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

by Edward Allen Bell

But first it will not be amiss to mention other features of the School life. Potation Day was celebrated to the usual accompaniment of Figs until the year 1860, when the Charity Commissioners objected to it and to the Governors' dinners as a waste of trust funds. The Governors declined to entertain the objection, but limited the expenditure on the dinner given by the Governors to themselves and the Masters to £12, and any further expense was to be borne by the whole body of Governors present. The following year the dinner was again held and paid for as formerly, but in 1862 the differences between the Master and Usher and the death of one of the Governors gave them an opportunity of omitting the dinner in a dignified manner. Since that date the dinner has never been held. Fig-day, as far as the boys were concerned, was also celebrated this year but for the last time. In 1863 it was resolved that the customary payment of three guineas by the Scholars for School fires and cleaning should be discontinued and the money which had been collected in the winter of 1859-60 was to be applied to the purchase by Mr. Blakiston of books for the School Library. This is the first recorded intimation of the buying of books for the Library, which had been built by Dr. Butterton.

HECTOR CHRISTIE,

Chairman of the Governors.

In 1861 it was decided to purchase for the School a clock not exceeding the value of £5 and also to erect a shed in the Schoolyard. It was to be used as a playing and drilling place for the boys in wet weather, but as the estimated cost of it was £80 the Governors refrained from carrying the matter further until July, 1862. In that year some members of a committee, who had been appointed many years earlier to promote the decoration in the re-building of the School reported that they had £66 3s. 9d. in hand. This they offered to the Governors to assist them in the building of the shed in an ornamental style. In 1864 it was suggested that the Building Committee should report on the additional cost, for which the shed then in course of erection could be converted into Fives Courts. In 1865 Mrs. Kempson, of Holywell Toft offered £150 as a prize, to be called "The Ingram Prize," in memory of her father, the Rev. Rowland Ingram, sometime Headmaster. Five years previously the Pupils Prize and the Howson Prize had been suspended, but Mrs. Kempson's offer was gratefully accepted. She wished it to take the form, if possible, of a Bible with references.

The Usher had already absented himself for one term in order that he might undertake work at Cirencester, but he found it uncongenial and returned to Giggleswick. In June, 1864, he definitely resigned. The Governors at once requested permission from the Charity Commissioners to suspend for six months the post of Usher and to appoint a temporary Assistant to take the work. It was inconvenient to have the freehold occupied at a time when the Governing Body were contemplating amendments to the 1844 Scheme. In the meantime the Master was allowed the option of living in the Usher's house.

Henceforth the fortunes of the School began to improve. The position had been so unenviable that with the temporary vacancy in the freehold of the Usher, the Governors and the Headmaster began to consider seriously the alteration of the Scheme of Management. The Charity Commissioners had been approached first in 1862, by Mr. Blakiston, and, after he had been supported by the Governing Body, the matter received official attention. An Inspector was sent down in the early part of 1863, and taking advantage of a reconciliation between the Master and Usher, he refused to discuss or enquire into the personal aspect of the matter.

His report described the financial resources of the School, which consisted of 732 acres of land, and produced a yearly income of over £1,120. There was also an increasing surplus of revenue over expenditure, which three years later amounted to little less than £800. The average number of boys during the years 1846-1860 had been eighty-three, and the highest point had been ninety-six. This according to the testimony of those, who had the longest associations with the School, was a considerably larger number than had ever been reached at any previous period. In 1860 the number had dropped to fifty-six, and at the time of the Inspector's visit was fifty-one. Ten of these were boarders, of whom nine lived in the Usher's House, one with the Headmaster. There was one day boarder; nine lodged with strangers, four more with relatives, the rest, twenty-seven in all, were home boarders or boys coming to School from their homes in the neighbourhood. The education was mainly Classical, although some boys who were intended for a commercial career were excused Greek and Latin Verse, while almost all learned both French and German.

The chief difficulty under which the School was labouring, was the class of boy from which it drew. The whole education was given free and this tempted many parents to send their sons, who in reality were not fitted to take advantage of the curriculum provided. There were exceptions, and some boys of humble parentage had distinguished themselves in an intellectual sphere, but their proportion was not great. It was therefore suggested that tuition fees should be imposed. Such a charge was revolutionary and was stoutly condemned by all the inhabitants living around. It formed the battlefield for ten years. Face to face with the Inspector, the Governors gave their consent to the change, but presently local pressure became so strong that they withheld it. But the short Scheme of 1864 which enabled members of the Governing Body to be chosen from a wider area, and the consequent appointment of Sir James Kay Shuttleworth gave a great impetus to reform. There was now no faintness of heart. The increased efficiency of the School became a dominating idea, and the principle of capitation fees was accepted. But it was impossible to carry through such a principle without the consent of the neighbourhood. Their enthusiasm could hardly be looked for, but their goodwill was indispensable. In 1865 their hostility was lessened to the extent that a compromise was suggested, by which fifty boys should always be admitted free of capitation fee, and that ability to read and write should be deemed sufficient to gain admittance. The School had never within living memory educated more than ninety-six boys, and at this time the numbers were down to thirty-seven, in 1864 they had been thirty-four, so that the suggested number of free boys was perhaps somewhat an exaggerated number. The Governors replied by suggesting twenty-five boys drawn from a radius of eight miles. This would probably have sufficed for as many as would be likely to benefit in the limited area, and the limitation in area was only a return to the original desire of the founder to educate boys who were sons of parents in the neighbourhood.

In October, 1865, Mr. J. G. Fitch inspected the School as an Assistant Commissioner, under the Schools Enquiry Commission. There were only twenty-two boys in the higher classes learning Latin, and the Sixth Form consisted of one, while only eight boys in all were able to read a simple passage from a Latin Author. He noticed several disadvantages under which the School was labouring, and consequent upon which it had declined. One of them was the narrow and local character of the Governing Body, but this had been recently amended by the Scheme of 1864. Another was the obvious one of the impossibility of having two masters, one nominally subordinate to the other, and yet each enjoying a freehold. Lastly, he pointed out that there was no effective supervision by the Governors over the boarding arrangements, and he condemned the gratuitous character of the instruction, which attracted boys for whom the education at the National School would have been sufficient.