands producing six pounds one shilling a year, and the successive
chantry priests carried on the teaching that he had begun.

On November 12, 1507, a lease had been entered into between "the Right
Reverende ffader in Gode, Thomas, Prior of Duresme and Convent of the
same on the one partie and James Karr, preste, on the other partie" by
which the said James was given a seventy-nine year lease of "half one
acre of lande with the appertenance, laitlye in the haldyng of Richarde
lemyng, lyeng neir the church garth of Gyllyswyke in Crawen within the
countie of york." He and his successors contracted to pay a full or
rack-rent of xij_d._ of lawful English money every year and an
additional vj_s._ viij_d._ as often as it might be desired to extend the
lease. It was also provided that "whensoever the same James Karr shall
change his naturall lyfe that then it shalbe lawful, as ofte tymes as it
shalbe nedful, to the vicar of ye churche afforsaid for the tyme beyng
and kyrkmasters of the same, heires, executors, and assignes to the said
James Karr, jontlie, to elect one person beyng within holye orders, to
be scole master of the gramer scole afforsaid." Such Schoolmaster had
not only to be within "holye orders" but also to receive a license to
teach from the Prior of Durham. Not till the nineteenth century was
teaching a grammar or classical school regarded as a profession
independent of the Church.

The half acre that he thus obtained was ordered to be enclosed and James
Carr agrees that he will keep or cause to be kept there "one gramer
scole" building it "at hys awne propyr charges and costes."

The _Gentleman's Magazine_ in 1786 contains a letter from a
correspondent describing the school that Carr built. It was low, small
and irregular and consisted of two stages, whereof at that period the
upper one was used for writing, etc., that is to say for elementary
education, probably reading, writing and arithmetic; the lower stage on
the other hand was used for advanced teaching. This would include the
elaborate classical curriculum common to almost every school and to
which we shall return later. On the North side there was a small
projecting building, which before 1786 had contained a tolerable
collection of books but at that time they had been dispersed. The date
of the completion of the building is fixed by an inscription on a stone
which was placed almost above one of the doors and is still preserved
in the modern Big School.

        Alma dei mater, defende malis Jacobum Car:
        Presbiteris, quoque clericulis domus hec fit in anno
        Mil' quin' cen' duoden'. Jesu nostri miserere:
        Senes cum junioribus laudent nomen Domini.

    Kindly Mother of God, defend James Car from ill. For priests
    and young clerks this house is made in 1512. Jesus, have mercy
                             upon us.
         Old men and children praise the name of the Lord.

The inscription is an ingenious but not altogether happy example of
Carr's ability as a writer of Latin Hexameters.

Above this stone slab was an ornamented niche, which at one time
contained an image but of which no knowledge can be obtained. It may
have held a statue of the Virgin and Child and be the origin of the
school seal, as a writer in the _Giggleswick Chronicle_, March 1907,
suggests, but the chantry was not dedicated to the Virgin, it was the
"Chaunterie of the Rode" and as such we should expect to find a crucifix
with the Virgin standing by it.

[Illustration: FIRST SCHOOL, 1512.]

There is only one other record of the School during the next thirty
years but it is a very important one, for it shows that the School was
not restricted to the village but encouraged boarders from distant
villages and towns. About the year 1516 William Malhame writes to his
brother John:

    "Brother, I will Sir W. Martyndale to be Parish Priest at
    Marton, and to have like wages that Sir W. Hodgson had: and I
    will Sir W. Hodgson to have vj markes yearly during his life, to
    tarry at Marton and pray for mee and my father and mother's
    sawles. They both begin their service at Midsomer next coming. I
    am content that James Smith go to Sir James Carr to scoule at
    Michelmas next comyng, and also I am content ye paye for his
    bord, which shall be allowed ye ageane. From London ye second
    day of Aprill.

                                   "By your Brother Wm. Malhame.
    "To his Brother John Malhame."

In September 1518, the Craven with Ripon Act Book describes James Carr
as one who "nuper decessit" and his will was proved. No trace of it has
been found but we know from the Chantry Commissioners' Report in 1546
that he had endowed the Chantry School with a rental of £vi xij_d._

The Commission had been appointed to ascertain the chantry property
which might be vested in the King. There were two excellent reasons for
the change. Many avaricious men had already on various pretexts
"expulsed" the priests or incumbents and taken the emoluments for
themselves. Such private spoliation could not be allowed. And in the
second place Henry VIII had involved himself in "great and inestimable
charges" in the maintenance of his wars in France and Scotland. He
needed money and he saw an easy way to getting it. The Chantry
Commissioners made their report, but before many chantries were taken
by the King, he died. At once the Chantries Act, which was only for
Henry's life, is dissolved naturally.

Edward VI, "monstrificus puellus," was a precocious child of nine years
old when he succeeded to the throne. The first "Injunctions" issued in
his name gave distinct promise for educational bodies, as they comprised
an order, compelling all chantry priests to teach the children reading
and writing. Thus at one stroke of the pen he converted a body of men,
who had insufficient work to do, into National Schoolmasters. Such a
measure would tend to improve the quality of the chantry priests, who
would no longer run "unto London, unto St. Poules" seeking for a chantry
of souls, seeing that the toil of a Schoolmaster would be their lot.

But within a year a fresh Chantries Act was passed and a new Commission
appointed by the Protector and his Council. The Act contained a
prefatory statement which maintained that "a great part of superstition
and errors in Christian religion has been brought into the minds and
estimations of men" and this "doctrine and vain opinion by nothing is
more maintained and upholden than by the abuse of trentals, chantries,
and other provisions made for the continuance of the said blindness and
ignorance." They therefore determined to dissolve the chantries and at
the same time continue Grammar Schools, where they existed. The results
belied the early promise. The clauses relating to the endowment of
Grammar Schools have gained Edward VI a widespread fame as a founder of
most of the schools in England. But that fame has been wholly
fictitious.

Henry VIII had wrought great damage to elementary education, although he
had professed "I love not learning so ill, that I will impaire the
revenues of anie one house by a penie, whereby it may be upholden." But
it has been calculated that in 1546 there was probably one school for
every eight thousand people, whereas three hundred years later, the
proportion was thrice as small. Yet Edward VI did not found one school
in Yorkshire, and many, which had previously existed, he deprived of all
revenue. So diminished were the means of education in 1562 that Thomas
Williams, on his election as Speaker of the House of Commons, took
occasion to call Queen Elizabeth's notice to the great dearth of schools
"that at least one hundred were wanting, which before this time had
been." In other words in a period of less than thirty years the number
had decreased by a third. And this was in spite of a six years' reign of
Edward VI., the supposed progenitor of schools.

In the report of the Commissioners of 1548 Giggleswick is recorded as
having three chantries. There was the Chantry of Our Lady, the incumbent
of which, Richard Somerskayle, is described as "lx yeres of age,
somewhat learned" and enjoying the annual rent of £4. The Tempest
Chantry with Thomas Thomson as incumbent 70 yeres old and "unlearned."
The Chantry of the Rode, "Richard Carr, Incombent, 32 yeres of age, well
learned and teacheth a gramer schole there, lycensed to preach, hath
none other lyving than the proffitts of the said chauntrie." The net
value of the chantry was £5 15_s._

Richard Carr was a nephew of the founder and from the description of his
two fellow chaplains he was evidently superior to the ordinary chantry
priest. They were "unlearned," "somewhat learned," he was "well learned"
and "lycensed to preach." For all that the chantry lands were taken from
him, but the School was not dissolved: he was maintained as a
Schoolmaster by a stipend of the annual value of £5 6_s._ 8_d._ charged
on the crown revenues of York "for the good educacyon of the abbondaunt
yought in those rewde parties."

The population of Giggleswick, which as a parish included Settle,
Rathmell, Langcliffe and Stainforth, was roughly 2,400 and at the
beginning of the nineteenth century was unaltered. Such a population
was too "abbondaunt" for one man to teach, particularly if he took
boarders, and it is not surprising to find in the report of 1548 the
following paragraph:

    "A some of money geven for the meyntenance of scholemaster
    there. The said John Malhome and one Thomas Husteler, disseased,
    dyd gyve ... the some of £24 13_s._ 4_d._ towards the
    meyntenance of a Scholemaister there for certen yeres, whereupon
    one Thomas Iveson, preist, was procured to be Scholemaister
    there, which hath kept a Scole theis three yeres last past and
    hath receyved every yere for his stypend after the rate of £4,
    which is in the holle, £12."

    "And so remayneth £12 13_s._ 4_d._"

John Malhome was probably the brother of William, who in 1516 had sent
James Smith to be a boarder at the School, and, as he was a resident in
the neighbourhood and was a "preist," perhaps a chantry priest at
Giggleswick, his interest in the School is not unnatural.

Thomas Husteler had an even more adequate reason for leaving money to
pay the stipend of a Schoolmaster, for he had been priest of the Chantry
of the Rood, and had been wont to "pray for the sowle of the founder
(James Carr) and all Cristen sowles and to synge Mass every Friday of
the name of Jhesu and of the Saterday of our Lady." He had also to be
"sufficientlie sene in playnsonge and gramer and to helpe dyvyne service
in the church."

Thus in addition to his chantry duties he had to perform the double
office of Grammer and Song Schoolmaster, and the work proving too heavy
for him he left money to provide the maintenance of a second Master.
Thomas Iveson received this money and probably acted either as an Usher
or as Song Schoolmaster. Many schools in England employed a Master to
teach music but during the sixteenth century a change was gradually
taking place. Many Song Schools ceased to exist and everywhere the song
master became of less importance. In 1520 Horman had written "No man can
be a grammarian without a knowledge of music;" Roger Ascham, although he
quoted with approval Galen's maxim "Much music marreth man's manners"
considered that its study within certain limits was useful; and in 1561
Mulcaster declared that all elementary schools should teach Reading,
Writing, Drawing and Music. Music then was no longer a part of the
general curriculum, but was chiefly restricted to the Cathedral Choir
Schools, where the young chorister had a career opened up for him either
in the church or as a member of a troupe of boy-actors. It is therefore
of some interest to find that in 1548 the Master at Giggleswick had a
knowledge of plainsong as well as grammar.

[Illustration: Decoration]




CHAPTER II.

1553-1592.


Giggleswick Church had been given to the Priory of Finchale by Henry de
Puteaco about 1200, and Finchale was a cell of the Prior and Convent of
Durham. So from that date till the Dissolution of the Monasteries the
Priors continued to appoint the Vicar. When however in 1548 the church
became vacant the rights of the convent were vested in Edward VI and he
appointed to the office one of his chaplains John Nowell.

Nothing is known of him. He may have been the brother of Alexander
Nowell, a prominent divine both under Mary and her successor, and for a
time Head Master of Westminster, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford,
and for over forty years Dean of S. Paul's. This Alexander was a leader
of education; he wrote a Catechism that became a school text-book and he
assisted to re-found a free school at Middleton. It is not a wholly
unsound conjecture, if we suppose that the John Nowell, who assisted to
re-found Giggleswick was, if not a brother, at least a member of the
same family as Alexander whose home was at Whalley.

We know at least that he was Vicar of Giggleswick till 1558. During his
first five years Richard Carr, assisted for a time by Thomas Iveson, was
continuing to teach in the small and irregular building of James, his
uncle; and as a stipend he was receiving annually £5 6_s._ 8_d._

This money ceased to be paid after 1553, in which year on May 26 Edward
VI "of happy memory" was pleased to grant a Charter to the School and to
endow it with property. This he did at the humble petition of John
Nowell, vicar, Henry Tennant, gentleman, and other inhabitants of the
town and parish of Giggleswick in Craven.

Quite forgetful of the School's previous existence for over half a
century, he ordains that "from henceforth there may and shall be one
Grammar School ... which shall be called the Free Grammar School of King
Edward the Sixth of Giggleswick, and the same School for ever to
continue of one Schoolmaster or Headmaster and of one Under Master or
Usher."

This limitation of the teaching staff to one Headmaster and one Usher
led to serious qualms of conscience among the Governors in the last
decade of the eighteenth century, when the revenues and numbers of the
School had been very greatly increased. They then added to the number of
the staff and discovered that they had contravened the Charter of Edward
VI, and this difficulty was one of those that led to the application in
1795 for new Statutes.

It was to be a "free" school, not in any restricted, unusual sense of
the word, not free from ecclesiastical interference, that did not come
till the nineteenth century, not free from temporal interference, that
has never come, but free from fees, giving gratuitous teaching. The
Charter was an English document translated into Latin. Hence it is not a
question whether the word "libera" can ever be understood in the sense
of gratuitous. The Latin word is used as being not the exact, but the
nearest equivalent of the English. The Free Grammar School undoubtedly
meant exemption from fees and all other meanings are heresies of the
nineteenth century, fostered only too willingly by those guardians of
Grammar Schools, who were not eager to fill their class-rooms with boys
from the locality free of charge and so to exclude the sons of
"strangers" who were ready to pay for the privilege. The Charter then
named eight men of the more discreet and honest inhabitants of the Town
and Parish of Giggleswick to be Governors of the said School. They were:

JOHN NOWELL, Vicar.
WILLIAM CATTERALL, of Newhall.
HENRY TENNANT, Gentleman.
THOMAS PROCTER, of Cletehop.
HUGH NEWHOUSE, of Giggleswick.
WILLIAM BROWNE, of Settle.
ROGER ARMISTED, of Knight Stayneforde.
WILLIAM BANK of Fesar.

The Vicar, for the time being, must always be a Governor and with one
other he had the sole power of summoning the rest to a meeting.
Collectively they could appoint the Headmaster and Usher, make elections
to their own body, when any other than the Vicar died or left the
neighbourhood, and make statutes and ordinances for the government of
the School with the advice of the Bishop of the Diocese. If the Vicar
should infringe the said statutes they could for the time being elect
another of the inhabitants into his place. They were a corporate body
and could have a common seal.

An endowment was provided for them out of the confiscated property of S.
Andrewes College, Acaster, in the parishe of Styllingflete in the
Countie and Citie of York. Acaster had been founded about 1470 and
consisted of three distinct schools, Grammar, Song and Writing, the last
intended to "teach all such things as belonged to Scrivener Craft." The
property included land in North Cave, South and North Kelthorpe and
Brampton. A further grant was made of land in Edderwick, Rise and
Aldburgh which had formed part of the endowment of the Chantry of the
Blessed Virgin Mary in the parish of Rise and Aldburgh.

These lands were situated in the East Riding and their whole value
amounted annually to £23 3_s._ of which they had to pay an annual rent
to the King of sixty-three shillings. The Trustees were further allowed
to purchase or receive gifts of land, etc., for the maintenance of the
School, provided that such additional endowment did not exceed the clear
yearly value of £30.

The grant does not sound over-generous, but it is necessary to multiply
money to twenty times its value, in order to obtain a clear estimate of
it in this century. On such a computation it would amount to £400 a year
after paying the King's rent, and in addition, it would be possible to
acquire by gifts or legacies another £600, making a possible income of
£1,000. The Common Seal that the Governors used is of an origin
altogether obscure. It represents presumably the Virgin and Child while
below is the figure of a man praying. Round the rim are the words:

Sigillum Prebendarii de Bulidon

It may be that Bulidon has in course of time been corrupted and that
some modernized form of it exists, with records of a collegiate church.
It is quite clearly the seal of a canon or prebendary, but as yet no one
has discovered his church or his name. Perhaps Nowell was a prebendary
and this was his seal, which he transferred to the Governors for their
corporate use.

The Governors were empowered to make "de tempore in tempus" fit and
wholesome Statutes and Ordinances in writing concerning the Governors
... how they shall behave and bear themselves in their office ... and
for what causes they may be removed; and touching the manner and form of
choosing and nominating of the chief master and undermaster, and
touching the ordering, government and direction of the chief master and
undermaster and of the scholars of the said School, which said Statutes
were to be inviolately observed from time to time for ever.

No record remains of Statutes made in accordance with this royal
permission until thirty-nine years later. Custom no doubt played a great
part in the government of the School and it continued steadily on the
lines first laid down by James Carr. But towards the close of the
century the country was awakening from the materialism which had girt it
round. The danger of invasion had passed away. The seeds of religious
fervour were bearing fruit. A militant, assertive Puritanism was
vigorously putting forward its feelers throughout the length and breadth
of England, nor was education the last to be affected. Throughout
history it has been the aim of the enthusiast to make education conform
to a single standard. Sometimes it has been the value of the
disputation, sometimes of the sense of Original Sin, sometimes of the
classics. At the close of the sixteenth century Original Sin had become
an important factor in the theories of the expert, and its presence is
marked in the Giggleswick Ancient Statutes of 1592.

On Sunday the 2nd of July, 1592, between the hours of three and five in
the afternoon, Christopher Foster, public notary and one of the Proctors
of the Consistory Court at York, appeared personally before John,
Archbishop of York, in the great chamber of the Palace at Bishopthorp.
He there presented his letters mandatory, sealed with the common seal,
for Christopher Shute, Clerk, Bachelor of Divinity, Vicar of the Parish
Church of Giggleswick, Henry Tenant, Antony Watson, Richard Chewe,
gentlemen, Thos. Banckes, and Roger Carre, yeomen.

He had brought with him "Letters Patent wrote on vellum of the late King
Edward the Sixth of happy memory concerning the foundacion of the said
ffree Grammar School and sealed with the great seal of England." These
he shewed to the Archbishop together with certain wholesome Statutes and
Ordinances, which they had determined upon. The Archbishop consented to
deliberate concerning the matter and consulted with counsel learned in
the law in that behalf. Later on the 3rd day of October after mature
deliberation, he was pleased to transmit the said Statutes to be
registered in the Chancellor's Court at York by the hands of John Benet,
Doctor of Laws and Vicar General. The Statutes were accordingly
confirmed and remained valid for over two hundred years.

The Governors bound themselves to choose from time to time men of true
and sound religion, fearing God and of honest conversation. In spite of
these somewhat grandiose qualifications it was found necessary to make a
second regulation by which each Governor on his election should protest
and swear before the Vicar of Giggleswick and the rest of the Governors
to be true and faithful towards the School and its emoluments and
profits and not to purloin or take away any of the commodities of the
same, whereby it might be impoverished or impaired in any respect.

The third paragraph provided for the election of a new governor in case
of a vacancy occurring through removal from the district or "if any of
them be convicted of any notorious cryme:" in his place was to be chosen
a godly, discreet, and sober person. Once, at least, every half-year
they were to visit the School and examine the labours of the Master and
Usher and also the proceedings of the Scholars in good literature. If
any fault was to be found in the observation of the Statutes on the part
of the Master or Usher or Scholars, the Governors had the right, of
admonishing the offenders and if after admonition twice given amendment
was not made, they could remove them. On the other hand the control of
the Master over the Scholars was not absolute, but was shared with the
Governors.

