The Express.
London, England, 1848-12-06 00:00:00

PROVINCIAL.

FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL ABusze.—At Kidder-
minster on Friday, a public meeting (convened by the mayor i
in pursuance of a regal ition presented to him, signed by
magistrates, town councillors, and most of the other respect-
able inhabitants in the borough) was held for the purpose of I
adopting measures with the view to secure for the town a
participation in the benefits 1/1411z from a munificently en-
towed schcol existing there, hut the advantages of which
have been hitherto diverted from the purposes for which
they were intended by the charter. The attendance was so
numerous, that the meeting, which was opened in the Town
Hall, wee subsequently adjourned to the open air. The chair
was occupied by J. Tudor, Esq It seems that the school
was established by a royal charter in the reign of Charles 1.,
and, uoriginally intended, was for the benefit of the sons of
all persons resident in the oorough of Kidderminster, who
were to be taught free ; rod according to the rules laid do.' n
at an inquisition held in the borough, in the ninth you of
she reign 01 Charles, tb a Bishop of Worcester presiding, it was
provided that the vie cation of the boys should wholly employ
the muter and his assistant, between whom the rents of the
lands were to be ii*.ipoetiqned, exceptin; the sum of 40.., to
be reserved for tr,soks for the scholar, and a sufficiency to
keep the school -house in repair. For a long course of
Mean the be uhitants vim to have participated to
some of tb, advantages of their free school, but,
at length, from the inadsptation of the system of tuition

adopted to the circumstances of the times, and from other
menses, the whole charity seems to have fallen almost into
uselessness ; although the annual revenue arising from the
estates is about 7001. per annum. It appears however, that
some years since, in 1843 (as our reporter tuidersteod), in
consequent, amuse application having been made to the
lord Chancellor, new rake were laid down upon which the
school should be in future assuaged. By this and subsequent
(Gamma (the school is governed by koffees, who are self-
sleeted) obtained from the Court of Chancery, on the
of the Bev. W. Corkin, the heed-master,
rtatitiwrs promised that there ebould in future be
forty boys on the foundation, who were to pay
11. per quarter, and all above that number 21, for that which
the inhabitants contend should be free ; that the sum of 3W.
annually should be expended in exhibitions ; that the free
boys should not be admitted under the age of eight years, oe
above that of fifteen ; and, further, that the head-master
should be allowed an unlimited number of boarders. The
first feoffment obtained the sanction of the Court of Chancery
in the year 1845 ; other powers have been obtained from the
mine source since, and the master of the school has now an-
other petition, filed on the 11th ult., for the approbation of
the Lord Chancellor, the object of which seems to be to ex-
tend the petitioner's means of keeping the free boys
from the schools, inasmuch as • it proposes that
he shall have power to admit or exclude appli-
cants according to the special circumstances of the case,
and that there shall be rely four meetings in the year
of the master and feoffees, at which the applications of pa-
rents for the admission of boys can be taken into considera-
tion. The main object seems to have been to drive the free
boys from the school altogether. At the present time there
are only 16 in the school. There are a large number of
boarders (strangers) not on the foundation, but who appear
to have participated in all the advantages of the school, re-
ceiving nearly all the prises at the exhibitions, and for whose
accommodation, jointly with the head mater's, a new school
house has been erected out of the tows, notwithstanding
that the old one has been in every way eligible. The sons
of dissenters have been systematiftlly excluded, and an
attempt has been recently made to exclude the sons of
tradesmen. These introductory remarks will best explain
the nature of end grounds fur the proceedings at this meet-
ing, embodying as it does facts, which our reporter gleaned
on the spot. Some time since, an influential and spirited
rah abitaut of the borough (Mr. G. Griffithe) bestirred him-
self in the matter, and an effort will shortly he made to in-
dium the Lord Chancellor to make such orders as shall have
the effect of re-opening the school to those for whom it was
intended. In the course of the proceedings at this meeting,
the following letters were read from the head master. The
first is addressed to a poor widow whose son was, at the time
it was written, on the foundation :
Mr.Cookln will be obliged by Mrs. Humphries' informing him
whether it is her intention to pay the sum due for her son's (elocution,
or whether it will be aesrry fur Mt. Coed ln to take steps for the re-
covery of the same.—Woodfield-house. March 19,
The following was received by a tradesman of the town
who had a desire ear his son to be a boarder in the school :
Deer ftir,—You will, I hope, excuse my writing to you once again
on the subject of your son, but, sa I feel a great Interest as well gem
rally in my whoa as separately in the several boys •ho join it, I am
balked to lay before you several grounds upon which I think It far
aurTorearddelilier brem
my for
67'17 salitthst Ibe should
indviittVdnget ie foundationnever good
for a boy to be a boarder in the same town in which he lives,
the daily meeting with those who are hie companions during
the holidays and as is this cam the daily passing his own
home severs' times a day, keeps a boy's mind continually unsettled,
and altogether indisposes him for study. Secondly, you wit, I am
sure, excuse my saying that the circumstance of your being in bode
sea In the same town will, I fear, operate prejudicially te your son
amongst his nwerantana. I have given the matter my very serious
consideration; and, although advising you contrary to ray see inte-
rests, I know that I am only acting civilly towards yourself and to.
