A History of Giggleswick School from its Foundation, 1499 to 1912

by Edward Allen Bell

REV. ROWLAND INGRAM, M.A.

In the result the Rev. Rowland Ingram was elected. He had gained "one of the first Mathematical honours" and had only just failed to win the Bachelor of Arts Classical Medal. He was a B.D. and a late Fellow and Tutor of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He was turned thirty-two (his brother said he was thirty-four) and after being for some years a private Tutor at Eton had been appointed in Midsummer, 1798, Headmaster of Ipswich Grammar School, where he had made a considerable name. He was certainly the strongest candidate who applied and it speaks well for the Governors that they elected him, notwithstanding the fact that two old Giggleswick boys were standing—Thomas Carr and the Rev. Thomas Paley, the former of whom had a very distinguished academic career, and Paley had been third Wrangler. Ingram began with a salary of £300 a year and within six months premises were bought from Mr. Geo. Robinson, on which it was determined to build him a house.

Troubles arose on the staff almost immediately. John Carr who had succeeded Robert Kidd at £80 a year declared in June, 1800, that he would not continue to teach under £100. His request was not complied with, but the Governors made a compromise. They told him that he must give reasonable notice before he left the School, but that as his department consisted of a great number of boys and it was impossible for him to pay proper attention to them all, they had decided to hire an Assistant. At the same time they required that "teaching the English Grammar be encouraged."

The recent and rapid growth of the Writing Department is very significant. Its growth and the importance laid upon it increased step by step with the Industrial Revolution. It gave an elementary education and was confined to practical subjects—Arithmetic, Mensuration, Merchants' Accounts, etc. Some confusion existed in men's minds about the primary object of a Grammar School. Giggleswick had not been founded to give elementary instruction but its duty was to impart a sound knowledge of the Classics, in order to enable its pupils to go up to the University with a Scholarship and thence enter one of the learned professions and preferably become a Priest. The boys were welcomed from whatever homes they came, and though leaving Scholarships were given with a preference to the poorer boy, everyone received an education in the higher branches of literature. Not until 1768 was there any mention of the necessity of promoting the study of elementary subjects. It is true that the Statutes of 1592 had provided for a Scrivener to teach writing but he was only to come for three weeks in the year. In 1768 the Archbishop of York desired that a more permanent teacher should be chosen and the appointments of Saul, Stancliffe, Kidd, which have already been noticed, and of John Carr, of Beverley, were the result.

With the nineteenth century the School rapidly developed in importance. Kidd had in 1798 been paid £70 a year, Carr in the following March received £80 and clamoured for £100. In 1801 owing to the increase of numbers the son of Mrs. Mary Bradley acted as his Assistant for a few months and later in the year Carr engaged his own son, whom the Governors allowed to remain, until a permanent Assistant was appointed. The Governors passed and re-passed resolutions on the question of providing a permanent teacher and Mr. Clementson was appointed in 1805 and taught the boys in a house built by the Governors but lately used as a school by Mr. Holmes. The proper School was possibly growing too large and in 1804, the Archbishop had suggested that English should be taught in a distinct department. The teaching of English grammatically was an innovation and a natural response to the needs of the time. Earlier ages had thought that in order to get a thorough grasp of English it was first necessary to pass through the portals of the Classics but the get-educated-quick had no time for such methods. Clementson was paid £50 and, when he demanded an increase, was graciously allowed an additional £20 "so long as his servitude shall be agreeable to the parties."

For a brief period of seven weeks in 1806 William Stackhouse worked under Carr at the rate of £30—Clementson having left—and Carr resigned in January, 1807. In that month he received a last payment of £5 5s., as a reward for examining candidates for the vacant post. One of them, John Lockwood, was elected but he was required to teach not only Writing and Arithmetic but also Mathematics. He rejected the offer and Stackhouse was appointed permanently at £100 a year. In 1809 he received £150 and continued at this salary till his death or resignation in 1830.

In his appointment English, as a teaching subject, was neglected, but later in the same year the Archbishop was approached on the propriety of establishing an English School and in 1809 a minute of the Governors declared that none were to be admitted into the Writing School, unless they were able to read and were under eighteen. This points to an entire cleavage between the Grammar and the Writing School. They were in different parts of the building and a member of the one was not of necessity a member of the other. They were both subsisting on the same foundation, but the Writing School was an off-shoot, a child and an illegitimate one. Not until the middle of the century did the old School shake it off and return to the primary objects of its foundation.

Obadiah Clayton, the Usher, began in June, 1800, to shew signs of insanity. The particular form that it took was the habit of producing pistols in School. He was put for a time in an asylum and a Mr. Tomlinson was to be written to as a successor, but as they did not hear from the Archbishop to whom they had applied for instructions, nothing was done. Later Clayton returned from the asylum but possibly for a time took no part in the School work. In 1802 the Governors went to the expense of 5s. 4d. in order to get advice on the propriety of complying with his request that he should attend a private pupil during school hours and should be allowed to take the globes from the School. His request was negatived.

Two years later, matters reached a head, his conduct was not considered consistent and the Archbishop suggested that they should pay him the statutory minimum of £50 and hire an Assistant. The difficulty lay in the fact that he held a freehold and could only with great difficulty be made to resign. Meanwhile, Carr and Ingram were requested to report upon his conduct. Ingram declared that Clayton's conversation was of a wild and incoherent nature, but Carr was more minute. He reported that Clayton did not attend the School much for three weeks and that during that time he appeared to be in a deranged state of mind and made use of expressions such as that he had got a letter from his wife in heaven, or that the roads on which he walked were paved with fire. Although the immediate cause of his mental derangement was the death of his wife, he had never enjoyed good health. One of his testimonials from the Tutor of Magdalene College, Cambridge, had said that he had been compelled to leave Magdalene temporarily owing to ill health. He continued however to teach until 1805, when at his own suggestion he was allowed to absent himself for four years without giving up his license and he received £50 a year. This permission was characterized by the Archbishop as an act of humanity, but the legality of thus disposing of the Trust money was seriously questioned. A year later the Governors received a letter from him, saying that he had had many difficulties and had visited many parts of England but his "dernier resort" was at Bognor Barracks where he had enlisted as a private soldier and was anxious to be bought out. Some neighbouring clergy had interested themselves in his case and the Bishop of Chichester was willing to provide him with a curacy, provided that satisfactory answers came from the Governors of Giggleswick. Clayton begged them therefore to say that the cause of his leaving the School had been "ill-health." He was released from the Army but probably did not serve any curacy, for in May, 1808, he was acting as a Chaplain in the Royal Navy, after which nothing more is known of him though he continued to be paid his salary till 1810. His position as Usher was filled in that year by John Armstrong, who had been elected as a Classical Assistant in 1806; the Governors at that time had proposed to offer £50 as a fit salary, but as no candidate had appeared on the day of election, it was raised to £100.