A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



only fragments remain of the proceedings of the Committees of Plundered Ministers and for the 

 Reformation of the Universities, to whom this business was at various times delegated. But we find, 

 on 26 September, 1651, among the records of the Trustees for the Maintenance of Ministers, 



In pursuance of an Order of the Committee for Reformation of the Universities of 9 May 1651 It is 

 ordered that the yearely summe of 10, bee and the same is hereby graunted for increase of 

 maintenance of Mr. [George] Collins, Master of the Freeschoole of Chichester in the county of Sussex 

 and to commence from the 25th of March last, his present maintenance being expressed by the said 

 order to bee a stipend or sallary but of 20 a. yeare. 



The order was signed by William Steele, John Thoroughgood, and three others. ' Mr. Allen Nye, 

 receiver,' was accordingly ordered to pay 'the yearely sum of ^10 to Mr. Collins and as long as he is 

 master.' On 31 December, 1651," a similar order 'in pursuance of an order of the Committee 

 for Reformation of the Universities of 26 November last ' provided for the usher : That ' the 

 yearely summe of ^IO be and the same is hereby graunted for increase of maintenance unto Mr. 

 Thomas Jackson, usher of the Free Schole in the city of Chichester, the same to be accompted from 

 the 25 March last.' On 18 June, i652, 23 Mr. Allen Nye, receiver, was ordered to pay 

 ' Mr. Collins Master of that Free Schoole ' 10 according to the order of the trustees, 'any other 

 order to the contrary notwithstanding,' and a similar order was made for Mr. Thomas Jackson the 

 usher. On 1 6 October, 1655," the receiver was ordered to pay the arrears due to Mr. Collins out 

 of the arrears of the impropriate rectories and tithes of East Dean and West Dean and other places. 

 On 17 December, 1656," 



These Trustees having u October 1655 ordered Mr. Allen Nye to pay unto Mr. Thomas Jackson, 

 usher of the Free Schoole of Chichester . . . 10 out of the rectory of Bamsteed, who hathe since 

 left the same, so that Mr. George Collins, Master of the sayd Free Schoole, dischargeth the duty both 

 of Master and Usher of the sayd Schoole It is therefore ordered that the sayd 10 be from tyme to 

 tyme paid unto him till there shall be an Usher setled in the sayd Free Schoole out of the rents and 

 profitts hereafter mencioned viz. 6 out of the rectory of Belstead, and the further yearely summe of 4 

 out of the tenthes payable to the bishop of Chichester both in the county of Sussex. 



In August, i658, 25 the 20 due to Collins as master and usher was charged, 16 on Bersted, and 

 the rest in small sums on Selsey, Wisborough, and the two Witterings. On 9 December, i658, 2S 

 ' So much as Mr. Nye hath paid . . . Mr. Collins Master of Chichester Schole to be allowed him 

 on his account.' 



George Collins was himself a Chichester boy, who matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, 

 27 June, 1634, at the age of fifteen, B.A. at the age of nineteen in 1638, and M.A. 17 April, 1641. 

 He was therefore only twenty-three years of age when he became head master. Thomas Jackson 

 the usher was no doubt a college friend of Collins, as he matriculated at Corpus Christi College, 

 Oxford, in the same year, 28 August 1634, and became M.A. in 1638. The school at least 

 maintained its position under Collins during the Commonwealth, as we find him sending several 

 boys up to St. John's College, Cambridge, the only large college which noted the schools from which 

 its undergraduates came, e.g., Richard Maynard, son of the parson at Mayfield in Sussex, in 1651 ; 

 John Briggs of Portsmouth in 1655. It would appear that at the Restoration, when of course the 

 prebendaries were restored, Collins went on to Lewes Grammar School, as we find a boy going to 

 St. John's in 1667 'son of a gentleman att Lewes, who had been bred under Mr. Collins there.' 

 It is noteworthy that all Collins's pupils were admitted as pensioners, i.e. paying members, whereas 

 his successors' pupils came only as ' sizars,' or poor, almost pauper, scholars. At the Restoration, on 

 the restoration of prebends, Thomas Baker, B.A., on 21 September, 1660, superseded George Collins. 

 John Baguley, who succeeded in 1665, was of Manchester School and St. John's College, 

 Cambridge; admitted a pensioner there 3 February, 16545, ne accordingly sent a boy to his old 

 college in 1666. After four years he gave place to Francis Bacon, 20 September, 1669, of Lincoln 

 College, Oxford ; he was also rector of Birdham, Sussex, and held office for fourteen years. 



There is nothing forthcoming about the school from this time onwards, except the names 

 of the prebendaries. Robert Topp or Tupp, M.A., of King's College, Cambridge, 1681, and 

 therefore an Etonian, was appointed 25 April, 1685. Here as elsewhere the i8th century 

 inaugurated a series of long reigns. Topp held for sixteen years. Two other Cambridge men 

 followed, Thomas Baker, who held for twenty-nine years, and William Wade, who held for thirty- 

 nine years. Two Oxford men came next, Richard Tireman, fellow of St. John's College, who 

 went on to the prebend of Gates in 1776; John Atkinson of Queens' College, 1776-84 



10 Lamb. MSS. Aug. 976, fol. 373. " Ibid. 395. 



" Ibid. 396. Ibid. 972, fol. 267. 



14 Ibid. 993. Ibid. 995, fol. 568. Ibid. 996. 



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