SCHOOLS 



Rev. Samuel Rogers was appointed during good behaviour. He resigned 

 after four years. The Rev. Thomas Wortley, who succeeded, was master 

 for nearly thirty years, to 1797. The Rev. John Stoddart, appointed in that 

 year, remained in office for 30 years, during 25 of which he was totally 

 blind.* In 1 8 1 8 his son of the same name was second master. There 

 were about 85 boys in the school; 30 boarders, charged 32 to 35 guineas 

 a year ; 30 day-boys paying 4 to 8 guineas, and 25 free boys nominated by 

 the corporation, this freedom (with absolutely no warrant in the original 

 foundation) being limited to sons of freemen ; it being considered that 

 the endowment, then worth just under jTioo a year, was given for that 

 purpose. The year before, 18 17, the school committee of the corpora- 

 tion had published rules and orders limiting the foundationers to 25 and 

 providing that ' no boy should be admitted till he can properly read a 

 chapter in the Bible or Testament.' They were to be taught 'the English 

 and Latin grammars, proper reading, good writing and arithmetic' 

 Special provision was necessary apparently that the foundationers should 

 be treated on an equality ' and with like care of their education in 

 every respect ' as non-foundationers. ' In case the Master receives any 

 stipend or gratuity whatever of any boy on the foundation he shall 

 be unworthy of the endowments given by the donors of the said school,' 

 while if a parent gave anything the boy was to be removed, ' except 

 a shilling annually towards the expense of keeping a fire.' 



The Schools Inquiry Commission in 1865 found the school in 

 abeyance pending the execution of a new scheme made by the Court 

 of Chancery, 7 December, 1864. 



This scheme placed the government of the grammar school in the 

 hands of the municipal trustees of the general charities of Northampton, a 

 body of persons appointed by the Court of Chancery under the Municipal 

 Corporations Act of 1 835. The property comprised in the original grant of 

 Chipsey, producing a gross income of ^(^304 a year, was definitely allocated 

 to the purposes of the school. Out of it, however, the late head master, 

 the Rev. Charles Deston, was to receive a pension of ^TSo a year. The 

 tuition fees were fixed at a maximum of ^4 a year, of which the head- 

 master was to take two-thirds and the second master one-third. Under 

 this scheme the old school was sold and new buildings adequate for 200 

 boys erected in Abington Square — then on the outskirts of the town. But 

 no proper cricket ground was provided, and a mere backyard for a plav- 

 ground, and no head master's house as directed by the scheme. The 

 school, however, was reopened in 1867 under the head-mastership of the 

 Rev. William Henry Keeling, who attained considerable success, having 

 by 1869 eighty boys. The Endowed Schools Act constituting the En- 

 dowed Schools Commission to reform grammar schools was passed in 

 August, 1869. In October Mr. Keeling promptly invoked their assist- 

 ance, pointing out that the scheme of the Court of Chancery, by fixing 

 the tuition fees at the inadequate amount of ^4 a year, practically limited 

 the school to eighty boys, and rendered it almost impossible to conduct 



' Carfule, ii. 213. 

 239 