Finally they were to see to the revenues of the School, and to pay
stipends to the Master and Usher, "neither shall they make any wilful
waste of the profits but be content with a moderate allowance, when they
are occupied about the business of the said School."


THE MASTER.

The Master was to be a man fearing God, of true religion and godly
conversation, not given to dicing, carding, or any other unlawful games.
These Statutes were the outcome of custom and it is not unreasonable to
suppose that while such general expressions as true religion and godly
conversation represented the national feeling of the time, particular
prohibitions of dicing and carding had reference to special weaknesses
of the contemporary Master. Thus at Dronfield in 1579 the Master was
particularly enjoined not to curse or revile his scholars.

The three following clauses refer to the instruction of the Scholars in
godly Authors for Christian Religion, and other meet and honest Authors
for more Knowledge of the Liberal Sciences. He shall once every week
catechize his Scholars in the Knowledge of the Christian Religion and
other godly Duties to the end their Obedience in Life may answer to
their proceedings in godly Literature.

He shall not teach them any unsavoury or Popish doctrines or infect
their young wits with heresies. He shall not use in the School any
language to his Scholars which be of riper years and proceedings but
only the Latin, Greek or Hebrew, nor shall he willingly permit the use
of the English Tongue to them which are or shall be able to speak Latin.
These are regulations typical of the century and we shall return to them
more fully on a later page.

Giggleswick was a free school but it was clearly not intended to be only
a local school, for the Master was to teach indifferently, that is to
say, impartially, the Poor as well as the Rich, and the Parishioner as
well as the Stranger, and, as they shall profit in learning, so he shall
prefer them, without respect of persons.

Vacations were to consist of two weeks at Easter, three weeks at
Christmas, and three weeks to be by the said Master appointed when he
thinketh it most convenient for his Scholars to be exercised in writing
under a Scrivener for their better exercise in that faculty; provided
that he could also upon any convenient occasion grant an intermission
from study, in any afternoon, whensoever he seeth the same expedient or
necessary. He himself could not be absent at any other time above six
days, in any one quarter without the special license of the Governors.

For these pains and labours he was to receive as recompense the yearly
stipend of twenty marks or £13 6_s._ 8_d._ of lawful English money, to
be paid twice in the year in equal portions at the feast of S. Peter
Advincula and at the feast of the Purification of Our Lady. Lastly he
was not to "begyne to teache or dismiss the schoole without convenient
prayers and thankesgyveing in that behalfe publiquely to be used."


THE USHER.

The Usher likewise was to be a man "of sounde religion and sober lyfe
and able to train up the youth in godliness and vertue:" obedient to
the Master and directed by him in his teaching. Every year he was to
prefer one whole form or "seedge" to the Master's erudition and if they
failed, he would stand subject to censure from the Master and Governors.

He was not to absent himself more than four days in any quarter without
license from the Master and Governors and in the absence of the Master
was to supply his office. For this he received just half the former's
yearly stipend, or £6 13_s._ 4_d._, to be paid in equal portions twice
in the year.

Together they had to begin work every morning at 6-30, "if they shall
see it expedient," and continue till 11-0 a.m. Then they had a rest till
1-0 o'clock, after which they worked till 5-0 p.m.; except during the
winter season when the times of beginning of the school and dismissing
of the same shall be left to the discretion of the Master. They could
with the assent of the Archbishop of York and upon admonition twice
given be expelled from their office or upon one admonition or two be
fined or censured according to the quality of their offence.


THE SCHOLARS.

The Governors alone, with the consent of the Master, could expulse a
Scholar for rebelliously and obstinately withstanding the Master or
Usher; but if any scholar, upon proof first had, should be found
altogether negligent or incapable of learning, at the discretion of the
Master he could be returned to his friends to be brought up in some
other honest trade and exercise of life.

They could not be absent without leave: and if they did not obey the two
Prepositors, by the Master to be appointed for order and quietness in
the School they were to be subject to the severe censure of the Master
or Usher. Lastly if they behaved themselves irreverently at home or
abroad towards their parents, friends, or any others whatsoever, or
complained of correction moderately given them by the Master or Usher,
they were to be severely corrected for the same.

The stipends of the Master and Usher were not wholly ungenerous.
Mulcaster, who had founded Merchant Taylors' School and had two hundred
and fifty boys under his charge received only £10: at Rotherham the
Grammar Master received £10 15_s._ 4_d._; this was in 1483 but it was
extremely good pay for the period. Even Eton College which had a revenue
of over £1,000 at the time of Edward VI's Chantry Commissioners' Report
was only paying its Schoolmaster £10. It is true that these Schools had
also a varying number of boys paying small fees, but such additional
income was not part of the foundation. For Giggleswick with a revenue
of £20 (exclusive of the King's rent of £3 3_s._) and a further possible
revenue of £30, to pay the whole of its £20 as a stipend to the
Headmaster and Usher was a distinctly liberal proceeding.

The discretionary power of the Master with regard to the discipline of
the School appears to be greatly limited. He is bidden appoint two
prepositors, he is even advised as to some particular occasions on which
he shall correct the scholars. But these regulations probably only
codify existing custom, and in practice, no doubt, the Master would find
himself almost entirely free from control. Nevertheless such regulations
were not without their danger.

[Illustration: Decoration]

[Illustration: Decoration]




CHAPTER III.

Schools and their Teaching in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.


From the fifteenth century at least the local Grammar School was the
normal place of education for all classes but the highest. In 1410 an
action for trespass was brought by two masters of Gloucester Grammar
School against a third master, who had set up an unlicensed school in
the town and "whereas they used to take forty pence or two shillings a
quarter, they now only took twelve pence," and therefore they claimed
damages. In the course of the argument the Chief Justice declared that
"if a man retains a Master in his house to teach his children, he
damages the common Master of the town, but yet he will have no action."

Instances such as this tend to shew that it was the exception for boys
to be taught either at home by a private tutor or under a man other than
the Public Schoolmaster.

In England, Schools, from the first, that is from their introduction
together with Christianity, had been exclusively ecclesiastical
institutions and were under ecclesiastical authority and regulation. In
1215 the Fourth Lateran Council had said that there should be a
Schoolmaster in every Cathedral, and that he should be licensed by the
Bishop. In 1290 at Canterbury the Master had even the power of
excommunicating his Scholars. At a later date many chantry priests by
the founder's direction, a few voluntarily undertook the task of
teaching. In 1547 they were compelled to do so by a law, which after a
year was rendered nugatory by the confiscation of Chantries. In 1558
Elizabeth ordained that every Schoolmaster and Teacher should take the
oath, not only of Supremacy but also of Allegiance. Even after the
Reformation they had still to get the Bishop's license and this
continued till the reign of Victoria, save for a brief period during the
Commonwealth, when County Committees and Major-Generals took the
responsibility.

The curriculum in Schools at the beginning of the sixteenth century
consisted of what was called the Trivium, Grammar, Dialectic, and
Rhetoric. The Quadrivium or Music, Arithmetic, Geometry and Astronomy,
was relegated to the Universities and only pursued by very few. In 1535
Henry VIII wished "laten, greken, and hebrewe to be by my people
applied and larned." Latin was not in those days a mere method of
training the youthful mind, it was much more a practically useful piece
of knowledge. It was a standard of communication and a storehouse of
phrases. It was taught in the most approved fashion, as a language to be
spoken to fit them, as Brinsley says, "if they shall go beyond the seas,
as gentlemen who go to travel. Factors for merchants and the like."

Almost every boy learned his Latin out of the same book. Lily's Grammar
was ordered to supplant all others in 1540. The smallest local Grammar
Schools had much the same text-books and probably as good scholars as
Eton or Winchester or Westminster. The Master and Scholars must not talk
any language other than Latin, Greek or Hebrew according to the
Giggleswick Statutes, and at Eton and Westminster the same rule applied;
at those Schools any boy discovered talking English was punished with
the name of Custos, a title which involved various unpleasant duties.

Greek and Hebrew are both in the Giggleswick curriculum. Hallam says
that in 1500 not more than three or four persons could be mentioned, who
had any tincture of Greek. Colet, in his re-foundation Statutes of S.
Paul's School ordained that future Headmasters "must be learned in good
and clean Latin Literature" and also "in Greek, if such may be gotten."
But towards the close of the century Greek had become well-established.
Durham introduced it in 1593, the Giggleswick Statutes imply its use in
1592, and Camden, Headmaster of Westminster, in 1597 brought out a Greek
Grammar, which became as universal as Lily's Latin Grammar.

Of Hebrew there are few records, and none at Giggleswick, it was
probably allotted very little time, and certainly at the Universities,
it was for long at a very low ebb.

With regard to English very little was done. Erasmus was responsible for
a slightly wider outlook and he encouraged History in Latin books and in
a less degree Geography as a method of illustration. Mulcaster who
published his book "Positions" in 1561 deplored the fact that education
still began with Latin, although religion was no longer "restrained to
Latin." The Giggleswick Statutes set it forth that the Master shall
instruct his scholars--for more knowledge of the Liberal Sciences and
catechize them every week in the knowledge of Christian Religion.

If the Liberal Sciences were the appointed task, and, if in addition, he
must speak Latin or Greek or Hebrew, the boy of 1592, long as his school
hours undoubtedly were, would be well occupied. We have no evidence on
the point, but we can conjecture from other sources the nature of the
knowledge of Christian Religion that they were expected to have.

The Primer was the layman's service-book, and consisted largely of
matter taken from the Horæ or Hours of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

    This litel child his litel book lerninge,
    As he sat in the scole at his prymer.

In 1545 Henry VIII had issued a new edition in consequence of the
Reformation and he now set it forth as the only edition to be used, and
emphasized the importance of learning in the vernacular, the Pater
Noster--Ave Maria--Creed--and Ten Commandments.

The Primer was a book of devotion, the Catechism was rather a summary of
doctrines. Alexander Nowell, Dean of S. Paul's and possibly a brother of
the Giggleswick John Nowell had published a Catechism in 1570, which
supplanted all others even those "sett fourth by the Kinges majesties'
authoritie for all scolemaisters to teache," and it was Nowell's
Catechism that the School Statutes expected to be used.

The Bible was not definitely a school subject till 1604, and although it
was in earlier use in some places of education, there is no mention of
it at Giggleswick. There is however one more religious aspect of school
life that was very general and is mentioned in these particular
Statutes. The Master shall not begin to teache or dismiss the School
without convenient Prayers and Thanksgivings. The Prayers would probably
consist of the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Creed.

Of Grace there is no mention, but in 1547 Edward VI had issued
injunctions that "All Graces to be said at dinner and supper shall be
always said in the English Tongue."

Every year the Master was allowed to appoint three weeks for the boys to
be exercised in writing under a Scrivener. There were in Yorkshire
peripatetic Scriveners, who used to wander from school to school and
teach them for a few weeks in the year, after which the writing in the
school would be neglected. At Durham School the writing had to be
encouraged by a system of prizes, by which the best writer in the class
would receive every Saturday all the pens and paper of his fellows in
the form. St. Bees Grammar School in 1583 tried a similar system from
another point of view, they paid the Usher 4_d._ yearly for every boy
"that he shall teach to write, so long as he takes pains with them." But
paper was a very great expense; for by the year 1600 there were only two
paper factories in England and the price for small folio size was nearly
4_d._ a quire. Writing indeed was only beginning to be common in the
schools, it had long been looked upon merely as a fine art and for
ordinary purposes children had been taught by means of sand spread over
a board. Henceforward steps are taken all over England to ensure its
teaching; at first the expert, the Scrivener, goes round from school to
school, but later the ability of the Ushers improves and no longer need
they fear the competition of a rival, they begin to teach the boys
themselves and writing becomes a part of the ordinary curriculum.

It will be recognized that there is a central motive of religion
pervading the teaching and conduct of schools towards the close of the
sixteenth century, and in the seventeenth, as there always had been. "We
have filled our children's bones with sin" says Hezekiah Woodward, "and
it is our engagement to do all we can to root out that which we have
been a means to root in so fast." A more serious spirit was abroad. The
young man was to abstain from singing or humming a tune in company
"especially if he has an unmusical or rough voice." Schoolmasters were
to abstain from "dicing and carding," scholars from misdemeanour and
irreverent behaviour towards others.

Latin, Greek and Hebrew, became the "holy languages" because they were
so closely allied with the Sacred Scriptures. Throughout education a
deeper sense of the value of religious teaching, a deeper conviction
that sin was detestable, a greater respect for outward sobriety fastened
upon the minds of those who were responsible for education, and the
children whom they trained grew up to be the fathers and mothers of the
intense enthusiasts, who enforced religious freedom by the execution of
their King.




CHAPTER IV.

Christopher Shute and Robert Dockray, 1599-1642.


Christopher Shute was appointed Vicar of Giggleswick in 1576. He had
been a Sizar of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, in 1561 and graduated B.A. in
1564, M.A. 1568, and B.D. in 1580. He was a writer on religious subjects
and published "A Compendious Forme and Summe of Christian Doctrine,
meete for well-disposed Families" and among other writings "A verie
Godlie and necessary Sermon preached before the young Countess of
Cumberland in the North, the 24th of November, 1577."

After he had been appointed Vicar of Giggleswick by Queen Elizabeth, he
took a very sincere interest in the fortunes of the School, and at his
suggestion and Henry Tennant's the Statutes of 1592 were set forth. In
1599 he began a Minute-Book to record "all constitutions, orders,
eleccions, decrees, statutes, ordinances, graunts, accounts,
reckenninges and rents for the free Grammar Schoole of Giggleswick of
the donacion and grant of the most famous king of late memorie, Edward
the Sixt by the grace of God, King of England, Fraunce, Ireland, etc.
Beginning the five and twentieth daie of March, Anno Domini, 1599.
Annoque regni Reginæ Elizabethæ etc. quadragesimo primo." These being
Governors:

CHRISTOPHER SHUTE, Vicar.
JOHN CATTERALL.
HENRIE TENNANT.
ANTHONY WATSONNE.
RICHARD CHEWE.
THOMAS BANKES.
HENRIE SOMERSCALES.
RICHARD FRANCLAUND.

He did not give the book definitely until 1604 "ad usum legum,
decretorum, electionum, compitorum," and there are no entries in it
between the years 1599 and 1603.

The period during which Christopher Shute was a Governor was marked by
great prosperity in the fortunes of the School. During the first twenty
years of the new century, many rich gifts were received. The first of
these that is recorded is in 1603 when John Catterall, Esquire, of
Newhall, leased to his fellow Governors a meadow in Rathmell for "their
only use and behoof" for twenty-one years; the Governors leased it in
their turn for an annual rent of 33_s._ 4_d._ and eventually, though the
exact date is not mentioned, John Catterall bought it back for a fixed
sum of £13 6_s._ 8_d._ and an annual rent of 33_s._ 4_d._ as the former
lessee had not paid his rent.

In 1603 also, William Clapham, Vicar of "Runtoun in the county of
Northfolke by his last will and testament bearing daite the fyft day of
July, 1603," bequeathed to the schoole the patronage, free gift and
advowson of the Churches and Rectories of Fulmodestone, Croxton and
Rolleston in the county of Norfolk, "And the yearlie pension or porcionn
paiable out of them of iiij_li._ viij_s._ viij_d._ I will that iiij_li._
thereof be yearlie for ever imploied towards the maytaynance or fynding
of a poore scholer of the said schoole of Gigleswick, being of the said
parish of Gigleswicke or Clapham, to be kept to Learning in somme
Colledge in Cambridge: Provided alwaies and my will is that he shall be
one of the Claphams or Claphamsons, if there shall be anie of those
names meete and fitte theirfore, and to have the said yearly allowance
of iiij_li._ for the space of seaven yeares, if he continue and abide in
Cambridge so long." ... "And the other viij_s._ viij_d._ I will that the
one half theirof shall be bestowed yearlie toward a potacionn amongst
the poore schollers of the same schoole, for the tyme being one Saincte
Gregories daie, and the other half distributed amongst the poore of the
said parish of Gigleswick yearlie on Easter daie for ever, to be
ordered, governed and distributed from tyme to tyme by the Feoffees,
overseers, governors, and rulers of the said Schoole for the tyme being,
whereof one to be a Clapham if their be anie of the name in the same
parish meet for that office."

Potations, thus provided for by William Clapham, were common to many
schools and were gifts of food and beer by the Master to the Scholars,
who in their turn were expected to bring gifts of money and thus enable
the Master of a Free School to get an addition to his pay. At Nottingham
Dame Mellers in 1512 did "straitlye enjoyne that the Scholemaister, and
Usshers, nor any of them, have, make, nor use any potacions, cock-fighte
or drinking with his or their wiffe at wiffes' hoost or hoostices, but
only twice in the yeare nor take any other giftes or avayles, whereby
the Schollers or their Frendes should be charged, but at the playsure of
the frends of the Scholers, save the wages to be payde by the sayde
Gardyans." On the other hand in the Hartlebury School Statutes, 1565, it
is written "the said Schoolmaster shall ... take the profitts of all
such Cocke-fights and potations as be comonlie used in Scholes." At
Cambridge "they have a potation of Figgs, Reasons and Almons, Bonnes and
Beer at the charge of the sayed Determiners."

Such was the custom and William Clapham evidently intended by his gift
of 4_s._ 4_d._ to relieve the Master from the expense and allow the
gifts to be pure profit. Unfortunately no record has been traced of any
gifts though there are entries in the Minute-Books of payment of
expenses on March 12, 1626, "charges this day vi_s._ vi_d._," which
probably refer to the expenditure upon the scholars. Such mention is
quite exceptional up till the close of the seventeenth century. The
usual accounts are much briefer, giving no details of expenditure but
mentioning the balance only _e.g._ "their remaineth in the hands of John
Banks fifty-eight pounds eighteen shillings sixpence."

In time Clapham's bequest increased in value and was reckoned in the
Exhibition Account. Certainly from 1767 the Exhibition Account gave
something towards the cost of the Potation. In 1767 it was £1 7_s._
0_d._, in 1770, 11_s._ 3_d._ In 1782 it becomes a fixed sum of £1 10_s._
4_d._ and the Governors make up the rest from another account. In one
year 1769 it was regarded as a joint expenditure by the Governors and
Masters. During the last twenty years of the eighteenth century the
expenditure averaged £2 10_s._ 0_d._ In 1814 it was £8 1_s._ 2_d._, thus
proving independently that the numbers of the School must have increased
considerably. In 1839 figs and bread are mentioned as having been bought
and the Charity Commissioners' Report of 1825 says that beer had ceased
to be provided. The figs and bread continued to be distributed till
1861, after which the practice ceased.

The Scholarship to "some colledge in Cambridge" was gradually merged
with other gifts in a general Exhibition Account and it is only rarely
possible to distinguish a holder of the Clapham Exhibition. Indeed £4
was not a luxurious sum as time went on.

