The following is a typical entry in the Account Book:

On March 12, 1686.

Interest and Bonds for ye Schoole

L s. d. Antho. Armitstead 00 10 00 Tho. Brayshay 00 05 00 Antho. Barrows 00 05 00 Tho. Stackhouse 00 08 09 Robte. Cookson 00 10 00 Tho. Carr, of Settle, at 1/2 year for L20 00 10 00 Nathaniel More at L20 01 00 00 Robte. Cookson at L100 05 00 00 Hugh Stackhouse at L10 00 10 00 Mr. Wildman at L20 01 00 00

The Mr. Wildman here referred to may have been the Usher, who belonged to a Giggleswick family but had given up the post of Usher, which at this date was held by John Sparke formerly of Christ's and possibly the same as the John Sparke who was Vicar of Long Preston in 1703. William Brigge had also left in 1684 and for six months his work was taken by a former Usher, John Parkinson, who had matriculated as a Sizar at Christ's in 1676 and after taking his degree came for two years as Usher in place of Wildeman. On Brigge's death he acted as Headmaster, but whether he was definitely appointed such or was intended to be in charge for a short time only is doubtful, as he died in six months.

June 12, 1685. "Mr John Armittsteade entred to ye Schole."

John Armitstead was born at Long Preston in 1660, and after being at Giggleswick as a boy, he went up to Cambridge at the age of nineteen with a Burton Exhibition. He was entered as a Sizar at Christ's, and commenced B.A. in 1682-3 and M.A. 1688. The name of Armitstead has been very closely connected with the School even to the present day.

Henry Roome was Usher for one quarter in 1688 and then gave place to Richard Atkinson or Akinson, whose salary varied from year to year, but never exceeded a certain limit, viz.: just half the Master's, which consisted of "ye ancient Master's Stipend" of twenty marks and a gratuity which brought it between L40 and L50. There are also small entries in places, such as:

October 1, 1687.

Paid to Mr. Armitstead for repairs about ye schoole loft and garden that he had laid out, as particulars may appeare, which noate of particulars he delivered to ye summe of L4 17s. 06d. In which noate theire was a Presse that stands in ye schoole chamber, it is theire to remaine to belonge to ye schoole.

Richard Ellershaw, the Vicar, took a very great interest in the School, and in 1718 he wrote to Christ's College, Cambridge, seeking information about the Carr Scholarships. It was probably due to him that in 1693 two shillings was laid down for transcribing part of Carr's Will, which money "the schollars that receive Burton Exhibitions must then (i.e. 1694) allow to the school stock."

One point of interest remains connected with this period: it is a curious slip of paper without date, which contains an invitation to the reader, whoever he may have been, to visit the writer J.N. in the country. It is written on the back of some of Armitstead's accounts, with an alternative version by its side, which was no doubt a revised copy of the theme after correction by the Master:

Ex animo rogo ut rus venias quod cupio tuo frui sodalitio tum quia tua frequentia haud parvam ferat consolationem parentibus natu grandioribus, persuasum habeto alii qui potentiores sunt et pluribus abundant divitiis plura in te conferant beneficia sed nemo libentiori et promptiori est animo tuum promovere honorem quam humillimus servus. J.N.

Permultum cupio rus venias et quod vehemens est desiderium tuo frui comercio, tum quod tua frequentia admodum esset consolabilis parentibus senilibus, certum habeto alii tum potentiores tum divitiores plura tibi faciant beneficia sed nemo et libentior et promtior est tuam ornare dignitatem quam servus humillimus. J.N.

The money left to the School by Josias Shute was in part intended to be paid to the poor of the parish, together with two further sums of five shillings left by William Clapham and nine shillings by Mr. Thornton for the same purpose. It is difficult to note the payment of these sums, for they were as a rule added together and entered as "For the Poor Fund," but in 1695 there was paid to:

L s. d. John Grime Wilkinson 00 02 00 Wm. Nelson 00 01 00 Bryan Cookson 00 07 00 J Robinson 00 01 00 Mary Pert 00 01 00 Thos. Cocket 00 01 00 Ric. Harrison 00 01 00 L00 14 00

Shute's surplus was certainly given to the poor in some years but there is no consistent record and by the scheme made under the Endowed Schools Acts it ceased. In 1692 "Arthur, son of Joshua Whitaker, of Settle, appearing to us to be ye poorest schollar that stood candidate for ye said gift" was allowed the Shute Exhibition of L5. He also received L7 of the Burton Rents, and in May, 1698, as much as L9 10s. 0d. With these sums he was enabled to go to Christ's College, Cambridge, where he gained a Scholarship and by the year 1698 in March, which under the new style would be March 1699, he had returned to the School as Usher, in succession to Richard Akinson. He taught for fifteen years and received as usual, just half the Headmaster's stipend, the amount varying between L23 and L27. On March 12, 1712, the following entry occurs: "Recd of ye Governors of ye free Gramar School of Gigleswick ye sum of two pounds eighteen shillings and sixpence for ye use of my brother Wm. Foster, now Curate of Horsefield," but it turns out to be a payment of that part of the Exhibition to which he was entitled, up till the time he had left Cambridge, presumably in the previous June.

