SCHOOLS 



entirely novel and unwarrantable requirement to be members of the Church 

 of England, resident within 17 miles of Wotton, and raised the foundation 

 scholars to 16 or 20, and provided that in future no master should hold a 

 cure of souls. Tuition fees were to be charged at the rate of not more than 

 4 a year for Wotton and Nibley boys, and not more than 8 a year from 

 elsewhere. The inefficiency of Chancery as an Endowed Schools Commission 

 was perhaps never more clearly exhibited. The Schools Inquiry Commission 

 six years afterwards found the vicar and schoolmaster, Mr. Perkins, drawing 

 180 a year. The usher, the Rev. C. Cripps, vicar of a parish five or six 

 miles away, ' slept during the greater part of the week at the schoolhouse,' 

 which was otherwise unoccupied. There were only 13 boys in attendance, 

 though 1 6 were paid to come. Three only were more than 14 years old. 

 Seven of them wrote 'fairly.' 'The arithmetic was very indifferent, none 

 understood decimals, and but few fractions. Only one boy professed to have 

 done Euclid or algebra.' The head boy, however, son of a neighbouring 

 parson, could translate the Odyssey fluently. 



Such were the results of an endowment which had now risen in value to 

 331 a year net. 



At length in 1882 the vicar-schoolmaster retired. The Rev. J. P. 

 Cranston was then appointed. He reduced the school to even lower 

 dimensions than his predecessor, and to prevent further scandals the 

 trustees bought the right of appointing the master from Colonel Robert 

 Hale, under an order of the Commissioners, 25 January, 1884. On 26 June, 

 1886, a scheme under the Endowed Schools Act made by the Charity Com- 

 missioners was approved by Queen Victoria in Council. This created a 

 governing body of eleven, two appointed by the petty sessions justices, four 

 by the vestry, now by the Parish Council of Wotton, and the rest co- 

 optatives. The tuition fees were fixed at 4 to 10 a year; and all pay 

 the same fees. Foundation scholarships are now attained by exertion in 

 competitive examination and not by patronage. All clerical and denomina- 

 tional restrictions on master and trustees were abolished. 



The Rev. Frederick William Morris of Shrewsbury School, scholar of 

 Jesus College, Oxford, then second master of the Goldophin School, Ham- 

 mersmith, was appointed head master under the new scheme. He found 

 5 boys ; soon got 1 2 boarders, and raised the numbers of the school to 70. 

 In 1892 the old school buildings were completely rearranged internally, the 

 master's dwelling-house being now devoted to school purposes. In 1894 a 

 very complete chemical and scientific laboratory was built on a lavish scale. 



In 1900 girls were admitted to the school, and boys and girls are now 

 taught together in all the forms. This co-education has proved a very great 

 success, the girls working well and inciting the boys to work better. In 1 906 

 rooms were acquired where girls from a distance can have their luncheon, 

 and the whole is under the supervision of a matron. 



NEWLAND GRAMMAR SCHOOL 



The Grammar School at Newland is one of considerable interest from 

 several points of view. In the first place it was one of the products of 

 that great educational movement which took place in the last decade of the. 

 2 49 52 



