A History of Giggleswick School Part 1

A History of Giggleswick School.

by Edward Allen Bell.

PREFACE

The history of Giggleswick School has just two difficulties about it which need to be unravelled. The date of the foundation of the School or of the Chantry of the Rood and the origin of the Seal alone are of interest to the antiquary and I have failed to discover either. The remainder is the story of a school, which has always had a reputation in the educational world and at the same time has left only the most meagre records of itself. The gentry of the neighbourhood were its scholars, but few have made their fame in the world without. Headmasters and Ushers have pa.s.sed their lives here, but few were ambitious. Giggleswick was their haven of old age. Customs grew up, the same customs died and only seldom is it possible to conjecture their character.

A nation without a history is considered to have had the most blessed existence and the same is true of a school. Giggleswick has but once been the prey of the brigand and then it was fortunate enough to have a friend at court. It lost its original endowment and its private character. It gained a larger revenue and a Royal Charter. The placidity of its life was undisturbed by financial deficits. Its income expanded steadily. The close corporation of Governors were never ambitious to display their wealth, they never excited the greed of the statesman; even Cromwell's army pa.s.sed through the district unmentioned by the Minute-Book.

It did not grow, it made no history, but continued on the even tenour of its path. Some years it was effective as a school of instruction, some years it was not, but never did it meet with the inquisitorial landlord, never but once did it suffer from the Crown. With the nineteenth century came its first crisis for three hundred years and it pa.s.sed through unhurt. A new school with the old endowments, a better education with a wider horizon, a new power with which to meet the coming needs were all engrafted on the old foundation. If romance involves moments of startling excitement, Giggleswick has no romance. But if romance lies in an unrecorded, unenvied continuity, in the affection of pupils that age after age causes men to send their sons and their sons' sons to the same school, then the history of Giggleswick is shot through with romance. No school can continue for more than a generation, if this supreme test of its hold upon the hearts of men should fail. The school that nurtured the father must do its duty by the son and the golden link of affection is forged afresh.

It would have been impossible to complete the task of writing the history of the School, if I had not received invaluable help from many sources. Two men in particular must accept my deepest grat.i.tude--Mr. A.

F. Leach and Mr. Thomas Brayshaw. Mr. Leach is the foremost authority in England on English Grammar Schools and he has never stinted his help.

Mr. Brayshaw probably knows more than any other man of the history of the School during the last eighty years and he has supplied me generously with pamphlets and information. In addition he has been most a.s.siduous in helping me to choose and decipher doc.u.ments belonging to the School, which the Governors of the School were kind enough to allow me to use. The Rev. G. Style, the Rev. J. R. Wynne Edwards and many others have helped me materially with Chapters X and XI, while Mr. J.

Greaves, of Christ's College, Cambridge, sent me his own copy of Volume I of the Christ's Admission Book and an advance proof copy of Volume II.

The photographs are taken from originals in the possession of Mr. A.

Horner, of Settle, Mr. P. Spencer Smith and Mr. E. D. Clark. Mr. Spencer Smith in particular has gone to endless trouble in procuring photographs of every kind for the special purpose of this book.

These names by no means include all those who have helped me with advice on many occasions. I thank them all and in particular I would thank the present Headmaster, Mr. R. N. Douglas, who has put every convenience in my way and without whose co-operation the book could never have been written.

E. A. B.

GIGGLESWICK,

_June, 1912._

CHAPTER I.

The Foundation.

Giggleswick School for over four hundred years has lived a life apart, unconscious of the world outside: but its life has not therefore been a placid one. Real dangers have continually a.s.sailed it, real crises have been faced. Most schools have been founded with a preliminary grant of an endowment, with which to afford a proper maintenance to Master and Scholars. But Giggleswick was not one of these. Its actual origin is obscure but this at least is sure, it existed before it was endowed. It was the private enterprise of one man, James Carr, who in 1518 "nuper decessit."

Nineteen years before, the same James Carr was a capella.n.u.s in charge of the Rood Chantry, which he himself had founded. The date of its foundation has not reached us, but the fact of its existence, and consequently the probable existence of the Grammar School, is certain in 1499.

In that year two-and-a-half acres of arable land in Settle and a meadow called Howbeck ynge were let to one William Hulle by the indenture of the cantarist. The cantarist or chantry priest was James Carr. Six years later, Hugh Wren, William Preston and James Carr, capellani, were made joint owners of "unum messuagium et unam bovatam terrae et prati."

These two possessions conclusively prove the existence of the Rood Chantry and the presence of James Carr during the last year of the fifteenth century, and from that year Giggleswick School may date its birth. The name Carr is variously spelt. Skarr, Car, Carre, Karr, Ker, all appear, but no importance is to be attached thereto. Spelling as part of the equipment of an educated man is one of the less notable inventions of the nineteenth century. As a family the Carrs come from Stackhouse, a village quite close to Giggleswick, but their recorded history begins with this generation. The father of James is nameless, but his eldest brother Stephen was living at Stackhouse in the year 1483, when he leased a plot of land from the Prior and Convent of Finchale. It was therefore not unnatural that James should found a chantry in the neighbourhood of his family home.