On June 29th, 1604 Henry Tennant of Cleatopp, who had already shewn
himself eager for the welfare of the School by supporting the petition
of Christopher Shute for the confirmation of the Statutes, gave £100 to
the Governors of the School. With this money they were to buy lands or
rent charges "to and for such use, purpose and intent that the yearly
revenues, yssues, and profittes ... shall and maie be by them ...
emploied first for and towardes the better mantaynance of Josias Shute,
one of the sonnes of the said Christopher Shute, in Cambridge, until
such tyme as he shall be admitted to be Master of Arts in the said
Universitie, and from yeare to yeare for ever for and towards the
releiving and mantayninge of such schollers within the Universitie of
Cambridge, one after another successivelie, as shall be naturallie borne
within the said parish of Giggleswick and instructed and brought upp to
learning at the said free Grammer Schoole, and as shall be elected and
chosen out of the said Schoole by the Master and Governors ... to be
fitt for that purpose." Each one was to receive the money until he
became Master of Arts, so long as he did not defer the time beyond the
customary limit nor remove nor discontinue his place.

This gift Tennant confirmed in his will of July 5 in the same year with
a further gift of all his lands and hereditaments in Settle and the
"ancient yearlie rent of five shillings be it more or lesse." This was
to "go towards the procuringe and obtayninge of an Exhibicioun for a
poore scholler or seizer in somme one Colledge in Cambridge until ... he
shall or may be Bachelor of Arts.... The same poore scholler to be borne
within the parish of Giggleswick and brought upp at the schoole their
att learninge and to be elected ... by the Maister and Governors."
Clapham's advowsons and rent-charge were sold by the Governors on June
20, 1604, to "one Symon Paycock, of Barney, and Robart Claphamson, of
Hamworth, in the countie of Northfolk, clarke" in consideration of the
payment of one hundred marks and the lands in Settle left by Henry
Tennant were sold to Antonie Procter, of Cleatopp, on January 14, 1604
for £40. These two sums together with Henry Tennant's former gift of
£100 helped to make up £240, with which the Governors on January 19,
1609, bought a rent-charge of £14 13_s._ 4_d._, which has been paid them
ever since. Being a rent-charge, it is not liable to fluctuation.

The first elections were made on February 14, 1604. Josias Shute did not
take his B.A. degree till 1605 nor his M.A. till 1609, so that the
clause in Henry Tennant's will referring to him still held and he was
receiving the interest on £100, but there is also the interest on the
lands in Settle which had been sold for £40 and were bringing in £4
yearlie.

Thomas, one of the sons of Christopher Shute, and Alexander Bankes, of
Austwick, in the parish of Clapham (also a relative of one of the
Governors) were elected to the two Exhibitions. But as Clapham's money
continued for seven yeares, they were each to receive £4 a year for four
years and to divide the Clapham Exhibition during the next three years,
if both continued in the University. This was done "for their better
mantaynance and to take awaie emulation."

Thereafter elections were frequently made, until the merging of the
funds in the general foundation of the School by the scheme of 1872.

In 1507, the half-acre of land on which James Carr, capellanus, had
built his school had been leased for seventy-nine years for a yearly
rent of "xij_d._ of good and lawfull moneye of England," and when the
seventy-nine years were up, the lease was to be renewable on a payment
of 6_s._ 8_d._ Clearly it had been renewed in 1586 but no record
remains. In 1610 "on the ffourteenth daie of December, Sir Gervysse
Helwysse and Sir Richard Williamson were owners in ffee farme of the
Rectorie and Parsonage of Giglesweke." Durham had ceased to possess it,
on the Confiscation of Finchale Priory, and in 1601 Robert Somerskayles
had bought it of the Crown.

Sir Gervysse Helwysse and Sir Richard Williamson "in consideracion of a
certeyne somme of money to them in hand paid, but especially at the
request and mediacion of the said Christofer Shutt" sold "all that house
comonly called the Schoolehouse in Giglesweke afforesaid and that close
adioyneing therto, called the Schoolehouse garth, parcell of the said
Rectorye."

The amount of the "certeyne somme of monye" is not declared. The land
now belonged to the School, but the xij_d._ yearly had still to be paid
as part of the fee farm rent, payable for the Rectory to the King's
majesty.

The next important bequest comes from Richard Carr, Vicar of Hockleigh
in Essex, who died in 1616. He was a great-grandson of the brother of
James, the founder of the School. The family interest was maintained and
at his death he left a house in Maldon, called Seely House Grove, with
all its appurtenances to his wife Joan and after her death to the
"Societye, Companie and Corporation of Christe Colledge in Cambridge."
He also bequeathed direct to the College "a tenement at Hackwell alias
Hawkwell in the Countie of Essex called Mount Bovers or Munde Bovers."

These lands "during the naturall life of my foresaid wife, Joane" were
to be used for the provision of five Scholarships at £5 apiece and after
the death of Joane the whole estate was to provide eight Scholarships at
£5, and two Fellowships at twenty marks (£13 6_s._ 8_d._) apiece. The
Scholarships were to continue until the holder had time to "commence
Master of Arts," if he abode so long, and the Fellowships until they had
time to "commence Bachelor of Divinitie."

The Scholars had to be born in the parish of Giggleswick or be children
"lawfullie begotten of my brother-in-law, Robert Thornton and my sister
Jeanet, his wife, in the parish of Clapham and of their children's
posteritie for ever." They must have been brought up in the free School
of Giggleswick and were to be "chosen from the poorer sort though they
be not altogether so learned, as other scholars, who have richer
friends." If any of the founder's kin were not immediately ready for the
Scholarship, it could be held over for one year and the amount for that
year distributed among the Sizars of the College. Never more than four
of his kin might hold the Scholarship at one time.

The Fellowships were to be offered to his two nephews "Richard Carr, now
of Peterhouse, and Robert Thornton, of Jesus Colledge in Cambridge." If
they should be unable to accept them the "Maister and Fellowes of
Christe Colledge" shall elect fellows from the number only of those "who
have or at least have had some of the aforesaid scholarships and none
other to be capable of them."

The College Authorities were asked to provide convenient chambers and
studies for both Fellows and Scholars and to account them as Fellows and
Scholars of the College.

In consequence of the provision that the Scholars were to be elected
from "the poorer sort" an agreement was made in 1635 by which those
elected were allowed to receive the £5 and yet go to another College.
For £5 was quite inadequate and at Christ's "by reason of the poverty of
the holders, no Fellow is found willing to undertake for them as a Tutor
in respect of the hazard thereof." Tempest Thornton is the only name
recorded as a Giggleswick Fellow and he held office in 1625. The reason
why no other was ever elected is given in a letter from Thomas Atherton,
Fellow of Christ's, written May 29, 1718, to Richard Ellershaw, Vicar
of Giggleswick, in which he says that it was "owing to our having lost
that part of the Estate thus bequeathed us called Seely House Grove,
which was sued for and recovered a great while ago by some or other that
laid claim to it."

The farms in Hockley and Maldon are still in their possession and one of
them retains its name, Munde Bowers. Never more than six Scholarships a
year had been given and in 1718 the income was £31 a year. In 1890 there
were apparently two Carr Exhibitions of £50 a year each, while at the
present day there is one of £50 tenable for three years, but it is
possible that in a few years another Exhibition may be given
occasionally.

In 1619 the term of Christopher Shute's Headmastership drew to a close.
He resigned and his place was taken by the Rev. Robert Dockray. It
cannot be ascertained how long Shute had been Master, for the earliest
expenditure which is entered in the Minute-Book was in 1615 and therein:

 Item: to Mr. Shute and Mr. Claphamson for
   monie that was behind of their wages                   £1 17 4

This entry establishes the fact that one Christopher Shute was Master in
1615 and the receipts continue in his name for four years until 1619.
Tradition says that the Vicar and Master were one and the same person,
but there are certain difficulties in the way. In the first place the
Vicar was over seventy years of age, secondly there is no Grace Book or
extant contemporary writing or extract from the Parish Registers, in
which he is called both Vicar and Master. Thirdly, the Vicar's son,
Josias, is said to have been educated by his father, until he was of an
age to go to the Grammar School. On the other hand Shute may have
undertaken the work of the Master for a few years only and owing to some
especial necessity, which has not been recorded. Secondly there is no
record of any Christopher Shute, other than the Vicar, who in 1615 could
have acted as Master. Nathaniel Shute had a son Christopher, who was
later a Fellow of Christ's, Cambridge, but at this date he was still a
boy. Thirdly the signatures in the Minute-Book of both Master and Vicar
are very similar.

The year 1619 is the latest date at which the Vicar took any active part
in the advancement of the School and his work may be briefly summarised.
With Henry Tennant, he had petitioned Archbishop Piers for his assent to
the Statutes, which they had drawn up. In 1599 he had procured a
parchment-covered book, which he called "Liber Christopheri Shute et
amicorum" and in 1604 he presented it to the School. The book contains
elections of Scholars, elections of Governors, Accounts, Receipts,
etc.; it is not full of important matter, but is rather a bare record of
certain facts.

In 1610 he was responsible with Robert Bankes and John Robinson for the
purchase of the land on which the School stood, and during his
mastership the Clapham, Tennant and Carr bequests were made. Such
benefactions in themselves denote the fame of the School, and the result
of its teaching is seen in the pupils it sent forth.

Nathaniel Shute was born at Giggleswick "his father, Christopher Shute
being the painful Vicar thereof." He was educated at the School and went
thence to Christ's College, Cambridge; he became a most excellent
scholar and solid preacher, though nothing of his work remains save the
Corona Caritatis, a sermon preached at the funeral of Master Fishbourn.
He died in 1638.

Josias Shute, born in 1588, was the brother of Nathaniel and from
Giggleswick went on to Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1611 he became
Rector of S. Mary Wolnoth, Lombard Street, and remained there over
thirty years. He was "the most precious jewell ever seen in Lombard
Street," but suffered much during the civil disturbances of the reign.
Charles I made him Archdeacon of Colchester in 1642, and he died on June
14, 1643. His funeral sermon was preached by Ephraim Udall.

[Illustration: REV. JOSIAS SHUTE, B.D.]

He was a skilled Hebrew scholar a language which he had probably begun
to study at Giggleswick, and he left many manuscripts which were
posthumously published by his brother Timothy. While he was still at
Cambridge, he had enjoyed the interest on £100 given by Henry Tennant
and in gratitude therefor and for other benefits received at the School
he left to the Governors by a will dated June 30, 1642, certain parcels
of land in the parish of Giggleswick, called Eshton Close, Cappleriggs
Close and Huntwait Fields. The rent of these fields was to be
apportioned in two ways. Five pounds was to be given yearly to the
maintaining of a poor Scholar of the parish, who had been educated in
the School, at either University until he became Master of Arts. The
remainder of the rent was to be distributed amongst the poor of
Giggleswick, who were most pious and had most need. The land increased
in value greatly. In 1683 the rent amounted to £6 8_s._ 0_d._, and in
1697 £7 5_s._ 10_d._ Seventy years later it had almost doubled and in
1806 it was £34 6_s._ 0_d._

In the latter year the Governors effected an exchange. Huntwait was
given up for Tarn Brow and the rent rose five pounds. In spite of this
gradual increase in value, the Governors only allotted the five pounds
to the Exhibition Fund, the rest went to the poor of Giggleswick, to be
distributed on the day of the Purification of the Virgin Mary. The five
pounds was as a rule paid as an extra Exhibition in addition to the sum
received from the Burton rent-charge, which had been bought with the
money left by William Clapham and Henry Tennant, and the recipients were
often especially mentioned as poor, notably in 1652 and again in 1673.

On December 13, 1872, Tarn Brow was sold for £1,000 and apportioned to
pay part of the cost of the buildings which were then being erected. The
Governors were directed to pay three-and-a-half per cent. interest on
the sum expended. Cappleriggs was let for £20 a year and Eshton for £11.

The whole income now arising from these sources is applied in providing
certain boys with total exemptions from payment of tuition fees and the
costs of books and stationery: they are called Shute Exhibitions and are
offered in the first instance to boys who are in attendance at a Public
Elementary School in the ancient parish of Giggleswick.

Christopher Shute had three other sons who were all ministers of the
Church and were "all great (though not equal) Lights, set up in fair
Candlesticks."

He had done his duty as a Father, he had more than done his duty as
Vicar and Governor. It is unfortunate that there is no portrait of him,
for it would then be possible to discern the scholarly and courtly
grace of the man under whom the School more than it had ever done before
or was to do again until the nineteenth century flourished and prospered
and grew notable. He died, still Vicar and Governor, in 1626. "Happy a
father who had his quiver full with five such sons."

The Rev. Robert Dockray succeeded in 1619 as Master, and Henry
Claphamson, who had been Usher certainly since 1615, possibly earlier
though no records exist, continued in the office. The pay of both had
increased since 1592. The Ancient Statutes of that date give the stipend
of the Master as twenty marks (£13 6_s._ 8_d._), and of the Usher as £6
13_s._ 4_d._, with power to the Governors to increase it. It cannot be
ascertained when a change was made but in the half-year Accounts for
1617 there occurs the entry:

    Item: to the Maister and Usher, xv_li._

Robert Dockray and Henry Claphamson never received less than £20 and
£10 yearly apiece after 1619. In 1629 they received an additional
gratuity, the Master, of twenty nobles, _i.e._ £6 13_s._ 4_d._ and the
Usher, of £3 6_s._ 8_d._

The School went on its uneventful way. Dockray, the Master, became Vicar
and made his protestation as an ex-officio Governor in 1632. In August,
1635, Christopher Lascelles, of Ripon, gentleman, received £20 in
consideration of some request he made concerning troubles which he had
been put to but which he does not specify. For the rest Governors
succeeded Governors, Scholars were sent to the University with aid from
the Exhibition money, Master and Usher receipted their wages each half
year. The year 1640, is the last in which Robert Dockray appears as a
Governor and his last receipt for his wages is dated March of the same
year. Henry Claphamson succeeded to his work temporarily for eighteen
weeks, receiving 10_s._ 3_d._ a week, but himself died before August
1642. Anthony Lister, the Vicar, taught for just over six months at the
same rate, and on August 25, 1642, the Rev. Rowland Lucas had earned £9
12_s._ 0_d._ as "head scoulmaster."

The Usher's place was taken by William son of Thomas Wilsonne,
"Agricolæ" in Giggleswick. He had been at the School for ten years under
Mr. Dockray and at the age of eighteen had gone up to S. John's,
Cambridge, as a Sizar in 1639. Thence he went back to his old School in
1642 and remained there for twenty-four years.




CHAPTER V.

1642--1712.


The Rev. Rowland Lucas was a native of Westmorland and had been educated
at Kirkby under Mr. Leake. In 1626 he was admitted to Christ's College,
Cambridge, as a Sizar and took his B.A. in three years and his M.A. in
1633. Before he came to Giggleswick he had been Headmaster of Heversham.
In 1643 his salary was increased to forty marks and in 1645 to £40, and
during his six years many scholars went to Cambridge and won distinction
in the world, such as Thomas Dockray and John Carr. At his death in
1648, William Wilsonne, the Usher, supplied his place for a few weeks
and later William Walker was elected. He was a native of Giggleswick and
had been a boy at the School under Mr. Lucas. In 1643 at the age of
eighteen he was admitted as a Sizar at Christ's and commenced B.A.
1646-7 and later M.A.

The numbers of the School at this period are quite uncertain. The
accommodation was slight and the teaching staff limited to the Master
and Usher, but the boys were probably packed very close. During the nine
years of his mastership, boys were steadily sent to Cambridge. Christ's
alone admitted twenty-five and in one single year (1652) three others
entered S. John's. These boys were sons of really poor men. John Cockett
in 1651 was the first recorded receiver of the Shute Exhibition of £5,
and in the next year it was given to Josias Dockray, son of the late
Master, "whom we conceive to be a poore scoller of our parish." Both
these boys became ordained and in time were appointed to one or more
livings. For a century and a half Giggleswick fed Christ's with a steady
stream of boys who almost without exception entered the service of the
Church.

Seventeenth century Giggleswick took no heed of the progress of the
School and records do not abound. It was a disturbed period in English
history and political and religious troubles occupied men's minds to the
exclusion of lesser matters. Giggleswick was nevertheless well-known,
for in 1697 Abraham de la Prynne records in his diary an anecdote of a
Mr. Hollins who thirty years before had lived at Giggleswick "as I
remember in Yorkshire where the great school is." Apparently Anthony
Lister, who was then Vicar had roused the resentment of a particular
Quaker, who found himself anxious to go to the Parish Church to rebuke
Lister publicly, when he began to preach. On his way thither he met a
friend and told him of his intention. The man tried to dissuade him but
finding argument of no avail, he asked him what induced him to choose
this particular Sunday. Whereupon the Quaker replied that "the Spirit"
had sent him. The rejoinder came quickly "why did the Spirit not also
tell thee that one Roger and not the Vicar is preaching to-day?" There
was at this period one particularly distinguished son of Giggleswick,
Richard Frankland born at "Rothmelæ" (Rathmell) in 1631 who came to the
School when he was nine and at the age of seventeen went as a Burton
Exhibitioner to Christ's College, Cambridge. The Shute Minute-Book of
1651 has the following entry:

    xxj_st_ January, 1651.

    Received the day and yeare abovesaid from Robt. Claphamson the
    some of eight pounds which he received of James Smith, of
    Burton, for one year's rent, the which is disbursed by us as
    follows (to witt) to Jane ffrankland for her son, viz. xl_s._

His father John Frankland is said on his tombstone in Giggleswick Church
to be one of the Franklands of "Thartilbe" (Thirkleby, near Thirsk) and
he was admitted to Christ's in 1626.

Richard became B.A. in 1651 and M.A. four years later. In 1653 he was
"set apart" and received Presbyterian ordination. He was immediately
appointed Vicar of Auckland S. Andrew by Sir Arthur Haselrig but was
ejected nine years later. He was not an extreme man but he refused to be
re-ordained by Bishop Cosen. After the second Conventicle Act of 1670 he
made a personal appeal to Charles II, "to reform your life, your family,
your kingdom and the Church." The King was much moved and replied "I
thank you, Sir," and twice looking back before he went into the Council
Chamber said "I thank you, Sir; I thank you." Returning to Rathmell his
native place, Frankland opened an Academy, where he gave an University
training in Divinity, Law or Medicine. Aristotle was taught and one
tutor was a Ramist. The lectures were delivered in Latin. His pupils
were not confined to any one denomination, but included Puritans,
Presbyterians and Independents.

[Illustration: RICHARD FRANKLAND, M.A.]

