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Durham E-Theses Grammar schools in Hanoverian England Oakeshott, A.M.d'I. How to cite: Oakeshott, A.M.d'I. (1964) Grammar schools in Hanoverian England, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9623/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk GRAMMAR SCHOOLS IN HANOVERIAN ENGLAND A.M.d'I.OAKESHOTT The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived , from it should be acknowledged. A thesis submitted for the Master of Education Degree of Durham University in January, 1964. CONTENTS Page Part I Introduction 1 Part II Section 1 Authority 8 Section 2 Staff .. .. 21 Section 3 Unsatisfactory and Disputatious Staff .. 56 Section 4 Public Action 79 Section 5 Law Suits 90 Section 6 Salaries .. .. .. .. 103 Part III Section 1 Entrance 123 Section 2 Free Boys 132 Section 3 Boarders •• 145 Section 4 Pees 170 Section 5 Numbers 183 Section 6 Class Distinction 194 Section 7 Leaving 203 Part IV Section 1 Buildings • 212 Section 2 Hours and Holidays 225 Section 3 Religion 234 Section 4 Curricula and Syllabi 245 Latin 252 Greek • 269 Hebrew 274 Religious Instruction 277 English 280 History and Geography 285 Mathematics and Natural Philosophy 289 Page Section 5 Examinations 309 Section .6 Prizes 319 Section 7 Discipline .. t. 323 Section 8 Leisure .. 343 Section 9 Traditions and Customs ,. 354 Section 10 Speech Days and Social Occasions .. 361 Part V Section 1 The Success and Failure of Grammar Schools, 1714-1837 371 Section 2 Critics and Supporters 1714-1837 •• •• 385 Part VI Conclusion 398 Bibliography 403 To avoid unnecessary repetition, the following abbreviations have "been used in the references appended to each Section: Carlisle - N. Carlisle:: A Concise Description of the Endowed Grammar Schools in England and Wales, vl8l8. OCR. - Reports of the Charity Commissioners 1818-42. ESR. - Report of the Endowed Schools Commission 1864. VCH. - Victoria County History. PART I 1. PART I INTRODUCTION Historians of English education have devoted considerable time to the Grammar School, its origins, tradition and development. In all this wealth of information and interpretation, however, one period has received relatively less attention than the rest. There is much written on the Grammar school under the Tudors and Stuarts and the influences and effects of Renaissance, Reformation and Restoration. There is much written on the Grammar school from the Victorian era to the present day and the growth of the modern systems - and philosophies - of education. Yet the history of the classical school between these two periods - from the accession of George I to the death of William IV, from the rise of the Dissenting Academies to the failure of the monitorial schools - has been somewhat lightly treated. This does not mean a neglect of the history of education in the Hanoverian age: indeed a great deal has been written. The various Academies, the charity schools, the Lancasterian and Bell schools all have their chroniclers. The many societies for the development of education and the views of the many radical and liberal philosophers and educationalists have all been examined in some detail. The Eighteenth Century has been treated as presenting two aspects in educa• tion. It is seen as a period rich in new ideas and methods which, although they were frequently unsuccessful in practice, reveal a genuine enthusiasm for, and awareness of the importance of,education. It is also seen as a period of decline and decay, a period in which a • 2. diminishing group of reactionaries clung to outmoded fashions and thus caused the traditional bases of education - the grammar schools and universities - to stagnate. The Grammar schools have, therefore, been relegated to a minor role as unworthy of detailed investigation. '*'hey were, almost invariably, regarded as institutions notable for the degeneracy of staff, the barbarity of discipline and the paucity of useful instruction, and which remained in this condition until purged and revived by the various activities of Lord Brougham, Charity Commissioners and Dr. Thomas Arnold. More recent historians of education, however, while not entirely reject• ing the traditional view, have suggested that the situation was not in fact quite so appalling. Some notable teachers and scholars have been "discovered", some grammar schools have been shown to have flourished despite the apparent inadequacies of staff and curriculum. Some schools, it has been suggested, contrived to adapt themselves to the new learning of the age without rejecting the classical pattern which was their heritage. In the early nineteenth century, Nicholas Carlisle tried to investigate the condition of the grammar schools of England and Wales. He wrote to every grammar school foundation he could trace and asked the Headmaster and Governors for an account of the school's recent history, its curriculum and its methods. Carlisle's industry is much to be admired and the resulting publication throws much light on the subject. His method, however, was open to abuse. Some Headmasters stated their case rather than told the strict truth, some ignored Carlisle altogether, 3- and others replied in vague and general terms. At much the same time, the Charity Commissioners began their massive investigation of English charities including, of course, most of the endowed Grammar schools - most, but not all, because certain types of charitable trust were excluded from the Commissioners' inquiry. The collected reports of the Charities Commission furnish a considerable volume of information on the schools, but even here this is some problem, since the investigation tended to touch only lightly on matters of curriculum and to ignore discipline (save where these directly affected the condition of the charity) and to be much more concerned with the management and condition of the endowment. Since then there have been many histories of specific schools which include some account of the particular institutions in the Hanoverian period, but there has been no comprehensive survey to correct, clarify and extend the work of Carlisle and the Commissioners. With the recent suggestion that the accepted evaluation of the eighteenth century grammar schools may need reconsideration and perhaps even correction, the lack of information has become more important. The object of this thesiB is neither to eulogise nor to condemn the Hanoverian grammar schools my purpose is to amass the available informa• tion, to correlate the various sources and accounts, to assemble and not to assess. Before attempting to do this, before attempting any examination of the many aspects of the Hanoverian grammar school, it is obviously necessary to consider what is understood by this terra* what, in fact, was a Grammar school in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries? 4. In earlier ages the grammar school was olearly distinguished from other schools "by its curriculum. Pounders, governors, staff, and society, had been convinced of the value and necessity of Greek, Latin and, to a lesser extent, Hebraic, studies and had endowed, maintained and patronised schools specifically for these subjects. By 17OO many people were no longer convinced of the merit or utility of the Grammar schools; by 1800 this doubt was shared by many of the schools* teachers and governors. In consequence the Grammar school was faced with a choicer either it must broaden its curriculum and so keep alive or remain strictly classical and hope that a sufficient number of conserva• tive parents could be found to maintain it. Even in these latter schools some concessions were usually made and there was provision for leisure- hour tuition in non-classical subjects. Some of the best grammar schools, however, accepted the new attitudes and changed, quite voluntarily, to a broader curriculum, introducing the new studies as a subordinate but essential part of the classical scholars' education. Both are, clearly, still Grammar schools, yet there is considerable divergence between the two groups. Moreover, some schools, not by foundation intended as classical schools, included Latin and, rather less often, Greek, in their studies* the distinction between these and those grammar schools offering a wide curriculum is hard to discern. It is clear that curricu• lum alone cannot be regarded as a satisfactory criterion by which to assess the nature of Hanoverian schools. The earlier Grammar schools had also been distinguished by their relationship with the Church. Both before and after the Reformation the 5. Grammar schools had been partly controlled by the Church authorities and had, in their turn, devoted time to teaching the doctrines and beliefs of the Established Church. In the eighteenth century, however, this connection was no longer universally accepted or maintained. Some Grammar schools were run by Non-Conformist teachers, a few even had governors who were Dissenters. Furthermore the traditional control by the Bishop - by virtue of his right to grant or withhold a licence to teach and as Visitor - was diminishing through the reluctance of teachers to accept the episcopal authority and through the laxity of many Bishops in their exeroise of it.