John Armitstead's receipts end in 1704, and he died in 1712. It is impossible to determine the worth of a Master, when so few documents remain to judge him, but the Governors of 1768 thought fit to refer to "the artful and imperious temper of Mr. Armitstead." Their particular grievance was that in 1704 the Governors had a balance of L230 with which they purchased a farm called Keasden. This they let and its profits went to the Master and Usher, and in 1712 the "easy, complying disposition of the Governors" was persuaded to allow the Master to collect the rents of all the lands belonging to the School and simply enter a receipt "of the wages now due to us." Consequently no accounts were kept from 1704 till 1765, and because there was no reserve fund presumably no repairs were done. The Master collected the rents and with his Usher divided the spoil. He even seized the L15 which remained over from the purchase money of the Keasden farm. Nor was this all. Up to the year 1705 the Master paid for the expenses of the Governors' Meetings but in that year the Governors were persuaded to deduct sixpence in the pound from the Exhibitions given to the boys going up to the Universities. This deduction continued till the nineteenth century. Judging then from the opinions of the Governors fifty years later, John Armitstead was not wholly an altruist. It is still more unfortunate that his evil lived after him.

The number of Scholars, who went up to Cambridge in his time though less than it had been, was still considerable. During his twenty-eight years, as many as twenty-seven went to Christ's alone, including the first Paley who is known to have been educated at the School. The greater proportion always went to Christ's until the last decade of the eighteenth century, but other Colleges received them also, notably at certain periods S. John's.



CHAPTER VI.

The Eighteenth Century.

John Armitstead ceased to acknowledge the receipt of his wages in 1704 and died in 1712. Just as he had belonged to a local family and had been educated at the School and Christ's College, Cambridge, so was his successor.

John Carr, A.B., late of Stackhouse, was a descendant of the original James and Richard Carr and was thus the third member of the family to hold the Mastership. He had been elected to the combined Exhibitions from the School in 1707, and after taking his degree he was ordained Deacon at York in 1713 and Priest in 1720. On June 18, 1712, as a layman and at the age of twenty-three he entered upon his duties as Master. Seven days later a relative, of what degree is uncertain, William Carr, of Langcliffe, was elected a Governor, and eight years later another William Carr, of Stackhouse, and hence probably a closer connexion, possibly his father, was also made a Governor. In 1726 George Carr was made Usher. The family circle was complete.

After 1704 the position of Usher had been successively filled by Anthony Weatherhead, a former pupil of Armitstead's and a B.A. of Christ's, by Thos. Rathmell from whom there are no receipts but who died in 1712, and by Richard Thornton, who held it for fourteen years. There is no record that he was ever a member of the School as a boy, but it is a legitimate conjecture, when it is remembered that the Thorntons were an old family in the neighbourhood, and one of them figures in the Minute-Book, 1692, as having left nine shillings to the Giggleswick poor.

On the day on which John Carr was elected Master he had to sign an agreement in the following terms:

June 18, 1712.

Conditions on which a master shall be chosen.

1. He shall observe all the statutes of the schoole.

2. And particularly the writing master shall hereafter be chosen by ye Governours at the usuall day of meeting in March and ye time to be appointed by the Master, as has been formerly practic'd.

3. That the masters shall, upon receipt of any moneys from Northcave, Rise, etc., acquaint at least one of ye Governours, when such moneys are paid to them, give the said Governour or Governours an acquittance under their hands, and ye moneys receiv'd to be entred into the schoole booke and the private acquittance given to be delivered back to the masters on the day of meeting in march aforesaid.

4. That ye masters shall take the rents of the Keasden lands, when due, and give an acquittance for the same to the Governours on the usuall day of March.

5. Whereas ye statutes enjoyn that the Governours, when they meet about ye business of ye school, shall be content with moderate charges, it is agreed that those moderate charges on ye usuall day of meeting in March shall not exceed at any one meeting the sum of one pound per Annum.

To ye above written articles, I, John Carr, A.B., give my consent and promise to observe them.

JOHN CARR.

It cannot be explained why these regulations were made, but probably the real point of friction had lain in the collection of rents, or perhaps in the choice of the Writing Master. It is clear from the second clause that the original custom has not changed much. The Ancient Statutes of 1592 had given the Master power to appoint a three weeks vacation, when he wished, in order that the "scollers" might "be exercysed in wrytinge under a scriviner" and it is the same in 1712. It proves that, although the School was a free school and was the place of education for the whole township of Giggleswick and the surrounding neighbourhood, it was not a place for elementary education and never had been.

The fifth paragraph bears reference to the agreement made with John Armitstead in 1705, by which the Masters ceased to provide the entertainment at the Governors' Meetings. Henceforward the amount to be expended is limited to one pound per annum.

In 1720 Richard Thornton was allowed to act as Clerk to Charles Harris, Esq., for six months. It does not transpire who Charles Harris was, but the case is somewhat paralleled seventy years later, when in 1793 Robert Kidd is "to take the trouble of keeping accounts, etc., for the Governors and be allowed an additional sum of two guineas per annum."

