A History of Giggleswick School Part 7

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 Headmasters.h.i.+p.

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 advertis.e.m.e.nt to the effect that a vacancy had occurred and that candidates would be examined by the Archbishop of York in Cla.s.sics, 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 Suss.e.x, Cambridge--Headmasters of various Grammar Schools, were all candidates. One Isaac Cook--Headmaster of Ripon--explained as shewing the high value of his Cla.s.sical 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 Masters.h.i.+p 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 Cla.s.sical Medal. He was a B.D. and a late Fellow and Tutor of Sidney Suss.e.x 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 a.s.sistant. 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 Cla.s.sics, in order to enable its pupils to go up to the University with a Scholars.h.i.+p 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 Scholars.h.i.+ps 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 a.s.sistant for a few months and later in the year Carr engaged his own son, whom the Governors allowed to remain, until a permanent a.s.sistant was appointed.

The Governors pa.s.sed and re-pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.s through the portals of the Cla.s.sics 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 establis.h.i.+ng 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 a.s.sistant. 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 Cla.s.sical a.s.sistant 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 Headmasters.h.i.+p 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.

Advertis.e.m.e.nts 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 cla.s.s, 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-a.s.signed. 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt 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 a.s.sistant 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 a.s.sistant at a cost of 250.

[Ill.u.s.tration: USHER'S HOUSE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 a.s.sistance, 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 Scholars.h.i.+p there and also received money from the Tennant Exhibition Fund. He took some University prizes, and a first cla.s.s in both Cla.s.sics 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 const.i.tution 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 a.s.serted 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 b.u.t.terton, 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."