SCHOOLS 



English.' One wonders whether it was also to this learned lady that 10s. was paid ' for drawing 

 of the orders for the schoole and for getting them presented to my lord ' the bishop. 



In 1668 Mr. Jonathan Sissent, Sissons or Sisson, as he is variously dubbed, became headmaster, 

 and held office certainly for twenty-nine years, and probably for close on sixty years, since he appears 

 as churchwarden in 1720' and headed the Twenty-four in 1734.* In 1673 (p. 297) the church- 

 wardens paid him 'for courtesies received y. %d., and on 7 April, 1726,* paid him 4*. 6d. 'for 

 4 tarr barrels ' for bonfires on various occasions. In 1688-9 there was some disturbance about the 

 school. 



The following items figure in the churchwardens' accounts : ' Lawyer Squire for his fee and 

 drawing the appeale to be in readynessc, l I CM. ; Lawyer Middleton for his fee and order for 

 mandamus, 131. ; Mr. Berry for lawyer Middleton "s fee and advice about the Schoole patent under 

 his hand, i ; more to Mr. Berry for his owne care and charge at Durham about the same, being 

 2 dayes here, 131. +d.' The opinion of John Middleton, esquire (counsellor-at-law), 19 March, 

 1688, has been preserved. 4 It appears to have been directed to four main points : (i.) That the 

 school was not confined to the town, but ' is for the service of the parish '; (ii.) that it was designed 

 for the further instruction of those that can read, and not to teach children to read ; (iii.) that the 

 churchwardens had ' absolute power without the concurrence of any others of placing and dis- 

 placing the master and usher as they pleased, but they must take care to place such persons there as 

 resort to church and otherwise be licensed by the bishop'; and (iv.) that leases must be made by the 

 churchwardens as governors under seal. 



In 1693 (p. 457) there was a reference to the ex-master, ' spent with Mr. Battersby about the 

 schoole conserns, is.' 



In 1705, from a copy of a by-law made in December that year and inserted in the church 

 books, it appears that the school was in a bad way. The churchwardens, ' taking into considera- 

 tion the low condition that the Free Grammar School is reduced to, as alsoe the severall books 

 awanting and necessary for the use of the said schoole as well as needful repaires, have made a deduc- 

 tion of j8 out of the stipend and sallery of the present Master and Usher, soe that the sallery is to 

 be 33 12s. lid. for the ensuing yeare.' The total rental for the year was 41 12s. lid., so they 

 paid Mr. Jonathan Sissons the master and Mr. John Hodson the usher * the sum specified and spent 

 on ' 2 Coates Dixonaryes, 15*.; I Skrevelius Lexicon, Js. 6d. ; Littleton's Dixonary bound in 

 calfe, 1 8*.' In 1707 Mr. Sisson received 29 12s. lid. and Mr. Hodson 6. 



On 14 December, 1714, John Cuthbert, Serjeant-at-law, gave an opinion, dated at Newcastle, 

 to the effect that any three of the churchwardens had power to displace the master, and told them 

 to do so by an order served on him, ' and from that time they may withdraw his salary, and if he 

 refuseth to deliver up the key of the school upon demand, they may pull off the lock and set on 

 another.' If this violent method was adopted to Mr. Sissons it would not seem to have been 

 successful, as he was, as already noted, himself a churchwarden in 1 720. He was apparently a layman, 

 as he is described in 1731 * as 'gent.' He did not die till I743, 7 but he must have resigned before, 

 as the Rev. Thomas Marshal) was ' displaced and discharged ' and ' the Rev. Mr. Addison, now 

 usher,' was appointed in his place on 8 December, 1739. On II November, 1747, Mr. Cuthbert 

 Allen, B.A., of Hartforth, Yorks. (where there was a small grammar school), was appointed, but 

 'removed, discharged and displaced' on 5 January, 1748, one of the churchwardens who did the 

 deed being obliged to make his mark through inability to sign his name a fit person to be one of 

 four governors of a grammar school ! Two days later, Robert Cooke, B.A., of Darlington, was 

 appointed to succeed him. The disturbance thus caused was probably the occasion of the making 

 of statutes for the school 23 February, 1748. The headmaster was to be at least 24 years of age, 

 ' duly qualified to teach and instruct youth in the elements of grammar and the Latin tongue, and 

 for encouraging of students in either of the two Universities of this land ' ; he was to be by prefer- 

 ence a graduate. The like qualifications were required in the usher, except that he need be only 

 22 years old. The school hours were fixed at 7 to 8 a.m., 9 to 1 1 a.m. and I to 4 p.m. in the winter, 

 and to 5 p.m. in the summer. Thursday and Saturday afternoons were half-holidays, which is 

 perhaps the earliest mention of Saturday half-holidays. The ancient immemorial days were 



1 Darlington Churchwardens' Accts. 1696-1767, p. 119 (also Pew Book, 1697, p. 24). 

 Ibid. p. 176. Ibid. p. 157. 



* Printed apparently in 1797, with translation of the charter and other extracts from some lost book or 

 paper about the school by or for James Allan, and quoted in Longstaffe, p. 256. All the remaining 

 history of the school up to 1 797 is from a copy of this Allan Tract in the possession of the present head- 

 master, Mr. Philip Wood. 



1 This appears to be the explanation of the curious mistake Longstaffe made in making John Hodshon, 

 gent., master in 1657. 



Pew Bk. p. 45. George Allan, esq., and Jonathan Sisson, gent., sold a pew 13 July, 1731, as executors 

 of William Gibson, deceased. 7 Longstaffe, p. 257. 



39* 