In 1726 Richard Thornton resigned and George Carr took his place. Nothing worthy of note is recorded until John Carr's death in 1744, save that in 1728 the said John Carr received L1 11s. 8d., "to be laid out in building a little house for ye use of ye schoole," but what it was, is not known. The number of boys going up to the Universities in Carr's time fell off unaccountably, though they included John Cookson whose entry "probe edoctus" in the Christ's College Admission Book testifies to the teaching in the School.

Carr died in 1743 and was succeeded by William Paley. Born at Langcliffe, educated at the School and admitted into Christ's as a Sizar with a Burton Exhibition in 1729-30, William Paley gained a Scholarship there two years later. He became ordained and was made Vicar of Helpston, Peterborough, where his eldest son was born. He remained Vicar for sixty-four years till his death and combined the living with the Headmastership of Giggleswick and for twenty years with a Curacy at the Parish Church.

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 coarse 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 assistance (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 L400, which in this neighbourhood was almost sufficient to confer the title of an heiress (Some Craven Worthies).



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 Scholarship, when he entered. As a boy he had been a fair scholar with eccentric habits. His great delight was in cock-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 entitled 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 assisted 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, Cumberland, at L80 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 passed 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 L90 and L45, 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 L13 6s. 8d. 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 L13 6s. 8d. "being a year's salary as Headmaster; and likewise from the said Governors L83 6s. 8d. 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 L140 a year and of this the Master and Usher were to be given L135 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 anticipating 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 fashion. 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 passed 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 L1,120 for one thousand years. The whole of the money was at once expended; and nearly L500 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 L208 and eleven years later to L347 while in 1780 L400 would be a closer estimate.

The Shute Exhibition rents had also increased steadily. In 1739 they were L9 4s. 6d., twenty-five years later L13 9s. and in 1786 over L15. The Masters' salaries were therefore increased. In 1768 the Archbishop had fixed the minimum of Master and Usher at L90 and L45. A few years later L96 was given and in 1776 the sums of L151 and L75, each with a few shillings. In 1784 a new scheme was evolved, William Paley received L180, John Moore's successor—Smith—L70, and a third Master who was apparently engaged to teach Writing and Accounts, and first appears in 1786, received L20 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 L1 10s. 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 advertisement 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 L1 8s. 6d., 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 L3 7s.

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 3s. 6d. on Thos. Paley's house in Langcliffe, had been gradually accumulating. Few Exhibitions were given and the surplus was put into the capital account. In 1780 the general fund borrowed L160 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 L40, 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.



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 Jacobum 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 L276 16s. 81/4d. 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 L13 6s. 8d. and of the Usher to L6 13s. 4d.

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 L350 to L700 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 assistants 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 L200 a year and the Usher's stipend not less than L100 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 assistant or assistants 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 L30 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 L30 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 Classical 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 Institution 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 L200 and the Usher a minimum of L100, for it would tend to make them "independent of the Governors;" he therefore preferred "to leave it in the breasts of the Governors to reward them according to their merit," but he allowed a minimum to be inserted in each case, for the Master L100, for the Usher L50. A Writing Master was also to be appointed, and such other Assistants "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 L20 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 L30 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, Lancashire, 3rd April, 1792.

Revd. Sir,

Having perused your Advertisement in Wright's Paper for a Writing-Master and Accountant for the free Grammar School at Giggleswick in your neighbourhood, I take this Opportunity of offering myself as a Candidate for that Office....

The Salary is but small but from the Tenor of your Advertisement, I am inclined to believe that from my assiduity and care, I should soon be able to increase it.

I have studied the French and Italian Languages grammatically and have travelled thro' many Parts of Italy, France and Spain, after 4 years Residence in a Counting House at Leghorn—I will thank you, Revd. Sir, if you will candidly inform me pr Return of Post, whether these two Languages will be useful in your Part and how far Giggleswick is from Settle; also for a particular description of the Place.—For if it be populous, my Wife will carry on her Business, which is that of Mantua making.

I have been twice at Settle, but it is a long time ago. I was private Pupil to the Rev. Mr Shuttleworth B.A., Curate of our Village, upwards of 12 years and from him and from the neighbouring Gentlemen and Clergy, I can obtain the needful; provided you think it wd answer for me to come over with my Family and settle.

I should like a neat House, with a good garden to it and Accommodations for a few boarders.

Most Elections, in different Departments of Life, are very unfair and partial and if you suppose this is likely to be the case on the present Occasion, your Candour will infinitely oblige me and be instrumental in preventing my further trouble.

Your friendly reply as soon as possible will be deem'd a great favour conferr'd on

revd. Sir, Yr mo obedt Sert, JOHN WOOLFENDEN.

He was not selected.

