A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



the grammar school in the place of Godfrey Pye 

 deceased.' At this meeting 



divers persons weare named as scholemaisters . . . 

 amongst whom one was to be chosen Scholemaister 

 of Newark, and thereupon by consent of Mr. Symond 

 Deedes, vicar and preacher of God's word at Newarke, 

 and according to Mr.Magnus' will, Luke Mason, maister 

 of arte, was the day and yeare aforesaid by all voices 

 elected and chosen into the place of a scholemaister 

 at Newarke and installed accordinge to the directions 

 of Mr. Magnus' Will, in all thinges, excepte takinge 

 of an Oathe which is respected (i.e. respited) untill 

 further consideracion be had thereof, and which Oathe 

 the said Luke Mason hath promised to take at any 

 time hereafter if it shall be so required. 



Magne pater, coeptis dexter adesto tuis. 



And where, by Mr. Magnus' Will, his sallary or 

 wages was 18, Mr. Alderman and the assistants are 

 agreed that he should have yearely 20. 



And it is agreed that Mathew Mason, brother of 

 the said Luke Mason, shall be usher of the said schole 

 for the better enformeinge and teacheinge of children, 

 and shall have for his painestakinges therein yearely 

 10. 



This is the first mention of an usher, and 

 points to a school of some size 70 or 80 

 bovs at least. Mason was succeeded by Richard 

 Poynton, of Christ's College, Cambridge, where 

 he had matriculated in 1619, and took his M.A. 

 degree in 1626. He was master of Mansfield 

 Grammar School before his election at Newark, 

 to which he was licensed 9 August 1&34. 50 

 The Admission Register of St. John's College, 

 Cambridge, begins in that year. We learn from 

 it that Newark was a school of good social as 

 well as intellectual status. Peter son of Edmund 

 Fulwood, barrister, of Bilsthorpe, who had been 

 at Newark school for two years under Mr. 

 Poynton, was admitted to that college on 

 14 June 1636, at the age of eighteen, as a 

 sizar, and Edward eldest son of Francis Thomp- 

 son, esq., of Somerton Castle, Lincolnshire, who 

 had been under Poynton for three years, was 

 admitted as fellow-commoner, a position only 

 held by the wealthy and well-born, on 2 October 

 1637. He was only fifteen years old. Poynton 

 was buried at Newark 20 August 1637. Possi- 

 bly the young squire was sent to the university 

 earlier because of the death of the master under 

 whom he was being educated. These two 

 names are alone sufficient to show that the 

 school was then a boarding school and well 

 frequented. 



Edward Gambell' 1 seems to have succeeded 

 Poynton, as Gilbert, son of Edward Standish, 

 gentleman, of Newark, who is said to have been 

 at Newark School under Mr. Gambell for nine 

 years, was admitted to St. John's College, 4 July 



Reg. 



Brown, op. cit ii, 194, from York Archiepis. 



" His name does not appear in the list of masters 

 .given in Brown's Hist, of Newark, ii, 194. 



1640. The meaning must be that he, although 

 only fourteen years old, had been at Newark 

 School for nine years, and that Gambell was then 

 master, unless, possibly, Gambell had been usher 

 under Poynton before becoming master. As 

 boys from Thurgarton, Allington, Lincolnshire, 

 and Burton Lazars, Leicestershire, are all re- 

 corded on admission to St. John's as having been 

 under 'Gambull' at Newark, the status of the 

 school must have been well maintained under him. 

 He seems to have left in 1642, as William 

 Marshall is said " to appear in a Magnus charity 

 account for 1641-2 as being paid 20 'for his 

 whole year's allowance.' He was followed for a 

 year by Richard Jalowelle," who died in office. 



At a Meeting held in the Church of Newarke upon 

 Trent in the County of Notts, the sixteenth day of 

 August, A.D. 1643," before Christopher Wilson, Mair," 

 Thomas Truman, Vicar [and 1 1 aldermen], Mr. John 

 Shore was duly nominated and elected Scholemaster 

 of the free Gramar Schole at Newarke aforesaid of the 

 foundation of Mr. Thomas Magnus in the roome and 

 stead of Mr. Richard Jalowell, late Scholemaster there, 

 deceased, by the several and unanimous consent of all 

 persons then present interested therein. 



The Civil War had now begun, and Newark 

 was held by a Royalist garrison, and after the 

 defeat of a half-hearted attempt in February 

 1643 by General Ballard, remained one of the 

 main seats of the king's party till Charles sur- 

 rendered to the Scotch investing force in April 



1646. Some of the scholars no doubt joined 

 and stayed in the Royal army, unlike John 

 Cundy of Boston. 66 He 'being at school at 

 Newark and 16 years old was induced to join 

 the king's party, but disliking their intentions 

 procured a protection from Col. Hatcher to 

 proceed to Boston, where in Jan. 1645 he took 

 the covenant.' We may presume that the 

 school went on more or less quietly during the 

 war. Cambridge being a Parliamentary strong- 

 hold, the flow of scholars to St. John's ceased. 

 Nor apparently was it resumed till after the 

 Restoration. During the Commonwealth the 

 school went on under Thomas Gibson, who 

 appears as master in 1649. He seems to nave 

 been of Queen's College, Oxford, and was 

 vicar of Horncastle, Lincolnshire, from 1634 to 



1647. George Hill succeeded in 1650. A 

 boy named John Owsley, who had been under 

 him for a year, and afterwards at Bingham 

 School, was admitted to Caius College, 21 May 

 1 66 1 . Benjamin Masters, a Christ Church man, 

 matriculated 29 November 1633, M.A. 21 June 



51 Brown, Hist, of Newark, ii, 194. 



" Not Hallowell, as Brown, op. cit. ii, 194. 



** Council Minute Bk. 210. 



w The titles of mayor and aldermen had been 

 substituted for that of alderman and assistants by a 

 charter of I July 1626. 



" Brown, Hut. ofNenark, ii, 135. 



210 



