SCHOOLS 



BECCLES GRAMMAR SCHOOL 



As we noticed under Bury School, the thir- 

 teenth century custumary of St. Edmunds 

 Abbey states that the appointment of school- 

 masters to grammar schools or manors and pos- 

 sessions of the abbey outside Bury, belonged to 

 the officer to whose office the possessions were 

 appropriated. Accordingly we find in a register 1 

 of the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries an 

 appointment of such a master at Beccles by the 

 chamberlain. The document is headed ' Collacio 

 Scolarum de Beklys.' 



By it, on i June, 1396, William Bray, 

 chamberlain of the monastery, ' to whose office 

 by ancient laudable and approved custom the 

 collation of the school of the town of Beclys 

 belongs ' fully confers 



the teaching (regimen) of the said school on Master 

 Reginald Leche, chaplain, to the end that he may 

 well and duly teach and occupy the same school in 

 his proper person so that no one else, of whatsoever 

 estate or degree he may be, shall presume to keep 

 school there in any wise, under the penalty which we 

 intend to invoke against any rashly violating this 

 present grant. 



He then revokes and annuls ' all other commis- 

 sions granted to any other person by us or any 

 of our predecessors.' But the grant was only at 

 pleasure ' these presents not to be in force longer 

 than it may please us or our successors.' 



A few years later in 1403-4 we find the 

 master receiving 16^/., for teaching two clerks 

 from Mettingham College, 2 but after this date we 

 have few traces of the school until the Cambridge 

 registers are available. Mr. Dorlet (or Darley) 

 was master between I 59 1 and 1608, Mr. Brant 

 about 1606, Mr. West in 161 5 and Mr. Rayner 

 in 1624-6. Mr. Neane taught there from 

 1630 to 1637. Other names are those of 

 Mr. Capp 1645-8, Mr. Nuttle 1650-5, Mr. 

 Cannon 1656, Mr. John Forby, who was licensed 

 to teach in Beccles in 1667, Mr. Busby 1667-9, 

 Mr. Atkinson 1672-5 and Mr. Leeds 1697- 

 17 14, who educated Richard Playter the future 

 master of Mendlesham. 



In 1 7 12 Henry Falconbridge, LL.D., de- 

 vised by will 3 real estate in Corton &c, to endow 

 a school, after the death of his wife. The 

 master was to be nominated by the Bishop of 

 Norwich, the archdeacon of Suffolk and the 

 rector of Beccles. He was to be ' well learned 

 and experienced in the Latine and Greeke 

 tongues so as to capacitate youth fitting for the 

 Universities.' If the mastership remained vacant 

 for six months, Falconbridge's heir was to receive 

 the rents for that time. 



Several life tenants intervened before the school 



1 Camb. Univ. Lib. ff. 1 1, 29, 47. It is wrongly 

 entered in the University MSS. Calendar as a pre- 

 sentation to Bury School. 



* Mettingham Coll. Acct. Bks. 



3 Proved 17 Feb. 171 3, P.C.C. 



benefited by this bequest in 1 7 70, and meantime 

 the teaching, as shown by the matriculations at 

 Cambridge, continued at a tolerably high level. 

 Mr. Symonds was master from 1735 to 1744. 

 Mr. Peter Routhe must be counted the first 

 head master of Falconbridge's Grammar School. 

 He combined this office with that of rector of 

 Beccles. Mr. Routhe had a genial personality 

 which along with his notion of discipline, was 

 pleasingly shown when a pupil from Mr. Bright- 

 ley's private school broke one of his windows. 

 The culprit was made to pay up in public, but 

 the money quietly found its way back to his 

 pocket when justice was satisfied. This mild 

 tempered master ruled until 1788, sending 

 several pupils to the universities meanwhile. 

 His son, Martin J. Routhe, became president of 

 Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1791. Until 

 that date, he had paid a yearly visit to his father 

 and had frequently, to the delight of the boys, 

 taken his place in the schoolroom. Dr. Girdle- 

 stone, M.A., was the next master, and during 

 his time the school was held in the old Guild 

 Hall. 4 Mr. Burrows advertises as master of the 

 'Free School at Beccles' in 1807, but this pro- 

 bably refers to Leman's school, as Dr. Girdle- 

 stone remained until 1813, removing to Mr. 

 Routhe's house in 1802 when the old master 

 died. Girdlestone was a 'character.' He was 



reserved in social habits and singular in appearance, 

 rarely to be seen except clad in a short blue spencer, 

 worn through all kinds of weather, and with a 

 walking cane which was never known to touch the 

 ground. 



He was both strict and generous tempered, and 

 was always ready to grant a holiday for skat- 

 ing. 6 The Rev. Hugh Owen succeeded him in 

 1813. 



The Commissioners of Inquiry in 1829 came 

 to the conclusion that the founder had not 

 intended to establish a free grammar school. 

 Poor boys were however free, while others paid 

 £1 1 j. a quarter. 7 



In 1846 the Rev. Henry Burrows became 

 head master, and was followed in 1853 by the 

 Rev. A. O. Hartley. In 1867 8 Mr. J. L. 

 Hammond, bursar of Trinity College, Cam- 

 bridge, acting as Assistant Commissioner to the 

 Schools Inquiry Commission found a school of 

 52 boys, of whom 19 were day boys. It was 

 mainly a preparatory school for the public schools. 

 The Rev. J. H. Raven became master in 1873. 

 A new scheme under the Endowed Schools Acts, 

 19 July, 1 883, recognized its status as a grammar 

 school. The Rev. Percy Elliott Bateman, fellow 



'The Dr. Philip who taught in Beccles 1793-6 

 was probably a private master. 



4 Rix, The Yakonberge Mem., 39, 40. 



6 He published a Translation of Pindar's Odes in 

 1810. 



7 Char. Com. Rep. xxii, 232. 

 ' Sch. Inq. Rep. xiii, 121. 



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