Part 9 A History of Giggleswick School

Part 9

|6, 7. |6. |7. |6, 7. |7.

| Scripture. |5. French. |4. French. | |6. French ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Afternoon|5, 6. |4, 5. |6, 7. |6, 7. |6, 7.

|7. |7. |4, 5. |4. |4, 5.

|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

N.B. The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, mark the different cla.s.ses

The stragglers, not cla.s.sified, are included under number 7.

Every cla.s.s did Cla.s.sics 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 Cla.s.sics 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 cla.s.s, 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 cla.s.s taken by Dr. b.u.t.terton and to considerable powers of teaching on his part.

Dr. b.u.t.terton 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 pa.s.ses 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. b.u.t.terton 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. b.u.t.terton 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 G.o.dly 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 Cla.s.s 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 s.p.a.ce was part.i.tioned 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 Cla.s.ses 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. b.u.t.terton'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. b.u.t.terton'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 c.o.c.k-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. b.u.t.terton:

"I take the opportunity of mentioning a circ.u.mstance, which requires the interference of the magistrates or at any rate of the police. Every evening all the rabble of Giggleswick and Settle a.s.semble in the Schoolyard and conduct themselves in such a riotous manner, that no schoolboy dare enter the yard and no lady dare pa.s.s 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: REV. JOHN HOWSON, M.A.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SIR JAMES KAY-SHUTTLEWORTH.]

The year before Dr. b.u.t.terton 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 Cla.s.sical reading.

Two boys under Dr. b.u.t.terton 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 Cla.s.sic and Surmaster of S. Paul's School. These are not isolated examples of the academic success that attended Dr. b.u.t.terton'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. b.u.t.terton 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. b.u.t.terton 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 Cla.s.sic 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 a.s.sistant Master at Durham School.

John Langhorne was the only survivor of the days of b.u.t.terton 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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. b.u.t.terton's time, to fifty-six in 1860, and thereafter to an even greater extent. The consequence was that the compet.i.tion 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 1592, but in so vague a manner that they allowed room for all manner of evasion. It would be an unprofitable task to discuss these differences in detail; let it be sufficient to say that matters reached such a pitch that the Master was summoned before the Settle Bench of Magistrates on a charge of excessive vigour in applying punishment, and that the Usher was expected (though he did not do so) to appear as a witness for the Prosecution. The summons was dismissed, and the Master exonerated from all blame, but such a procedure was not calculated to enhance the prestige of the School, or modify the mutual difficulties of the Headmaster and Usher.

One of the chief of the minor causes of complaint was the position of the boarders. The advertis.e.m.e.nt issued for the purpose of encouraging applicants for the posts of Master and Usher had signified that both men could take boarders and so increase their salary. But Craven Bank, which was the Master's residence, was quite unsuited for the housing of boys.

b.u.t.terton had only the attics to put them in, and Blakiston found it impossible to take any boys, except by allowing them to live entirely with his own family, and inhabit the same rooms, and for this he asked a higher fee of 75 a year. The Usher on the other hand was given a smaller house, but in April, 1859, the Governing Body spent 700 in enlarging it, and building what is now the Sanatorium. By this means he was able to take ten or twelve boys, keep them quite separate from his own family, and board them on lower terms than the Master at 56. As the numbers declined, the necessity for both men to have boarders disappeared, and in consequence the lower fees and the more comfortable internal arrangements of the Usher's house caused it to be more desirable in the eyes of the parents, and in January, 1863, the Usher had ten boarders, the Master one.

These were the more trivial causes of complaint, but Mr. Blakiston had too big a mind to suffer himself to be obsessed by the accidentals. He was fighting, and consciously fighting, a much bigger battle. Dr. Arnold had fought and won it at Rugby some years before, but the path at Giggleswick was not therefore the easier. The real point at issue was the 1844 Scheme for the Management of the School. It had driven away Dr.

b.u.t.terton, it was hara.s.sing his successor. Mr. Blakiston on one occasion had to receive permission from the Governing Body to have the floor raised on his dais in the School, in order that he might have a better view of the boys as a whole. He could not arrange holidays without permission, he could not admit the boys without authority, he could not insist on a change in the p.r.o.nunciation of Latin without rousing the interference of the Governors. The p.r.o.nunciation, that is to-day called "new," was introduced by Mr. Blakiston in 1860, as well as a novel method of p.r.o.nouncing Greek; he tried in vain to induce other Headmasters to follow his example.

These restrictions were particularly hara.s.sing to an ambitious and enthusiastic man, and in March, 1862, he applied to the Charity Commissioners for an amendment of the Scheme. They were unwilling to take any hand in it on the mere motion of the Master, and their refusal led to much recrimination. Men, anonymous and otherwise, wrote to the Newspapers commenting on the decadence of the School in efficiency and numbers, and the subject became well-worn. In the midst of it Mr.

Blakiston received generous and unexpected support. Mr James Foster, a City of London Merchant, who had been educated at Giggleswick and had property in the neighbourhood, heard of the dissension that was going on, and read the published pamphlets of Mr. Blakiston. He accordingly asked his nephew and partner--Mr. James Knowles--to wait upon Mr.

Blakiston with the offer of 500 wherewith he might be enabled to continue his efforts. James Knowles also wrote independently to the Charity Commissioners, as a member of the public anxious for the welfare of a School in whose neighbourhood he owned property. He called attention to the differences which had arisen between the Master and the Usher and the consequent depression of the School, and desired that they should open an investigation themselves in the interests of the Public.

Meanwhile the Governors had at last bestirred themselves and in September, 1862, had caused a letter to be written to the Commissioners, asking for an amendment to the Scheme. They suggested that, in accordance with Mr. Blakiston's suggestion, the area, from which members of their body could be chosen, should be slightly extended and their numbers raised from the statutory eight to fifteen. They put forward the names of seven additional members, but on two declining the honour, they reduced the number to five. The great danger of the previous number of eight drawn from the small area of the Parish of Giggleswick had lain in the tendency to choose men, who were closely allied one to another by ties of relationship and so possibly of prejudice. In 1864 the Scheme was so amended and the new Governors were chosen. They included three men, who soon shewed a very real, active and enlightened interest in the prosperity of the School--Sir James Kay Shuttleworth, Mr. C. S.

Roundell, and Mr. Walter Morrison. One object had now been attained and the way lay open for a more thorough amendment of the position of the Master.

But first it will not be amiss to mention other features of the School life. Potation Day was celebrated to the usual accompaniment of Figs until the year 1860, when the Charity Commissioners objected to it and to the Governors' dinners as a waste of trust funds. The Governors declined to entertain the objection, but limited the expenditure on the dinner given by the Governors to themselves and the Masters to 12, and any further expense was to be borne by the whole body of Governors present. The following year the dinner was again held and paid for as formerly, but in 1862 the differences between the Master and Usher and the death of one of the Governors gave them an opportunity of omitting the dinner in a dignified manner. Since that date the dinner has never been held. Fig-day, as far as the boys were concerned, was also celebrated this year but for the last time. In 1863 it was resolved that the customary payment of three guineas by the Scholars for School fires and cleaning should be discontinued and the money which had been collected in the winter of 1859-60 was to be applied to the purchase by Mr. Blakiston of books for the School Library. This is the first recorded intimation of the buying of books for the Library, which had been built by Dr. b.u.t.terton.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HECTOR CHRISTIE,

_Chairman of the Governors_.]

< Prev TOC

Add to Library Next