SCHOOLS 



suggest of the Mellers of Mellor, Derby- 

 shire. Both he and his brother William were 

 bell-founders, William at Leicester, Richard at 

 Nottingham. In 1472-3 he was sheriff of 

 Nottingham, in 1484-5 chamberlain, in 1499- 

 1500 mayor, and a second time mayor in 

 1505-6. On 7 June 1507 he made his will, 

 and died on 1 6 June, the will being proved 

 26 June. His wealth is attested by his 

 giving 16 for an honest priest to say mass 

 for him for three years, and jCio to the 

 repair of ' Hethbeth ' Bridges, while to his son 

 Robert he gave metals for his trade to the value 

 of 20, and no less than 6,000 Ib. of copper, 

 with all the implements of his craft and bell 

 moulds. To Dame Agnes his wife he gave all 

 his real property for life, a messuage in St. Peter's 

 churchyard absolutely, and the residue of his 

 personal estate. The eldest son, Thomas Mel- 

 lers, was a mercer. He had been common 

 Serjeant of the borough in 1485, became cham- 

 berlain 1508, sheriff 1509, an alderman, and was 

 mayor in 1514, and on two subsequent occasions. 

 The original charter for the school, which, 

 framed and glazed, hangs in the office of the 

 governing body of the school, in Peter Gate, 

 is dated 22 November, 4 Henry VIII, i.e. i$)2. 

 It gives the whole credit of the foundation to 

 Sir Thomas Lovel, treasurer of the household, 

 and Agnes Mellers. She is depicted in the initial 

 letter 13 kneeling by the side of Henry VIII, 

 who is seated robed and crowned, with orb and 

 sceptre in his hands. The preamble runs : 



Know ye that we, considering the pious purpose ot 

 our beloved councillor Thomas Lovel, knight, treasurer 

 of our household, and of Agnes Mellers, widow, in 

 the foundation and building of a school to endure for 

 ever in the parish of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the 

 town of Nottingham ... for boys in the same school 

 to be educated and taught and instructed in good 

 manners and literature, and for the maintenance of a 

 master and an usher of the same school and other 

 things necessary there to be made and done hereafter 

 according to the ordinance and will of the same 

 Thomas and Agnes or one of them, their executors 

 and assigns. . . . 



The king therefore gives licence to them to 

 begin, found, erect, unite, create, and establish 

 the school. Then follows a licence in mortmain 

 to ' the Mayor and burgesses of our town of 

 Nottingham and their successors ' to take and 

 hold lands to the annual value of 20 marks 

 (^13 6s. 8<), over all reprises (outgoings), 'to 

 hold for the use and purposes aforesaid according 

 to the constitutions and ordinances to be made 

 by the said Thomas and Agnes.' The usual 



" This is reproduced in The Forester for Midsum- 

 mer 1879. The elaborate 'Irr' for ' irrotulatur,' 

 i.e. 'it is inrolled,' written by the clerk of inrolments, 

 has been misread as being the king's initials R.H. 

 (Rex. Henricus). But the king did not sign patents ; 

 the great seal was his authentication. 



writ of ad quod damnum, and the inquisition 

 taken thereon, held before such lands could be 

 granted, and all fines and fees, were dispensed 

 with. 



In point of fact, it would appear that Sir 

 Thomas Level's part in the matter was merely 

 to act as intermediary with the king in present- 

 ing the petition for the charter. He was a 

 lawyer, who took a prominent part in bringing 

 in Henry VII, and was rewarded by being ma le 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer for life. For nis 

 services at the battle of Stoke, against Lamb :rt 

 Simnel, he was knighted, and on 1 1 March 

 1488-9 made constable of Nottingham Castle. 

 This appears to have been his sole connexion 

 with Nottingham and Agnes Mellers, as he was 

 himself a Norfolk man. But he was an execu- 

 tor of the Lady Margaret, and prominent in 

 pressing on the foundation of St. John's College, 

 Cambridge, and may therefore be taken to have 

 been zealous in the cause of education. Pos- 

 sibly it was due to his influence that the licence 

 in mortmain was granted without any fine or 

 fee, though this concession had become almost 

 common form for educational endowments, 

 Colet's licence for St. Paul's School and others 

 being granted in like form. As it has been 

 contended u by the late head master, Dr. Gow, 

 though perhaps rather in sport than earnest, that 

 the real meaning of free school, as applied to 

 this and other like foundations, was ' free from 

 the Statute of Mortmain,' it is as well to observe 

 that this charter, like all other licences in mort- 

 main, did not free the school from the Statute of 

 Mortmain generally, but only to a limited extent, 

 namely, in this case, to the extent of lands pro- 

 ducing a net income of ^13 6s. 8d., or about 

 260 a year of our money. If after the school 

 had acquired lands to that amount, any one 

 wished to give more, or the school to acquire 

 more, a fresh licence in mortmain would have 

 been necessary. In point of fact it will be seen 

 that a further licence did become necessary, and 

 a new charter therefore was granted with an 

 extension of this licence up to 26 ly.^d. The 

 school was never, therefore, absolutely freed from 

 the Statute of Mortmain by this, or, as will be 

 seen, by its subsequent charters. Moreover, there 

 were many free schools, such as Newark, which 

 never had a royal charter, and, never being 

 incorporated, needed no licence in mortmain, and 

 were, therefore, not freed from the Statute of 

 Mortmain to even a limited extent. 



The original ordinance or constitution of the 

 school made under the letters patent is, unfor- 

 tunately, not extant. It is known only from a 

 copy made in the reign of Elizabeth by or 

 under William Gregory, town clerk from 1596 



14 See articles in the National Observer, 3 Sept., 24 

 and 31 Oct. 1896, reprinted in Nott. Daily Guardian, 

 29 Oct. 1898, and discussed by Mr. S. Corner in 

 The Forester for April 1897, and April 1898. 



219 



