SCHOOLS 



in 1748 he resigned the rectory of Stratfield Turgis, he perhaps then 

 resumed his duties to the school. From this time forward until the 

 existing scheme of 1886 the appointment of the master was made by the 

 Lord Chancellor on behalf of the Crown, and the appointment of usher 

 by the corporation in virtue of Lancaster's gift. As we hear little of the 

 school beyond the names of the masters from this time, it may be hoped 

 that it flourished better than during the incessant disputes which make up 

 its previous history. 



In 1825 Lord Brougham's Commission of Inquiry concerning 

 charities reported 1 on the school, which was not then in a very robust 

 condition. The Reverend William Workman, M.A., of St. John's 

 College, Cambridge, was master. He had been appointed by Lord 

 Eldon 28 November, 1816, to the 'office of master or teacher of His 

 Majesty's Free School, and of chaplain to the chapel of the Holy Ghost 

 near Basingstoke, then void by the death of the late teacher and chaplain,' 

 viz. Isaac Williamson, who, appointed in 1793, had combined with the 

 school the rectory of Eastrop from 1805. At the time of the report 

 there were only six boys in the school, none of whom were really free, 

 the free instruction being limited to the classics (literis) prescribed in 

 Philip and Mary's charter ; boys in the town being given instruction in 

 English and arithmetic at the rate of i 5.1-. a quarter or 2 a year, and 

 those beyond the town at 4 4^. a year, and a small sum for firing. The 

 previous master had charged 1 5^. a quarter for all boys. The income 

 from endowment at this time was about 190 a year, out of which 

 repairs and other expenses had to be deducted, while 30 was paid to 

 the usher, then William Dennis, who also received 30 from Lancaster's 

 gift. The remuneration of the headmaster was therefore not magnifi- 

 cent, though, for an ' average number of about twelve ' boys during his 

 term of office, up to 1825, not perhaps inadequate. In 1835 the 

 Municipal Corporations Act necessitated the substitution of municipal 

 charity trustees, appointed by the Lord Chancellor for the corporation, 

 as the trustees of Lancaster's gift. 



On the death of Workman, 17 November, 1849, the school was 

 closed and was again in Chancery, the Bishop of Winchester being 

 allowed, by an order of the Court of 5 February, 1850, to visit in respect 

 of discipline. A scheme dated 31 May, 1850, was made, but was found 

 unsatisfactory and a new one was put out 11 June, 1852. This created 

 a separate body of eight trustees of the school, the vicar and mayor being 

 ex-officio; three appointed by the town council and three by the 

 municipal charity trustees, all of whom were, such was the view taken 

 by the Court of Chancery in those times, bound to be members of the 

 Church of England. The school was to be called ' The Queen's Free 

 School in Basingstoke,' and the boys who ' participate in the education 

 other than Latin and Greek ' were to pay the old fees if under fourteen 

 years of age, but above that age i a quarter if sons of inhabitants of the 



1 Char. Com. Rep. xiv. 377 ; 2 July, 1825. 

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