All candidates, or nearly all, sent with their letters of application beautifully written testimonials in different styles to shew their proficiency, one unfortunately made a bad blot. They were also put through an examination in Arithmetic, when they assembled on the day of election. One confessed to being a member "of ye old Established Church," another "hoped to continue so." Finally, Robert Kidd was chosen. His letter of application is particularly interesting, both because of its beauty and because he says: "I have a good circuit for half-a-year, and if attendance from January to middle of the year, or from Midsummer to January will suit at Giggleswick," he would be ready to come. From this he appears to have been one of the old type of Scrivener, who paid regular visits to different Schools, and for whom the Ancient Statutes of 1592 allowed a special vacation to the Scholars. He wrote on April 8, from Whalley Grammar School, and a special messenger was sent to fetch him at a cost of 5s. In the following year he wrote an elaborate address to the Governors, in which he said, "Permit me to say, I have been a faithful labourer and Disciplinarian in your School. You are truly sensible of the Inequality of the Attendance and Salaries. Now Gentlemen, if it be consistent with your Approbation, and the Institution of your Seminary, to make a small adjustment, the Favor shall be gratefully acknowledged." He was accordingly "put to the trouble of Keeping Accounts, etc., for the Governors," and paid an additional two guineas a year.

Archbishop Markham agreed to the alteration of the Statutes with regard to the Governors themselves, and thenceforward a newly elected Governor was to protest and swear to be faithful etc., in the presence of any two Governors, instead of before the Vicar as formerly; and the privilege of summoning meetings was taken away from the Vicar and given to any two Governors. Further, any five, duly assembled, had the power to act and proceed with business, and "the determination of the major part of them shall be final and conclusive."

The Scholars moreover were at liberty to receive annual rewards and gratuities, in such manner as the Governors may deem "best calculated to excite a laudable emulation." Thus in 1798 three guineas were distributed among them in the presence of the Masters and Governors:

L s. d. Jno. Carr 1 1 0 Jno. Bayley 0 10 6 Enoch Clementson 0 7 0 Wm. Bradley 0 7 0 Jno. Howson 0 7 0 Richd. Paley 0 3 6 Richd. Preston 0 3 6 Jams. Foster 0 3 6

Any Scholar who had attended at the School for the last three years of his education could receive an Exhibition with which to attend any English University, provided that the Governors always reserved in their hands a sufficient sum for the necessary Repairs of the School, and also of a House for the habitation of the Master, if and when such a House should be built.

Mr. Smith, who had been acting as Usher but without a license from the Archbishop, resigned in 1792 and Nicholas Wood succeeded him. Possibly he had been educated at the School, for in 1796 a letter was sent to the Archbishop from the Governors saying that they had appointed Nicholas Wood, of Giggleswick, Clerk, to be Usher, and praying the Archbishop to give him a license "subject to the said Statutes and Ordinances," which had been agreed upon.

The new power to grant an increase of salary was soon exercised and in 1797 the Headmaster received L250, the Usher L100, "in case of Diligence and good Conduct" and the Assistant L60 provided that he assisted the Governors when necessary in "transacting the business of their Trust" and taught Writing and Arithmetic to the free School Scholars, "every boy who has been at the free School one month to be entitled." In the following year Robert Kidd was allowed L70 on condition that he "gives due attention on every day in the year, Saturdays, Sundays and one month at Christmas only excepted and that, when any boy is initiated into the ffree School he will not take any pay in case such Boy or Boys should attend his School, altho' they may not have been a month at the ffree School."

The matter of prizes is also taken up and a certain sum, which is not named, was allotted to each of the three head classes and was to be expended on books, which should be given to the best Scholar of each class. No class was to compete which had less than nine boys and they were to be examined once every year in the presence of the Governors.

The Master was required to see that the boys in the higher department of the School had their conversation during School hours in Latin. This was evidently a throw-back to the Ancient Statutes of 1592, when they were at least given the alternative of Greek or Hebrew. Further they said "conceiding that a Boy may improve in writing as much by an exercise as a copy, they recommend that every boy be obliged to write his exercise in the high or Writing School, under the inspection of the Writing Assistant and each exercise to have his (i.e. the Assistant's) initials affixed to signify that such Boy wrote his best, not to signify whether a good or bad Exercise."

It will be remembered that in the house that James Carr built, the lower part was for advanced teaching, the higher for writing. The distinction had apparently continued and the upper portion alone had materials for writing. Certain it is that each portion was wholly distinct from the other, and Usher and Assistant were masters in their own domain. In June, 1797, the Governors decided that attention should be paid to Classics in the Writing Department and Nicholas Wood, the Usher, was asked to undertake the work but refused, whereupon Mr. Clayton an Assistant in the Classical Work was requested to do so and accepted the duty for an additional remuneration of L10.

These two men held an interesting position. Wood certainly had a freehold, and Clayton was difficult to remove, so that in 1798 the Governors decided that an Assistant should "be provided during the summer months to teach the Classical Scholars, unless Mr. Wood and Mr. Clayton in three days signifie that one of them will teach." Fortunately Mr. Wood at once agreed to do so. It referred, no doubt, to the Classical Scholars in the Writing Department, whom Wood had refused to instruct, but when Clayton undertook the work and received L10 for his trouble, Wood relented.

Two months later the Governors issued a pathetic appeal that the "Master's Assistant and Usher be requested to attend better at the School." It was July and only in the previous April Robert Kidd's salary had been raised to L70 on stringent conditions of attendance.

