A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



districts contemplated by the founder, 60 of whom must be orphans. As all 

 have to leave at 1 5 years old, the standard of education aimed at is that of 

 the Cambridge Junior Local examinations. 



RED MAIDS' SCHOOL 



John Whitson, alderman, by will 27 March, 1627, bequeathed nearly 

 all his property to the mayor and burgesses, out of which they were to pay 

 90 a year for one grave, painful, and modest woman, and for 40 poor 

 women children, whose parents were burgesses deceased or decayed, to be 

 furnished with convenient lodging, bedding, linen, and other necessaries. 

 The mayor and aldermen were to pay 40^. for each, and to cause them to be 

 apparelled in red cloth. The Red Maids' Hospital was opened in 1634, and 

 the corporation, in a declaration of trust 21 April, 1634, directed the surplus 

 of the funds to be given in sums of 10 or 20 for marriage portions for 

 the maids. The premises originally granted were found inconvenient, and in 

 1658 a new hospital was built, which was rebuilt in Denmark Street in 

 1842. The school is now managed under a scheme of the Endowed Schools 

 Commissioners of 1875. There are 80 girls, under Miss Eliza Charlotte 

 Bowen, head mistress, with 4 assistant mistresses. The pupils are prepared 

 for Cambridge local examinations, with good results, and on leaving obtain 

 posts as pupil teachers, clerks, typists, &c. 



COLSTON'S HOSPITAL 



The foundation of this school dates from a deed of Edward Colston, 

 25 November, 1708, by which he conveyed to the Company of Merchant 

 Adventurers lands in trust for a school for i oo poor boys to be provided with 

 board, lodging, and clothing. They were to be all sons of freemen, or born 

 within the city, save 20 who may be of another place. The school was 

 opened in July, 1710, in a house on St. Augustine's Back, which had been 

 converted from a sugar refinery. 1 In 1842 the Master of the Rolls gave 

 judgement against the Merchants' Society in an action as to the surplus 

 funds, after the expenses of the school had been provided, which they 

 claimed. 



The school was removed to the vacated bishop's palace at Stapleton 

 in October, 1861. By a scheme of the Endowed Schools Commissioners in 

 1875, the nomination of boys was stopped. They were to be selected by 

 order of merit; 80 from elementary schools in Bristol, and 20 from those 

 of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and Somerset, and the governors were to 

 admit other boys, besides those on the foundation, on payment of 30 a year. 

 There are now about 50 boys paying fees, besides the 100 foundationers. 

 The governing body was altered, and consists now of 23 governors, of whom 



2 are ex officio, 1 8 nominated by the Merchant Venturers, the magistrates of 

 Gloucestershire and Somerset, and the Bristol Education Committee, and 



3 are co-opted. The head master is Mr. Anthony Finn, M.A. and LL.D., 

 Trinity College, Dublin, and he has a staff of 6 assistant teachers, who 

 prepare boys for the Board of Education Science and Art examinations. 



1 Annak, ii, 84. 

 384 