Fortune smiled very grimly upon him and he was compelled to change his
place of instruction on many occasions. His pupils always followed him.
One Archbishop excommunicated him, another--Archbishop Sharpe--also a
Christ's man, discussed the matter with the help of tobacco and a bottle
of wine. Sharpe's main objection was that a second school was not
required so close to Giggleswick, and an Academy for public instruction
in University Learning could not lawfully receive a Bishop's license. In
the main he was undisturbed during his last years and when he died in
1698 over three hundred pupils had passed through his hands and his
Academy was later transferred to Manchester and in 1889 to Oxford, where
it became known as the Manchester New College. During the period of
Frankland's struggles with the dignitaries of the Church, one Samuel
Watson, of Stainforth, who had been a Governor of Giggleswick School was
in 1661 "willing being a Quaker that another should be elected in his
place." Eight years later he interrupted a service in the Parish Church,
and the people "brok his head upon ye seates."

In 1656 William Walker resigned the mastership and for three months his
place was taken by William Bradley, who had been a pensioner at S.
John's, Cambridge, at the same time as the Usher, William Wilsonne.
William Brigge was then elected. He was an University man and almost
certainly at Cambridge, but his college is doubtful.

In 1659 the Shute Scholarship was to be given "to Tho. Green's son of
Stainforth, when a certificate comes of his admittance" into the
University. This was a precaution that was not unnecessary. It is only
rarely that the money is entered as being paid to the scholar himself:
far more often is it paid to the father or mother and sometimes to the
boy's college Tutor. On March 12, 1660, it is agreed "that the £5 is to
be paid to Tho. Gibson, his Tutor, upon his admittance into the
Collidge." In 1673, Hugh, son of Oliver Stackhouse, "being ye poorest
scoller" was awarded the money.

The North Cave Estate, which had been given to the School as part of its
endowment in 1553, had very greatly increased in value during the
hundred years to 1671, when the rents amounted to over £80. The stipends
of the Masters were raised by means of a gratuity and William Brigge
received £30. No reason appears why after fifteen years' service and an
increased gratuity he should still be receiving £10 a year less than one
of his predecessors, Rowland Lucas, in 1644.

Thomas Wildeman, the Usher, received £15. Wilson had died in 1666 and
one William Cowgill, of whom we know nothing, succeeded him for four
years. In 1671 Wildeman took his place. One Thomas Wildeman had been at
Giggleswick as a boy and had entered Magdalene, Cambridge, in 1670, and
then migrated to Christ's. The dates make it possible that they are the
same person, in which case he would be continuing to keep his terms at
Cambridge and be acting as Usher at the same time.

The Accounts of the School at this period shew the Governors in a
different light. Their expenditure not having increased proportionately
to their income, the surplus money was lent out at interest to the
people in the village. Hugh Stackhouse, who had gone up to Christ's with
school money on account of his great poverty, was at this time acting as
Treasurer or Clerk and was one of the earliest to take advantage of the
Governors' enterprize. He borrowed £10 at five per cent. and the debt
continues to be mentioned for many years. He would appear to be a
privileged debtor.

The following is a typical entry in the Account Book:

On March 12, 1686.

Interest and Bonds for ye Schoole

                                            £   _s._  _d._
Antho. Armitstead                          00    10    00
Tho. Brayshay                              00    05    00
Antho. Barrows                             00    05    00
Tho. Stackhouse                            00    08    09
Robte. Cookson                             00    10    00
Tho. Carr, of Settle, at ½ year for £20    00    10    00
Nathaniel More at £20                      01    00    00
Robte. Cookson at £100                     05    00    00
Hugh Stackhouse at £10                     00    10    00
Mr. Wildman at £20                         01    00    00

The Mr. Wildman here referred to may have been the Usher, who belonged
to a Giggleswick family but had given up the post of Usher, which at
this date was held by John Sparke formerly of Christ's and possibly the
same as the John Sparke who was Vicar of Long Preston in 1703. William
Brigge had also left in 1684 and for six months his work was taken by a
former Usher, John Parkinson, who had matriculated as a Sizar at
Christ's in 1676 and after taking his degree came for two years as Usher
in place of Wildeman. On Brigge's death he acted as Headmaster, but
whether he was definitely appointed such or was intended to be in charge
for a short time only is doubtful, as he died in six months.

    June 12, 1685. "Mr John Armittsteade entred to ye Schole."

John Armitstead was born at Long Preston in 1660, and after being at
Giggleswick as a boy, he went up to Cambridge at the age of nineteen
with a Burton Exhibition. He was entered as a Sizar at Christ's, and
commenced B.A. in 1682-3 and M.A. 1688. The name of Armitstead has been
very closely connected with the School even to the present day.

Henry Roome was Usher for one quarter in 1688 and then gave place to
Richard Atkinson or Akinson, whose salary varied from year to year, but
never exceeded a certain limit, viz.: just half the Master's, which
consisted of "ye ancient Master's Stipend" of twenty marks and a
gratuity which brought it between £40 and £50. There are also small
entries in places, such as:

    October 1, 1687.

    Paid to Mr. Armitstead for repairs about ye schoole loft and
    garden that he had laid out, as particulars may appeare, which
    noate of particulars he delivered to ye summe of £4 17_s._
    06_d._ In which noate theire was a Presse that stands in ye
    schoole chamber, it is theire to remaine to belonge to ye
    schoole.

Richard Ellershaw, the Vicar, took a very great interest in the School,
and in 1718 he wrote to Christ's College, Cambridge, seeking information
about the Carr Scholarships. It was probably due to him that in 1693 two
shillings was laid down for transcribing part of Carr's Will, which
money "the schollars that receive Burton Exhibitions must then (i.e.
1694) allow to the school stock."

One point of interest remains connected with this period: it is a
curious slip of paper without date, which contains an invitation to the
reader, whoever he may have been, to visit the writer J.N. in the
country. It is written on the back of some of Armitstead's accounts,
with an alternative version by its side, which was no doubt a revised
copy of the theme after correction by the Master:

    Ex animo rogo ut rus venias
    quod cupio tuo frui sodalitio
    tum quia tua frequentia haud
    parvam ferat consolationem
    parentibus natu grandioribus,
    persuasum habeto alii qui
    potentiores sunt et pluribus
    abundant divitiis plura in te
    conferant beneficia sed nemo
    libentiori et promptiori est
    animo tuum promovere honorem
    quam humillimus servus. J.N.

    Permultum cupio rus venias et
    quod vehemens est desiderium tuo
    frui comercio, tum quod tua
    frequentia admodum esset
    consolabilis parentibus
    senilibus, certum habeto alii
    tum potentiores tum divitiores
    plura tibi faciant beneficia sed
    nemo et libentior et promtior
    est tuam ornare dignitatem quam
    servus humillimus.     J.N.

The money left to the School by Josias Shute was in part intended to be
paid to the poor of the parish, together with two further sums of five
shillings left by William Clapham and nine shillings by Mr. Thornton for
the same purpose. It is difficult to note the payment of these sums, for
they were as a rule added together and entered as "For the Poor Fund,"
but in 1695 there was paid to:

                          £  _s._ _d._
John Grime Wilkinson     00   02   00
Wm. Nelson               00   01   00
Bryan Cookson            00   07   00
J Robinson               00   01   00
Mary Pert                00   01   00
Thos. Cocket             00   01   00
Ric. Harrison            00   01   00
                        £00   14   00

Shute's surplus was certainly given to the poor in some years but there
is no consistent record and by the scheme made under the Endowed Schools
Acts it ceased. In 1692 "Arthur, son of Joshua Whitaker, of Settle,
appearing to us to be ye poorest schollar that stood candidate for ye
said gift" was allowed the Shute Exhibition of £5. He also received £7
of the Burton Rents, and in May, 1698, as much as £9 10_s._ 0_d._ With
these sums he was enabled to go to Christ's College, Cambridge, where he
gained a Scholarship and by the year 1698 in March, which under the new
style would be March 1699, he had returned to the School as Usher, in
succession to Richard Akinson. He taught for fifteen years and received
as usual, just half the Headmaster's stipend, the amount varying between
£23 and £27. On March 12, 1712, the following entry occurs: "Recd of ye
Governors of ye free Gramar School of Gigleswick ye sum of two pounds
eighteen shillings and sixpence for ye use of my brother Wm. Foster, now
Curate of Horsefield," but it turns out to be a payment of that part of
the Exhibition to which he was entitled, up till the time he had left
Cambridge, presumably in the previous June.

John Armitstead's receipts end in 1704, and he died in 1712. It is
impossible to determine the worth of a Master, when so few documents
remain to judge him, but the Governors of 1768 thought fit to refer to
"the artful and imperious temper of Mr. Armitstead." Their particular
grievance was that in 1704 the Governors had a balance of £230 with
which they purchased a farm called Keasden. This they let and its
profits went to the Master and Usher, and in 1712 the "easy, complying
disposition of the Governors" was persuaded to allow the Master to
collect the rents of all the lands belonging to the School and simply
enter a receipt "of the wages now due to us." Consequently no accounts
were kept from 1704 till 1765, and because there was no reserve fund
presumably no repairs were done. The Master collected the rents and with
his Usher divided the spoil. He even seized the £15 which remained over
from the purchase money of the Keasden farm. Nor was this all. Up to the
year 1705 the Master paid for the expenses of the Governors' Meetings
but in that year the Governors were persuaded to deduct sixpence in the
pound from the Exhibitions given to the boys going up to the
Universities. This deduction continued till the nineteenth century.
Judging then from the opinions of the Governors fifty years later, John
Armitstead was not wholly an altruist. It is still more unfortunate that
his evil lived after him.

The number of Scholars, who went up to Cambridge in his time though less
than it had been, was still considerable. During his twenty-eight years,
as many as twenty-seven went to Christ's alone, including the first
Paley who is known to have been educated at the School. The greater
proportion always went to Christ's until the last decade of the
eighteenth century, but other Colleges received them also, notably at
certain periods S. John's.




CHAPTER VI.

The Eighteenth Century.


John Armitstead ceased to acknowledge the receipt of his wages in 1704
and died in 1712. Just as he had belonged to a local family and had been
educated at the School and Christ's College, Cambridge, so was his
successor.

John Carr, A.B., late of Stackhouse, was a descendant of the original
James and Richard Carr and was thus the third member of the family to
hold the Mastership. He had been elected to the combined Exhibitions
from the School in 1707, and after taking his degree he was ordained
Deacon at York in 1713 and Priest in 1720. On June 18, 1712, as a layman
and at the age of twenty-three he entered upon his duties as Master.
Seven days later a relative, of what degree is uncertain, William Carr,
of Langcliffe, was elected a Governor, and eight years later another
William Carr, of Stackhouse, and hence probably a closer connexion,
possibly his father, was also made a Governor. In 1726 George Carr was
made Usher. The family circle was complete.

After 1704 the position of Usher had been successively filled by Anthony
Weatherhead, a former pupil of Armitstead's and a B.A. of Christ's, by
Thos. Rathmell from whom there are no receipts but who died in 1712, and
by Richard Thornton, who held it for fourteen years. There is no record
that he was ever a member of the School as a boy, but it is a legitimate
conjecture, when it is remembered that the Thorntons were an old family
in the neighbourhood, and one of them figures in the Minute-Book, 1692,
as having left nine shillings to the Giggleswick poor.

On the day on which John Carr was elected Master he had to sign an
agreement in the following terms:

    June 18, 1712.

    Conditions on which a master shall be chosen.

    1. He shall observe all the statutes of the schoole.

    2. And particularly the writing master shall hereafter be chosen
    by ye Governours at the usuall day of meeting in March and ye
    time to be appointed by the Master, as has been formerly
    practic'd.

    3. That the masters shall, upon receipt of any moneys from
    Northcave, Rise, etc., acquaint at least one of ye Governours,
    when such moneys are paid to them, give the said Governour or
    Governours an acquittance under their hands, and ye moneys
    receiv'd to be entred into the schoole booke and the private
    acquittance given to be delivered back to the masters on the day
    of meeting in march aforesaid.

    4. That ye masters shall take the rents of the Keasden lands,
    when due, and give an acquittance for the same to the Governours
    on the usuall day of March.

    5. Whereas ye statutes enjoyn that the Governours, when they
    meet about ye business of ye school, shall be content with
    moderate charges, it is agreed that those moderate charges on ye
    usuall day of meeting in March shall not exceed at any one
    meeting the sum of one pound per Annum.

    To ye above written articles, I, John Carr, A.B., give my
    consent and promise to observe them.

                                                            JOHN CARR.

It cannot be explained why these regulations were made, but probably the
real point of friction had lain in the collection of rents, or perhaps
in the choice of the Writing Master. It is clear from the second clause
that the original custom has not changed much. The Ancient Statutes of
1592 had given the Master power to appoint a three weeks vacation, when
he wished, in order that the "scollers" might "be exercysed in wrytinge
under a scriviner" and it is the same in 1712. It proves that, although
the School was a free school and was the place of education for the
whole township of Giggleswick and the surrounding neighbourhood, it was
not a place for elementary education and never had been.

The fifth paragraph bears reference to the agreement made with John
Armitstead in 1705, by which the Masters ceased to provide the
entertainment at the Governors' Meetings. Henceforward the amount to be
expended is limited to one pound per annum.

In 1720 Richard Thornton was allowed to act as Clerk to Charles Harris,
Esq., for six months. It does not transpire who Charles Harris was, but
the case is somewhat paralleled seventy years later, when in 1793 Robert
Kidd is "to take the trouble of keeping accounts, etc., for the
Governors and be allowed an additional sum of two guineas per annum."

In 1726 Richard Thornton resigned and George Carr took his place.
Nothing worthy of note is recorded until John Carr's death in 1744, save
that in 1728 the said John Carr received £1 11_s._ 8_d._, "to be laid
out in building a little house for ye use of ye schoole," but what it
was, is not known. The number of boys going up to the Universities in
Carr's time fell off unaccountably, though they included John Cookson
whose entry "probe edoctus" in the Christ's College Admission Book
testifies to the teaching in the School.

Carr died in 1743 and was succeeded by William Paley. Born at
Langcliffe, educated at the School and admitted into Christ's as a Sizar
with a Burton Exhibition in 1729-30, William Paley gained a Scholarship
there two years later. He became ordained and was made Vicar of
Helpston, Peterborough, where his eldest son was born. He remained Vicar
for sixty-four years till his death and combined the living with the
Headmastership of Giggleswick and for twenty years with a Curacy at the
Parish Church.

His family had lived at Langcliffe for some considerable time and from
1670 to 1720 the name is never absent from the School Minute-Book.
"Altogether a schoolmaster both by long habit and inclination, irritable
and a disciplinarian. Cheerful and jocose, a great wit, rather coarse in
his language," Such is his grandson's description of him. "And when at
the age of eighty-three or eighty-four he was obliged to have assistance
(which was long before he wanted it in his own opinion) he used to be
wheeled in a chair to his School: and even in the delirium of his last
sickness insisted on giving his daughters a Greek author, over which
they would mumble and mutter to persuade him that he was still hearing
his boys Greek."

"He was found sitting in the hayfield among his workpeople, or sitting
in his elbow-chair nibbling his stick, or with the tail of his damask
gown rolled into his pocket busying himself in his garden even at the
age of eighty."

In 1742 he married Elizabeth Clapham, of Stackhouse, who was also a
member of an old Giggleswick family. She is said to have ridden on
horseback behind her husband from Stackhouse to Peterborough. She was
the most affectionate and careful of parents, a little, shrewd-looking,
keen-eyed woman of remarkable strength of mind and spirits, one of those
positive characters that decide promptly and execute at once, of a
sanguine and irritable temper that led her to be always on the alert in
thinking and acting. She also had a fortune of £400, which in this
neighbourhood was almost sufficient to confer the title of an heiress
(_Some Craven Worthies_).

[Illustration: ARCHDEACON PALEY.]

Their son was William Paley, Archdeacon of Carlisle and author of
"Evidences of Christianity." Born in 1744 he went to Christ's College at
the age of fifteen, with a Burton Exhibition and received a Carr
Scholarship, when he entered. As a boy he had been a fair scholar with
eccentric habits. His great delight was in cock-fighting and he must
have looked forward to each Potation Day, March 12, with considerable
joy. There are many anecdotes about him. He is supposed, whilst in
company with his father riding on his way to Cambridge to have fallen
off his horse seven times, whereupon his father would merely call out
"take care of thy money, lad." His mind was always original, indeed he
was never regarded as a "safe" man and in consequence he did not attain
that high position in the Church that his intellectual achievements
entitled him to expect. When about to take his B.A. degree he proposed
to write a thesis on "Aeternitas poenarum contradicit divinis
attributis," but the Master of Christ's was so distressed that Paley was
induced to appease him by the insertion of a "non." In 1765 he gained
the Member's Prize as Senior Bachelor with a Latin essay which had long
English notes. One of the examiners condemned it, because "he supposed
the author had been assisted by his father, some country clergyman, who
having forgotten his Latin had written the notes in English." Powell,
the Master of S. John's, a learned doctor and the oracle of Cambridge on
every question concerning subscription to the faith, spoke warmly in its
favour "it contained more matter than was to be found in all the others
... it would be unfair to reject such a dissertation on mere suspicion,
since the notes were applicable to the subject and shewed the author to
be a young man of the most promising abilities and extensive reading."
This opinion turned the balance in Paley's favour (_Baker's History of
S. John's_). It also justified the father's opinion of his son. For when
the younger Paley went to Cambridge, his father exclaimed that he would
be "a great man, a very great man: for he has by far the cleverest head
I ever met with in my life." He became Senior Wrangler.

The highest position he attained in the Church was the Archdeaconry of
Carlisle, though he could have become Master of S. John's College,
Cambridge, if an University life had attracted him, but it never did. He
had left it, while quite young, to become Rector of Musgrave,
Cumberland, at £80 a year. In 1805 he died, Giggleswick's most
distinguished son.

William Paley was soon to discover the nature of the Governing Body.
Charles Nowell, one of the kin of the second founder, was confined in
Lancaster Gaol for some offence which is not recorded and there results
a neat little comedy:

    April 25, 1745.

    Willm. Banks, of Feizer, elected in the room of Charles Nowell,
    of Capleside (now being and having been long confined in
    Lancaster Gaol) having in the presence of us taken the
    accustomed oath.

                                                        ANTHO. LISTER.


    May 20, 1745.

    Be it remembered that the said William Banks on the said
    twenty-fifth day of April, having some doubt within himself
    whether he was legally elected, the above-named Charles Nowell
    not having resigned, he did not take the oath required by the
    Statutes of the ffree School of Giggleswick but on this day,
    being satisfied that his election was legal, he took the said
    oath before us (the Vicar and other Governors withdrawing
    themselves).

                                                            W. DAWSON.
                                                             WM. CARR.


    May 23, 1745.

    Be it remembered that I was absent when Mr. Wm. Banks was sworn
    but I hereby agree that he was legally elected a Governor at a
    prior meeting. I also hereby declare the sd Wm. Banks to be a
    legall Governor.

                                                         ROBT. TATHAM.