The numbers of the School were growing apace, for twice in 1798 it was resolved to advertise for a Mathematical Assistant. At the same meeting 25s. was allowed to the Master's Assistant "for the purpose of providing fuel during the winter and no collection shall be made from the Scholars." The Staff seem to have been a little difficult. Nicholas Wood refused to sign a receipt in full for his wages when he was only being paid a part, and the Governors resolved to "withold the remainder of his salary."

Robert Kidd and Nicholas Wood left the School in April, 1799, and John Carr, of Beverley, took Kidd's place. Wood's post was filled by Clayton, who was made Usher at a salary of L100 a year, "provided he conducts himself to the satisfaction of the Governors or a majority of them," and agreed to teach five days a week.

Some difficulty arose, and on May 11 there is a minute saying that "Mr. Wood and Mr. Kidd had been settled with." Wood seems to have been dependent on his wife, who could not make up her mind whether she wished to stay or go.

For the post of Usher there were several applicants as well as Clayton, who got testimonials from Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he had behaved himself with "sobriety." One of the applicants went so far as to give an extract in Hebrew writing in order to shew his capacity. The study of Hebrew in the School had perhaps not lapsed. He further stated that he did not consider it necessary to learn Latin and Greek first, in order to get a good knowledge of Hebrew. A sound foundation in English was sufficient, though he hastened to declare that he was perfectly capable of teaching Latin and Greek "with quickness and accuracy."

An advertisement had before appeared with a view to electing a Mathematical Assistant, and was worded thus:

"Whereas the Revenue of the Free Grammar School of King Edward the Sixth at Giggleswick is very much increased. The Governors for that Charity wishing to appropriate the same to be as useful to the Community at Large as possible, have resolved to appoint an ASSISTANT to teach Mathematics in all its Branches, to commence the First Week of February, 1799, provided there be Three Young Men at that Time inclined to be instructed therein."

Therefore, NOTICE is hereby given,

That Classics, Mathematics, Writing and Accompts, etc., will be taught free of any Expense to any Person in the Kingdom.

Such Persons as wish to be instructed in Mathematics are desired to signify their Intention by Letter addressed to the Governors of Giggleswick School, on or before Michaelmas Day next, in order that an Assistant may be obtained.

Certain School holidays were fixed at the same meeting. They were to be the 12th and 13th of March (Potation Day and its successor), Monday and Tuesday in Easter Week, Monday and Tuesday in Whitsun-week, two days at Laurence Mass (Lammas), one month at Christmas, and "one month to commence the first Monday after the 5th day of July annually."

But while the difficulties with the Usher and the Assistants were developing, the attitude of the Head Master was not altogether satisfactory. In December, 1798, "Mr. Preston reports that Rev. Mr. Paley refuses his resignation upon such terms as the Governors are inclined to receive ... therefore resolved that the Recorder be applyed to for every matter that the Governors are doubtful about." William Paley was a man of considerable age, and disinclined to believe that he was unfit for his work. The Governors had recognized the possibility that he would not be strong enough for his duties, when in 1797 they had agreed to give him a salary of L250 "for the time that School shall be taught by him or by a sufficient and diligent Assistant." Clayton probably acted as the Assistant. Yet in December, 1798, the Governors' patience was exhausted, for they had already questioned Miss Elizabeth Paley on the subject, and she appears to have given grounds for hoping that her father would resign, but on the twenty-ninth he definitely refused. They waited another nine months, and on September 28, 1799, they adjourned their meeting to October 5, "as the present Master is not considered to survive many days." On September 29 he lay dead.

For fifty-five years William Paley had presided over the destinies of the School and his work may fitly be compared with that of his great predecessor Christopher Shute. Both had taken up their work, when the fortunes of the School were at a low ebb. Shute had watched the careful saving of the School money, until they had been able to purchase "the school-house and yard in 1610 and a cart-road in the same yard and liberty for the schollers to resort to a certain spring to drink and wash themselves 1619, and likewise a garden for the use of the Masters and several other good things." Paley had become Head Master in 1744 when no accounts were kept, when the Master and Usher appropriated all the money from the rents and when the boys were few in number. Rapidly matters began to mend. His own son William left the School in 1759 already a scholar and destined to a lasting fame. Thomas Proctor was a boy at the School between 1760 and 1770, and became a great sculptor. His "Ixion" exhibited in 1785 is still recognized as a work of genius. William Carr, of the same family as James Carr, the founder of the School, won a Scholarship at University College, Oxford in 1782, a Fellowship at Magdalen 1787, and settled down at Bolton Rectory in 1789. His literary tastes brought him the friendship of Wordsworth, and he became famous as the breeder of a heifer of remarkable proportions.

One of Paley's pupils—Thomas Kidd—probably a member of the same family as the Writing Assistant, a family who had lived in the neighbourhood certainly since 1587—wrote from Trinity College, Cambridge, to the Vicar, the Rev. John Clapham, in 1792:

Revd. Sir,

I recd your Draught of L26 0s. 0d. April 19, 92. Mr. Jas. Foster left the University in March. I was very happy to congratulate him on his being elected Fellow of S. John's Col. by that respectable Society and I hope that he will be able to assert this honour legally x x x. I am sincerely sorry that the Governors are not pleased that I so long deferred to send a certificate of my residence, if it is an offence, it is involuntary:—and for the future it shall be sent in due time and nearly, I expect in the same formula. For what business have I in the country previous to "taking" my degree?

