A History of Giggleswick School Part 5

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 coa.r.s.e 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 a.s.sistance (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 t.i.tle of an heiress (_Some Craven Worthies_).

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 Scholars.h.i.+p, when he entered. As a boy he had been a fair scholar with eccentric habits. His great delight was in c.o.c.k-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 ent.i.tled 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 a.s.sisted 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, c.u.mberland, 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 pa.s.sed 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 antic.i.p.ating 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 fas.h.i.+on. 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 pa.s.sed 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 s.h.i.+llings. 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt 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 acc.u.mulating. 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 Jacob.u.m 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._ 8_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 a.s.sistants 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 a.s.sistant or a.s.sistants 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 Cla.s.sical 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 Inst.i.tution 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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s 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 a.s.sistants "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, Lancas.h.i.+re, 3rd April, 1792.

Revd. Sir,