SCHOOLS 



mentioned in the chantry certificate of Edward VI ^ : ' Kettering. A 

 stypendarye preest there founded and mainteyned, partely with the 

 devotion of th' inhabitants of the towne of Ketering (sic) whiche ys a 

 market towne, and partely with the revenues of certaine lands and 

 tenements gyven by copye of Courte Roll to find a preest, called the 

 morow masse preest, to sing there for ever : Is worth by yere 401. 

 Rent resolute ijs. iW. Remayneth clere 22s. loW.' 



Being copyhold these lands were exempted from the Chantries Act 

 and not confiscated to the crown, and so remained in possession of the 

 trustees. The object of the Commission of Charitable uses in 1681 was 

 to obtain an appointment of new trustees and so vest the property in 

 them. This was done by the decree made on the inquisition. Lord 

 Rockingham, Sir John Egerton, and Sir Roger Norwich, barts., two of 

 the commissioners, and seven others of the town and district being 

 appointed ' guardians and overseers ' of the property, with power to 

 appoint and dismiss the master. 



The then master was Samuel Sherwin, clerk, and was found to be 

 ' thereunto lawfully settled, licensed, and appointed,' and the house in 

 which he lived was found to have been likewise from time immemorial 

 ' used and imployed for a habitation for the schoolmaster and for a schole 

 house to teach schollers there.' He was continued ' at the will and 

 pleasure ' of the overseers and guardians, and the house also confirmed 

 as the schoolhouse. 



In 1 83 1 Lord Brougham's commission^ found an endowment, 

 chiefly cottage property, producing £i^j ?i year. The Rev. James Hogg 

 from Holbeck, near Leeds, appointed in 1801, was master. At first he 

 had about 60 free boys, but the establishment of a national school had 

 reduced them by nearly half. He taught them English, and those who 

 required it Latin, and had an assistant master at £^2^ a year to teach 

 writing and arithmetic. But the assistant was regarded as unfit, being 

 used also for menial offices. 



The Rev. Mr. Hogg was also vicar of Geddington, and on his 

 retirement, Richard Watson, his curate (at Geddington), succeeded to 

 the mastership of the school, but not to the living. About 1850 he 

 became curate of Burton Latimer, w^here he lived, and the boys attending 

 the school had to march off to that village, about three miles away, to do 

 their lessons. Surprising to relate, there were actually two or three boys 

 who still attended the school. 



On a petition to Chancery, a scheme for the school was made 

 28 April, 1854. The scheme provided a scale of tuition fees varying 

 with the social status of the boy : for sons of journeymen, labourers or 

 servants, 5^. a quarter; for others los. a quarter for instruction in Latin 

 and English subjects, including arithmetic ; and 20s. a quarter in other 

 subjects. The scheme directed that instruction should be given in Greek 

 and mathematics; and also, subject to objection on the part of parents, 



'P.R.O. Augmentation Off. Chantry Certificates, Nos. 35, 43. 

 ' Char. Com. Ref. xxiv, 131. 

 2 273 35 