There aren't any I remember in the country, some here, who affect to despise what they cannot understand; such enterprising critics and fastidiously hypercritics, men of truly philosophical penetration—of a truly classical taste spurn aside the coarse beverage to be found in Gr. mss. scholiasts and various lections; but

[Greek: all' aidesai men ... en lygro gera proleipon ... metera ... he me pollakis theo aratai zonta pros domous molein.]

This appeals to the feelings: but we must attend to general consequences.

Please to present my respects to my worthy master Mr. Paley—let him know that we have this year gone through Mechanics—Locke on the H.U., Duncan and Watts, etc. Logick—Dr. T. Clarke and Dr. Foster on the Attributes, Mr. Paley's Moral and P. Phil.—Spherical Trigonometry—and are going to lectures in Astronomy—That I have written a Gr. Ode in Sapphics—that it has been examined—that I am advised to hazard it in the Lottery.

This year has been distinguished for remarkable events in the litterary world, wh our narrow limits will not permit us to mention.—The learned Dr. Parr began an edition of Horace—it will come out a 4to on Human Evidence—(a very interesting subject in Jurisprudence)—caused by a political frate.—Porson will vacate the University Scholarship next October.

I am your most obliged humble servant, T. KIDD.

Trin. Coll., Camb., April 24—92.

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 L140 in 1768 was valued at L750 in 1795. The Exhibition Fund had no balance in 1765, while nine years later there was L100 in the bank. A new School had been built, the teaching staff increased and new Statutes made. Surely a great and enviable Headmastership.



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 advertisement to the effect that a vacancy had occurred and that candidates would be examined by the Archbishop of York in Classics, Mathematics, "or any other Branch of Literature, his Grace may think proper." The salary was to be from L100—L300 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 Sussex, Cambridge—Headmasters of various Grammar Schools, were all candidates. One Isaac Cook—Headmaster of Ripon—explained as shewing the high value of his Classical 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 Mastership 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.



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 Classical Medal. He was a B.D. and a late Fellow and Tutor of Sidney Sussex 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 L300 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 L80 a year declared in June, 1800, that he would not continue to teach under L100. 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 Assistant. 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 Classics, in order to enable its pupils to go up to the University with a Scholarship 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 Scholarships 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 L70 a year, Carr in the following March received L80 and clamoured for L100. In 1801 owing to the increase of numbers the son of Mrs. Mary Bradley acted as his Assistant for a few months and later in the year Carr engaged his own son, whom the Governors allowed to remain, until a permanent Assistant was appointed. The Governors passed and re-passed 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 pass through the portals of the Classics but the get-educated-quick had no time for such methods. Clementson was paid L50 and, when he demanded an increase, was graciously allowed an additional L20 "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 L30—Clementson having left—and Carr resigned in January, 1807. In that month he received a last payment of L5 5s., 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 L100 a year. In 1809 he received L150 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 establishing 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 5s. 4d. 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 L50 and hire an Assistant. 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 L50 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 Classical Assistant in 1806; the Governors at that time had proposed to offer L50 as a fit salary, but as no candidate had appeared on the day of election, it was raised to L100.

Ingram was an energetic man at the beginning of his Headmastership 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. Advertisements 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 class, 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 5s. reward was offered to anyone giving information about persons breaking School windows, and in 1834 the bill was over L7. 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 L800 from the North Cave Estate, which five years later was valued at L1,287 but was not let at this valuation. At the time of the Report of 1825 the rental was considered to be about L1,140. The Exhibition Fund had also risen from L26 in 1801 to L37 15s. in 1821, and twice it reached L40. 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-assigned. 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 L1,190, and in addition to this the Governors had paid off the debt of L1,120, which had been incurred owing to the enclosure of Walling Fen. They were paying Ingram L510 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 L205; and William Stackhouse L150. 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 advertisement for a Writing Master in 1792 they gave the salary as L30 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 Assistant was still being discussed in 1802. In October of the same year John Nicholson was commissioned to erect it at a cost of L700. It was finished in 1804, and Nicholson undertook to repair a house for the accommodation of the Usher or Assistant at a cost of L250.



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 assistance, 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 L60. Howson also was having money spent upon his house. In 1817 he had a new kitchen built at the cost of L100 and seven years later he received L120 to repair his house, while his salary had already been increased L5 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 Scholarship there and also received money from the Tennant Exhibition Fund. He took some University prizes, and a first class in both Classics 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 constitution 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 L1,500) 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 L350 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 1s. a head, they had eight bottles of Wine, 12s. 6d. worth of Punch, and Ale 4s. 6d. In 1802 ten had dinner at 2s. 6d. a head, nine had supper. They drank fourteen bottles of Wine, on Rum and Brandy they spent 15s. 6d., and on Ale 4s. 6d. 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 5s. 6d. worth, and in 1807 they had some but it cannot be asserted 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 Butterton, 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."



