SCHOOLS 



century. He was joined by his son, also Thomas 

 Crick, as usher in 1769, and they ran the school 

 between them until the younger Crick went to 

 Caius College in 1774.* The Commissioners 

 of 1826-9 found the school elementary, 3 the 

 master's son, aged 15, acting in the capacity of 

 usher. 



MENDLESHAM GRAMMAR 

 SCHOOL 



In 1618 Peter Duck conveyed a messuage in 

 trust to the inhabitants of Mendlesham for the 

 residence of a schoolmaster, the maintenance of a 

 grammar school, and the relief of the poor of the 

 town. 3 



Mr. Mosse, 1618-49, was the first master. 

 Mr. Wilson was there 1651-4, Mr. Smith fol- 

 lowed during 1666-9, anc ^ Mr. Pl e ' n l672. 4 

 In 1674 Mr. Thurbin paid zd. hearth tax 

 * for the school,' 8 and in 1710 Richard Playter 

 became head master. 8 As late as 1785 'Men- 

 dlesham Free School ' was advertised by its 

 master, Mr. Daniel Simpson. 



In all probability this school shared the fate 

 of many others and died out owing to the small 

 endowment and the equally small demand in the 

 locality for grammar teaching. 



ALDEBURGH SCHOOL 



Thomas Ockeley, by will of 26 January, 1 6 1 o, 

 left lands in trust to the burgesses of Aldeburgh 

 (in the event of his son dying without issue) for 

 the maintenance of poor people and for ' the 

 erecting and maintenance of a free Schole in the 

 said Towne of Aldeburgh.' 7 He died in 1613, 

 and his son was still alive and, indeed, only 

 forty years old in i62i. 8 In 1638 the school 

 was incorporated by Letters Patent of Charles I 

 as 'schola Grammaticalis que vocabit liberaschola 

 grammaticalis Ballivorum et Burgensum Burgi 

 de Aldeburgh,' 9 but no mention is made of 

 Thomas Ockeley. The Account Books for the 

 borough in 1661 give the name of Mr. Savage 

 as schoolmaster. The school does not appear in 

 the Commissioners of Inquiry Report of 1818, 

 in Carlisle's Endowed Grammar Schools, or in the 

 Reports of 1829 or 1865, and the Municipal 

 Corporations Commission doubts whether it ever 

 really existed. 



i 



1 Venn, Biog. Acct. of Gonvtlle and Cams Coll. 

 ' Char. Com. Rep. xx, 199. 



* Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 593, quoting from old deed 

 in Mendlesham parish chest. 



4 Venn, Reg. ofGonville and Caius Coll. 



5 Suf. Hearth Tax Returns. 



" Educated at Beccles Gram. Sch. 

 7 Add. MSS. 26374, Inq. p.m. Suffolk, Thomas 

 Ockeley. 



Ibid. 'Pat. 13 Chas. I, 13 (2). 



FRAMLINGHAM SCHOOL 



By the will of Sir Robert Hitcham, 8 August, 

 1636, the castle and manor of Framlingham were 

 devised to Pembroke College, Cambridge, and 

 the revenues of the demesne lands were hence- 

 forth to be applied, in part, to maintenance of a 

 school and workhouse at Framlingham at which 

 the poor and children from Debenham, 10 miles, 

 and Coggeshall, 50 miles, distant 10 might attend. 



In response to petitions, on 20 March, 1653, 

 Lord Protector Cromwell in council by ordin- 

 ance established three schools, one in each of 

 the parishes, 11 but as the Restoration in 1660 

 annulled this, among other acts of the Common- 

 wealth, it was not until 1672 that this non- 

 political measure was confirmed by Parliament, 1 ' 2 

 and meantime the management had become 

 seriously disorganized. 



The children were first taught in a room over 

 the market cross, but about 1788 the school was 

 removed to a wing of the almshouses. 13 In 1769 

 Mr. Scrivener advertised as the master of Fram- 

 lingham School, and proposed to teach Latin, 

 Greek, and French. 14 In 1783 affairs were still 

 further disorganized by the reply of the Attorney 

 General to a case stated by Pembroke College, 

 in which he decided that the ordinance of 1672 

 was not binding. The trustees thereupon 

 diverted Hitcham's school funds entirely to 

 elementary education. 



A scheme embodied in an Act of Parliament 

 in 1862 apportioned the income among the various 

 objects of the trust, and gave certain funds to the 

 Albert Memorial scheme, otherwise Framling- 

 ham College, then being established by Royal 

 Charter. This new school is managed by 26 

 governors (eight being elected by Pembroke 

 College, which also nominates six free scholars 

 resident in the parishes). The course of instruc- 

 tion is both classical and scientific, and there is 

 an Upper and a Lower School. In 1906 the 

 head master is Dr. O. D. Inskip, and there are 

 280 boys, all boarders on the hostel system at fees 

 of 40 a year. 



DEBENHAM SCHOOL 



Debenham School, called into existence by 

 Cromwell in 1653, competed with the poor of 

 the parish in securing a part of the ^105 ap- 

 portioned to the parish for these two objects. 

 From its foundation onwards it did little to main- 

 tain a reputation for grammar teaching. In 

 1866 the Commissioners describe it as 'non- 

 classical ' and rank it with ' a somewhat inferior 

 national school.' " 



10 Debenham received 150 yearly, Sch. Inq. 

 Rep. xiii. " Sch. Acta. Bk. in church chest. 



" 12 Chas. II, cap. 12. 

 " Green, Strangers' Guide to the Town offramRngham. 



14 Ips. Journ. Jan. 1 769. 



15 J. M. White, Sch. Inj. Com., xiii, 165. 



349 



