A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



Mr. F. W. H. Myers, the author of St. Pau/, were among his pupils. Four 

 Balliol scholarships were won by Cheltenham boys between 1850 and 1854. 

 Dobson was a successful head master in spite of the curious system invented 

 by the directors, under which they managed the discipline, the Principal the 

 actual teaching, and another man the religious training. When he was 

 succeeded in 1859 by the Rev. H. Highton, friction began, and ended in 

 his retirement. But on the appointment in 1861 of Dr. Alfred Barry, who 

 had been head master of Leeds Grammar School, this absurd system was 

 abandoned, and the Principal became responsible for all the teaching and the 

 discipline as well. A council of 24 members, 12 elected by themselves, 

 1 2 by the proprietors or shareholders, was substituted for the directors. In 

 Dr. Barry's time a junior school was built, and most of the boarding houses. 

 Amongst his illustrious pupils 1859-64 was the present Lord Chancellor, 

 Robert Reid, Lord Loreburn. When he was succeeded in 1869 by 

 Dr. Jex-Blake there were 240 day-boys and 440 boarders. Dr. Jex-Blake 

 left in 1874 to become head master of Rugby, and was succeeded by 

 Dr. Kynaston, an Eton boy and master. In his time the day-boys were 

 marshalled into two houses for the purposes of games, and had two house- 

 masters to look after them. Dr. Kynaston retired in 1888, and the Rev. 

 H. A. James, who had been head master of Rossall, and was dean of St. Asaph, 

 was appointed. Two events 1 particularly marked his period of office. The 

 first was the celebration of the College Jubilee in 1891, at which divers 

 athletic entertainments and admirable performances of 'The Birds' of 

 Aristophanes were given. Twice before Greek plays had been acted, when 

 in 1888 and 1889 the ' Electra ' and ' Oedipus Coloneus ' of Sophocles were 

 given in full. 



The other event was the Act of Incorporation passed in July, 1894, 

 which made Cheltenham a public school in name, as it had long been in 

 reality and reputation. In 1895 Dr. James succeeded Dr. Percival as head 

 master of Rugby, and the Rev. R. S. de Courcy Laffan, an exhibitioner 

 of Winchester and of Merton College, Oxford, head master of Stratford- 

 on-Avon Grammar School, was appointed. Under his rule the school 

 flourished in both numbers and honours, but he resigned in 1899 and 

 was succeeded by the Rev. Reginald Waterfield, scholar of Winchester and 

 New College, who had been assistant master at Rugby for six years. On his 

 accession the numbers were about 640, of whom about a third were day- 

 boys. In addition to cricket, Rugby football, and all the games and sports 

 common to all public schools, Cheltenham has the advantage of a boat club, 

 though at some distance, for the members have to go nine miles by train 

 to Tewkesbury and the River Severn. A rifle corps was founded in 1862, 

 which in 1889 was changed into an engineer corps in which something 

 is learnt of sand modelling and fortification, and an annual bridging com- 

 petition is held. 



CHELTENHAM LADIES' COLLEGE 



On 30 September, 1853, a prospectus was drawn up at the house of the 

 Rev. H. Walford Bellairs, then H.M. Inspector of Schools for Gloucester- 

 shire, for ' a college in Cheltenham for the education of young ladies, and 



1 Public School Magazine, Dec. 1899, p. 396. 

 43 2 



