‘Hymers’ owes itself to two brothers, John and Robert Hymers, each a native of the North Riding and an ‘old boy’ of Sedbergh School.
| Photo by] | [Turner & Drinkwater |
| Bridlington Grammar School. | |
Arms of Hymers
College.
The elder of these two brothers, who was born in 1803 at Ormesby in Cleveland, became a distinguished mathematical scholar, and a Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge. Somewhat late in life he was appointed rector of Brandesburton, where he spent his last thirty-five years. On his death in 1887 it was discovered that he had left almost his whole fortune for the foundation of a Grammar School. The wording of a portion of his will ran as follows:—
And, subject to the payment of my debts ... I give and bequeath all the residue of my real and personal estate and effects whatsoever and wheresoever to the Mayor and Corporation of the port of Kingston-upon-Hull, in the county of York, wherewith to found and endow a Grammar School in their town on the model of the Grammar Schools at Birmingham and Dulwich, for the training of intelligence in whatever social rank of life it may be found amongst the vast and varied population of the town and port of Hull.
The amount of money thus bequeathed was roughly £200,000. But, unfortunately for the testator’s wishes, the will was declared to be null and void, because by the use of the words ‘found and endow’ it violated an ancient law. By the Statute of Mortmain, passed by Parliament in the year 1279, money might not be left to found and endow what was really a religious institution. Had the will said ‘to found or endow,’ things would have been all right. But, as it was, the Statute of Mortmain, though passed six hundred years before, was then still the law of the land; and in the eyes of the law the testator’s wishes counted for nought.
| Photo by] | Hymers College. | [Turner & Drinkwater |