Twenty years passed and another question arose to engender bitter
feelings in the hearts of the Governors and Masters. In 1755 George Carr
ceased to be Usher and John Moore took his place. As far as can be
known, Moore had not been educated at the School, certainly he had not
gone up to Christ's with a Burton Exhibition. For some years Master and
Usher worked together for stipends respectively of £90 and £45,
according to the regular method by which the Master received double the
pay of the Usher. They had been accustomed to make an acknowledgment of
"all ye wages now due to us as masters." But the Statutes of 1592 had
declared the Master's wage to be £13 6_s._ 8_d._ and accordingly the
Governors in 1768 proposed to emphasize the additional sum, as being
given of grace. They brought forward a draft receipt acknowledging the
payment of £13 6_s._ 8_d._ "being a year's salary as Headmaster; and
likewise from the said Governors £83 6_s._ 8_d._ as a gratuity and
encouragement for my diligence." This they required Paley to sign, and a
similar one was drafted for Moore. Both Masters refused. The Governors
then decided that they "cannot consistently with their trust pay the
Master and Usher any more money than is fixed for their stipend by the
Statutes." Three months later a meeting was called to take into
consideration a letter from the Archbishop of York in answer to an
appeal from both parties, and the following minute records their
decision:

    "It is resolved by us, whose names are subscribed, punctually to
    comply with and put into execution to the utmost of our power
    the very judicious and friendly opinions and advice given by the
    Archbishop in his letter."

The minute is signed by six Governors and the two Masters and on the
next page the receipts are given as they always had been before, though
the few pounds extra that each was to have received are not paid. The
very "judicious" letter of Archbishop Drummond not only fixed the salary
of the Master and the Usher but gives some additional information. The
rents had increased to above £140 a year and of this the Master and
Usher were to be given £135 and as the rents increased so should the
salaries, always leaving a sufficient surplus for the Repairs Fund.

The School, he added, had a small number of scholars, which "may be
accounted for by various causes" and was not due to the teaching to
which he paid a graceful compliment. He further suggested that the Usher
should take it upon himself to teach Writing, Arithmetic, and
Merchants' Accounts, the first elements of Mathematics, and the parts
that lead to Mensuration and Navigation.

With regard to the Governors, he counselled them to meet annually on May
2, quite apart from their ordinary meetings and make up their accounts
and submit a review of the same and of the past year's work to the
Archbishop. Secondly they should draw up fresh Statutes. He was
anticipating the Governors' action of thirty years later. The Scholars,
he noted, had no pew in the Church. Some should be procured and the
Scholars should "goe there regularly under the eye of the Master or
Usher or some Upper Boy, who should note the absentees." Altogether the
word "judicious," applied to the letter by the Governors, was justified.

Largely by the work of Arthur Young, the old system of cultivation by
open fields had been changing, and by the beginning of the reign of
George III it was chiefly the North of England that still continued
after the older fashion. People were content to make a living, they did
not concentrate their thoughts on wealth. But in 1764 the tide of reform
had reached the Governors' East Riding Estates in North Cave and Rise,
and a private Act was passed through Parliament, ordering that the
separate possessions should be marked off and enclosed. This Act
involved a very considerable expense and the Governors, being unable to
meet it out of their income, on August 26, 1766, mortgaged their East
Riding Estates to Henry Tennant, of Gargrave. The acreage was three
hundred and ninety-five acres one rood and the mortgage was concluded
for £1,120 for one thousand years. The whole of the money was at once
expended; and nearly £500 was appropriated by what Arthur Young called
"the knavery of Commissioners and Attorneys."

The income of the Governors rose immediately, in 1766 their rent
receipts amounted roughly to £208 and eleven years later to £347 while
in 1780 £400 would be a closer estimate.

The Shute Exhibition rents had also increased steadily. In 1739 they
were £9 4_s._ 6_d._, twenty-five years later £13 9_s._ and in 1786 over
£15. The Masters' salaries were therefore increased. In 1768 the
Archbishop had fixed the minimum of Master and Usher at £90 and £45. A
few years later £96 was given and in 1776 the sums of £151 and £75, each
with a few shillings. In 1784 a new scheme was evolved, William Paley
received £180, John Moore's successor--Smith--£70, and a third Master
who was apparently engaged to teach Writing and Accounts, and first
appears in 1786, received £20 a year.

Expenditure in every direction increased, and an agent, William Iveson,
had to be retained to look after the North Cave Estates, at a salary of
£1 10_s._ Repairs to the School became more extensive, Vincent Hallpike
was required to make a "box for the Charter," and the Governors made
more frequent journeys to their estates, no doubt as a result of the
increased facility and diminished expense of travelling, which was a
notable feature of the latter part of the eighteenth century. Further
they had engaged a third Master, but whether this was due to a slight
decrease of attention paid to the School by the Master--and it is well
to remember that he was still Curate of Giggleswick and Vicar of
Helpston, Peterborough--or due to a real increase in the numbers and
requirements of the School is not stated. Several indications point to
an increase in the efficiency of the School. In 1783, an advertisement
was drafted and published for the appointment of an Usher, whereas
before this time they had been content as a rule to take the most
promising of those who had recently left the School. Advertising now
gave them a wider field of choice. A Lexicon and a Dictionary were
bought in the following year for £1 8_s._ 6_d._, as well they might be,
for the last occasion on which books are recorded to have been bought
was in 1626, when the Governors had expended £3 7_s._

The Exhibition fund, which came from the rents of the land given by
Josias Shute together with the Burton rents and a rent-charge of 3_s._
6_d._ on Thos. Paley's house in Langcliffe, had been gradually
accumulating. Few Exhibitions were given and the surplus was put into
the capital account. In 1780 the general fund borrowed £160 from the
Exhibition money in order to enclose some new allotments in Walling Fen,
in accordance with an Act of Parliament. The result was startling. The
first year gave them a new rent-roll of £40, the second year saw this
sum doubled.

For a hundred and seventy-five years James Carr's "low, small and
irregular" building had sufficed for the needs of the School. "Deep in
the shady sadness of a vale" it had witnessed the gradual change of the
Reformation, it had inspired one of the leaders of Puritan
Nonconformity, it had seen the child growth of a great theologian and,
more than all, it had roused the imagination and fostered the mental
growth of hundreds of the yeomen and cottagers of the North of England.
But now its work was accomplished. Flushed with new-found wealth, full
of a vague aspiration after progress, conscious perhaps of real
deficiencies in the old building, these late eighteenth century
Governors spoiled the "many glories of immortal stamp." Carelessly they
destroyed the ancient building, without a line to record its glory or
its age. It was left to a nameless "Investigator C," in the pages of the
_Gentleman's Magazine_ to tell the world what it was losing. Future
dreams oversoared past deeds.

[Illustration: SECOND SCHOOL, 1790.]

No minutes survive, but the accounts of the year 1787 describe the
expenditure on a new building. Three years later the last item was paid
for and a new school-house was standing on the site of the old. It was
very solidly built and larger than its predecessor. Over the door was
fixed the stone on which the Hexameter inscription "Alma dei mater,
defende malis Jacobum Kar" etc., was written, and which had already
adorned the face of the old building so long. The old division of an
upper and lower school was retained, but otherwise details are few. The
new School was built at a cost of £276 16_s._ 8¼_d._ and served its
purpose for over sixty years, when it was then itself replaced in 1851.

With new school buildings, greatly increased revenues and a third
Master--Mr. Saul--appointed in 1784 with the privity of the Archbishop
of York but not licensed--the Governors were eager to get additional
statutory power to increase the teaching staff and pay the surplus money
away both in leaving Exhibitions and in gratuities to the Scholars at
the School by way of encouragement. There is a letter extant addressed
in November, 1794, by the Clerk to the Governors to Mr. Clough, who was
requested to lay the whole matter before Mr. Withers and get his legal
opinion.

The letter reads as follows, after first quoting the Charter and also
the Statutes of 1592, which limited the stipend of the Master to £13
6_s._ 8_d._ and of the Usher to £6 13_s._ 4_d._

    The Revenues of the said School have for sometime been betwixt
    three and four hundred pounds a year, but upon the Governors
    lately re-letting the several farms belonging the School, the
    Revenues will be advanced to about seven hundred pounds a year.

    The Governors have with the privity of the late Archbishop of
    York for a number of years employed a third Master to teach
    Writing, and Accompts. As the Revenues of the said School are
    now so much advanced, viz: from about £350 to £700 a year, the
    Governors of the sd School are desirous with the consent of the
    Archbishop of York to make some additional Statutes in pursuance
    of the sd Charter, authorizing them to engage more assistants at
    the sd School to teach different branches of literature.

    The Governors propose by the new Statutes to be made that the
    Head Master's stipend shall not be less than £200 a year and the
    Usher's stipend not less than £100 a year, and then to authorize
    the Governors to apply such part of the surplus of the Revenues,
    as they shall think expedient, in the hiring one or more
    assistant or assistants under such annual stipends as they shall
    think proper for teaching different branches of literature at
    the sd School; and the remainder of the money to be by them
    applied in Exhibitions to be given to any Scholar or Scholars of
    the sd School going to either of the Universities, as the
    Governors for the time being shall think best for the good of
    the sd School, or in any gratuitys to be given to any Scholar
    or Scholars to create emulation whilst at School.

    The Governors think it would be of great use ... if some ANNUAL
    EXHIBITION were established of 20 or £30 a year to two or more
    Scholars going to either of the Universities, who had resided
    three of the last years of his Education as a Scholar of
    Giggleswick School. Such Exhibitions to be held for four years,
    if residing at the University, but they have some doubt how far
    this can be done, or any gratuity given to any Scholar to create
    Emulation, whilst still at School, consistent with the Charter.
    Therefore they desire Mr Withers to give his opinion.

       *       *       *       *       *

    As the present vicar of Giggleswick the Rev. John Clapham was
    appointed in 1783 and in 1793 refused to act as Governor, has
    been a little obnoxious to the rest of the Governors, they wish
    a Statute may be prepared empowering any two of the Governors
    from time to time to call a meeting of the Governors respecting
    the sd School. And that any new elected Governor may be sworn
    before any two Governors at such meeting to be true and faithful
    towds the sd School.

    The whole of the Governors are perfectly unanimous in this
    business, except the Rev. John Clapham, the vicar, who has not
    attended lately the meetings of the Governors, tho' he has
    always had regular notice given him of every meeting that has
    been held, and he gives no reason why he does not attend the
    meetings and concur with the rest of the Governors in the Trust.

Bishop Watson, of Llandaff, was also consulted. He had already been
connected with William Paley, the Headmaster's son, and had been his
examiner for his degree, and suggested the insertion of the "non," when
the Master of Christ's had been scandalized by the subject on which
Paley had intended to write his theme.--"Aeternitas poenarum
contradicit divinis attributis." In the matter of the new Statutes his
friendly counsel had been sought by John Parker, of Marshfield, Settle,
one of the Governing Body. The Bishop recommended that twelve leaving
Exhibitions should be established of £30 for four years, and the
remainder to be disposed of "at the discretion of the Governors, to such
young men as had been distinguished by obtaining Academic or Collegiate
Honours during their residence in the University." "Some appropriation
of this kind," he added, "if you take care to get a good Master will
make Giggleswick School one of the first in the North of England, and I
for one prefer a School in the North and situated, as Giggleswick is,
out of the way of much corruption, to either Eton or Westminster. As to
French and Mathematics being taught at a great Classical School, I do
not approve of it; the Writing Master should make the scholars quite
perfect in common Arithmetic, and in vulgar and decimal fractions, and
that knowledge will be a sufficient basis to build Mathematics upon.
Greek and Latin require so much time and attention before they can be
well understood, that I think there is no time at School for any other
language."--Oct. 18, 1794.

Meanwhile the matter was developing. In January, 1795, the Governors
wrote direct to Mr. Withers, and stated that they desired "_power to
borrow money for building an additional School_," or in the
"_improvement of the Estates_." To this Mr. Withers replied that he
considered that annual leaving Exhibitions came within the province of
the Governing Body, but they could not borrow money without fresh
legislation. He further advised them to repeal all the old Statutes.

The additional School buildings that they proposed were a house for the
Master. In March, 1796, the Attorney-General gave his opinion that the
power to call meetings could not be taken away from the Vicar, "if he
remains a corporate" or member of the Body, that the granting of
Exhibitions was _ultra vires_, and that he doubted whether the provision
for the Master to teach Writing, Accounts, etc., "is consistent with the
Institution itself, doubting whether the School founded is not a School
for _teaching Latin, etc._," but possibly it might, he added, be upheld,
as a court would be hardly likely to censure the Governors for applying
a reasonable sum to that purpose.

The Archbishop of York considered the application, and altered it in one
respect only. He decided that it was too dangerous to pay the Master a
minimum of £200 and the Usher a minimum of £100, for it would tend to
make them "independent of the Governors;" he therefore preferred "to
leave it in the breasts of the Governors to reward them according to
their merit," but he allowed a minimum to be inserted in each case, for
the Master £100, for the Usher £50. A Writing Master was also to be
appointed, and such other Assistants "when occasion shall in their
judgment require to teach Writing, Accounts, Mathematics, and different
branches of Literature in the said School." Their stipend was not fixed,
and for this reason. Mr. Saul had been acting as Writing Master since
1784, at the salary of £20 a year. He left in 1790 and was succeeded by
Mr. Stannicliffe, who was paid at the same rate. After six months he
determined that the salary was not satisfactory and sent in his
resignation. The Governors endeavoured to engage a successor, but
"finding they could not get a proper person in his room for less than
£30 for six months, they all agreed (except the Vicar) to give that sum,
and a Master has been employed in the School upon these terms ever
since."

In spite of their difficulty in getting a "proper" person, there was no
lack of applicants, and one in particular is worthy of reproduction:


                           Littleboro', near Rochdale, Lancashire,
                                         3rd April, 1792.

    Revd. Sir,

    Having perused your Advertisement in Wright's Paper for a
    Writing-Master and Accountant for the free Grammar School at
    Giggleswick in your neighbourhood, I take this Opportunity of
    offering myself as a Candidate for that Office....

    The Salary is but small but from the Tenor of your
    Advertisement, I am inclined to believe that from my assiduity
    and care, I should soon be able to increase it.

    I have studied the French and Italian Languages grammatically
    and have travelled thro' many Parts of Italy, France and Spain,
    after 4 years Residence in a Counting House at Leghorn--I will
    thank you, Revd. Sir, if you will candidly inform me pr Return
    of Post, whether these two Languages will be useful in your Part
    and how far Giggleswick is from Settle; also for a particular
    description of the Place.--For if it be populous, my Wife will
    carry on her Business, which is that of Mantua making.

    I have been twice at Settle, but it is a long time ago. I was
    private Pupil to the Rev. Mr Shuttleworth B.A., Curate of our
    Village, upwards of 12 years and from him and from the
    neighbouring Gentlemen and Clergy, I can obtain the needful;
    provided you think it wd answer for me to come over with my
    Family and settle.

    I should like a neat House, with a good garden to it and
    Accommodations for a few boarders.

    Most Elections, in different Departments of Life, are very
    unfair and partial and if you suppose this is likely to be the
    case on the present Occasion, your Candour will infinitely
    oblige me and be instrumental in preventing my further trouble.

    Your friendly reply as soon as possible will be deem'd a great
    favour conferr'd on

                             revd. Sir,
                                       Yr mo obedt Sert,
                                                      JOHN WOOLFENDEN.

He was not selected.

All candidates, or nearly all, sent with their letters of application
beautifully written testimonials in different styles to shew their
proficiency, one unfortunately made a bad blot. They were also put
through an examination in Arithmetic, when they assembled on the day of
election. One confessed to being a member "of ye old Established
Church," another "hoped to continue so." Finally, Robert Kidd was
chosen. His letter of application is particularly interesting, both
because of its beauty and because he says: "I have a good circuit for
half-a-year, and if attendance from January to middle of the year, or
from Midsummer to January will suit at Giggleswick," he would be ready
to come. From this he appears to have been one of the old type of
Scrivener, who paid regular visits to different Schools, and for whom
the Ancient Statutes of 1592 allowed a special vacation to the Scholars.
He wrote on April 8, from Whalley Grammar School, and a special
messenger was sent to fetch him at a cost of 5_s._ In the following year
he wrote an elaborate address to the Governors, in which he said,
"Permit me to say, I have been a faithful labourer and Disciplinarian in
your School. You are truly sensible of the Inequality of the Attendance
and Salaries. Now Gentlemen, if it be consistent with your Approbation,
and the Institution of your Seminary, to make a small adjustment, the
Favor shall be gratefully acknowledged." He was accordingly "put to the
trouble of Keeping Accounts, etc., for the Governors," and paid an
additional two guineas a year.

Archbishop Markham agreed to the alteration of the Statutes with regard
to the Governors themselves, and thenceforward a newly elected Governor
was to protest and swear to be faithful etc., in the presence of any two
Governors, instead of before the Vicar as formerly; and the privilege of
summoning meetings was taken away from the Vicar and given to any two
Governors. Further, any five, duly assembled, had the power to act and
proceed with business, and "the determination of the major part of them
shall be final and conclusive."

The Scholars moreover were at liberty to receive annual rewards and
gratuities, in such manner as the Governors may deem "best calculated to
excite a laudable emulation." Thus in 1798 three guineas were
distributed among them in the presence of the Masters and Governors:

                   £   s.  d.
Jno. Carr          1   1   0
Jno. Bayley        0  10   6
Enoch Clementson   0   7   0
Wm. Bradley        0   7   0
Jno. Howson        0   7   0
Richd. Paley       0   3   6
Richd. Preston     0   3   6
Jams. Foster       0   3   6

Any Scholar who had attended at the School for the last three years of
his education could receive an Exhibition with which to attend any
English University, provided that the Governors always reserved in their
hands a sufficient sum for the necessary Repairs of the School, and also
of a House for the habitation of the Master, if and when such a House
should be built.

Mr. Smith, who had been acting as Usher but without a license from the
Archbishop, resigned in 1792 and Nicholas Wood succeeded him. Possibly
he had been educated at the School, for in 1796 a letter was sent to the
Archbishop from the Governors saying that they had appointed Nicholas
Wood, of Giggleswick, Clerk, to be Usher, and praying the Archbishop to
give him a license "subject to the said Statutes and Ordinances," which
had been agreed upon.

The new power to grant an increase of salary was soon exercised and in
1797 the Headmaster received £250, the Usher £100, "in case of Diligence
and good Conduct" and the Assistant £60 provided that he assisted the
Governors when necessary in "transacting the business of their Trust"
and taught Writing and Arithmetic to the free School Scholars, "every
boy who has been at the free School one month to be entitled." In the
following year Robert Kidd was allowed £70 on condition that he "gives
due attention on every day in the year, Saturdays, Sundays and one
month at Christmas only excepted and that, when any boy is initiated
into the ffree School he will not take any pay in case such Boy or Boys
should attend his School, altho' they may not have been a month at the
ffree School."

The matter of prizes is also taken up and a certain sum, which is not
named, was allotted to each of the three head classes and was to be
expended on books, which should be given to the best Scholar of each
class. No class was to compete which had less than nine boys and they
were to be examined once every year in the presence of the Governors.