wards your son In untlng upon you the necesdty of either pleciag your
sea upon the foundatlon of Kidderminster echoed (which you may do
at a coat of It. per quarter, and have every advantage whichthe school
offers), or else sending him to a school a shit distance from home. I
sinteredy hope you will adopt the former COUR*, as I am seeured It
will give you every siatisfaction.—Wittuu Locsire.
H. Brinton, Esq., a magistrate of the borough, moved the
first resolution, which, generally, expressed the disapproba-
tion of the meeting at the present system of conducting the
echoed. In the course of his speech he spoke of the advan-
tages of education, and of the necessity there woe, especially
in these times of depression in trade, that schools of this cha-
racter should be made what they were intended to be—
available to the poor. lie expressed an opinion that in this
school the master possessed too much power, and the feoffees
too little, and complained that of late years the mayor of the
town, who might be supposed generally to represent the
burgesses, had been systematically excluded from the (coffees.
He strongly condemned the system which had been adopted
of excluding the children of dissenters from this school,
especially after parliament had removed BO many dis-
abilities from that body ; and expressed a hope that
the Lord Chancellor would place the school on such a foot-
ing that it would benefit the inhabitants of the town, as in-
tended by its munificent founder.—Mr. G. Griffiths exposed
the system which had been adopted at the school of keeping
the boys on the foundation in the background, and allowing
the boarders to carry off all the prises at the e xhibition—a
circumstance which had drawn from the Bishop of Wor-
cester, the master of the echoed, an expression of his sur-
prise, and his wish that at the next exhihitien a greater
space would be occupied by the free scholars. This speaker,
at great length, dawned the abuses existing in the school:
he reads letter from Mr. Godson, M.P., who admitted" that
there was certainly much matter welch called fur explana-
tion and improvement." Re complained, =mover, that
the system of education pursued in tLis school
was very inefficient as a commercial education,
and entered into statistics to show that the in-
come of the head master of this school (inclusive of the
sum received for his boarders) was not much less than 1,3001.
a year. In conclusion, Mr. Griffiths said that he had offered
to give up all the money which had been raised to carry on
this suit in Chancery towards the relief of the poor in the
town during the winter, if some more liberal system was
adopted with reference to the free boys—one more really in
consonance with the purpose for which the endowment had
been made.—The other speakers were Mr. Councillor Yates,
Mr. Councillor Fawseett, Mr. Councillor Lloyd, Mr. Bran-
s:on, and others, who spoke of the invidious distinctions
made between the scholar on the foundation and the
boarders in the school, and detailed the various grievances
connected with its management. At the same time a very de-
termined purpose was manifested to obtain redress, if pot.
sible, from the Lord Chsncelor. The affair is exciting great
interest in the neighbourhood, and the meeting, which was a
very spirited one, broke up at three o'clock, all the resale-
tions having been passed unanimously. The precise amount
of the money drawn annually tram the endowment at this
sel.eul by the ftev. W. Cochin, its head master, does not ap-
pear to be very well known, but it is estimated at 4001. per
annum, in addition to a handsome residence and school-
house, on which alone 1,2001. was expended, aid the annual
value of which is estimated at 1201. a year.

DERBYE.MRE.