The purpose of a chantry was the offering up of prayers for the souls either of the founder or of such as he might direct. We do not know the original cause of James Carr's Chantry or for whose soul he prayed. But in 1509 he received a legacy from his brother Thomas, who was vicar of Sancton. The gift consisted of "unam calicem argenteam" and with it there was a request "ut oretur pro anima mea et parentum meorum diebus Dominicis." Henceforth this was his duty. But a weekly service of prayer on Sundays would be a poor occupation for a man, even though he had clearly another Ma.s.s to say as well. And he endeavoured to dispel the monotony of his chantry by teaching. He followed a common practice of chantry priests, but he had some additional qualifications for the work.

He belonged to a local family of some importance, he had a certain income of his own, and he was prepared to take boarders as well as to teach the boys in the village.

The unique character of his enterprise declares itself very soon. He was so successful a teacher that he could no longer find it possible to carry on his work in his own house or possibly "like a pedant that keeps a school in a church," he required a building larger and more convenient. In other words he was prepared to take a risk and to invest his own capital in buildings. It is the only instance that has been recorded of what Mr. A. F. Leach calls a Private Adventure School. It was not endowed from an outside source before 1553, but until the year 1518 was the private property of James Carr. He endowed the Rood Chantry with lands producing six pounds one s.h.i.+lling a year, and the successive chantry priests carried on the teaching that he had begun.

On November 12, 1507, a lease had been entered into between "the Right Reverende ffader in G.o.de, Thomas, Prior of Duresme and Convent of the same on the one partie and James Karr, preste, on the other partie" by which the said James was given a seventy-nine year lease of "half one acre of lande with the appertenance, laitlye in the haldyng of Richarde lemyng, lyeng neir the church garth of Gyllyswyke in Crawen within the countie of york." He and his successors contracted to pay a full or rack-rent of xij_d._ of lawful English money every year and an additional vj_s._ viij_d._ as often as it might be desired to extend the lease. It was also provided that "whensoever the same James Karr shall change his naturall lyfe that then it shalbe lawful, as ofte tymes as it shalbe nedful, to the vicar of ye churche afforsaid for the tyme beyng and kyrkmasters of the same, heires, executors, and a.s.signes to the said James Karr, jontlie, to elect one person beyng within holye orders, to be scole master of the gramer scole afforsaid." Such Schoolmaster had not only to be within "holye orders" but also to receive a license to teach from the Prior of Durham. Not till the nineteenth century was teaching a grammar or cla.s.sical school regarded as a profession independent of the Church.

The half acre that he thus obtained was ordered to be enclosed and James Carr agrees that he will keep or cause to be kept there "one gramer scole" building it "at hys awne propyr charges and costes."

The _Gentleman's Magazine_ in 1786 contains a letter from a correspondent describing the school that Carr built. It was low, small and irregular and consisted of two stages, whereof at that period the upper one was used for writing, etc., that is to say for elementary education, probably reading, writing and arithmetic; the lower stage on the other hand was used for advanced teaching. This would include the elaborate cla.s.sical curriculum common to almost every school and to which we shall return later. On the North side there was a small projecting building, which before 1786 had contained a tolerable collection of books but at that time they had been dispersed. The date of the completion of the building is fixed by an inscription on a stone which was placed almost above one of the doors and is still preserved in the modern Big School.

Alma dei mater, defende malis Jacob.u.m Car: Presbiteris, quoque clericulis domus hec fit in anno Mil' quin' cen' duoden'. Jesu nostri miserere: Senes c.u.m junioribus laudent nomen Domini.

Kindly Mother of G.o.d, defend James Car from ill. For priests and young clerks this house is made in 1512. Jesus, have mercy upon us.

Old men and children praise the name of the Lord.

The inscription is an ingenious but not altogether happy example of Carr's ability as a writer of Latin Hexameters.

Above this stone slab was an ornamented niche, which at one time contained an image but of which no knowledge can be obtained. It may have held a statue of the Virgin and Child and be the origin of the school seal, as a writer in the _Giggleswick Chronicle_, March 1907, suggests, but the chantry was not dedicated to the Virgin, it was the "Chaunterie of the Rode" and as such we should expect to find a crucifix with the Virgin standing by it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIRST SCHOOL, 1512.]

There is only one other record of the School during the next thirty years but it is a very important one, for it shows that the School was not restricted to the village but encouraged boarders from distant villages and towns. About the year 1516 William Malhame writes to his brother John:

"Brother, I will Sir W. Martyndale to be Parish Priest at Marton, and to have like wages that Sir W. Hodgson had: and I will Sir W. Hodgson to have vj markes yearly during his life, to tarry at Marton and pray for mee and my father and mother's sawles. They both begin their service at Midsomer next coming. I am content that James Smith go to Sir James Carr to scoule at Michelmas next comyng, and also I am content ye paye for his bord, which shall be allowed ye ageane. From London ye second day of Aprill.

"By your Brother Wm. Malhame.

"To his Brother John Malhame."

