A History of Giggleswick School Part 3

The first elections were made on February 14, 1604. Josias Shute did not take his B.A. degree till 1605 nor his M.A. till 1609, so that the clause in Henry Tennant's will referring to him still held and he was receiving the interest on 100, but there is also the interest on the lands in Settle which had been sold for 40 and were bringing in 4 yearlie.

Thomas, one of the sons of Christopher Shute, and Alexander Bankes, of Austwick, in the parish of Clapham (also a relative of one of the Governors) were elected to the two Exhibitions. But as Clapham's money continued for seven yeares, they were each to receive 4 a year for four years and to divide the Clapham Exhibition during the next three years, if both continued in the University. This was done "for their better mantaynance and to take awaie emulation."

Thereafter elections were frequently made, until the merging of the funds in the general foundation of the School by the scheme of 1872.

In 1507, the half-acre of land on which James Carr, capella.n.u.s, had built his school had been leased for seventy-nine years for a yearly rent of "xij_d._ of good and lawfull moneye of England," and when the seventy-nine years were up, the lease was to be renewable on a payment of 6_s._ 8_d._ Clearly it had been renewed in 1586 but no record remains. In 1610 "on the ffourteenth daie of December, Sir Gervysse Helwysse and Sir Richard Williamson were owners in ffee farme of the Rectorie and Parsonage of Giglesweke." Durham had ceased to possess it, on the Confiscation of Finchale Priory, and in 1601 Robert Somerskayles had bought it of the Crown.

Sir Gervysse Helwysse and Sir Richard Williamson "in consideracion of a certeyne somme of money to them in hand paid, but especially at the request and mediacion of the said Christofer Shutt" sold "all that house comonly called the Schoolehouse in Giglesweke afforesaid and that close adioyneing therto, called the Schoolehouse garth, parcell of the said Rectorye."

The amount of the "certeyne somme of monye" is not declared. The land now belonged to the School, but the xij_d._ yearly had still to be paid as part of the fee farm rent, payable for the Rectory to the King's majesty.

The next important bequest comes from Richard Carr, Vicar of Hockleigh in Ess.e.x, who died in 1616. He was a great-grandson of the brother of James, the founder of the School. The family interest was maintained and at his death he left a house in Maldon, called Seely House Grove, with all its appurtenances to his wife Joan and after her death to the "Societye, Companie and Corporation of Christe Colledge in Cambridge."

He also bequeathed direct to the College "a tenement at Hackwell alias Hawkwell in the Countie of Ess.e.x called Mount Bovers or Munde Bovers."

These lands "during the naturall life of my foresaid wife, Joane" were to be used for the provision of five Scholars.h.i.+ps at 5 apiece and after the death of Joane the whole estate was to provide eight Scholars.h.i.+ps at 5, and two Fellows.h.i.+ps at twenty marks (13 6_s._ 8_d._) apiece. The Scholars.h.i.+ps were to continue until the holder had time to "commence Master of Arts," if he abode so long, and the Fellows.h.i.+ps until they had time to "commence Bachelor of Divinitie."

The Scholars had to be born in the parish of Giggleswick or be children "lawfullie begotten of my brother-in-law, Robert Thornton and my sister Jeanet, his wife, in the parish of Clapham and of their children's posteritie for ever." They must have been brought up in the free School of Giggleswick and were to be "chosen from the poorer sort though they be not altogether so learned, as other scholars, who have richer friends." If any of the founder's kin were not immediately ready for the Scholars.h.i.+p, it could be held over for one year and the amount for that year distributed among the Sizars of the College. Never more than four of his kin might hold the Scholars.h.i.+p at one time.

The Fellows.h.i.+ps were to be offered to his two nephews "Richard Carr, now of Peterhouse, and Robert Thornton, of Jesus Colledge in Cambridge." If they should be unable to accept them the "Maister and Fellowes of Christe Colledge" shall elect fellows from the number only of those "who have or at least have had some of the aforesaid scholars.h.i.+ps and none other to be capable of them."

The College Authorities were asked to provide convenient chambers and studies for both Fellows and Scholars and to account them as Fellows and Scholars of the College.

