SCHOOLS 



bridge, in 1734 and 1735. The Rev. John 

 Herson, whom Carlisle 66 gives as succeeding 

 Swale in 1731, was not head master, but usher. 

 On Swale's departure the Rev. Edward Chappell 

 was appointed, but resigned almost immediately. 

 James Herson M was then elected master and 

 George Wayte usher. The latter was succeeded 

 after a short interval by the Rev. Thomas 

 Nixon. The Rev. Timothy Wilde was ap- 

 pointed head master in 1758, and his long reign 

 of 35 years proved well-nigh the ruin of his 

 school. The usher, Nixon, resigned on his 

 arrival, and his place was filled by the Rev. 

 Francis Herson, who was, we may conjecture, 

 the son of the late master, and then by Samuel 

 Beardmore. Soon after the latter's coming 

 disputes arose between him and the master, 

 which produced an order from the Corporation 

 ' for the writings to be inspected ' as to their 

 power over them. In the result Beardmore 

 resigned. The Rev. William Fell succeeded, 

 but did not prove very satisfactory, the Corpora- 

 tion really wanting the usher to become an 

 elementary teacher. So we find them passing a 

 minute to the effect that ' if Mr. Fell resigns, 

 Mr. Anderson shall be appointed to teach English 

 Grammar and give lessons every day in an English 

 book.' Mr. Fell did resign, and Mr. Anderson 

 was selected on that basis. At length, in 1793, 

 Timothy Wilde agreed to resign on conditions ; 

 and the Rev. John Challand Forrest, of Queens' 

 College, Cambridge, where he had taken his 

 M.A. degree in 1783, was appointed. A year 

 later the then usher, the Rev. Leonard Chapman, 

 resigned, and Robert Wood, of St. John's 

 College, Cambridge, B. A. ,1793, long afterwards 

 head master, succeeded him. If the school had 

 lapsed into the decadence into which so many, 

 probably the majority of Grammar Schools in 

 the second half of the i8th century fell, this 

 was owing to the mismanagement of the Corpo- 

 ration, who, in spite of a large increase in the 

 value of the endowment, had continued to pay 

 the master 50 a year and the usher 30. The 

 salary was now increased to 100. Under 

 Forrest there were no boys on the foundation ; 

 but he taught a few, not exceeding 10, pri- 

 vate day scholars for whom he was paid by the 

 parents. The usher had a few boys, never 

 more than 10. 



On the death of Forrest, the Rev. John 

 Toplis, B.A., was appointed head master, and 

 the Town Council made an efFort, by no means 

 wisely designed, to effect an improvement in the 

 school, which though it brought at all events 

 some boys to it, degraded it for half a century 

 into little more than a close elementary school 

 for the sons of the freemen of the borough. 



** End. Gram. ScA. ii, 279. 



M It is possible that ' James ' is written by mistake 

 for ' John ' in the council minutes, and that the usher 

 was appointed head master. 



By Ordinances and Statutes' 7 of 17 February 

 1807, which affected to be made in addition 

 to the regulations contained in the deed of 

 foundation, in pursuance of the power com- 

 mitted to the Town Council by the founda- 

 tion deed (though the statutes to be made under 

 that power were not to be ' in any wise contrary 

 or repugnant to the statutes' of the foundress), 

 the school, which was by her statutes free 

 and open to all, was now limited to 60 boys,, 

 who had to apply for admission through the 

 mayor, and were admitted by the Common 

 Council, the Town Clerk furnishing a certified 

 list to the School Wardens. At the time the 

 endowment of the school brought in ^461 a year. 

 In 1818 the head master had a house and 150 

 a year, of which ,50 was called 'a gratuity at 

 Lady Day if his conduct has been satisfactory to 

 the Trustees.' The under master, the Rev. 

 Robert Wood, D.D., received 110, of which 

 40 was 'gratuity,' and a writing and arith- 

 metic master, added soon after the new regula- 

 tions of 1 807, had a salary of jT6o a year, and a 

 capitation payment of ids. a year from each boy, 

 or 90 a year in all. The result was that 

 Carlisle 67 in 1816 reports that the corporation 

 sent only 55 boys to the school, which ' may 

 now be regarded as a useful seminary for teach- 

 ing boys English Grammar, reading, writing, and 

 arithmetic. But its former celebrity in classical 

 learning is at an end.' 



In spite of this the school managed in half a 

 century to produce even wranglers at Cambridge, 

 among them the Rev. C. W. Woodhouse, who 

 entered the school in 1826, was a scholar of 

 Caius College, 22nd wrangler in 1840, and sub- 

 sequently canon of Manchester ; and Joseph Bell, 

 a wrangler in 1846. J. R. Hind, who went to 

 the school about 1831, was a scientific author at 

 1 6, and became an astronomer of some note. 

 He received a medal from the French Institute 

 in 1869, became President of the Astronomical 

 Society in 1880, and died in 1895. The head 

 masters of this inglorious period of the school 

 history were, besides Toplis, Robert Wood, D.D. 

 (1820-33), wno na d been second master, and 

 William Butler (1833-61). 



When the school was visited by Mr. W. H. 

 Eve for the Schools Inquiry Commission M in 

 1867 he found it with 92 boys, divided into 

 classical and English schools, the foundationers 

 nominated by the trustees paying 2 2s. a 

 year, and others 10 los. Only day boys were 

 allowed. The playground, which was 225 sq. 

 yds., was open only to the classical school. The 

 results of the close system were deplorable. The 

 school gave neither a good classical nor a good 

 modern education. No boys had gone from the 

 school to the university for more than five years. 



" Char. Com. Rep. xx, 394. 

 t7 * End. Gram. Sch. ii, 278. 

 48 Sch. Inq. Rep. xvi, 411. 



235 