In September 1518, the Craven with Ripon Act Book describes James Carr as one who "nuper decessit" and his will was proved. No trace of it has been found but we know from the Chantry Commissioners' Report in 1546 that he had endowed the Chantry School with a rental of vi xij_d._

The Commission had been appointed to ascertain the chantry property which might be vested in the King. There were two excellent reasons for the change. Many avaricious men had already on various pretexts "expulsed" the priests or inc.u.mbents and taken the emoluments for themselves. Such private spoliation could not be allowed. And in the second place Henry VIII had involved himself in "great and inestimable charges" in the maintenance of his wars in France and Scotland. He needed money and he saw an easy way to getting it. The Chantry Commissioners made their report, but before many chantries were taken by the King, he died. At once the Chantries Act, which was only for Henry's life, is dissolved naturally.

Edward VI, "monstrificus puellus," was a precocious child of nine years old when he succeeded to the throne. The first "Injunctions" issued in his name gave distinct promise for educational bodies, as they comprised an order, compelling all chantry priests to teach the children reading and writing. Thus at one stroke of the pen he converted a body of men, who had insufficient work to do, into National Schoolmasters. Such a measure would tend to improve the quality of the chantry priests, who would no longer run "unto London, unto St. Poules" seeking for a chantry of souls, seeing that the toil of a Schoolmaster would be their lot.

But within a year a fresh Chantries Act was pa.s.sed and a new Commission appointed by the Protector and his Council. The Act contained a prefatory statement which maintained that "a great part of superst.i.tion and errors in Christian religion has been brought into the minds and estimations of men" and this "doctrine and vain opinion by nothing is more maintained and upholden than by the abuse of trentals, chantries, and other provisions made for the continuance of the said blindness and ignorance." They therefore determined to dissolve the chantries and at the same time continue Grammar Schools, where they existed. The results belied the early promise. The clauses relating to the endowment of Grammar Schools have gained Edward VI a widespread fame as a founder of most of the schools in England. But that fame has been wholly fict.i.tious.

Henry VIII had wrought great damage to elementary education, although he had professed "I love not learning so ill, that I will impaire the revenues of anie one house by a penie, whereby it may be upholden." But it has been calculated that in 1546 there was probably one school for every eight thousand people, whereas three hundred years later, the proportion was thrice as small. Yet Edward VI did not found one school in Yorks.h.i.+re, and many, which had previously existed, he deprived of all revenue. So diminished were the means of education in 1562 that Thomas Williams, on his election as Speaker of the House of Commons, took occasion to call Queen Elizabeth's notice to the great dearth of schools "that at least one hundred were wanting, which before this time had been." In other words in a period of less than thirty years the number had decreased by a third. And this was in spite of a six years' reign of Edward VI., the supposed progenitor of schools.

In the report of the Commissioners of 1548 Giggleswick is recorded as having three chantries. There was the Chantry of Our Lady, the inc.u.mbent of which, Richard Somerskayle, is described as "lx yeres of age, somewhat learned" and enjoying the annual rent of 4. The Tempest Chantry with Thomas Thomson as inc.u.mbent 70 yeres old and "unlearned."

The Chantry of the Rode, "Richard Carr, Incombent, 32 yeres of age, well learned and teacheth a gramer schole there, lycensed to preach, hath none other lyving than the proffitts of the said chauntrie." The net value of the chantry was 5 15_s._

Richard Carr was a nephew of the founder and from the description of his two fellow chaplains he was evidently superior to the ordinary chantry priest. They were "unlearned," "somewhat learned," he was "well learned"

and "lycensed to preach." For all that the chantry lands were taken from him, but the School was not dissolved: he was maintained as a Schoolmaster by a stipend of the annual value of 5 6_s._ 8_d._ charged on the crown revenues of York "for the good educacyon of the abbondaunt yought in those rewde parties."

The population of Giggleswick, which as a parish included Settle, Rathmell, Langcliffe and Stainforth, was roughly 2,400 and at the beginning of the nineteenth century was unaltered. Such a population was too "abbondaunt" for one man to teach, particularly if he took boarders, and it is not surprising to find in the report of 1548 the following paragraph:

"A some of money geven for the meyntenance of scholemaster there. The said John Malhome and one Thomas Husteler, disseased, dyd gyve ... the some of 24 13_s._ 4_d._ towards the meyntenance of a Scholemaister there for certen yeres, whereupon one Thomas Iveson, preist, was procured to be Scholemaister there, which hath kept a Scole theis three yeres last past and hath receyved every yere for his stypend after the rate of 4, which is in the holle, 12."

"And so remayneth 12 13_s._ 4_d._"

John Malhome was probably the brother of William, who in 1516 had sent James Smith to be a boarder at the School, and, as he was a resident in the neighbourhood and was a "preist," perhaps a chantry priest at Giggleswick, his interest in the School is not unnatural.

Thomas Husteler had an even more adequate reason for leaving money to pay the stipend of a Schoolmaster, for he had been priest of the Chantry of the Rood, and had been wont to "pray for the sowle of the founder (James Carr) and all Cristen sowles and to synge Ma.s.s every Friday of the name of Jhesu and of the Saterday of our Lady." He had also to be "sufficientlie sene in playnsonge and gramer and to helpe dyvyne service in the church."