In consequence of the provision that the Scholars were to be elected from "the poorer sort" an agreement was made in 1635 by which those elected were allowed to receive the 5 and yet go to another College.

For 5 was quite inadequate and at Christ's "by reason of the poverty of the holders, no Fellow is found willing to undertake for them as a Tutor in respect of the hazard thereof." Tempest Thornton is the only name recorded as a Giggleswick Fellow and he held office in 1625. The reason why no other was ever elected is given in a letter from Thomas Atherton, Fellow of Christ's, written May 29, 1718, to Richard Ellershaw, Vicar of Giggleswick, in which he says that it was "owing to our having lost that part of the Estate thus bequeathed us called Seely House Grove, which was sued for and recovered a great while ago by some or other that laid claim to it."

The farms in Hockley and Maldon are still in their possession and one of them retains its name, Munde Bowers. Never more than six Scholars.h.i.+ps a year had been given and in 1718 the income was 31 a year. In 1890 there were apparently two Carr Exhibitions of 50 a year each, while at the present day there is one of 50 tenable for three years, but it is possible that in a few years another Exhibition may be given occasionally.

In 1619 the term of Christopher Shute's Headmasters.h.i.+p drew to a close.

He resigned and his place was taken by the Rev. Robert Dockray. It cannot be ascertained how long Shute had been Master, for the earliest expenditure which is entered in the Minute-Book was in 1615 and therein:

Item: to Mr. Shute and Mr. Claphamson for monie that was behind of their wages 1 17 4

This entry establishes the fact that one Christopher Shute was Master in 1615 and the receipts continue in his name for four years until 1619.

Tradition says that the Vicar and Master were one and the same person, but there are certain difficulties in the way. In the first place the Vicar was over seventy years of age, secondly there is no Grace Book or extant contemporary writing or extract from the Parish Registers, in which he is called both Vicar and Master. Thirdly, the Vicar's son, Josias, is said to have been educated by his father, until he was of an age to go to the Grammar School. On the other hand Shute may have undertaken the work of the Master for a few years only and owing to some especial necessity, which has not been recorded. Secondly there is no record of any Christopher Shute, other than the Vicar, who in 1615 could have acted as Master. Nathaniel Shute had a son Christopher, who was later a Fellow of Christ's, Cambridge, but at this date he was still a boy. Thirdly the signatures in the Minute-Book of both Master and Vicar are very similar.

The year 1619 is the latest date at which the Vicar took any active part in the advancement of the School and his work may be briefly summarised.

With Henry Tennant, he had pet.i.tioned Archbishop Piers for his a.s.sent to the Statutes, which they had drawn up. In 1599 he had procured a parchment-covered book, which he called "Liber Christopheri Shute et amicorum" and in 1604 he presented it to the School. The book contains elections of Scholars, elections of Governors, Accounts, Receipts, etc.; it is not full of important matter, but is rather a bare record of certain facts.

In 1610 he was responsible with Robert Bankes and John Robinson for the purchase of the land on which the School stood, and during his masters.h.i.+p the Clapham, Tennant and Carr bequests were made. Such benefactions in themselves denote the fame of the School, and the result of its teaching is seen in the pupils it sent forth.

Nathaniel Shute was born at Giggleswick "his father, Christopher Shute being the painful Vicar thereof." He was educated at the School and went thence to Christ's College, Cambridge; he became a most excellent scholar and solid preacher, though nothing of his work remains save the Corona Caritatis, a sermon preached at the funeral of Master Fishbourn.

He died in 1638.

Josias Shute, born in 1588, was the brother of Nathaniel and from Giggleswick went on to Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1611 he became Rector of S. Mary Wolnoth, Lombard Street, and remained there over thirty years. He was "the most precious jewell ever seen in Lombard Street," but suffered much during the civil disturbances of the reign.

Charles I made him Archdeacon of Colchester in 1642, and he died on June 14, 1643. His funeral sermon was preached by Ephraim Udall.

[Ill.u.s.tration: REV. JOSIAS SHUTE, B.D.]

