# The History of Colchester Royal Grammar School/Chapter 4

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CHAPTER 4
The century which witnessed the emergence of the School into its modern form opened quietly enough. Hewitt resigned in 1806, and was succeeded by Edward Crosse, who, as Cromwell hastens to assure us, was "elected unanimously." We know that Crosse was curate of St. Runwald's in 1825, but whether he already held this post when he was elected master is not clear; at any rate he does not seem to have been disqualified under item 21 of the Statutes prohibiting a master from accepting an appointment in the ministry. On account of " various repairs . . . made in and aboute the house" the School was not reopened under Crosse until January 26th, 1807.
In 1810 the endowment was broken for the first time when some of the land in St. Mary's Parish was sold to the Waterworks Company. By an "Act for supplying the inhabitants of this Borough with Water" (48 Geo. III), trustees for charities were enabled to convey to the Company properties which they held in trust. If, however, the price exceeded £200 the proprietors of the Waterworks Company were required to pay the money into the Bank of England, when it was to be invested by the Accountant—General of the Court of Chancery in 3 per cent annuities until it could be used to replace the property, the interest meanwhile being paid to the original owners, the trustees. Under this Act a garden plot in St. Mary's Parish, two roods and two perches in extent, was conveyed to the Company in return for the sum of £270 (Fig. 2). Instead of being paid into the bank this money was invested in a mortgage by the solicitor to the trustees, the interest being assigned to the schoolmaster, Crosse, until shortly before his death. This was not the only irregularity, as was revealed by the enquiry of the Charity Commissioners in 1838, for in addition the trustees were found to have resolved to divert this purchase-money to defray the expenses incurred in connection with researches in the Court of Chancery into the conditions of conveying the trust. What is more, the mortgage deeds could not be found, and the Commissioners expressed the opinion that the solicitor's executor should reimburse the trustees with the sum invested.
The School boasts a scholar of great fame who was entered at this time, and who, when he died in 1892, was world-famous as Sir George Biddell Airy, K.C.B., M.A., LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.R.A.S., and ex-Astronomer-Royal. He was admitted to the School in 1814, ​and left in 1819 for Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated as Senior Wrangler in 1823, proceeding to M.A. In 1826. Appointed Astronomer Royal in 1835, he retained the post until 1881, in which period the observatory was almost completely refitted with instruments of his own design. His researches in many diverse branches of science earned him the "reputation of being one of the ablest and most indefatigable of modern savants" (Chambers's Encyclopaedia).
In 1825 another part of the same property in St. Mary's Parish, "formerly the Old Three Crowns Inn" (Morant), was exchanged for land at Layer Breton. The house, which was in poor condition, was valued at £425, and the land at £760, but a subsequent decrease in the value of agricultural produce made the transaction "a very unprofitable one to the charity" (Charity Commissioners, 1838).
In 1835 Crosse died, and was succeeded by John Saunders. The report upon Essex Charities in 1838, already quoted, is hardly to be regarded as favourable toward the School. There were but three scholars on the foundation, and no fee—paying scholars, while the endowment was not realising as high an income as might have been expected. The properties are listed in detail in the Commission's report, and it is interesting to compare this list with those of 1348 and 1584. (See Appendix 2.)
Upon the mastership becoming vacant again the Rev. John Dunningham was chosen (January 3rd, 1840) from six candidates for the post. His election is notable as it was the first in modern times in which the Council instead of the Free Burgesses had chosen the master. The Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 had deprived the Burgesses of their ancient right, and vested the Town Council with the authority. Legal advice was sought by the Burgesses, but their deprivation was confirmed, and although the Council were embarrassedly unwilling to accept the responsibility (Essex Standard) they had no choice in the matter. Naturally the Burgesses looked askance at these proceedings; they formed the Colchester ​Freeman's Right Protective Association" for the protection of those privileges which remain, and to secure them from further innovation." The Essex Standard reported with approval the Association's meetings at the Cross Keys, for the Municipal Corporations Act was a Whig measure; and the Burgesses were exhorted to consider "the best plan for securing their property against further Whig spoliation." in July, 1840, the Free Burgesses petitioned Parliament for the restoration of their rights, but the power to elect the master remained with the Council.