It will be as well to pause here and remark this very notable statement. Reformers had been at work before, but their effect had been very slight. They had succeeded in establishing a Writing Master, whose duty it was to give free elementary instruction. Now, forty years later, dissatisfaction was surging in the breasts of the Governors, because the elementary instruction was too elementary, and because its spirit did not pervade the whole School. Now for the first time was it laid down that the business of a School was to train its children so as to fit them in some obvious manner for the work of their life. Latin and Greek and Hebrew had become the touchstone of education, primarily because they were the "holy" languages, and after Religion had long ceased to be the mainspring of education, their intrinsic merits fell into the background. Utility became a more pungent argument. Secondly, the Governors decided that the Endowment and Statutes, together with the particulars of the income of the School, should be laid before a competent Chancery Barrister who should suggest a system of education upon a more extended scale.

The necessity for some alteration in the Statutes was established by the refusal of the Governors in 1844 to accede to Mr. Ingram's desire for a new Assistant. They declared that such an arrangement was not contemplated by the Charter and Statutes and therefore could not be made. An impossible situation had arisen, and the Statutes must be revised. But there was one difficulty. A new Scheme could not be carried out except on the appointment of a new Headmaster or with his willing consent. Ingram was approached upon the subject and declared his readiness to retire on a pension of L300 a year, and with permission to continue to occupy his official residence, Craven Bank. He was seventy-eight years old, and in view of his long service to the School, his request could scarcely be denied. Four years later he died, and like his predecessor, William Paley, was buried in Giggleswick Church, amidst a great gathering of men who came to bear tribute to "his truly Christian character."

His resignation had paved the way for a new Scheme, in accordance with the Act passed in 1841, for "improving the condition and extending the benefits of Grammar Schools." The Scheme was drawn up by the Governors, commented on by Arthur Lynch, Master in Chancery, 1844, and in the next year confirmed by the Vice-Chancellor of England. It will be well to examine the Report in some detail. In the first place the Bishop of Ripon was in all cases substituted for the Archbishop of York, where the latter had jurisdiction. Secondly, the 1795 Statutes were wholly omitted and of the earlier Ordinances of 1592, only such were retained as were in tune with the spirit of the age.

New regulations were also added. The Headmaster must be a Clergyman of the Church of England, and a Master of Arts. He must be a good Classical Scholar and a Mathematician, thoroughly capable of teaching both subjects, and qualified to teach Logic, Rhetoric, English in all its branches, and Moral and Political Philosophy. The requirements in an Usher were less exceptional. He must be a member of the Church of England, but need not be in Orders. He should be capable of taking the higher Classical Forms occasionally, be skilled in English, and rather less advanced Mathematics, and have an elementary knowledge of Modern Science. He was to be appointed by the Governors.

The salary of the Headmaster was to be a minimum payment of L210 and a maximum of L360, with a house; the Usher was to receive a house and L150 and a capitation fee of L2, which was so limited that it was only possible to rise to L210. Each could receive ten boarders. Other Assistants might be employed, but their united salaries were not to exceed L230. The retiring age was fixed at sixty-five, when the Master and Usher would be granted a pension, but the Governors could extend the services of either beyond the age limit, if they so willed. The surplus funds were to be used in such a way as to make the Exhibition money from the Burton Rents, etc., up to L70 a year. The Bishop of Ripon was to appoint an Examiner every Christmas, and receive a Report from him. Holidays were fixed for a month in the Summer and at Christmas, three days each at Easter and Whitsuntide, in addition to the Saturday and Sunday and Good-Friday. Every Saturday and the day of riding the Parish boundaries were to be whole holidays.

Further, the arrangements by which one Master relieved another in case of illness or absence, the place where each Master should sit in School, the disposition of the School into Forms and Classes, the amount of time to be devoted to each branch of instruction—provided always that every boy should learn some Latin and Greek—all these questions of internal arrangement, which were essentially within the province of the Headmaster, were to be agreed upon by the Governors and reduced to writing.

It is almost inconceivable that such a scheme was ever put on paper, yet it lived for twenty years. The Headmaster was bound and shackled beyond belief. He could not appoint or dismiss his Masters, he had no power to admit boys into the School, nor, unless they were "altogether negligent and incapable of learning," could he remove them. He was powerless. Ingram had retired in 1844, and the scheme then had gone forward and been completed before a new Headmaster was appointed. Thus the details of the management of the School were settled, quite irrespective of the point of view of the man who was to be responsible.

In August, 1845, the Governing Body—eight discreet men—met to appoint Ingram's successor. There was, as in 1800, a strong list of applicants, but the choice fell unanimously on the Rev. George Ash Butterton, D.D., late Fellow of S. John's College, Cambridge, and at the time Headmaster of Uppingham School. As a boy he had been fortunate enough to have been one of Kennedy's Sixth Form pupils at Shrewsbury School, and his subsequent success at Cambridge shewed that he was among the ablest Scholars of his year.