He was a skilled Hebrew scholar a language which he had probably begun to study at Giggleswick, and he left many ma.n.u.scripts which were posthumously published by his brother Timothy. While he was still at Cambridge, he had enjoyed the interest on 100 given by Henry Tennant and in grat.i.tude therefor and for other benefits received at the School he left to the Governors by a will dated June 30, 1642, certain parcels of land in the parish of Giggleswick, called Eshton Close, Cappleriggs Close and Huntwait Fields. The rent of these fields was to be apportioned in two ways. Five pounds was to be given yearly to the maintaining of a poor Scholar of the parish, who had been educated in the School, at either University until he became Master of Arts. The remainder of the rent was to be distributed amongst the poor of Giggleswick, who were most pious and had most need. The land increased in value greatly. In 1683 the rent amounted to 6 8_s._ 0_d._, and in 1697 7 5_s._ 10_d._ Seventy years later it had almost doubled and in 1806 it was 34 6_s._ 0_d._

In the latter year the Governors effected an exchange. Huntwait was given up for Tarn Brow and the rent rose five pounds. In spite of this gradual increase in value, the Governors only allotted the five pounds to the Exhibition Fund, the rest went to the poor of Giggleswick, to be distributed on the day of the Purification of the Virgin Mary. The five pounds was as a rule paid as an extra Exhibition in addition to the sum received from the Burton rent-charge, which had been bought with the money left by William Clapham and Henry Tennant, and the recipients were often especially mentioned as poor, notably in 1652 and again in 1673.

On December 13, 1872, Tarn Brow was sold for 1,000 and apportioned to pay part of the cost of the buildings which were then being erected. The Governors were directed to pay three-and-a-half per cent. interest on the sum expended. Cappleriggs was let for 20 a year and Eshton for 11.

The whole income now arising from these sources is applied in providing certain boys with total exemptions from payment of tuition fees and the costs of books and stationery: they are called Shute Exhibitions and are offered in the first instance to boys who are in attendance at a Public Elementary School in the ancient parish of Giggleswick.

Christopher Shute had three other sons who were all ministers of the Church and were "all great (though not equal) Lights, set up in fair Candlesticks."

He had done his duty as a Father, he had more than done his duty as Vicar and Governor. It is unfortunate that there is no portrait of him, for it would then be possible to discern the scholarly and courtly grace of the man under whom the School more than it had ever done before or was to do again until the nineteenth century flourished and prospered and grew notable. He died, still Vicar and Governor, in 1626. "Happy a father who had his quiver full with five such sons."

The Rev. Robert Dockray succeeded in 1619 as Master, and Henry Claphamson, who had been Usher certainly since 1615, possibly earlier though no records exist, continued in the office. The pay of both had increased since 1592. The Ancient Statutes of that date give the stipend of the Master as twenty marks (13 6_s._ 8_d._), and of the Usher as 6 13_s._ 4_d._, with power to the Governors to increase it. It cannot be ascertained when a change was made but in the half-year Accounts for 1617 there occurs the entry:

Item: to the Maister and Usher, xv_li._

Robert Dockray and Henry Claphamson never received less than 20 and 10 yearly apiece after 1619. In 1629 they received an additional gratuity, the Master, of twenty n.o.bles, _i.e._ 6 13_s._ 4_d._ and the Usher, of 3 6_s._ 8_d._

The School went on its uneventful way. Dockray, the Master, became Vicar and made his protestation as an ex-officio Governor in 1632. In August, 1635, Christopher Lascelles, of Ripon, gentleman, received 20 in consideration of some request he made concerning troubles which he had been put to but which he does not specify. For the rest Governors succeeded Governors, Scholars were sent to the University with aid from the Exhibition money, Master and Usher receipted their wages each half year. The year 1640, is the last in which Robert Dockray appears as a Governor and his last receipt for his wages is dated March of the same year. Henry Claphamson succeeded to his work temporarily for eighteen weeks, receiving 10_s._ 3_d._ a week, but himself died before August 1642. Anthony Lister, the Vicar, taught for just over six months at the same rate, and on August 25, 1642, the Rev. Rowland Lucas had earned 9 12_s._ 0_d._ as "head scoulmaster."

The Usher's place was taken by William son of Thomas Wilsonne, "Agricolae" in Giggleswick. He had been at the School for ten years under Mr. Dockray and at the age of eighteen had gone up to S. John's, Cambridge, as a Sizar in 1639. Thence he went back to his old School in 1642 and remained there for twenty-four years.

