Immediately previous to 1878, the schools on the foundation were (1) The Grammar School (Classical, English, and Lower) with 584 boys: (2) the Branch Elementary Schools with 607 boys and 554 girls.[15] A great development was now arranged for. There were now to be (1) a High School for Boys up to the age of 19, with preparation for the Universities; (2) a Middle School for Boys to age of 16, when Latin, at least one modern language, natural science, and drawing, were to be taught. (3) An Upper School for Girls. (4) The existing branch Elementary Schools, or “Lower Middle” School for children to age of 14, teaching all subjects included in the possible curriculum of the best public Elementary Schools[16] though reaching a far higher standard than is there obtained. The necessity for the head and second masters being in Orders was done away with; the religious teaching was to be undoctrinal, and there was to be an emphatic conscience clause: no master might hold any benefice or cure of souls, nor might he in future,[17] without the express permission of the Governors, take boarders. The jurisdiction of the Master of the Middle School was increased, though supreme authority in matters of discipline was still reserved to the Head Master. Provision was made for the subdivision of the Middle School and the Upper Girls’ School, when desirable, and for the establishment of evening schools.
Scholarships were arranged as follows:—(1) Foundation Scholarships in all the Schools, the holders of which received education free. The number of these was not to exceed a third of the total number in each school. Half of those given in the Lower Middle Schools were restricted to scholars attending Public Elementary Schools within the Borough, for not less than two consecutive years immediately preceding admission, and a third of the remainder were offered for competition among the candidates for admission; the rest being competed for by scholars already in the School. (2) King Edward VI. Scholarships, viz.: annual payments to deserving scholars while at the school, to an amount not less than £200 a year; the value of each to be not more than £25 a year plus tuition fees. (3) Besides the James Charities exhibitions of £50 a year at Oxford or Cambridge, £400 a year was to be given for exhibitions at either of the Universities, to scholars of at least two years standing in the High School; and £200 for exhibitions tenable at any educational institution for boys or girls at either High or Middle School. All these scholarships were to be gained by competition.[18]
In the competitive examination for entrance, preference was to be given to boys and girls resident within ten miles of Birmingham.
Development of 1883.—In 1883, the final step in development was taken. It was felt that the “Lower Middle” Schools, were now doing work which largely overlapped that of the Middle School, and the consent of the Charity Commissioners was obtained to the following change. These Schools were converted into Schools of the same grade as the “Middle” School of the 1878 scheme, (1) The Girls’ School at Meriden street had been transferred to Camp hill, in 1881, and a Boys’ School was now erected on the same site. (2) The Proprietary School at the Five Ways was absorbed into the foundation, and the staff of the old Middle School, hitherto domiciled at New Street, was transferred to improved buildings there, the boys from the Bath Row School also being taken in. The pupils from the old Middle School were dispersed throughout the various Boys’ Schools now opened. (3) This enabled the provision of 1878 for a High School for Girls to be carried out[19] in the New Street Buildings thus left vacant. (4) A new school for Boys and Girls was erected in Albert Road, Aston, to which the scholars from Gem Street were transferred. In 1882, the Boys Schools at Edward Street, Meriden Street, and Bath Row were closed. Thus, at the present time, the Schools under the foundation are—High Schools for Boys and Girls at New Street; Grammar Schools for Boys at the Five Ways, Boys and Girls at Aston and Camp Hill, Girls at Summer Hill and Bath Row. The admission fee is at the High School, 10/-, and at the Grammar Schools, 2/6; the annual tuition fee at the High Schools, £9; at the Grammar Schools, £3.
Among the numerous honours gained at the Universities since 1800 should be mentioned the following:—at Cambridge, 8 chancellor’s medallists, and 10 university scholars; 6 senior classics, 28 first class-men in the classical tripos, and 6 first class-men in the moral science tripos; 35 wranglers: at Oxford, 8 university scholars, 5 first class-men in Literis Humanioribus, 11 in classical moderations, and 2 in Disciplinis Mathematicis et Physicis. The present Archbishop of Canterbury, one Bishop (Lightfoot), and one Regius Professor of Divinity (Westcott), are also old Birmingham boys. During the past few years the school has also gained high and numerous distinctions at London University, Queen’s College (Birmingham), and the Mason Science College.
List of the Head Masters from the earliest date now known:—circa 1650, John Barton; 1654, Nathaniel Brooksby; 1685, John Hickes, M.A.; 1694, James Parkinson; 1722, John Hansted; 1726, Edward Mainwaring; 1746, John Wilkinson; 1759, Thomas Green; 1766, John Brailsford; 1775, Thomas Price; 1797, John Cooke; 1830, Francis Jeune (afterwards Dean of Jersey, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, and Bishop of Peterborough); 1838, James Prince Lee (afterwards Bishop of Manchester); 1848, Edwin Hamilton Gifford, Archdeacon of London; 1862, Charles Evans; 1872, A. R. Vardy. It should also be mentioned that in 1830, the second master was the Rev. Rann Kennedy, father of the celebrated Head Master of Shrewsbury, himself a classic of the highest attainments.
Queen’s College.—The story of Queen’s College is an interesting record of mingled success and failure; of success where it set about doing much needed work, and of failure where it appeared to be placing itself in antagonism to the prevailing spirit and influences of the town.
The formation of a School of Medicine and Surgery for Birmingham and the Midland Counties was suggested in 1828 by Mr. Sands Cox, who had made a diligent inspection of all the chief medical schools at home and abroad; and it was immediately carried out by the help of Dr. Johnstone and the unstinted liberality of Dr. Warneford. Lectureships in various branches of Medicine were at once established, and in 1830 a Museum and Library were fitted up. From 1836 to 1843 the new Institution was known as “The Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery,” the royal patronage having been obtained in the former year. But in 1843 a Royal Charter of Incorporation was granted to it under the title of “The Queen’s College, at Birmingham.” By the munificent endowments of Dr. Warneford,[20] the Governors were soon enabled to widen the scope of the college. Departments were created for literature, science, and art, and for instruction in the doctrines and duties of Christianity according to the Church of England. Queen’s Hospital was founded with a chaplaincy, also endowed with £1,000 by Dr. Warneford, who, in addition, appears to have borne almost the whole expense of the College Chapel. An arrangement was now made whereby the London University admitted students of the college for the degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Medicine, and, upon the college Certificate, for B.A., M.A., B.C.L., and D.C.L. The exclusively Church of England character of the college and all concerned with it was untiringly insisted upon by its promoters. A chapel was established with daily services at which the attendance was compulsory. By the supplemental charter of 1847 it was laid down that the Lord Bishop of the Diocese was to be the visitor; the Principal, who was to be a Nobleman, or one of the Hon. Governors, must also belong to the Church of England. The Vice-President must be a dignitary of the Church near Birmingham: all the classical, mathematical, and medical tutors must also be churchmen. The feelings which prompted these rigorous regulations are concisely expressed in a letter of Dr. Warneford to Mr. Sands Cox in 1849, in which he says, “to guard against the subtle designs of the Jesuits, and the insidious intrusion of malignant dissenters, imperatively requires much deliberation!” From a second supplemental charter of 1851, it appears that Dr. Warneford had given £4,400, increased in 1852 by £6,500, for a Professorship of Pastoral Theology; and £3,500, increased in 1852 by £2,500, for a Wardenship, the holder of which must necessarily be a clergyman. All resident students were to be members of the Church, and attendance at Chapel service was compulsory.
There can be little doubt that the attempt to erect an exclusively Church of England College in a town in which dissent was overwhelmingly predominant was a leading cause of the failure which awaited the institution.