At the same Council meeting one member had suggested that the School's curriculum should be broadened, and made to embrace commercial subjects in addition to the classics. A similar suggestion had been made by the Charity Commissioners, who averred that the School was not fulfilling its original purpose—the service of the municipality. The only part of the education offered to foundation boys that was really free was instruction in the classics, and that was no longer considered to constitute a useful education for the free scholars. In earlier centuries the classics had been recognised as the key to all learning, but the then growing cult of industrialism and commercialism called for an education on broader lines. The proposal was strongly opposed at the Council meeting, but the supporters of the "new education" did not allow the matter to drop. Finally the issue was forced to a conclusion in an unexpected and unusual manner. In September, 1842, Dunningham was prosecuted by William Wire, for an assault upon his son, a foundation scholar.
William Wire was one of the most remarkable figures in Colchester in the last century, and deserves a biography, which here cannot be given. By natural bent a scientific archaeologist, far in advance of his age, his occupation was that of a watchmaker, and later a postman. Despite his excellent antiquarian work Wire was frustrated at every turn by reason of the double disqualification of his Radical and Nonconformist opinions (E. J. Rudsdale, O.C., in Essex Review, January, 1947, No. 221), and this is nowhere so obvious as in the newspaper reports of the prosecution. Into the rights and wrongs of the case we need not enter. (The story told by Wire's son was refuted by Dunningham and his paying scholars, so that the case was dismissed.) What concern us are Wire's allegations relating to the management of the School: that his son, as the only free scholar, was made to sit on a different side of the schoolroom from the paying scholars, and received different instruction. As Wire often pointed out, the Statutes and Ordinances required the master to give preferential treatment in teaching to the free scholars—an order that obviously was not being obeyed then. These revelations (they were not denied by Dunningham) aroused once more the question of the School's use to the municipality (that is, to what extent it was fulfilling the intention of its founders), and those who wished the curriculum to be revised had a formidable leader in Wire. On November 4th, 1842, the Essex Standard ​published a letter from him in which he stated that he had on October 25th presented a memorial to the Bishop of London, signed by the Free Burgesses, in which the Bishop's attention was drawn to the condition of the School, with a petition that he should consider a revision of the curriculum, and that the Bishop had promised his earliest possible attention to the matter.
As the Bishop was acting in his capacity as Visitor, Dunningham and the Council were virtually powerless. On July 11th, 1844, new Statutes and Ordinances (a copy of which hangs in Big School) prepared by the Bishop of London and the Dean of St. Paul's were published, by the first of which the original series of 1587 was cancelled. Some of the statutes which followed were merely repetitions of the old, but the expected changes were made. The nature of the classical education was left to the discretion of the master, and the teaching of such subjects as mathematics, history and geography was introduced. Religious instruction was reorganised also: morning and evening prayers were retained on weekdays, and the scholars were to be prepared for confirmation— though now through the Catechism in the Book of Common Prayer. On Sundays the scholars were to be free to attend church "with their respective parents or friends," unless they were boarders, when they were to attend with the master.
The number of free scholars was to be increased, provisionally to 20, with a view to admitting a larger number when the income of the endowment itself increased. In the future, also, the free scholars were to be chosen by the Mayor, Aldermen and Council "from among the children of the inhabitants of the Borough at large," and it was added that "no distinction is to be made by the master between the free scholars and those who pay."
One Statute in the new series regularised the allowance to be made for holidays, which were not mentioned in 1587, although we know that there was at least a Christmas break in Dugard's time. The holidays were to consist of five weeks at Midsummer, four at Christmas, one at Easter, "and no more"; but the Mayor was empowered to grant others "on any occasion of public solemnity or rejoicing, whether national or local." This was offset by provision for annual examinations, either before Christmas or Midsummer.
These Statutes effected a considerable change in the character of the School. The desired broader education was now offered, by reason of the changes in the regulations governing the free scholars, to a much wider section of the town's population, and while allowance was made for a still wider extension of the curriculum at the Visitor's discretion, the inclusion of the new subjects, now authorised by the Statutes, meant that the free education was no longer exclusively classical. Between the publication of these Statutes in 1844 and the year 1850 28 boys were admitted as foundation scholars.