The Master was required to see that the boys in the higher department of
the School had their conversation during School hours in Latin. This was
evidently a throw-back to the Ancient Statutes of 1592, when they were
at least given the alternative of Greek or Hebrew. Further they said
"conceiding that a Boy may improve in writing as much by an exercise as
a copy, they recommend that every boy be obliged to write his exercise
in the high or Writing School, under the inspection of the Writing
Assistant and each exercise to have his (_i.e._ the Assistant's)
initials affixed to signify that such Boy wrote his best, not to signify
whether a good or bad Exercise."

It will be remembered that in the house that James Carr built, the lower
part was for advanced teaching, the higher for writing. The distinction
had apparently continued and the upper portion alone had materials for
writing. Certain it is that each portion was wholly distinct from the
other, and Usher and Assistant were masters in their own domain. In
June, 1797, the Governors decided that attention should be paid to
Classics in the Writing Department and Nicholas Wood, the Usher, was
asked to undertake the work but refused, whereupon Mr. Clayton an
Assistant in the Classical Work was requested to do so and accepted the
duty for an additional remuneration of £10.

These two men held an interesting position. Wood certainly had a
freehold, and Clayton was difficult to remove, so that in 1798 the
Governors decided that an Assistant should "be provided during the
summer months to teach the Classical Scholars, unless Mr. Wood and Mr.
Clayton in three days signifie that one of them will teach." Fortunately
Mr. Wood at once agreed to do so. It referred, no doubt, to the
Classical Scholars in the Writing Department, whom Wood had refused to
instruct, but when Clayton undertook the work and received £10 for his
trouble, Wood relented.

Two months later the Governors issued a pathetic appeal that the
"Master's Assistant and Usher be requested to attend better at the
School." It was July and only in the previous April Robert Kidd's
salary had been raised to £70 on stringent conditions of attendance.

The numbers of the School were growing apace, for twice in 1798 it was
resolved to advertise for a Mathematical Assistant. At the same meeting
25_s._ was allowed to the Master's Assistant "for the purpose of
providing fuel during the winter and no collection shall be made from
the Scholars." The Staff seem to have been a little difficult. Nicholas
Wood refused to sign a receipt in full for his wages when he was only
being paid a part, and the Governors resolved to "withold the remainder
of his salary."

Robert Kidd and Nicholas Wood left the School in April, 1799, and John
Carr, of Beverley, took Kidd's place. Wood's post was filled by Clayton,
who was made Usher at a salary of £100 a year, "provided he conducts
himself to the satisfaction of the Governors or a majority of them," and
agreed to teach five days a week.

Some difficulty arose, and on May 11 there is a minute saying that "Mr.
Wood and Mr. Kidd had been settled with." Wood seems to have been
dependent on his wife, who could not make up her mind whether she wished
to stay or go.

For the post of Usher there were several applicants as well as Clayton,
who got testimonials from Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he had
behaved himself with "sobriety." One of the applicants went so far as
to give an extract in Hebrew writing in order to shew his capacity. The
study of Hebrew in the School had perhaps not lapsed. He further stated
that he did not consider it necessary to learn Latin and Greek first, in
order to get a good knowledge of Hebrew. A sound foundation in English
was sufficient, though he hastened to declare that he was perfectly
capable of teaching Latin and Greek "with quickness and accuracy."

An advertisement had before appeared with a view to electing a
Mathematical Assistant, and was worded thus:

    "Whereas the Revenue of the Free Grammar School of King Edward
    the Sixth at Giggleswick is very much increased. The Governors
    for that Charity wishing to appropriate the same to be as useful
    to the Community at Large as possible, have resolved to appoint
    an ASSISTANT to teach Mathematics in all its Branches, to
    commence the First Week of February, 1799, provided there be
    Three Young Men at that Time inclined to be instructed therein."

    Therefore, NOTICE is hereby given,

    That Classics, Mathematics, Writing and Accompts, etc., will be
    taught free of any Expense to any Person in the Kingdom.

    Such Persons as wish to be instructed in Mathematics are desired
    to signify their Intention by Letter addressed to the Governors
    of Giggleswick School, on or before Michaelmas Day next, in
    order that an Assistant may be obtained.

Certain School holidays were fixed at the same meeting. They were to be
the 12th and 13th of March (Potation Day and its successor), Monday and
Tuesday in Easter Week, Monday and Tuesday in Whitsun-week, two days at
Laurence Mass (Lammas), one month at Christmas, and "one month to
commence the first Monday after the 5th day of July annually."

But while the difficulties with the Usher and the Assistants were
developing, the attitude of the Head Master was not altogether
satisfactory. In December, 1798, "Mr. Preston reports that Rev. Mr.
Paley refuses his resignation upon such terms as the Governors are
inclined to receive ... therefore resolved that the Recorder be applyed
to for every matter that the Governors are doubtful about." William
Paley was a man of considerable age, and disinclined to believe that he
was unfit for his work. The Governors had recognized the possibility
that he would not be strong enough for his duties, when in 1797 they had
agreed to give him a salary of £250 "for the time that School shall be
taught by him or by a sufficient and diligent Assistant." Clayton
probably acted as the Assistant. Yet in December, 1798, the Governors'
patience was exhausted, for they had already questioned Miss Elizabeth
Paley on the subject, and she appears to have given grounds for hoping
that her father would resign, but on the twenty-ninth he definitely
refused. They waited another nine months, and on September 28, 1799,
they adjourned their meeting to October 5, "as the present Master is not
considered to survive many days." On September 29 he lay dead.

For fifty-five years William Paley had presided over the destinies of
the School and his work may fitly be compared with that of his great
predecessor Christopher Shute. Both had taken up their work, when the
fortunes of the School were at a low ebb. Shute had watched the careful
saving of the School money, until they had been able to purchase "the
school-house and yard in 1610 and a cart-road in the same yard and
liberty for the schollers to resort to a certain spring to drink and
wash themselves 1619, and likewise a garden for the use of the Masters
and several other good things." Paley had become Head Master in 1744
when no accounts were kept, when the Master and Usher appropriated all
the money from the rents and when the boys were few in number. Rapidly
matters began to mend. His own son William left the School in 1759
already a scholar and destined to a lasting fame. Thomas Proctor was a
boy at the School between 1760 and 1770, and became a great sculptor.
His "Ixion" exhibited in 1785 is still recognized as a work of genius.
William Carr, of the same family as James Carr, the founder of the
School, won a Scholarship at University College, Oxford in 1782, a
Fellowship at Magdalen 1787, and settled down at Bolton Rectory in 1789.
His literary tastes brought him the friendship of Wordsworth, and he
became famous as the breeder of a heifer of remarkable proportions.

One of Paley's pupils--Thomas Kidd--probably a member of the same family
as the Writing Assistant, a family who had lived in the neighbourhood
certainly since 1587--wrote from Trinity College, Cambridge, to the
Vicar, the Rev. John Clapham, in 1792:

    Revd. Sir,

    I recd your Draught of £26 0_s._ 0_d._ April 19, 92. Mr. Jas.
    Foster left the University in March. I _was_ very happy to
    congratulate him on his being elected Fellow of S. John's Col.
    _by that_ respectable _Society_ and I _hope_ that he will be
    able to assert this honour _legally_ x x x. I am sincerely sorry
    that the Governors are not pleased that I so long deferred to
    send a certificate of my residence, if it is an _offence_, it is
    _involuntary_:--and for the future it shall be sent in due time
    and _nearly_, I expect in the same _formula_. For what business
    have I in the country previous to "taking" my degree?

    There aren't any I remember in the country, _some here_, who
    affect to despise what they cannot understand; such enterprising
    critics and fastidiously hypercritics, men of truly
    philosophical penetration--of a truly classical taste spurn
    aside the coarse beverage to be found in Gr. mss. scholiasts and
    various _lections_; but

    [Greek:
          all' aidesai men ... en lygrô
    gêra proleipôn ... mêtera
    ... hê =me= pollakis
    =theô= aratai zônta pros domous molein.]

    This appeals to the feelings: but we must attend to general
    consequences.

    Please to present my respects to my worthy master Mr. Paley--let
    him know that we have this year gone through Mechanics--Locke on
    the H.U., Duncan and Watts, etc. Logick--Dr. T. Clarke and Dr.
    Foster on the Attributes, Mr. Paley's Moral and P.
    Phil.--Spherical Trigonometry--and are going to lectures in
    Astronomy--That I have written a Gr. Ode in Sapphics--that it
    has been examined--that I am advised to hazard it in the
    Lottery.

    This year has been distinguished for remarkable events in the
    litterary world, wh our narrow limits will not permit us to
    mention.--The learned Dr. Parr _began_ an edition of Horace--it
    will _come out_ a 4to on _Human Evidence_--(a very interesting
    subject in _Jurisprudence_)--caused by a political
    frate.--Porson will vacate the University Scholarship next
    October.

                 I am your most obliged humble servant,
                                                              T. KIDD.

    Trin. Coll., Camb., April 24--92.

The majority of those that went to Cambridge seem to have gone to
Colleges other than Christ's, but of those who went there one, Adam
Wall, son "pharmacopolae haud indocti" was Second Wrangler in 1746, and
had a distinguished Academic career, his own son William was Senior
Wrangler, John Preston gained the "wooden spoon" in 1778, but was
afterwards elected a Fellow of his College, while Thomas Paley his great
nephew, was Third Wrangler in 1798, and a Fellow of Magdalene. All three
were Christ's men. This was a very good proportion of successes, seeing
that only thirteen boys went there from Giggleswick in Paley's time.

Not only in the educational improvements, but also in the financial
increase of the School property, these years were similar to the
beginning of the 17th century. North Cave and Walling Fen were enclosed
by Acts of Parliament, and land worth £140 in 1768 was valued at £750 in
1795. The Exhibition Fund had no balance in 1765, while nine years later
there was £100 in the bank. A new School had been built, the teaching
staff increased and new Statutes made. Surely a great and enviable
Headmastership.




CHAPTER VII.

The Rev. Rowland Ingram, B.D.


On the death of William Paley the Governors at once began the task of
finding a successor. They inserted in the newspapers an advertisement to
the effect that a vacancy had occurred and that candidates would be
examined by the Archbishop of York in Classics, Mathematics, "or any
other Branch of Literature, his Grace may think proper." The salary was
to be from £100--£300 but no house was provided.

There was a very strong field of applicants. A Fellow of Trinity,
Cambridge, Thomas Carr, founder's kin--a Fellow of Hertford--a Fellow of
Queen's, Oxford--a Fellow of Sidney Sussex, Cambridge--Headmasters of
various Grammar Schools, were all candidates. One Isaac Cook--Headmaster
of Ripon--explained as shewing the high value of his Classical
attainments that when he was elected to Ripon he was examined "with
another candidate in Terence, Cicero, Tacitus, the Greek Testament and
Demosthenes, and wrote a Latin Dissertation."

The Archbishop declined the honour of examining the candidates, but
later recommended that they should appoint to the Mastership his
brother--John Sheepshanks--as one eminently suitable. The Headmaster of
Eton was then asked to undertake the examination and was offered "such
pecuniary or other compliment" as he might wish. As he did not even
answer their letter, they wrote to the Rev. W. Stevens, Headmaster of
Sedbergh, who undertook the duty.

[Illustration: REV. ROWLAND INGRAM, M.A.]

In the result the Rev. Rowland Ingram was elected. He had gained "one of
the first Mathematical honours" and had only just failed to win the
Bachelor of Arts Classical Medal. He was a B.D. and a late Fellow and
Tutor of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He was turned thirty-two (his
brother said he was thirty-four) and after being for some years a
private Tutor at Eton had been appointed in Midsummer, 1798, Headmaster
of Ipswich Grammar School, where he had made a considerable name. He was
certainly the strongest candidate who applied and it speaks well for the
Governors that they elected him, notwithstanding the fact that two old
Giggleswick boys were standing--Thomas Carr and the Rev. Thomas Paley,
the former of whom had a very distinguished academic career, and Paley
had been third Wrangler. Ingram began with a salary of £300 a year and
within six months premises were bought from Mr. Geo. Robinson, on which
it was determined to build him a house.

Troubles arose on the staff almost immediately. John Carr who had
succeeded Robert Kidd at £80 a year declared in June, 1800, that he
would not continue to teach under £100. His request was not complied
with, but the Governors made a compromise. They told him that he must
give reasonable notice before he left the School, but that as his
department consisted of a great number of boys and it was impossible for
him to pay proper attention to them all, they had decided to hire an
Assistant. At the same time they required that "teaching the English
Grammar be encouraged."

The recent and rapid growth of the Writing Department is very
significant. Its growth and the importance laid upon it increased step
by step with the Industrial Revolution. It gave an elementary education
and was confined to practical subjects--Arithmetic, Mensuration,
Merchants' Accounts, etc. Some confusion existed in men's minds about
the primary object of a Grammar School. Giggleswick had not been founded
to give elementary instruction but its duty was to impart a sound
knowledge of the Classics, in order to enable its pupils to go up to the
University with a Scholarship and thence enter one of the learned
professions and preferably become a Priest. The boys were welcomed from
whatever homes they came, and though leaving Scholarships were given
with a preference to the poorer boy, everyone received an education in
the higher branches of literature. Not until 1768 was there any mention
of the necessity of promoting the study of elementary subjects. It is
true that the Statutes of 1592 had provided for a Scrivener to teach
writing but he was only to come for three weeks in the year. In 1768 the
Archbishop of York desired that a more permanent teacher should be
chosen and the appointments of Saul, Stancliffe, Kidd, which have
already been noticed, and of John Carr, of Beverley, were the result.

With the nineteenth century the School rapidly developed in importance.
Kidd had in 1798 been paid £70 a year, Carr in the following March
received £80 and clamoured for £100. In 1801 owing to the increase of
numbers the son of Mrs. Mary Bradley acted as his Assistant for a few
months and later in the year Carr engaged his own son, whom the
Governors allowed to remain, until a permanent Assistant was appointed.
The Governors passed and re-passed resolutions on the question of
providing a permanent teacher and Mr. Clementson was appointed in 1805
and taught the boys in a house built by the Governors but lately used as
a school by Mr. Holmes. The proper School was possibly growing too large
and in 1804, the Archbishop had suggested that English should be taught
in a distinct department. The teaching of English grammatically was an
innovation and a natural response to the needs of the time. Earlier ages
had thought that in order to get a thorough grasp of English it was
first necessary to pass through the portals of the Classics but the
get-educated-quick had no time for such methods. Clementson was paid £50
and, when he demanded an increase, was graciously allowed an additional
£20 "so long as his servitude shall be agreeable to the parties."

For a brief period of seven weeks in 1806 William Stackhouse worked
under Carr at the rate of £30--Clementson having left--and Carr resigned
in January, 1807. In that month he received a last payment of £5 5_s._,
as a reward for examining candidates for the vacant post. One of them,
John Lockwood, was elected but he was required to teach not only Writing
and Arithmetic but also Mathematics. He rejected the offer and
Stackhouse was appointed permanently at £100 a year. In 1809 he received
£150 and continued at this salary till his death or resignation in 1830.

In his appointment English, as a teaching subject, was neglected, but
later in the same year the Archbishop was approached on the propriety of
establishing an English School and in 1809 a minute of the Governors
declared that none were to be admitted into the Writing School, unless
they were able to read and were under eighteen. This points to an entire
cleavage between the Grammar and the Writing School. They were in
different parts of the building and a member of the one was not of
necessity a member of the other. They were both subsisting on the same
foundation, but the Writing School was an off-shoot, a child and an
illegitimate one. Not until the middle of the century did the old School
shake it off and return to the primary objects of its foundation.

Obadiah Clayton, the Usher, began in June, 1800, to shew signs of
insanity. The particular form that it took was the habit of producing
pistols in School. He was put for a time in an asylum and a Mr.
Tomlinson was to be written to as a successor, but as they did not hear
from the Archbishop to whom they had applied for instructions, nothing
was done. Later Clayton returned from the asylum but possibly for a time
took no part in the School work. In 1802 the Governors went to the
expense of 5_s._ 4_d._ in order to get advice on the propriety of
complying with his request that he should attend a private pupil during
school hours and should be allowed to take the globes from the School.
His request was negatived.

Two years later, matters reached a head, his conduct was not considered
consistent and the Archbishop suggested that they should pay him the
statutory minimum of £50 and hire an Assistant. The difficulty lay in
the fact that he held a freehold and could only with great difficulty
be made to resign. Meanwhile, Carr and Ingram were requested to report
upon his conduct. Ingram declared that Clayton's conversation was of a
wild and incoherent nature, but Carr was more minute. He reported that
Clayton did not attend the School much for three weeks and that during
that time he appeared to be in a deranged state of mind and made use of
expressions such as that he had got a letter from his wife in heaven, or
that the roads on which he walked were paved with fire. Although the
immediate cause of his mental derangement was the death of his wife, he
had never enjoyed good health. One of his testimonials from the Tutor of
Magdalene College, Cambridge, had said that he had been compelled to
leave Magdalene temporarily owing to ill health. He continued however to
teach until 1805, when at his own suggestion he was allowed to absent
himself for four years without giving up his license and he received £50
a year. This permission was characterized by the Archbishop as an act of
humanity, but the legality of thus disposing of the Trust money was
seriously questioned. A year later the Governors received a letter from
him, saying that he had had many difficulties and had visited many parts
of England but his "_dernier resort_" was at Bognor Barracks where he
had enlisted as a private soldier and was anxious to be bought out. Some
neighbouring clergy had interested themselves in his case and the
Bishop of Chichester was willing to provide him with a curacy, provided
that satisfactory answers came from the Governors of Giggleswick.
Clayton begged them therefore to say that the cause of his leaving the
School had been "ill-health." He was released from the Army but probably
did not serve any curacy, for in May, 1808, he was acting as a Chaplain
in the Royal Navy, after which nothing more is known of him though he
continued to be paid his salary till 1810. His position as Usher was
filled in that year by John Armstrong, who had been elected as a
Classical Assistant in 1806; the Governors at that time had proposed to
offer £50 as a fit salary, but as no candidate had appeared on the day
of election, it was raised to £100.

Ingram was an energetic man at the beginning of his Headmastership and
supported by an able Governing Body and a growing revenue, he had wished
to enlarge the numbers of the School and to increase its efficiency.
Advertisements had been put in the Leeds, London, and Liverpool papers
"for the encouragement of the School," money had been annually
distributed among the Scholars to create emulation, the English
Department had been strengthened and it had been decided to teach
English grammatically. Books had been bought more lavishly than ever
before, and also globes celestial and terrestrial, as they were
"considered to be of great use in every department of the School."

