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

by Edward Allen Bell

John Langhorne was the only survivor of the days of Butterton and almost immediately he resigned and was succeeded by Mr. Arthur Brewin, who had been trained as a teacher in the Chelsea Training College and had served under Blakiston at Preston. His salary was to be £130 a year. A Modern Language Master was also chosen.

The following December the usual examination took place and the Bishop of Ripon appointed the Rev. Frederic William Farrar, who at that time was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a Master at Harrow. This first report is important, because of the great contrast it presents when compared with later years. The School in 1859 was staffed by very able, young and ambitious men, indeed Mr. Blakiston's intellectual capacity and ability as a teacher were quite exceptional, and the report speaks in terms of commendation of the work of the School, especially of the boys under Blakiston and Brewin.

REV. J. R. BLAKISTON.

In the next year 1860, the examiner appointed was the Rev. J. T. B. Landon, sometime Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford; the progress that he reported was by no means so satisfactory as in the previous year. He praised the efficiency of the staff, but he pointed out that the pupils were not so advanced as to be able to profit sufficiently from the teaching. Similarly in 1861 there were no boys whose knowledge corresponded with that of an average sixth form in one of the greater Public Schools.

The causes were twofold. The number of boys had steadily decreased from ninety-six in Dr. Butterton's time, to fifty-six in 1860, and thereafter to an even greater extent. The consequence was that the competition became considerably less acute, and the proportion of boys from the neighbourhood considerably greater. Such boys would clearly in the main be less likely to profit by the efficiency of the teaching than boys from a greater distance. But there was a second and a contributory cause. The anomalous position of the Master and Usher, each of whom had a freehold in his office, had led to awkward incidents under the late Headmaster. But they were now accentuated by the fact that both Master and Usher were young men and were appointed at the same time. The subordination of the Usher to the Master was regulated by the Statutes of 1592, but in so vague a manner that they allowed room for all manner of evasion. It would be an unprofitable task to discuss these differences in detail; let it be sufficient to say that matters reached such a pitch that the Master was summoned before the Settle Bench of Magistrates on a charge of excessive vigour in applying punishment, and that the Usher was expected (though he did not do so) to appear as a witness for the Prosecution. The summons was dismissed, and the Master exonerated from all blame, but such a procedure was not calculated to enhance the prestige of the School, or modify the mutual difficulties of the Headmaster and Usher.

One of the chief of the minor causes of complaint was the position of the boarders. The advertisement issued for the purpose of encouraging applicants for the posts of Master and Usher had signified that both men could take boarders and so increase their salary. But Craven Bank, which was the Master's residence, was quite unsuited for the housing of boys. Butterton had only the attics to put them in, and Blakiston found it impossible to take any boys, except by allowing them to live entirely with his own family, and inhabit the same rooms, and for this he asked a higher fee of £75 a year. The Usher on the other hand was given a smaller house, but in April, 1859, the Governing Body spent £700 in enlarging it, and building what is now the Sanatorium. By this means he was able to take ten or twelve boys, keep them quite separate from his own family, and board them on lower terms than the Master at £56. As the numbers declined, the necessity for both men to have boarders disappeared, and in consequence the lower fees and the more comfortable internal arrangements of the Usher's house caused it to be more desirable in the eyes of the parents, and in January, 1863, the Usher had ten boarders, the Master one.

These were the more trivial causes of complaint, but Mr. Blakiston had too big a mind to suffer himself to be obsessed by the accidentals. He was fighting, and consciously fighting, a much bigger battle. Dr. Arnold had fought and won it at Rugby some years before, but the path at Giggleswick was not therefore the easier. The real point at issue was the 1844 Scheme for the Management of the School. It had driven away Dr. Butterton, it was harassing his successor. Mr. Blakiston on one occasion had to receive permission from the Governing Body to have the floor raised on his dais in the School, in order that he might have a better view of the boys as a whole. He could not arrange holidays without permission, he could not admit the boys without authority, he could not insist on a change in the pronunciation of Latin without rousing the interference of the Governors. The pronunciation, that is to-day called "new," was introduced by Mr. Blakiston in 1860, as well as a novel method of pronouncing Greek; he tried in vain to induce other Headmasters to follow his example.

These restrictions were particularly harassing to an ambitious and enthusiastic man, and in March, 1862, he applied to the Charity Commissioners for an amendment of the Scheme. They were unwilling to take any hand in it on the mere motion of the Master, and their refusal led to much recrimination. Men, anonymous and otherwise, wrote to the Newspapers commenting on the decadence of the School in efficiency and numbers, and the subject became well-worn. In the midst of it Mr. Blakiston received generous and unexpected support. Mr James Foster, a City of London Merchant, who had been educated at Giggleswick and had property in the neighbourhood, heard of the dissension that was going on, and read the published pamphlets of Mr. Blakiston. He accordingly asked his nephew and partner—Mr. James Knowles—to wait upon Mr. Blakiston with the offer of £500 wherewith he might be enabled to continue his efforts. James Knowles also wrote independently to the Charity Commissioners, as a member of the public anxious for the welfare of a School in whose neighbourhood he owned property. He called attention to the differences which had arisen between the Master and the Usher and the consequent depression of the School, and desired that they should open an investigation themselves in the interests of the Public.

Meanwhile the Governors had at last bestirred themselves and in September, 1862, had caused a letter to be written to the Commissioners, asking for an amendment to the Scheme. They suggested that, in accordance with Mr. Blakiston's suggestion, the area, from which members of their body could be chosen, should be slightly extended and their numbers raised from the statutory eight to fifteen. They put forward the names of seven additional members, but on two declining the honour, they reduced the number to five. The great danger of the previous number of eight drawn from the small area of the Parish of Giggleswick had lain in the tendency to choose men, who were closely allied one to another by ties of relationship and so possibly of prejudice. In 1864 the Scheme was so amended and the new Governors were chosen. They included three men, who soon shewed a very real, active and enlightened interest in the prosperity of the School—Sir James Kay Shuttleworth, Mr. C. S. Roundell, and Mr. Walter Morrison. One object had now been attained and the way lay open for a more thorough amendment of the position of the Master.