​On April 4th, 1851, Dunningham was elected perpetual curate of St. Mary at the Quay, Ipswich, and accordingly resigned the mastership. No mention of a successor was made until June 20th, when the Town Clerk advertised for candidates, but by August 33 applications had been received. A special committee of the Council was appointed to consider the various testimonials, and on September 19th one candidate was unanimously recommended and elected, the Rev. William Wright, D.C.L. The School had been closed on Dunningham's resignation and did not reopen until February 4th, 1852.
Meanwhile attention had been turned to the condition of the old building. In June, 1851, the trustees had recommended that Westons should not be further repaired, but demolished, and a new building erected either on the old site or some other. This was supported by the Essex Standard (July 18th, 1851), particularly as a new Grammar School had recently been built at Ipswich; and in August the trustees proposed a plot of one and a half acres in St. Mary's Parish belonging to the School as the new site (Essex Standard, August 15th, 1851). The only approach to this site was from "the walk opposite the Union House," but it was hoped to obtain a frontage on Balkerne Lane (see Fig. 2).
This proposal was apparently not in favour with the towns-people, and other suggestions were made, many letters on the subject appearing in the Essex Standard at this time. On October 17th one, "G. M.," wrote to suggest the opening of a fund, himself offering £10 if 40 others would each subscribe the same sum, or £20 if 30 others could be found to contribute the same. The editorial note introducing the letter joined in condemning the proposed site, partly upon the grounds of its insignificance, and partly because it was "surrounded by cottages which, it might be feared, would in time become the harbour of parties badly qualified to be the neighbours of the rising generation." For similar reasons a proposal to build the new school in High Street was discounted.
Another letter (October 24th) suggested "the field situated betwixt the hospital and Beverley Lodge " (i.e. Gurney Benham House), " the property … of C. G. Round," as the ideal site, and on November 14th the Trustees announced that they did not regard the choice of the Balkerne Hill site as final. In February, 1852, a committee of 12 was formed to solicit subscriptions, and by these means £1,600 was raised. The Trustees were unable to apply any considerable sum from the School's endowment except under the direction of the Court of Chancery, and a request for permission had to be made. The order approving the project was granted in 1852. Meanwhile the present site on the London road was selected, and on August 12th, 1852, the foundations of the new buildings were laid (Fig. 1.)
Westons was sold unceremoniously by public auction at the "Three Cups" on May 4th, 1853, and "after a spirited bidding by the company present the property … was knocked down to ​J. S. Barnes, Esq., at £540, for Mr. William Sharman, who, we understand, intends converting the premises into a carriage manufactory" (Essex Standard, May 6th, 1853). The old building was "closed for academical purposes" on June 17th, the headmaster living at that time at Hill House, St. Leonard's, Colchester.
The new buildings on the London road were publicly opened on August 4th, 1853, when Dr. Wright received the key from Charles Gray Round. A procession, accompanied by a band, and including the Mayor (Francis Smythies) and the two Members of Parliament for Colchester (Lord John Manners and W. W. Hawkins), went from the Town Hall to the School, where a service was held. It was agreed that the new School was a great improvement upon the "old, malformed and dilapidated" and "unworthy and unseemly" house which had served for 300 years. The company present was afterwards regaled with an "elegant cold collation" at the "Three Cups" (Essex Standard, August 5th, 1853; see also Illustrated London News).
The buildings, which form a part of the present School, cost some £3,500 to build. They are in red brick, with dressings and quoins of Bath stone, and were described as being in "the late Tudor style" of architecture. This block then consisted of a schoolroom (41ft. by 21ft. 6in., and 15ft. high), a class-room, a boarders' dining room, a day washing room, rooms for boarders, and the headmaster's house. The "play ground" to the south was originally half an acre in extent, but was enlarged in 1861, when Charles Gray Round presented another plot of one acre and twelve perches, also lying to the south, as is recorded on a tablet affixed to the west wall of the School House, immediately south of the old Big School. It is today hidden as a result of subsequent building. Here is the close of today with Creffield Road as its southern boundary. Gilberd House with its garden, now accommodating the swimming bath, was not added until the twentieth century.