The numbers of the School increased sometimes to such an extent that
four masters had to be engaged but this was never more than a temporary
expedient. The Charity Commissioners issued a report in 1825 dealing
with the School, in which they gave the numbers of the School as
sixty-three, of whom twenty-three were taught by the Master and forty by
the Usher. It gave no record of the number in the English Department.
These boys had a feeling of distinct hostility against the Grammar
School boys. They were of a less wealthy class, they lived in the
neighbourhood and they were receiving the priceless boon of a practical
and elementary education. The Grammar School boys on the other hand were
not all natives of the place. About twenty-one came from the Parish, ten
were members of families who had come to reside there, and the rest were
wholly strangers. They were compelled to learn Writing and Mathematics,
which they did not consider liberal sciences, and they had to use the
same door of entrance and exit as their enemies. This hostility
developed into open strife and partly accounts for the continual glazing
bills that the Governors had to meet. From 1783-1792 they had been
fairly constant amounting to about a pound a year, but in 1803 5_s._
reward was offered to anyone giving information about persons breaking
School windows, and in 1834 the bill was over £7. It was a very
difficult position. The Report of 1825 recommended that the elementary
education should be continued but if possible in another building
because it supplied a certain need and, if discontinued, would arouse an
even greater hostility in the locality. At the same time it distinctly
recognized that such endowment was probably illegal.

It has already been noticed that the revenues of the School were
expanding. In 1802 the Governors received over £800 from the North Cave
Estate, which five years later was valued at £1,287 but was not let at
this valuation. At the time of the Report of 1825 the rental was
considered to be about £1,140. The Exhibition Fund had also risen from
£26 in 1801 to £37 15_s._ in 1821, and twice it reached £40. The money
at this period was given as a rule to one person for four years and at
the end of that period as re-assigned. There was no examination, the boy
or his father applied to the Governors and the claimant could receive
it, even if he had already been three years resident in the University.
The increased income had been obtained by the purchase of Government
Stock. Between 1810 and 1814 Navy five per cents. were bought to the
extent of £1,190, and in addition to this the Governors had paid off the
debt of £1,120, which had been incurred owing to the enclosure of
Walling Fen. They were paying Ingram £510 a year, John Howson, M.A., who
had been a former pupil of Paley and had become Usher on John
Armstrong's death in 1814, received £205; and William Stackhouse £150.
They had built a house for the Headmaster and had repaired one for the
Usher.

All boys were admitted into the School for whom there was room, but they
now had to bring a certificate of good character for the previous year.
The boarders lodged with the Usher and with people in the neighbourhood,
notably one John King and Mrs. Craggs. These boys paid boarding fees.
When the Governors issued an advertisement for a Writing Master in 1792
they gave the salary as £30 but "as much more can be made by
quarterage." Is it possible that quarterage can mean taking boarders? It
is not certain whether Ingram took boarders, but he probably did. His
house was built gradually. Although the land was bought in 1800, the
mode of a building for Master, Usher and Assistant was still being
discussed in 1802. In October of the same year John Nicholson was
commissioned to erect it at a cost of £700. It was finished in 1804, and
Nicholson undertook to repair a house for the accommodation of the Usher
or Assistant at a cost of £250.

[Illustration: USHER'S HOUSE.]

[Illustration: CRAVEN BANK.]

Carr, the Writing Master, was complaining bitterly of the "numberless
inconveniences" he had suffered, and in January, 1805, was looking
forward to living at last in a good house, though he was not quite sure
whether he would "live to enjoy it." But by March he had not got into it
and working himself up into a fit state of indignation delivered himself
of the following letter to Thomas Paley, one of the Governors:

    Sir,

    I am very poorly with a cold I have taken by lying in a damp
    bed, I thought last night I must have called somebody to my
    assistance, I have with difficulty got thro' the fatigues of the
    day.

    Surely when Nicholson undertook the house, he had not permission
    to defer the completing of it _ad libitum_. It was first thought
    it would have been done six weeks before Christmas. Mr. N. has
    now converted the house into a workshop for the convenience of
    his people to carry on the repairs that are to be done to the
    dog-kennel: in order to make it habitable for some of Mr.
    Armistead's people: and the plasterer has also been absent for
    the last two days, I suppose, employed by Mr. N. at Astick. If I
    had any tolerable convenience it would be quite another thing;
    but I have never had a comfortable place to lie down in since I
    have been at Giggleswick, tho' I have been a slave to the
    business of the School, and stood much in need of undisturbed
    and comfortable rest. I am indeed sorry to trouble you so often,
    but not only my happiness, but my life is at stake: and I would
    rather leave Giggleswick immediately than go on so any longer.

                                 I remain, Sir,
                                               Yours etc.,
                                                         J. CARR.

    Monday, P.M.

    P.S.--Mr. Ingram could have done a little longer without a
    scullery, as well as I can do (if I ever go to it) without a
    garden wall and a necessary.

He did not stay many years longer but resigned in 1807. Ingram's house
was known as Craven Bank and in 1829 he added a stable at the cost of
£60. Howson also was having money spent upon his house. In 1817 he had a
new kitchen built at the cost of £100 and seven years later he received
£120 to repair his house, while his salary had already been increased £5
yearly to meet the cost of alterations and repairs.

The closing years of Rowland Ingram's time were not bearing the fruit
that the first decade had promised. But the School turned out at least
one good Scholar--John Saul Howson--a son of the Usher. Born in 1816 he
went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1833, at the age of seventeen.
He won a Scholarship there and also received money from the Tennant
Exhibition Fund. He took some University prizes, and a first class in
both Classics and Mathematics. As Head of Liverpool College for ten
years he did a great educational work, by releasing it from debt and
reforming its system. Later he was appointed Dean of Chester where
eventually he died. As a Churchman he was a notable figure and as a
Christian he will be remembered long.

On the whole the teaching in later years was not efficient. J. S. Howson
relates how before he was eight years old he had said the Latin Grammar
through four times without understanding a word of it. This was a
remarkable achievement but not adequate evidence of supreme genius in
the teacher. Education, like most other things, was everywhere at its
nadir, and Giggleswick was no exception. In the whole of Ingram's time
as Headmaster--43 years--he had three Ushers. One was mad, one died
after four years, and one--John Howson--grew grey-headed with the work.
He had during the same period three Writing Masters, of whom one was
most cantankerous, another stayed twenty-four years, and the third--John
Langhorne--was not wholly a success. He managed the School Accounts from
1839-1845, but they were found to be "so inaccurate and confused" that
Mr. Robinson had to enter them in the book afresh.

The constancy of a staff which from 1814-1831 never varied, and of whom
two were local men, contributed to the depression of the School. Another
contributory cause lay in the constitution of the Governing Body. During
the last decade of the eighteenth century and the first decade of the
next the Governors showed themselves very diligent in the pursuit of the
School's welfare. But as time went on, the increasing revenues created
an increasing thirst for more. The Accounts dealt less and less with
things appertaining to the School, more and more with the management of
the North Cave Estate. Between the years 1810 and 1843 there were not
more than two meetings of the Governors, the minutes of which refer to
the conduct of the School; instead they refer constantly to the growing
balance in the Bank (in 1817 it was over £1,500) and they dissipated it
by gratuities equivalent to half a year's salary to the several Masters
and in profuse expenditure in building and repairs. There was but one
man among them who had known the days when £350 was all they had a year,
and only a tumbledown school to teach in. John Clapham must have looked
back with mixed feelings as he regarded the energy, the efficiency, and
the swelling numbers of that early part of the century and compared them
with later years.

There was one more change of importance in this time. The Potation was
still retained and the cost of the meetings on March 12 grew more and
more. The Governors came to dine but they remained to sup. In 1784
fifteen sat down to a dinner, costing 1_s._ a head, they had eight
bottles of Wine, 12_s._ 6_d._ worth of Punch, and Ale 4_s._ 6_d._ In
1802 ten had dinner at 2_s._ 6_d._ a head, nine had supper. They drank
fourteen bottles of Wine, on Rum and Brandy they spent 15_s._ 6_d._, and
on Ale 4_s._ 6_d._ Similar meetings took place each year. There was also
a change in the boys' share. They probably--there is not always a
record--had Figs and Bread given them every year but, sometimes Ale was
also provided. In 1802 they had 5_s._ 6_d._ worth, and in 1807 they had
some but it cannot be asserted that they always had it and between 1807
and 1825 the practice completely dropped and has never been revived.

Rowland Ingram--old Rowland, as the boys called him--was growing old,
and in 1844 he retired on a pension. His friends and neighbours
determined to give him some substantial recognition of the esteem with
which they regarded him, and in January, 1845, a committee was formed to
decide its nature. In the end a Portrait was painted, and the surplus
was placed in the hands of the Governors, to be expended on the
foundation of a library, to be attached to the School, or in any other
substantial way, such as would seem to them more likely to be
permanently beneficial to the School.




CHAPTER VIII.

The Rev. George Ash Butterton, D.D.

1845-1858.


In 1834 the Governors felt some doubt respecting the legality of the
last Statutes of 1795 and proposed to bring forward some Scheme to
obtain sufficient power for the management of the School. Thereafter for
six years the Minute-Books were completely silent on this matter, but in
1840 they noted that the number of boys in the High School learning
Writing and Arithmetic under Langhorne was greater than one man could
efficiently attend to. The Headmaster was therefore requested to propose
regulations such as he might think expedient for making the High School
more useful, as subsidiary to the Grammar School, either by insisting
upon qualifications in the Scholars previous to admission, limiting the
number to be admitted or otherwise, and to submit such regulations for
the consideration of the Governors. Presumably some steps were taken,
but the Governors were beginning to feel that all was not right, and in
1843 they became more definite. They decided first, "That from the
change of Times and other causes, the Education afforded at the
Giggleswick Grammar School is at the present time insufficient for
general purposes, and more especially for the purposes of Trade and
Mercantile Business."

[Illustration: REV. G. A. BUTTERTON, D.D.]

It will be as well to pause here and remark this very notable statement.
Reformers had been at work before, but their effect had been very
slight. They had succeeded in establishing a Writing Master, whose duty
it was to give free elementary instruction. Now, forty years later,
dissatisfaction was surging in the breasts of the Governors, because the
elementary instruction was too elementary, and because its spirit did
not pervade the whole School. Now for the first time was it laid down
that the business of a School was to train its children so as to fit
them in some obvious manner for the work of their life. Latin and Greek
and Hebrew had become the touchstone of education, primarily because
they were the "holy" languages, and after Religion had long ceased to be
the mainspring of education, their intrinsic merits fell into the
background. Utility became a more pungent argument. Secondly, the
Governors decided that the Endowment and Statutes, together with the
particulars of the income of the School, should be laid before a
competent Chancery Barrister who should suggest a system of education
upon a more extended scale.

The necessity for some alteration in the Statutes was established by the
refusal of the Governors in 1844 to accede to Mr. Ingram's desire for a
new Assistant. They declared that such an arrangement was not
contemplated by the Charter and Statutes and therefore could not be
made. An impossible situation had arisen, and the Statutes must be
revised. But there was one difficulty. A new Scheme could not be carried
out except on the appointment of a new Headmaster or with his willing
consent. Ingram was approached upon the subject and declared his
readiness to retire on a pension of £300 a year, and with permission to
continue to occupy his official residence, Craven Bank. He was
seventy-eight years old, and in view of his long service to the School,
his request could scarcely be denied. Four years later he died, and like
his predecessor, William Paley, was buried in Giggleswick Church, amidst
a great gathering of men who came to bear tribute to "his truly
Christian character."

His resignation had paved the way for a new Scheme, in accordance with
the Act passed in 1841, for "improving the condition and extending the
benefits of Grammar Schools." The Scheme was drawn up by the Governors,
commented on by Arthur Lynch, Master in Chancery, 1844, and in the next
year confirmed by the Vice-Chancellor of England. It will be well to
examine the Report in some detail. In the first place the Bishop of
Ripon was in all cases substituted for the Archbishop of York, where the
latter had jurisdiction. Secondly, the 1795 Statutes were wholly omitted
and of the earlier Ordinances of 1592, only such were retained as were
in tune with the spirit of the age.

New regulations were also added. The Headmaster must be a Clergyman of
the Church of England, and a Master of Arts. He must be a good Classical
Scholar and a Mathematician, thoroughly capable of teaching both
subjects, and qualified to teach Logic, Rhetoric, English in all its
branches, and Moral and Political Philosophy. The requirements in an
Usher were less exceptional. He must be a member of the Church of
England, but need not be in Orders. He should be capable of taking the
higher Classical Forms occasionally, be skilled in English, and rather
less advanced Mathematics, and have an elementary knowledge of Modern
Science. He was to be appointed by the Governors.

The salary of the Headmaster was to be a minimum payment of £210 and a
maximum of £360, with a house; the Usher was to receive a house and £150
and a capitation fee of £2, which was so limited that it was only
possible to rise to £210. Each could receive ten boarders. Other
Assistants might be employed, but their united salaries were not to
exceed £230. The retiring age was fixed at sixty-five, when the Master
and Usher would be granted a pension, but the Governors could extend the
services of either beyond the age limit, if they so willed. The surplus
funds were to be used in such a way as to make the Exhibition money from
the Burton Rents, etc., up to £70 a year. The Bishop of Ripon was to
appoint an Examiner every Christmas, and receive a Report from him.
Holidays were fixed for a month in the Summer and at Christmas, three
days each at Easter and Whitsuntide, in addition to the Saturday and
Sunday and Good-Friday. Every Saturday and the day of riding the Parish
boundaries were to be whole holidays.

Further, the arrangements by which one Master relieved another in case
of illness or absence, the place where each Master should sit in School,
the disposition of the School into Forms and Classes, the amount of time
to be devoted to each branch of instruction--provided always that every
boy should learn some Latin and Greek--all these questions of internal
arrangement, which were essentially within the province of the
Headmaster, were to be agreed upon by the Governors and reduced to
writing.

It is almost inconceivable that such a scheme was ever put on paper, yet
it lived for twenty years. The Headmaster was bound and shackled beyond
belief. He could not appoint or dismiss his Masters, he had no power to
admit boys into the School, nor, unless they were "altogether negligent
and incapable of learning," could he remove them. He was powerless.
Ingram had retired in 1844, and the scheme then had gone forward and
been completed before a new Headmaster was appointed. Thus the details
of the management of the School were settled, quite irrespective of the
point of view of the man who was to be responsible.

In August, 1845, the Governing Body--eight discreet men--met to appoint
Ingram's successor. There was, as in 1800, a strong list of applicants,
but the choice fell unanimously on the Rev. George Ash Butterton, D.D.,
late Fellow of S. John's College, Cambridge, and at the time Headmaster
of Uppingham School. As a boy he had been fortunate enough to have been
one of Kennedy's Sixth Form pupils at Shrewsbury School, and his
subsequent success at Cambridge shewed that he was among the ablest
Scholars of his year.

The first three years passed uneventfully. Small alterations were made
in the School, and with the aid of £150 from the Governors, he added a
wing to his house at Craven Bank. In 1849 he desired the Governors, in
accordance with the scheme, to appoint a Master for teaching Modern
Languages, but they were unwilling to do this "until such addition shall
have been made to the School, as will afford suitable accommodation for
such a Master and his class." This is the first intimation that the
Governors were considering the question of building. Complaints had been
made before that numbers were increasing and exceeding the limits of the
room or the staff, but nothing had been done. Now, however, the question
was actively taken up.

The immediate resolve was to build an addition of a Library and a
Class-room for Modern Languages, and further to raise the School-rooms
and give them better light and ventilation. Many Subscriptions were
offered by the Masters, Old Pupils, and other friends of the School,
towards a more ornamental style of building than the School funds could
afford. The Architects' plans grew, and it was soon found that very
little of the old structure would remain. Consequently in 1850 it was
decided to build the School afresh from its foundations.

[Illustration: THE OLD SCHOOL.]

Finance troubled the Governors much, for they did not feel justified in
spending more Trust money than was essential for the upkeep of the
School. The Library and the new Class-room were essential, and the
Governors were prepared to find the money for them, but the rest they
hoped to receive from outside help. They put forward a statement of the
need, and the resulting subscriptions were very satisfactory. Two Old
Boys and sons of the Usher, the Rev. John Saul Howson and his brother
George Howson, undertook the entire expense of the Ornamental Doorway.
The relatives of the Rev. John Carr, Professor of Mathematics in the
University of Durham, put in a long window immediately above the
doorway. In this window is a representation of John Carr, the Headmaster
up to 1744. Further, £50 remained over from the Ingram Testimonial Fund,
and was now to be applied to the decorating of a window in the Library
with stained glass.

The building was substantial and sound. The main part consisted of two
long Class-rooms, one on the ground floor, one above. These both ran the
whole length of the building, until the Library was reached which with
the Modern Language Room formed a transverse addition. A stone
staircase, winding and unexpectedly long, ascended from the main
entrance, and at its top was the High or Writing School. In the
Class-room below were two platforms, now disappeared, the one by the
door for the Usher's desk, the one by the Library for the Master. The
Modern Language Room opened into it. There were two doors, one the main
entrance chiefly used by the boys, the other smaller and undistinguished
for the Masters only. It led into the Library and into a Tower, where
the School bell was. The Library was not very big but a long narrow
room, and inset in the wall was a fire-proof safe, for the better
preservation of the Charter and other documents. It alone has continued
to serve its original purpose. It is not possible to judge accurately
the difference in size between this building and its predecessor, but it
was distinctly bigger. The poplars which are to be seen in the
photograph of the Drawing of the 1790 School were felled for the new one
and the School filled the space. In addition there was a cloister-like
building at the back, where in hours of play refuge might be sought from
the weather.

The total cost was over £2,000, or more than seven times as much as its
predecessor. Much of the money came from subscriptions, some from the
surplus income of the School, but the rest was obtained by selling out
£645 7_s._ 2_d._ New 3¼ per cent. Stock belonging to the Exhibition
Fund. The Governors pledged themselves to pay 3½ per cent. to the
Exhibition Fund, thus depleted, and to repay the principal out of
surplus income at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum, or more, if
convenient. It was represented that this would at once be an advantage
to the Exhibition Fund and also an economical method of borrowing the
necessary money. The money was repaid by 1855.

[Illustration: PORCH OF THE OLD SCHOOL.]

The cost of the Ornamented Doorway, paid for by the Usher's two sons,
was estimated at £48 13_s._, but this was exclusive of the Niche and the
Statue of Edward VI which it contained. This Statue was an object of the
frequent missile and was so often cast down that it was at last removed.
On the outside of the Library Wall is a Coat of Arms belonging to the
Nowell family and underneath is the extract from the Charter "_Mediante
Johanne Nowell_." One relic of James Carr's School remained, the stone
slab with its Hexameter inscription, and as it had found a place inset
in the wall of the second building, so it did in 1850, but after a time
it was removed owing to its decay.

The first Speech Day in the new School was celebrated in a fitting
manner on March 12th, 1851. Three prize Odes were composed on the
subject of re-building and were read by their respective authors. F.
Howson recited some rapt verses, extolling Queen Victoria and telling
her that the New School should stand as her memorial.

