A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



school sent up students to the university. The 

 most interesting of these was Robert Franklyn, 

 who on account of his master's illness was 'taken 

 oft" grammar learning' and prepared for a com- 

 mercial career until, owing to the sick man's 

 protests, he resumed classical studies under 

 another teacher, entering Jesus College, Cam- 

 bridge, in 1645. 1 In 1595, the churchwardens 

 charged the town ' 4*. to repair the windows of 

 the schoolhouse, when Master Packlyfe kept 

 school,' and a hint of trouble is given by the fol- 

 lowing entry in the same record during 1607 : 

 ' Robert Sale received 91. which he had laid out 

 about the suit concerning the grammar school 

 land.' 2 This refers to William Bearman's claim 

 to ' the tenement called Woodes,' which had 

 been used as the schoolhouse. Bearman retained 

 possession of it, and bequeathed it to the poor of 

 Woodbridge in 1668. The school seems to 

 have collapsed soon after. 3 



But Woodbridge was not long without gram- 

 mar teaching. In 1 66 1 a sum of <)s. ^d. was 

 expended at the ' Crown ' and ' King's Head,' 

 ' when Mr. Marriot treated with the inhabitants 

 concerning the school ' ; 4 and by quinque partite 

 indenture of 2 September, 1662, 6 Marryott gave 

 a copyhold messuage in Woodbridge and a 

 building near Well Street to the grammar school, 

 while the Burwells and Dorothy Seckford agreed 

 to pay ^5 annually towards the maintenance of 

 a school and schoolmaster, who should educate 

 ten free scholars in Latin ' until they are fit for 

 the university if it be desired.' The nomination 

 of these scholars was to lie partly in the hands 

 of Robert Marryott, Francis Burwell, and 

 Dorothy Seckford, or the heirs male of any one 

 of them, and partly in those of the church- 

 wardens and 'six chief inhabitants of Wood- 

 bridge,' an ambiguous clause which led to 

 trouble later. The appointment of the school- 

 master was also to be by Marryott, Burwell, and 

 Dorothy Seckford (or heirs male), and the curate 

 of Woodbridge, or by any three of them, of 

 whom Marryott's representative was to be one. 

 If no appointment was made by these electors 

 within six months of the occurrence of a vacancy, 

 then the curate, churchwardens, and six chief 

 inhabitants were empowered to elect. 



Ordinances 6 were made; the school was to 

 be kept in the east part of the messuage abutting 

 upon the churchyard, and the rest of the house 

 was to be the schoolmaster's residence. Wood- 

 bridge boys other than free scholars might attend 

 the school on payment of 20*. apiece ' at least.' 



The choice of teaching methods was left to 

 the schoolmaster, but he was directed to 'cause 

 Theme to make Epistles, theames and verses in 

 Latine in (sic) greeke.' The ' principles of the 



1 Calamv, Nonconf. Mem. iii, 291. 

 ' Churchwardens' Accts. 1 661. 



3 Redstone, Bygone Woodbridge, 28-85. 



4 Ibid. 5 Char. Com. Rep. xxiv, 491. 



6 ' Lib. Admis.' at present in churchwardens' chest. 



Christian religion according to the Doctrine of 

 the Church of England ' were to be taught, and 

 the boys were to demean themselves ' sivilly and 

 reverently towards the Inhabitants of the Townc.' 

 Seats in the 'long gallery' of the parish church 

 were appointed for the master and his pupils. 

 The master might be removed for ' publique 

 scandall,' for ' manifest Cruelty,' if disqualified 

 by law from teaching, if he taught or publicly 

 spoke anything contrary to the Church doctrines, 

 or for absenteeism. He was further instructed 

 to keep a register of the admission of scholars. 



Though not very regularly kept, the ' Liber 

 Admissionum ' set up still exists. Robert Stephen- 

 son, appointed in 1662, was the first master; 7 

 but in 1663 Mr. Dockinge received the salary. 8 

 In 1665 Edmund Brome, M.A., the perpetual 

 curate of Woodbridge, became master, and, by 

 sending two or three pupils to St. John's College, 

 Cambridge, began a connexion which was long 

 continued. Brome became rector in 1666, but, 

 owing to the plague, his vacated post was not 

 filled until 1667, when Simeon Wells became 

 master. At this time Mr. Edward Beeston and 

 Mr. F. Woodall both figure in the books as 

 receiving payment for teaching. Mr. Beeston 

 remained until 1670, when the churchwardens 

 paid out £2 8s. on 'charges removing Mr. Candler 

 from Ipswich.' The money was well expended. 

 Philip Candler, M.A., presided over the school 

 for 19 years, during which time he kept the 

 register carefully. Ipswich boys followed him 

 to Woodbridge, and the matriculation registers 

 of Caius College and St. John's show the results 

 of his teaching. 



In 1679 the school received the endowment 

 of a piece of land near 'The Oyster,' which 

 was bequeathed to it by Francis Willard, and the 

 letting of which brought in ^8 per annum. 



In 1689, Philip Candler, M.A., jun., suc- 

 ceeded his father, and was master for 14 years. 9 

 Under his successor, William Cayter, the register 

 is a blank. It was renewed by Mr. Samuel 

 Leeds, M.A., of Queens' College, Cambridge, 

 son of the man who had long made Bury 

 grammar school famous. During his 18 years' 

 mastership the admission of Woodbridge pupils 

 to Caius and St. John's goes on steadily, and the 

 names on the matriculation roll correspond to a 

 certain extent with those of the free scholars of 

 the school. 



John Blyth became master in 1727, and at 

 his death, in 1736, the curate, churchwardens, 

 and six chief inhabitants elected Mr. Thomas 

 Pugh to fill the vacancy. There had recently 

 been great irregularity in the appointment of 

 free scholars, but ten Woodbridge boys were now 

 selected by order of the churchwardens. 



7 Ibid. Stephenson was appointed to Ipswich in 

 1664. 



8 Churchwardens' Accts. 



9 He married Debora Holly de Dinnington in 

 Jan. 1690. Acta Bks. Ipswich Probate Office. 



346 