Dr. Wright was an able and energetic man, and the School prospered under his care. The overall permissible number of scholars was increased to 80 in 1853, upon application to the Visitor, the Bishop of London. In 1865 the School was inspected by the Schools Enquiry Commission, which had been formed to enquire into the affairs of all schools not covered by the enquiry into the nine great public schools (1861) or the Popular Education Commission (1858). The enquiry was into "the management of the revenues of Public (i.e. 'public endowed ') Schools and also the system of education pursued " (Essex Standard, May 11th, 1865). At that time there were 53 scholars, of whom 17 were boarders, and the annual income from the endowment was reduced to £106 owing to expenditure on the new buildings.
The next master, the Rev. Charles Lawford Acland, was elected on December 15th, 1870, and held the post for 21 years. Although he was a stern disciplinarian, his name was affectionately recalled by all the Colcestrians who passed through the School in his time, ​and he left a lasting impression behind him. In 1871 there were 40 scholars, by 1874 50, and the number at one time rose to 80. Acland's enthusiasm is also indicated in the complete transcript of the Liber Scholae Colcestriensis that he prepared for and presented to the Essex Archaeological Society, and from which J. H. Round later composed his List of Colchester Scholars (Wiles, Colchester, 1897) .
In 1872 the School was again inspected, this time by the Endowed Schools Commissioners, under the Endowed Schools Act (1869), and their report aroused a controversy which continued for nearly 30 years. The object of the Commission was to investigate, with a view to improving, the administration and finances of endowed schools, and the trouble at Colchester was caused by their ruling that the School was not in the meaning of the Act a "Church of England School," and their publication of a draft-plan which abolished the distinctly Anglican character of the establishment, This plan included the abolition of the foundation as a charity (allowing, however, a number of free scholars to be selected by competitive examination); the prohibition of boarders; the exclusion of Greek from the curriculum, and the appointment of a new Board of Governors; and it was opposed violently by the Church of England party in the town. As a result of this opposition the plan was dropped, but the controversy went on. The Nonconformists now discovered ground for complaint in that the School, although in law not a Church of England establishment, was conducted as though it were, and it appears that while no boy had ever been excluded upon religious grounds (there is even a record of a Quaker's son in Dugard's time), some Nonconformist parents fought shy of sending their sons to such a school. The Trustees questioned the findings of the Commission, but they were upheld. Despite the Statutes of 1587, which prescribed religious instruction—including examination in "Mr. Nowell's Catechism"—the School was declared not to be a Church of England School within the meaning of the Act, as no specific recognition of such a status could be produced, and even "Mr. Nowell's Catechism" had never been officially recognised by the Church of England. The only Statute that could reasonably be held to justify the School's claim, the Commissioners said, was that requiring the scholars to hear sermons, and be examined in them, but this had not been continuously observed.
Meanwhile, however, the Statutes had the authority of law, and as they had obviously been framed on the assumption that the School was to be a Church of England School, and the Trustees were bound to conduct it in accordance with the Statutes, the dissentients had no immediate redress. These grievances were aired at a public enquiry of the Charity Commissioners in 1886 (Essex Telegraph, August 4th, 1856), when there were 45 boys at the School, of whom 20 were foundation scholars. It was suggested that the fees were unduly high, being 16 guineas a year for ordinary day- boys. This was an increase of four guineas over the corresponding ​fees in 1853, but it was adjudged by the inspector to be a not unreasonable fee for the high standard of education provided (certainly it compares favourably with the 120 guineas a year charged by Crosse for boarders, between 1806 and 1810, when the condition of the school was very poor). Nevertheless, the inspector recommended that the Nonconformists, if dissatisfied with the condition of the School, should appeal to the Trustees and once more to the Commissioners.
Acland resigned in April, 1892, and the Rev. John Thomas, the second master, took his place. In that year also the official enquiry was reopened. The discussions continued until May, 1899, when an Order in Council was approved by Queen Victoria, and while a new scheme was being framed G. J. Yates, M.A., held the post of headmaster as locum tenens.
Under this new scheme of 1899 a governing body of 15 members was appointed with the Mayor (ex-officio) as chairman. Five of the other members were to be appointed from the Town Council, and two from the Essex County Council, while the others were to be nominated by such interested authorities as the Bishop of St. Albans (in whose diocese, detached from that of London in 1875, Colchester was now situate), King's College, London, and the Local School Board. It was required that the headmaster (but not the Governors) should be a member of the Church of England, and the fees were scaled from £8 to £15 a year. The institution of foundation scholars came to an end, but was replaced in some measure by the creation of "entrance scholarships."