CHAPTER V.

1642--1712.

The Rev. Rowland Lucas was a native of Westmorland and had been educated at Kirkby under Mr. Leake. In 1626 he was admitted to Christ's College, Cambridge, as a Sizar and took his B.A. in three years and his M.A. in 1633. Before he came to Giggleswick he had been Headmaster of Heversham.

In 1643 his salary was increased to forty marks and in 1645 to 40, and during his six years many scholars went to Cambridge and won distinction in the world, such as Thomas Dockray and John Carr. At his death in 1648, William Wilsonne, the Usher, supplied his place for a few weeks and later William Walker was elected. He was a native of Giggleswick and had been a boy at the School under Mr. Lucas. In 1643 at the age of eighteen he was admitted as a Sizar at Christ's and commenced B.A.

1646-7 and later M.A.

The numbers of the School at this period are quite uncertain. The accommodation was slight and the teaching staff limited to the Master and Usher, but the boys were probably packed very close. During the nine years of his masters.h.i.+p, boys were steadily sent to Cambridge. Christ's alone admitted twenty-five and in one single year (1652) three others entered S. John's. These boys were sons of really poor men. John c.o.c.kett in 1651 was the first recorded receiver of the Shute Exhibition of 5, and in the next year it was given to Josias Dockray, son of the late Master, "whom we conceive to be a poore scoller of our parish." Both these boys became ordained and in time were appointed to one or more livings. For a century and a half Giggleswick fed Christ's with a steady stream of boys who almost without exception entered the service of the Church.

Seventeenth century Giggleswick took no heed of the progress of the School and records do not abound. It was a disturbed period in English history and political and religious troubles occupied men's minds to the exclusion of lesser matters. Giggleswick was nevertheless well-known, for in 1697 Abraham de la Prynne records in his diary an anecdote of a Mr. Hollins who thirty years before had lived at Giggleswick "as I remember in Yorks.h.i.+re where the great school is." Apparently Anthony Lister, who was then Vicar had roused the resentment of a particular Quaker, who found himself anxious to go to the Parish Church to rebuke Lister publicly, when he began to preach. On his way thither he met a friend and told him of his intention. The man tried to dissuade him but finding argument of no avail, he asked him what induced him to choose this particular Sunday. Whereupon the Quaker replied that "the Spirit"

had sent him. The rejoinder came quickly "why did the Spirit not also tell thee that one Roger and not the Vicar is preaching to-day?" There was at this period one particularly distinguished son of Giggleswick, Richard Frankland born at "Rothmelae" (Rathmell) in 1631 who came to the School when he was nine and at the age of seventeen went as a Burton Exhibitioner to Christ's College, Cambridge. The Shute Minute-Book of 1651 has the following entry:

xxj_st_ January, 1651.

Received the day and yeare abovesaid from Robt. Claphamson the some of eight pounds which he received of James Smith, of Burton, for one year's rent, the which is disbursed by us as follows (to witt) to Jane ffrankland for her son, viz. xl_s._

His father John Frankland is said on his tombstone in Giggleswick Church to be one of the Franklands of "Thartilbe" (Thirkleby, near Thirsk) and he was admitted to Christ's in 1626.

Richard became B.A. in 1651 and M.A. four years later. In 1653 he was "set apart" and received Presbyterian ordination. He was immediately appointed Vicar of Auckland S. Andrew by Sir Arthur Haselrig but was ejected nine years later. He was not an extreme man but he refused to be re-ordained by Bishop Cosen. After the second Conventicle Act of 1670 he made a personal appeal to Charles II, "to reform your life, your family, your kingdom and the Church." The King was much moved and replied "I thank you, Sir," and twice looking back before he went into the Council Chamber said "I thank you, Sir; I thank you." Returning to Rathmell his native place, Frankland opened an Academy, where he gave an University training in Divinity, Law or Medicine. Aristotle was taught and one tutor was a Ramist. The lectures were delivered in Latin. His pupils were not confined to any one denomination, but included Puritans, Presbyterians and Independents.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RICHARD FRANKLAND, M.A.]

Fortune smiled very grimly upon him and he was compelled to change his place of instruction on many occasions. His pupils always followed him.