MURDER IN A LUNATIC AeTtuix.—A correspondent
says:—" Oa Monday a jury assembled at the Town-hall,
Derby, to investigate a serious ease, in the presence of the
mayor and visiting justices. From the evidence adduced I
collect the following particulars:—About six months ago a
young man, aged 23, very respectably connected, was *eat to
thu Derby asylum in a state of great imbecility of mind and
physical weakness. He was not a violent lunatic, and con-
sequently was not secluded. He associated with other
patients, perambulated the grounds, and even on the after-
noon of the day preceding the murder which caused the in-
vestigation, was asked by Mrs. Brigstock, the wile of the
physician who had charge of the asylum, to walk
with her, but he refused. Until within this
week or ten days past, a keeper slept in the
same room, but since that time the keeper slept with
two patients in an adjoining apartment, and the young
lunatic and • companion named Tomlinson (who was also
oonaidered harmless) slept by themselves. The ke. per saw
them in bed between seven and eight o'clock at night, and,
as usual, locked the door. About six o'clock on the follow-
big morning one of the patient., whose duty it was to get up
and light the fires, went to the keeper's room for a light,
whereupon Tomlinson commenced singing, as was cus-
tomary with him every morning when he beard
people stirring. The keeper heard him sing some little
time, when he ceased, and in about five minutes afterwards
an unusual noise was heard, which caused the keeper to leap
out of bed and rash into the room. It was not sufficiently
light to observe the state of things very minutely, but on
entering he sew the young lunatic standing by his bad-side,
with nothing. on but his shirt, and his companion Tomlinson
lying groaning upon the floor, in a state of nudity.
The keeper's first act was to " push the young
man down upon the bed, and cover him over;
his second, to fetch a light and assistance, and call Dr.
Brigstock. On returning to the room, Tomlinson had
breathed his Int. His skull was split, lower jaw broken, and
several teeth knocked out, and a pool of blood lay upon the
floor. On making further search, a piece of thick woo d was
found is scorner of the room, which was stained with blood ;
this piece of wood proved to be a lath taken from the bed on
which the murderer slept; and it is conjectured that
the deceased was in the act of changing his
shirt, when his companion sprang out of bed, and
struck him several blows with the lath. He denied the
act and would act believe that Tomlinson was dead. Dur-
ing the investigation the prisoner looked bewildered, and
frequently muttered something in an inaudible voice. He
looked thin and emaciated. Tnis occurrence has thrown tie
relations into great grief, and I have foreborne mentioning
his name on their account. He was committed to the
county gaol on a &ergs of wilful murder, and now awaits
his Vial.
DZVONSIIIRE.
BURGLARY AND MURDER.—Several robberies have
recently been committed in and near Crediton. On Friday
a farmer, named Wallington, was roused in the night by
burglars who, not content • ith stealing his money, beat him
very severely on the head with bludgeons. On the follow-
ing night the house of an aged woman named Holman, at
Taphuuse, Tedbury St. Mary, was broken, into, and from
the appearance of the premises next day, it is supposed she
made some resistance, for her body was found quite lifeless
on her bed ; a chest of drawers and a chair being upon rer,
where they had apparently been placed to suffocate her. The
murderers have net yet been discovered.
PUBEYISM IN PLTmotrni.—A oorreepondent says:
On Saturday last a meeting was held at the Central-hall,
Plymouth, 'to rake into consideration the best means of
protesting against the extraordinary services performed by
the Rev. G. R. Pry nne at St. Peter's Church, on the pre.
ceding Sunday morning." The Bishop of Exeter, availing
himself of bir Robert Peel's Act, h.,ss been endeavouring to
erect some seven or eight district chapels, which would have
the ecclesiastical character of pariah churches under that
statute. The Rev. John Hawker, who for • series of years
occupied Bided Chapel, dying, efforts were made to pur-
chase that chapel for one of these district churches. It was
reported that the Roman catholics were in treaty for that
edifice, and subscriptions were freely given to the Rev. Mr.
Godfrey, who held his appointment from the Treasury—sub-
scriptions contributed both by dissenters and churchmen, icor
the purchase and conversion of B.dail Chapel into a district
church. Subsequently Mr. Goan, was ordered
and the mond Lamination being with tim
-11
; • •t;,-:4,
1-2: 21
Fal
Is it • 7/10