    O Fairest star, with radiance divine
    Gilding the honours of thy royal line!
    Too pure thy beauty realms of earth to cheer
    A brighter orbit gained in a far brighter sphere.
            But unextinguishable still
                Thy parting glow!
            As from Sol's latest smile of light
    Steep Alpine summits of eternal snow
    A purpling lustre cast o'er the deep vales below.

    So beams thy virtue, after life has fled,
    In deeds reflected, which their blessings shed
    Still o'er thy people, and will ever be
    Illustrious tokens of thy piety.
            This spot an endless monument
                Of thee shall stand,
            And still perpetuate thy praise:
    For here from age to age a youthful band
    Shall learn the fear of God, the love of Fatherland.

J. Brackenridge gave a short description of the extent of his Classical
Studies:--

    See this the third! theme of mine ode,
          Adorned by sculptur'd art;
    Make it, O Learning, thy abode,
          Thy gems through it impart.
    There may the bards of tragic name
    Forever flourish, Graecia's fame--
          With Homer's deathless lay!
    Here Maro with heroic glow,
    And Naso's elegiac flow
          Outlive their mould'ring clay.

Jackson Mason was the best of the three, though strongly suggestive of
Gray. He describes the tale of a maiden "vanished down the gulph
profound" and now

    The ruffled water of the well
    Mov'd by bosom's fall and swell
        Alternate ebbs and flows.

    The tale is o'er; the old man gone.
        With tottering steps and slow
    He pauses ever and anon,
        To view the vale below:
    And, leaning on his staff the while,
    Gazes with pleasure on the pile,
          Which crowns that landscape fair:
    Then as the grateful tear-drop falls,
    For blessings on those goodly walls
          Breathes forth this fervent prayer.

Such was the poetical achievement of three boys in 1851.

The School might reasonably be expected to go forward quickly, with new
buildings, a new Headmaster and strenuous Governors, and in 1850 they
received a just recognition of the quality of the teaching. The Provost
and Fellows of Queen's College, Oxford, had a very large sum of money
at their disposal, which was devised to them by Lady Elizabeth Hastings.
She had intended the money to be divided annually among boys from
schools in the North of England. The privilege of being one of the
schools able to send boys in for the Exhibitions--which were very
valuable--was offered to Giggleswick and gratefully accepted. The
Exhibitions have frequently been won.

The first Examination under the new scheme was held in December, 1862.
The Bishop of Ripon appointed the Rev. William Boyd, M.A., Examiner. He
found the School in "an efficient working condition," in both the higher
and lower departments. The first class, which in those days consisted of
the senior boys, passed a good Examination in Greek Testament, a play
of Aeschylus, Homer, Thucydides, Horace, and Vergil, Geography and
Ancient History. The Latin Prose Composition of two or three was very
good.

The Second Class were examined in Homer, Xenophon, Ovid, and Cæsar.
Books were given as prizes to the value of £13 4_s._ Both in this
Examination and in the two succeeding years the proficiency of the first
form was very marked, and the general efficiency of the teaching was
commented on. The most general excellence lay in Divinity, but as the
subject was a limited one _e.g._ Life of Abraham, and the work for it
began six months before, perhaps too much stress should not be laid on
it. There were seven classes, all of them doing Latin, with the fourth
class doing Eutropius, and they were also examined in Modern Geography,
the History of England, and the Catechism.

In 1844, four old boys, William Garforth, John Saul Howson, John
Birkbeck, and William Robinson agreed together to contribute to a fund
for the provision of two prizes each half year. They were to be called,
"The Giggleswick Pupils' Prizes," and were to consist of Books, stamped
with the School Seal. One was to be given to the boys of the Upper part
of the School for the best English or Latin Essay, and the other to the
Lower boys for General Merit.

In 1853, the Howson Prizes were given by the Fellows of Christ's
College, Cambridge, and other friends, in memory of George Howson, a son
of the Usher, and himself a Fellow of his College. It was a striking
testimony to the character of the man that his associates should thus
wish to "perpetuate the name of our highly gifted and lamented friend."
They wished in some small degree to advance "the interests of an
institution, which was, we know, most dear to him, from early
associations, and also from his worthy father's long and honourable
association with it." They asked that two prizes should be given
annually to the boys of the Lower School, one for General Proficiency,
regard being had to conduct, and one for the best examination in a
defined portion of Scripture History; the subject was to be announced at
least six months before.

The School had been re-built chiefly in order to provide room for a
Teacher of Modern Languages, and in 1855 the Governors proposed to
appoint such an one. They laid down the following regulations: He should
attend five days a week--all classes except the highest and lowest
should learn French, and the highest might, if they wished. Italian,
German and Hebrew were to be optional with all. Lastly, all classes
except the highest must attend the English Master. The salary of the
Modern Language Master was to be £130 a year.

The Masters were requested to draw up a scheme of work. The hours of
School had been altered in 1844 and were now from 8-0 a.m. till noon,
and from 2-0 p.m. till 5-0 p.m. (in the Winter till 4-30 p.m.). All the
Masters and Assistants were compelled to teach every hour of every
school day. The scheme is as follows:

THE HIGHER DIVISION.

 ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
          |   MONDAY.   |  TUESDAY.   | WEDNESDAY.  |  THURSDAY.  |  FRIDAY.
 ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
 Morning  |1. Classics &|1, 2, 3.     |1, 2, 3.     |1. Classics &|1, 2, 3.
          | Mathematics.| Classics.   | Classics.   | Mathematics.| Classics.
          |2 & 3.       |             |             |2, 3.        |
          | French.     |             |             | French.     |
 ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
 Afternoon|1. Classics &|1. Classics &|1.           |1. Classics &|1.
          | Mathematics.| Mathematics.| Mathematics.| Mathematics.| Mathematics.
          |2, 3.        |2, 3.        |2, 3.        |2, 3.        |2, 3.
          | Classics &  |  Arithmetic.| Arithmetic. | Classics &  | Arithmetic.
          | Arithmetic. |             |             | Arithmetic. |
 ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------


THE LOWER DIVISION

 ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
          |   MONDAY.   |  TUESDAY.   | WEDNESDAY.  |  THURSDAY.  |  FRIDAY.
 ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
 Morning  |4, 5.        |4, 7.        |5, 6.        |4, 5.        |4, 5.
          | Classics &  | Classics &  | Classics &  | Classics.   | Classics &
          | Scripture.  | History.    | Geography.  |             | Geography.
          |6, 7.        |6.           |7.           |6, 7.        |7.
          | Arithmetic &| Arithmetic. | Arithmetic. | Arithmetic. | Arithmetic.
          | Scripture.  |5. French.   |4. French.   |             |6. French
 ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
 Afternoon|5, 6.        |4, 5.        |6, 7.        |6, 7.        |6, 7.
          | Classics.   | Classics.   | Classics.   | Classics.   | Classics.
          |7.           |7.           |4, 5.        |4.           |4, 5.
          | Arithmetic. | Arithmetic. | Arithmetic. | Arithmetic. | Arithmetic.
          |4. French.   |6. French.   |             |5. French.   |
 ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
                        |6, 7. One    |7. One hour  |6, 7. One    |6, 7. One
                        | hour in the | in the      | hour in the | hour in the
                        | morning for | morning for | morning for | morning for
                        | Latin       | Grammar,    | Geography   | Exercise,
                        | Grammar,    | Exercise,   | Exercise,   | Grammar or
                        | Exercise,   | etc.        | etc.        | History.
                        | etc.        |             |             |
                        +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------


THE MODERN LANGUAGE MASTER

 ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
          |   MONDAY.   |  TUESDAY.   | WEDNESDAY.  |  THURSDAY.  |  FRIDAY.
 ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
 Morning  |2, 3. French.|5. French.   |4. French.   |2, 3. French.|6. French.
 ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
 Afternoon|4. French.   |6. French.   |German.      |5. French.   |German.
 ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------

N.B. The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, mark the different classes

The stragglers, not classified, are included under number 7.

Every class did Classics for at least two hours every day, very often
four. English had no place in the Schedule for the first three forms;
yet by the scheme the second and third had to attend the English Master.
Arithmetic was the only subject of a mathematical type. It was only a
scheme for the General Course of Instruction and doubtless under the
name of Classics or of Mathematics, they may have found some scope for
English or Scripture. Scripture was certainly done by the first and
second but possibly only in the Greek Testament.

The Examiner appointed by the Bishop of Ripon in 1855 paid many tributes
to the excellence of the first class, and added "all of whom bid fair to
do honour to the School by high University distinction." It is the
nature of some men to exude praise, but words such as these certainly
seem to point to a very fair level of scholarship in the class taken by
Dr. Butterton and to considerable powers of teaching on his part.

Dr. Butterton was destined to rule the School for two more years, but
they were filled with such bitter fruit that it is difficult to describe
them. It will be remembered that the Governors according to the new
scheme held themselves responsible for the election of boys who wished
to enter the School. At the beginning of every term the Headmaster
would supply them with a list of boys, with the district from which
they came and, if there was room for them, there seems to have been no
hesitation about admitting them. There was not even, as far as appears,
a question of a certificate of character for those boys who wished to be
Boarders, though perhaps it was so customary since Ingram's early years
that it passes without comment. Only once, in 1854, does the number of
applicants appear to have exceeded the number of vacancies. Acting on
the presumption that such a selection or election was almost a matter of
form Dr. Butterton admitted certain boys into the School on his own
authority in 1856. He had clearly put himself in the wrong and he was
admonished by the Governors.

There was also at the same time a dispute between him and the Governors,
relative to the appointment of the Modern Language Master. There had
been several applicants and one had been chosen, but the Headmaster did
not consider the choice wholly an impartial one and he was unwise enough
to say so. The Governors pointed out to him that the appointment of the
Masters was vested wholly in the Governors and that it was most improper
for him to interfere. The Governors were acting perfectly within their
rights and in accordance with the scheme. But the scheme was totally
unsound for the proper management of a School. Again when Dr. Butterton
wished the Whitsuntide holidays to be added to the month in the Summer,
he was informed that according to the scheme there must be holidays at
Whitsuntide and not more than a month in the Summer, and so nothing
could be done.

Perhaps as a man he was too impetuous and slightly intolerant, and,
though it would have been difficult for the most godly of men to keep a
school alive and progressing under such conditions, it was quite
impossible for him to hope to succeed, unless he kept the staff upon his
side. But he quarrelled with John Howson, the Usher, on two distinct
occasions, one on a question of discipline and one with regard to a
French Class that he caused to be held during School hours in his own
house, by a man of his own choice. On both occasions the immediate cause
of disagreement was but the final spark of a smouldering and mutual
discontent, and it is impossible to distribute the blame.

The Modern Language Master was placed upstairs in the High School and a
space was partitioned off for him from the main part of the room, where
Mr. Langhorne was giving Elementary Instruction. Such an arrangement was
not entirely suitable and the French Classes were afterwards taken in
the room which had been especially built for them next to the Library.

The next months saw the gradual development of a situation that caused
Dr. Butterton's retirement. The Rev. John Howson also showed signs of so
serious an illness that he expressed his readiness to retire, should
some suitable arrangement be made. The Governors agreed to give him a
pension of £120 a year.

Dr. Butterton's Headmastership cannot be dismissed without a reference
to certain customs that were prevalent in his time. Down the centre of
the pathway that runs alongside the School palings on to the main road
there is a black stone fixed in the ground. This was a familiar place of
torture. Every new boy was taken thither and made to sit down heavily on
its top. It was a custom that continued for some years, until the
removal of the School buildings to their present position took away the
temptation. The distribution of Figs and Bread on March 12 still
continued but cock-fighting had gradually died out. It had long been the
custom to use the Figs as missiles and the objects of attack were
Masters, Governors, spectators and even Ladies. It is very difficult to
say whether March 12, was ever a day on which the Masters used to
collect money gifts from the boys. Potation Day was the customary day
for such offerings in many schools, but at Giggleswick the practice of
receiving money from the Scholars was particularly forbidden in the
case of the Writing Master in 1799, and at other times. And it may be
that money was taken in a more official way. Three guineas frequently
appears in the Minute-Book as the "contribution of the Scholars" towards
the firing and heating of the School, and in 1852 blinds were provided
for the School windows, but the Minute-Book expressly said that they
were to be kept in repair by the Boys.

There has already been occasion to notice the very heavy glazier bills
that the Governors had to meet, and there is a fitting commentary upon
them in an extract from a letter to the Governors written by the Rev.
Dr. Butterton:

    "I take the opportunity of mentioning a circumstance, which
    requires the interference of the magistrates or at any rate of
    the police. Every evening all the rabble of Giggleswick and
    Settle assemble in the Schoolyard and conduct themselves in such
    a riotous manner, that no schoolboy dare enter the yard and no
    lady dare pass through it. They play at ball against the library
    wall to the imminent danger of the windows, and frequently climb
    up to the top of the building to the serious injury of the roof.
    As the nuisance seems to increase every evening, it appears to
    me that strong measures must be taken to put it down."

This chapter cannot close without a brief and inadequate account of the
Rev. John Howson. He was born at Giggleswick in 1787 and was a pupil at
the School during the later years of William Paley's Headmastership; in
1798 his name was in the list of pupils who received a prize. He
graduated B.A. and M.A. at Dublin, and in March, 1814, he came back to
his old School as Second Master on John Armstrong's death. He was
ordained Priest and married a daughter of Mr. J. Saul, who had been at
one time Writing Master at the School. He remained at Giggleswick till
his death. He was of a type of schoolmaster, now extinct, hot tempered,
but kindly natured; one of his pupils is said to have returned from the
Colonies bent on one thing, determined to have his revenge on Howson for
some act of supposed injustice done to him as a boy. His portrait
reveals a geniality that marked him always, though at times he was
inclined to distrust new ideas and new men. He preferred the
well-trodden path.

[Illustration: REV. JOHN HOWSON, M.A.]

[Illustration: SIR JAMES KAY-SHUTTLEWORTH.]

The year before Dr. Butterton had been appointed Headmaster had been
marked by the first appearance of a School Magazine, of which record
remains. The Giggleswick School Olio ran to three numbers under the
motto of Vade, Vale, Cave. Its contributions are ambitious and graceful,
poetry haunts its pages, and is of a kind that reflects considerable
Classical reading.

Two boys under Dr. Butterton deserve some mention. Jackson Mason, the
son, grandson, and father of Giggleswick boys, recited a poem in honour
of the re-building of the School in 1851, and after being a scholar of
Trinity College, Cambridge, became later Vicar of Settle. Though an
invalid, he made his mark as a translator of many hymns from the old
Latin, and his work remains in the Ancient and Modern Hymn-Book. J. H.
Lupton was a Scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge, and afterwards
Fifth Classic and Surmaster of S. Paul's School. These are not isolated
examples of the academic success that attended Dr. Butterton's
Headmastership. The Speech Day of 1855 recorded not a few. It was
notable for being the first year a Giggleswick boy--Bramley--had ever
won the Lady Elizabeth Hastings' Exhibition at Queen's College, Oxford,
and was marked by high distinctions gained at Cambridge by three other
former boys, Lupton, Mason, and Leeming.

Under Dr. Butterton there is probably little doubt that, with the
exception of his last year, the School had increased greatly in
efficiency. Its numbers averaged eighty-three and once reached
ninety-one. It had re-built itself and had attracted the generosity of
old boys and friends in the endowment of prizes. The subjects of
instruction had been increased. The discipline, had improved. Fresh
blood had been wanted, and a fresh scheme. They were both obtained. But
perhaps the scheme did not represent the summit of human wisdom, perhaps
the fresh blood was too rich.




CHAPTER IX.

The Rev. J. R. Blakiston.


The resignation of Dr. Butterton did not in any way modify the
determination of the Governors to hold by the existing Scheme. A printed
notice of the qualifications required by the new Master and Usher was
sent out. The Master had to excel in all branches of learning, the
higher branches of Greek and Latin Literature, advanced Mathematics,
Logic, Rhetoric, English of all kinds and Moral and Political
Philosophy. The qualifications of the Usher were less exacting. Salaries
at a minimum of £210 and £150 were offered, and for every additional boy
in the School after the first thirty and up to sixty, the Master
received £5, the Usher £2 as a capitation fee. Each was given a house
and garden, rent free, and could take boarders.

More than forty applications for the mastership were received and the
Rev. John Richard Blakiston was appointed. Born in 1829 he was educated
at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gained a Scholarship. In 1853 he
was Second Classic and took Mathematical Honours. A Fellowship
Examination was to be held in October, 1854, and Mr. Blakiston was
studying for it, when Thring, who had been recently appointed to
Uppingham, offered him a post there as a House-Master. After
three-and-a-half years he accepted the Headmastership of Preston
Corporation School and a year later--December, 1858--was appointed to
Giggleswick. At the same meeting of the Governors the Rev. Matthew Wood
was appointed Usher. Born in 1831 he was a Scholar of S. Catherine's
College, Cambridge, and later an Assistant Master at Durham School.

John Langhorne was the only survivor of the days of Butterton and almost
immediately he resigned and was succeeded by Mr. Arthur Brewin, who had
been trained as a teacher in the Chelsea Training College and had served
under Blakiston at Preston. His salary was to be £130 a year. A Modern
Language Master was also chosen.

The following December the usual examination took place and the Bishop
of Ripon appointed the Rev. Frederic William Farrar, who at that time
was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a Master at Harrow. This
first report is important, because of the great contrast it presents
when compared with later years. The School in 1859 was staffed by very
able, young and ambitious men, indeed Mr. Blakiston's intellectual
capacity and ability as a teacher were quite exceptional, and the report
speaks in terms of commendation of the work of the School, especially
of the boys under Blakiston and Brewin.

[Illustration: REV. J. R. BLAKISTON.]

In the next year 1860, the examiner appointed was the Rev. J. T. B.
Landon, sometime Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford; the progress that
he reported was by no means so satisfactory as in the previous year. He
praised the efficiency of the staff, but he pointed out that the pupils
were not so advanced as to be able to profit sufficiently from the
teaching. Similarly in 1861 there were no boys whose knowledge
corresponded with that of an average sixth form in one of the greater
Public Schools.

The causes were twofold. The number of boys had steadily decreased from
ninety-six in Dr. Butterton's time, to fifty-six in 1860, and thereafter
to an even greater extent. The consequence was that the competition
became considerably less acute, and the proportion of boys from the
neighbourhood considerably greater. Such boys would clearly in the main
be less likely to profit by the efficiency of the teaching than boys
from a greater distance. But there was a second and a contributory
cause. The anomalous position of the Master and Usher, each of whom had
a freehold in his office, had led to awkward incidents under the late
Headmaster. But they were now accentuated by the fact that both Master
and Usher were young men and were appointed at the same time. The
subordination of the Usher to the Master was regulated by the Statutes
of 

Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/30168