The first three years passed uneventfully. Small alterations were made in the School, and with the aid of L150 from the Governors, he added a wing to his house at Craven Bank. In 1849 he desired the Governors, in accordance with the scheme, to appoint a Master for teaching Modern Languages, but they were unwilling to do this "until such addition shall have been made to the School, as will afford suitable accommodation for such a Master and his class." This is the first intimation that the Governors were considering the question of building. Complaints had been made before that numbers were increasing and exceeding the limits of the room or the staff, but nothing had been done. Now, however, the question was actively taken up.

The immediate resolve was to build an addition of a Library and a Class-room for Modern Languages, and further to raise the School-rooms and give them better light and ventilation. Many Subscriptions were offered by the Masters, Old Pupils, and other friends of the School, towards a more ornamental style of building than the School funds could afford. The Architects' plans grew, and it was soon found that very little of the old structure would remain. Consequently in 1850 it was decided to build the School afresh from its foundations.



Finance troubled the Governors much, for they did not feel justified in spending more Trust money than was essential for the upkeep of the School. The Library and the new Class-room were essential, and the Governors were prepared to find the money for them, but the rest they hoped to receive from outside help. They put forward a statement of the need, and the resulting subscriptions were very satisfactory. Two Old Boys and sons of the Usher, the Rev. John Saul Howson and his brother George Howson, undertook the entire expense of the Ornamental Doorway. The relatives of the Rev. John Carr, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Durham, put in a long window immediately above the doorway. In this window is a representation of John Carr, the Headmaster up to 1744. Further, L50 remained over from the Ingram Testimonial Fund, and was now to be applied to the decorating of a window in the Library with stained glass.

The building was substantial and sound. The main part consisted of two long Class-rooms, one on the ground floor, one above. These both ran the whole length of the building, until the Library was reached which with the Modern Language Room formed a transverse addition. A stone staircase, winding and unexpectedly long, ascended from the main entrance, and at its top was the High or Writing School. In the Class-room below were two platforms, now disappeared, the one by the door for the Usher's desk, the one by the Library for the Master. The Modern Language Room opened into it. There were two doors, one the main entrance chiefly used by the boys, the other smaller and undistinguished for the Masters only. It led into the Library and into a Tower, where the School bell was. The Library was not very big but a long narrow room, and inset in the wall was a fire-proof safe, for the better preservation of the Charter and other documents. It alone has continued to serve its original purpose. It is not possible to judge accurately the difference in size between this building and its predecessor, but it was distinctly bigger. The poplars which are to be seen in the photograph of the Drawing of the 1790 School were felled for the new one and the School filled the space. In addition there was a cloister-like building at the back, where in hours of play refuge might be sought from the weather.

The total cost was over L2,000, or more than seven times as much as its predecessor. Much of the money came from subscriptions, some from the surplus income of the School, but the rest was obtained by selling out L645 7s. 2d. New 31/4 per cent. Stock belonging to the Exhibition Fund. The Governors pledged themselves to pay 31/2 per cent. to the Exhibition Fund, thus depleted, and to repay the principal out of surplus income at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum, or more, if convenient. It was represented that this would at once be an advantage to the Exhibition Fund and also an economical method of borrowing the necessary money. The money was repaid by 1855.



The cost of the Ornamented Doorway, paid for by the Usher's two sons, was estimated at L48 13s., but this was exclusive of the Niche and the Statue of Edward VI which it contained. This Statue was an object of the frequent missile and was so often cast down that it was at last removed. On the outside of the Library Wall is a Coat of Arms belonging to the Nowell family and underneath is the extract from the Charter "Mediante Johanne Nowell." One relic of James Carr's School remained, the stone slab with its Hexameter inscription, and as it had found a place inset in the wall of the second building, so it did in 1850, but after a time it was removed owing to its decay.

The first Speech Day in the new School was celebrated in a fitting manner on March 12th, 1851. Three prize Odes were composed on the subject of re-building and were read by their respective authors. F. Howson recited some rapt verses, extolling Queen Victoria and telling her that the New School should stand as her memorial.

O Fairest star, with radiance divine Gilding the honours of thy royal line! Too pure thy beauty realms of earth to cheer A brighter orbit gained in a far brighter sphere. But unextinguishable still Thy parting glow! As from Sol's latest smile of light Steep Alpine summits of eternal snow A purpling lustre cast o'er the deep vales below.

So beams thy virtue, after life has fled, In deeds reflected, which their blessings shed Still o'er thy people, and will ever be Illustrious tokens of thy piety. This spot an endless monument Of thee shall stand, And still perpetuate thy praise: For here from age to age a youthful band Shall learn the fear of God, the love of Fatherland.

J. Brackenridge gave a short description of the extent of his Classical Studies:—

See this the third! theme of mine ode, Adorned by sculptur'd art; Make it, O Learning, thy abode, Thy gems through it impart. There may the bards of tragic name Forever flourish, Graecia's fame— With Homer's deathless lay! Here Maro with heroic glow, And Naso's elegiac flow Outlive their mould'ring clay.

Jackson Mason was the best of the three, though strongly suggestive of Gray. He describes the tale of a maiden "vanished down the gulph profound" and now