We now reach the beginning of a new age, as we are approaching the Balfour Act (1902), which brought secondary education under the control of the County, or County-Borough, Authority, with the result that the old "Town Schools" lost at least some of their purely local character. So the nineteenth century, during which the School passed through some of the most critical phases of its existence, ended characteristically upon a note of reform. The changes effected during these 100 eventful years were very great. The medieval character of the School was swept completely away, partly by the changes in the Statutes which had remained in force since Tudor times, but no less perhaps by the removal from the medieval atmosphere of Westons into the new buildings, which, in spite of their "medieval" guise, are otherwise typical of their period, and form the nucleus of the present School. Even the oldest tie of all, the School's connection with the Bishop of London, was severed when the Bishop of St. Albans replaced him as Visitor with a nomination to the Board of Governors (1899).
It is a great pity that so much that was ancient and good was lost when those changes took place. It is greatly to be regretted, for instance, that Westons was allowed to pass into private hands and be changed almost beyond recognition, instead of being preserved by the town. Yet this loss does not alter the fact that changes were necessary, and we may congratulate ourselves that the School, as ​has been seen, emerged from these difficult times without any actual break in the continuity of its life. The crises arising from the adaptation of old institutions to new requirements proved too great a strain upon many of these ancient foundations, and the disappearance of the old Schools at Halstead, Braintree and Dedham, and the break between 1884 and 1893 in the history of Earls Colne Grammar School show that the Colchester School was not alone in these troubles, and remind us that it could have been among those that succumbed.
For these reasons, then, we may look back upon the nineteenth century with some pride, recognising that it was the School's good fortune that the changes were practicable, and that they were effected by men of ability. Yet these changes were not final: indeed, the latest scheme of management has but recently come into force (October 9th, 1946). So the year 1899 is a date at which this brief history may conveniently close, marking as it does both the end of a century and the end of a distinct phase of the School's life.
The events of the past few decades are perhaps too close for us to view them in their historical perspective, and in any case the two great wars which have raged in this century make this period an extraordinary one. It has not lacked important events, as may be seen in the brief chronological summary appended, but it is at the year 1899 that our narrative ends, and it seems appropriate to bring our story to a close with the same words as were written by Parr in the Liber Scholae Colcestriensis, and indeed at the foot of its last page:
" May Colchester School ever prosper. θεόὺ θέλονιος "
* ↑ Famous O.C.s. Under this title there is a series of biographical notices of early scholars in the Colcestrian (O.S. 1st Dec. 1900; 2nd Apr., 1901; N.S. 1st Dec., 1901; 4th Dec., 1902). These range from Wm. Gilbert, b. 1540, to Sir G. B. Airy, b. 1801, and number 27. On account of the summary character of this history, it is not intended to mention any of these but Airy; but it must be explained why, if Airy is noticed, Gilbert is omitted, for undoubtedly he was the greater man. The reason is that although it is often claimed that Gilbert (1540-1603), the famous Physician to Queen Elizabeth and the founder of electrical science, was educated at the School, I have been unable to find any substantial proof of this. In an Address to the Mathematical and Physical Section of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, quoted in the Colcestrian (O.S. Dec., 1900), Jos. Larmer, F.R.S., stated that Gilbert "passed from the Grammar School of his native town to St. John's College, Cambridge," but the authority for this statement is not given. That a native of Colchester would pass through the town-school is probable, but by no means certain. The Dictionary of National Biography is silent on the matter, whereas had it been on record were so famous a scholar had received his early education the fact would undoubtedly have been mentioned. In a speech given at the Third Annual Dinner of the O.C. Society (10th Dec., 1903, the Tercentenary of Gilbert's death) C.E. Benham remarked that there was "some doubt as to whether Gilbert was in the strict sense of the word an Old Colcestrian, and the fact was adduced that he was over 40 years old when the School was started." This would refer of course to the Elizabethan school; if Gilbert was educated at Colchester school it will have been in Henry VIII's foundation.
* ↑ Under the Letters Patent of 1584 also the master had been chosen by the Municipal Authority (Bailiffs and Commonalty); but during some parts at least of the 17th and 18th centuries the choice had lain with the Free Burgesses. To trace all the changes in the method of election would be very difficult, or perhaps impossible, today. Since 1899 appointment has been by the Governors.