Part 8 A History of Giggleswick School

Part 8

[Ill.u.s.tration: REV. G. A. b.u.t.tERTON, 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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s 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 a.s.sistant. 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 pa.s.sed 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 subst.i.tuted 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 Cla.s.sical 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 Cla.s.sical 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 a.s.sistants 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 Sat.u.r.day and Sunday and Good-Friday. Every Sat.u.r.day 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 Cla.s.ses, 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 b.u.t.terton, 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 pa.s.sed 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 cla.s.s." 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 Cla.s.s-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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 Cla.s.s-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 gla.s.s.

The building was substantial and sound. The main part consisted of two long Cla.s.s-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 Cla.s.s-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 doc.u.ments. 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 s.p.a.ce. 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 3 per cent. Stock belonging to the Exhibition Fund. The Governors pledged themselves to pay 3 per cent. to the Exhibition Fund, thus depleted, and to repay the princ.i.p.al 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 l.u.s.tre 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 Ill.u.s.trious 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 G.o.d, the love of Fatherland.

J. Brackenridge gave a short description of the extent of his Cla.s.sical 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 cla.s.s, which in those days consisted of the senior boys, pa.s.sed 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 Cla.s.s were examined in Homer, Xenophon, Ovid, and Caesar.

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 cla.s.ses, all of them doing Latin, with the fourth cla.s.s 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 a.s.sociates 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 inst.i.tution, which was, we know, most dear to him, from early a.s.sociations, and also from his worthy father's long and honourable a.s.sociation 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 cla.s.ses 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 cla.s.ses 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 a.s.sistants were compelled to teach every hour of every school day. The scheme is as follows:

THE HIGHER DIVISION.

---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Morning |1. Cla.s.sics &|1, 2, 3. |1, 2, 3. |1. Cla.s.sics &|1, 2, 3.

|2 & 3. | | |2, 3. | | French. | | | French. | ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Afternoon|1. Cla.s.sics &|1. Cla.s.sics &|1. |1. Cla.s.sics &|1.

|2, 3. |2, 3. |2, 3. |2, 3. |2, 3.

| Arithmetic. | | | Arithmetic. | ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------

THE LOWER DIVISION

---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Morning |4, 5. |4, 7. |5, 6. |4, 5. |4, 5.

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