255 OLD SWAN CHARITY SCHOOL by James Hoult

255 OLD SWAN CHARITY SCHOOL By James Hoult 'T"S HE origin of the School was due to the JL philanthropic sympathies of four local gentle men Thomas Staniforth, Thomas Parke, Richard Watt, and Joseph Jackson. They built and fur nished the school, and then asked the Bishop of Chester, in whose diocese it was, to nominate a master, they agreeing to contribute thirty guineas a year as his salary. A Mr. John Holme was accordingly nominated and appointed. The school was built to be a free school for the children of the poor. It seems to have been opened at the beginning of 1794, for in April that year the master received his first quarter's salary. The four gentlemen who provided the school were so notable that a short account of each is worth recording. THOMAS STANIFORTH was a man of wealth. He lived at Broad-Green Hall, and had also a town residence in Ranelagh Street, which eventually became the Waterloo Hotel, familiarly known as Lynn's; its exact situation is now part of the main entrance to the Cheshire Lines Railway station. The Staniforth family have had some useful and distinguished members, among them the Rev. Thomas Staniforth, who was stroke in the Oxford Eight in the first University boat-race between Oxford and Cambridge, rowed in 1829, and result ing in an easy win for Oxford. He afterwards 256 Old Swan Charity School resided at Storrs Hall, Windermere. The present representative of the old Liverpool family is the squire of Kirk Hammerton, Yorkshire. Locally the school was called Parke's School, and it would appear that members of that family took a great interest in it. Mr. Parke of Highfield was the founder of a famous family, the most eminent member of which was James Parke, in his day a well-known lawyer and judge. He was knighted in 1828 and made baron in 1856, thereby helping to make national history, for it was he who was objected to by the members of the House of Lords. They declined to allow him, as Lord Wensleydale, to sit in their House, on the ground that his was merely a life peerage, and they insisted at the time upon all new members of their House being heredi tary peers. Lord Wensleydale, lawfully summoned to Parliament, was shut out from his seat till the new patent was granted securing the seat after him to his male descendants, if any. He had three daughters: i. Cecilia Anne, who married in 1841 Sir Matthew White Ridley, baronet, and had a son, the first Viscount Ridley. 2. Mary, who married the Hon. Charles Wentworth George Howard, son of the sixth Earl of Carlisle, and her son (born 1843) is George James, ninth Earl of Carlisle. 3. Charlotte Alice, who married in 1853 the Hon. William Lowther, brother of the third Earl of Lonsdale; her son, born in 1855, is the present Speaker of the House of Commons. THOMAS PARKE, Lord Wensleydale's brother, was one of the founders and was first treasurer; at his death his widow, Anne Parke, took his place, showing a keen interest in the girls' department of the school. JOSEPH JACKSON of Fir Grove, Old Swan, and Callender Court, Derby Street (now Whitechapel), Liverpool, was evidently a landed proprietor or wealthy, for in the Liverpool Directory of 1800 he Old Swan Charity School 257 has " esquire " affixed to his name ; in those days it indicated more than it does to-day. Joseph Jackson was one of the Commissioners appointed under the Wavertree Enclosure Act, 8 Geo. Ill, c. 51, that notorious Act which Bamber Gascoigne, M.P. for Liverpool and Lord of the Manor of Wavertree, was the means of passing through Parliament, whereby a large amount of land (public) of trian gular shape, extending from Monk's Well, Waver tree, to Wavertree Nook in one direction, and to what used to be Elm House (Alderman Watt's) in the other direction, was divided between Bamber Gascoigne and his tenants, he taking for himself the lion's share. Joseph Jackson was the senior Commissioner appointed to see that the Act was properly carried out. His daughter and heiress married Roger Parr, merchant, of Paradise Street, and they had a son, Joseph Parr, who succeeded to his grandfather's estate and lived at Fir Grove, where he died in 1820. This Joseph Parr in his time acted as a trustee to the Old Swan School. As the Parrs became a noted family and the bank bearing their name is world-renowned, it is worthy of record that Joseph Parr married Ellen, daughter of Matthew Lyon of Warrington, on i8th October 1780, and they had two children: Joseph Parr of Fir Grove, who died unmarried iQth June 1824, was a banker at Warrington, founding " Parr's Bank " ; and a younger brother, Thomas Parr, who became later a trustee of Old Swan School, and who was heir to his brother's estate. He afterwards removed