SCHOOLS 



to read, write, and cast accounts. Any school- 

 master was liable to expulsion for nonconformity 

 to the doctrines of the Church of England. By 

 deed, 1 9 September 1 707, Thomas Cooke convey- 

 ed a rent-charge of ^5 101. on tenements and 

 lands in Shenley, Buckinghamshire, on similar 

 trusts, but for children of both sexes, who were, 

 ; n addition to the three R's, to learn the Church 

 Catechism and to sing a psalm every Thursday. 

 In 1832 no school had been kept for nearly fifty 

 years, and the rent-charge was not paid. 



SOULBURY. Robert Lovett, of Tavistock, 

 Devonshire, by will, 27 November 1710, be- 

 queathed 300 to the poor of Soulbury, to be 

 laid out to their best advantage. By a decree of 

 the Court of Chancery, 5 June 1728, the money 

 was ordered to be laid out in land and conveyed 

 to trustees, one-half of the income to be paid to a 

 schoolmaster for teaching 24 poor boys and girls 

 of Soulbury to read, write, cast accounts and say 

 the Church Catechism, and the other half for 

 apprenticeships. The Rev. John Sambee, by 

 will proved 5 February 1728, gave a newly-built 

 messuage and tenement and the residue of his 

 personal estate for teaching 24 children of both 

 sexes. The master received 40, and the 

 surplus money was used in apprenticing. In 

 1867 there were 35 boys and 17 girls receiving 

 instruction, some free of charge, others at vary- 

 ing fees. The school, now called the Soulbury 

 Endowed School, had in 19034 an average 

 attendance of 68 children. 



SWANBOURNE. By will, 14 March 1712, 

 Nicholas Godwin gave lands for erecting a school- 

 house in Swanbourne and providing two annui- 

 ties of 9 and 6 for endowment of the school 

 and maintenance of the master. A free school 

 existed under this endowment till 1832, in which 

 12 boys of Swanbourne and 8 of Mursley were 

 taught gratuitously. In that year the school 

 was placed in connexion with the National 

 Society, and in 1833 was attended by more than 

 100 boys from the surrounding parishes. By 

 1867 the numbers had fallen to 41, 20 being 

 free scholars and the remainder paying zd. a 

 week. By a scheme under the Charitable Trusts 

 Acts, 1 6 July 1890, the school ceased to exist 

 and the endowment is to be applied in prizes, 

 two-thirds to children in Swanbourne, one-third 

 to children in Mursley. 



WAVENDON. George Wells of Wavendon, by 

 will, 17 January 1713, bequeathed 800 to be 

 laid out in land and settled on trustees for teach- 

 ing poor children, natives of Wavendon, to read 

 and write, and for apprenticing them, and he 

 devised a cottage with ground adjoining for the 

 same purposes. Beatrice Miller, one of Wells' 

 executors, bequeathed 200 to the school, with 

 which land was bought in 1730. The master 

 in 1832 was living in two cottages under one 

 roof, built in 1809-10 out of savings of income, 

 and there was a schoolroom adjoining erected by 



Henry Hugh Hoare, one of the trustees. The 

 school had previously been held in the cottages 

 bequeathed by the founder. Ten boys were 

 taught the three R's in respect of the charity 

 and provided with clothes. There were many 

 paying scholars, who learnt geography, grammar 

 and history as extra subjects. There were over 

 90 children in 1867, of whom 9 boys were 

 clothed. By a scheme of the Charity Commis- 

 sioners, 15 June 1897, the endowment is made 

 applicable to prizes for school children and for 

 apprenticeships. 



STOKE POGES. Mary Salter, by will, 9 Sep- 

 tember 1716, gave 100 for teaching poor 

 children of the parish to read, write and cast 

 accounts. Margaret Todd, by will, 9 March 

 1717, bequeathed 100 for teaching reading, 

 the Church Catechism, and the principles of the 

 Protestant religion. Land was bought with 

 these sums, to which 20 was added by John 

 Parry and 15 by the trustees of Margaret 

 Todd's will, on 23 and 24 March 1731. Anew 

 schoolhouse was built before 1832, when 20 

 boys and 10 girls were taught free, and there 

 were about 40 paying scholars. No information 

 was supplied to the School Inquiry Commissioners 

 in 1867. 



MOULSOE. By will, 19 August 1719, Mary, 

 Countess Dowager of Northampton, directed her 

 executor to buy land in or near the parish of 

 Moulsoe to the value of 6 a year, for the main- 

 tenance of a schoolmaster to teach poor children 

 of the parish to read, write and cast accounts. A 

 piece of land in Bedfordshire of about fourteen 

 acres was bought in 1721. The schoolmaster 

 received the rent, and in 1832 taught from 20 

 to 25 children. In 1867 there were 14 boys 

 and 24 girls, and the income of 20 was paid to 

 a schoolmistress. In 1903-4 the school was 

 described as a Church School, with an average 

 attendance of 37 children. In 1904 the school 

 was transferred to the Buckinghamshire County 

 Council. 



DENHAM. This school was set up by Sir 

 William Bowyer and other charitable persons 

 for instructing 30 poor children, born in the 

 parish, in reading, writing and accounts, in the 

 principles of the Church of England, and in 

 other learning 'proper and useful for their station.' 

 It was at first supported by Sir William by an 

 annual allowance of 30, for which, on I April 

 1720, he substituted a permanent endowment in 

 the shape of a yearly rent-charge of the same 

 amount on lands in Denham. There was to be a 

 master and a mistress. Thomas Carter, by will, 

 17 December 1727, gave a field of about three 

 acres. Juliana Newdigate, on 29 and 30 

 November 1728, conveyed lands for buying 

 Bibles and Prayer Books for the children, and the 

 surplus, if any, for some scholar or scholars of the 

 school. One of the executors of John Nicholas, 

 in accordance with his verbal instructions, on 



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