A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



and graduated as B.A. in 1634, M.A. in 1638, 

 B.D. in 1646. He was a fellow from 1637 to 

 1648, when he was, with other fellows and 

 scholars, removed for non-appearance before the 

 delegates appointed by the Parliamentary visitors. 10 

 He was reinstated at the Restoration and held 

 his fellowship till his death, 28 August 1701. 

 He has attained the honour of a place in the 

 Dictionary of National Biography as a royalist 

 divine, having published a sermon preached before 

 the king at Christ Church, and Wood ll says 

 ' his verses shew him to have been a good poet.' 

 He must, at least in his mastership at Wycombe, 

 have enjoyed a non-residential sinecure ; for the 

 Corporation, two days after his death, made orders 

 for the ' better ordering and governing of the 

 grammar school, and for establishing the stipend 

 of the master.' 12 The first order was that the 

 master ' shall constantly abide and dwell with his 

 family in the house belonging to the school,' and 

 that he shall not substitute or employ any other 

 person to teach the scholars without the consent 

 of the mayor and common council. Another 

 order was that the master should not demand of 

 any scholar, whose parents dwelt in the borough, 

 above is. on entrance and the same sum on leav- 

 ing. He was to receive 26 a year and a house 

 with a close adjoining, and to give a bond of 

 100 to keep these orders faithfully. 



The master appointed on these conditions in 

 1701 was Joseph Loveday, who had just taken 

 his B.A. degree at Gloucester Hall, now Wor- 

 cester College, Oxford. He remained six years, 

 becoming later rector of Hedsor in 1715 and 

 of Taplow in 1723. He was succeeded by 

 Samuel Guise, also of Gloucester Hall, who com- 

 bined various offices with his mastership, being 

 vicar of Thame in 1711 and chaplain to Philip 

 Duke of Wharton in ^ig. 13 His successor in 

 1754, Thomas Heather, matriculated at Magda- 

 len Hall, Oxford, 2 December 1 746, and remained 

 eight years. In 1672 William Edwards, rector 

 of Tenby, the first of three successive Welshmen, 

 followed. Of these, the last, Daniel James, of 

 Carmarthen, who matriculated at Jesus College 

 in 1784 and took his B.A. degree in 1790, can 

 be traced at Oxford. 



Mary Bowden, of Chepping Wycombe, by 

 will 27 September 1790, bequeathed 1,000 to 

 trustees to be invested in the public funds, or in 

 lands, from the profits of which 30 was to be 

 paid yearly to the Rev. Alban Thomas, the then 

 master and teacher of the Free Grammar School, 

 in augmentation of his salary, and to his suc- 

 cessors for ever, and to apply the remainder of 

 the profits for the benefit of such poor persons as 

 should live in, and be entitled to the benefit of, 

 the almshouse. 14 



10 H. E. D. Blakiston, Triu. Coll. 141. 



11 Fasti Oxon. 56. " Char. Com. Rep. xxvi, 155. 

 18 Foster, Alumni Oxon. 



14 Parker, Early Hist, of Wycombe, 149. 



When Nicholas Carlisle 15 made his inquiries 

 into the school in 1818, the master was William 

 Sproston, appointed in 1793, and receiving 30 

 from the original endowment. He had a house, 

 in which he received boarders, but we are not 

 told how many there were. The schoolroom 

 was still part of the ancient building of St. John's 

 Hospital, and so remained till the present 20th- 

 century buildings were erected. Sproston was 

 still master in 1832," when there were 27 boys 

 on the foundation and two private pupils. 

 He took no boarders, though allowed to do so. 

 After Mrs. Bowden's gift in 1790 the master 

 was required to teach reading, writing, and 

 arithmetic in addition to the subjects formerly 

 prescribed. Only five boys were learning Latin 

 in 1832, and none Greek. The stipend was 

 then 70, 40 from the original endowment 

 and 2 from Bowden's Charity. In 1864 this 

 had been increased to 150 for the master and 

 jTjO for the assistant master, and fees in addition 

 as settled by scheme in 1856. 



In 1867 there were 39 boys in the school, 

 two of whom were boarders, under the Rev. 

 James Poulter. He had one assistant master. 

 About half the boys learnt Latin, and six Greek ; 

 but no boy was over fifteen, and no boy had 

 gone to the university for five years before 1864, 

 though two had gone to Oxford since. There 

 were 10 free boys, nominated by the trustees ; 

 the rest paid fees of 2 2s. a year, and boarders 

 62 guineas, a rise of 22 guineas since 1818. 

 The assistant commissioner sent by the Schools 

 Inquiry Commission reported favourably of the 

 attainments and behaviour of the boys, but was 

 surprised to find that none of the trustees, who 

 were resident and chiefly of the professional class, 

 had sons at the school, though several sons of 

 professional men came from a distance. 17 



In 1906 there were 62 boys, of whom 12 

 were boarders, under Mr. George Wright Arni- 

 son, of Pembroke College, Cambridge, appointed 

 in April 1905, and three assistant masters. The 

 fees for day boys were from 6 to 8, and for 

 boarders from 44 to 50. The school build- 

 ings are designed for 120 boys, and 20 boarders. 

 As in 1907 the numbers had risen to 87, there 

 is every chance that the school will soon be full. 



STONY STRATFORD GRAMMAR 

 SCHOOL 



Michael Hipwell, of Stony Stratford, by will 

 i June 1609, directed that a public-house 

 belonging to him, called the ' Rose and Crown,' 

 should be let for a term of ninety-nine years, 

 and at the expiration of the term he bequeathed 

 the house, with all the barns, houses, and stables 



" Carlisle, End. Gram. ScA. i, 94. 



16 Char. Com. Rep. xxvi, 157. 



17 Sch. Inj. Rep. xii, 188. 



212 