to Grappenhall, Cheshire. RICHARD WATT lived at Oak Hill House, Old Swan. He had been a poor boy himself. He came originally from Standish, went out to the West Indies, became a sugar planter, and returned to his old home a very rich man. His extensive stables are still to be seen near the school. Miss Watt of 258 Old Swan Charity School Speke Hall is descended from his nephew and heir, another Richard Watt. It is pleasant to find that owners and occupiers of the larger houses of the district took an interest in the school and made contributions towards its upkeep. They were James Clemens, who built Ashfield, Knotty Ash : he became a County Magis trate, and was Mayor of Liverpool in 1775 ; Edmund Molyneux of the Round House, or as it is now called the Old Hall, Sandfield Park ; and Alderman Peter Rigby, who built Moss House, Old Swan, and became Mayor of Liverpool in the year 1774. Among the names of later trustees are the fol lowing : Robert Preston, who bought Fir Grove in 1828 from the executors of Joseph Parr, and was the founder of the noted distillery firm; and John Clarke, a town councillor, who became Mayor of Liverpool in 1809. His brother was for many years Recorder of Liverpool. The total cost of the school and schoolhouse amounted to ^351, is. 4d. It took a long time to build, the first payment being dated 26th November 1791 (for the making of a ditch), the last (for the writing of the covenant deed) 25th May 1795. The building is still in existence, and is used as a mission room. The writer is indebted to Rev. W. J. Elslie, M.A., for permission to inspect the minute-book of the old school. THE PROPOSALS. The following were the original Proposals of the founders. Some of them for example, the restric tions on teaching writing and arithmetic appear very strange to moderns: Old Swan Charity School 259 THE SUBSCRIBERS having been at the Expence of erecting a House at the West End of the Mill Lane near the Old Swan in the Township of West Derby for the purpose of establishing a CHARITY SCHOOL for the Benefit of the Poor in the Neighbourhood thereof, the chief Object of which shall be to promote Decency of Behaviour and by teaching the Children to read to instill into their Minds more effectu ally the Principles of Religion and a proper Sense of moral Duty, have come to the following Resolutions: i st. THAT the Master of the said School shall be a Member of the established Church of England, of good moral character, of sufficient Knowledge and Ability to instruct Children in reading the English Language and also in Writing and Accounts. He shall not be in Holy Orders or a Teacher of a seperate Congre gation ; though professing himself of the Established Church; Nevertheless to prevent the Master, as far as is possible under any Authority whatever from keeping possession of the School contrary to the Rules prescribed; the Master shall previous to his appointment enter into a Bond to the Patrons in a penalty equal to the Amount of six Years clear Salary (with a Surety, if required) conditioned to quit the School, Dwelling House and Premises within four Months after Notice given him; any Licence or Authority to the Contrary notwithstanding. and. THAT the Master shall have a Salary of thirty Guineas per Annum to be paid quarterly with the Use of the House and School free of any Expence or Deduction whatever (the Glass Windows excepted which must at all Times be repaired and kept in Order by him); and it is also expected and understood that he shall keep a good and sufficient Fire in the School at his own Expence from the ist. of October to the ist. of May; and in order to prevent the Premises from going out of repair, the Residence of the Master, if a single man, must not be at a greater Distance than one Quarter of a Mile from the School, provided he does not live in the House, but should it so be that the Master is married or hath a Family, it is expected that he shall reside in the House, upon pain in either Case of forfeiting the School for Non Residence. 3rd. THAT at the first Meeting of the Subscribers one of them shall be appointed the Treasurer and Visitor, who shall receive the Annual Subscriptions for the Support and Maintenance of the said School, and likewise any and all free Gifts or Bene factions of such Persons as are disposed to encourage the same, and likewise attend to any alterations or Repairs that may be necessary at or about the Building; who shall continue in Office till the Annual Meeting to be held at the School on the second Monday in March following at twelve o'Clock at Noon, when he must make up his Accounts, be re-elected or another Person 260 Old Swan Charity School appointed in his Room.

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